Before pics

Hi everyone. Still packing here. I am now well known at the local Goodwill drop off center. I have used up so many trash bags. I even have those huge Construction grade bags as well. The storage space is filling up.

I thought I would share some pics I snapped at the apartment this week. Our "guys" are hard at work in the apartment. So far the whole place looks worse. LOL. They had just finished sanding the hardwood floors in the living room and hallway.

The kitchen is sort of command central. Yes that is the toilet in the kitchen. No that is not where it belongs.

The bathroom is under construction. I really hope the plumber does not hit any delays cause you know where the toilet is right now.

I just couldn't resist showing you my favorite light fixture. ;)

This will be my sewing room. I am going to have to downsize some more I think.

The movers come on Tuesday. I am seriously considering running away from home on Monday.

Moving On

I grew up in a Military family. We usually moved every three years. I always hated leaving my friends, but I looked forward to new friends and new adventures. When I got married we moved about every three or four years. Luckily most of those moves were in the same general area. We did venture down to Florida for four years. 20 years ago we left Florida and headed back to Illinois to family and friends. 19 years ago we bought a house that was a repo and cleaned it up, painted it and settled in.
Recently the DH has been wanting to sell the house and move on. Finally after dragging my feet as long as I could, the house was listed. It sold in 8 days. The buyers want position in 30 days, which is March 31st. I am packing. Not happily. Not looking forward to a new adventure. But packing anyway.
Last year we did a lot of work on the house. My favorite...my sewing room.

 

The kitchen isn't bad either.

Leaving it all behind for a tiny apartment with microscopic closets. Hopefully we can find another house to fix up. Maybe the next house will help me stop feeling sad over leaving this house. Well I better suck it up and go pack something. Wish me luck.

A little Yarn

I like to knit. I am not fast. I am not an expert. But I like it. I find it sort of zen most of the time. I used to crochet all the time, but stopped when a Dr. told me the motion was making my neck worse. Using my arm at all makes my neck worse so I am going to crochet again. In moderation.

Just like with quilting I am always looking. Trips to the yarn store are almost as much fun as trips to the quilt shop(s). When I went to Portland for my niece's wedding in 2011 I found a lovely yarn shop. I picked some yarn, a pattern and needles. Didn't start on it while I was there. I did start on it last fall. Then stopped because I didn't think I could do the pattern. I let it rest a bit and the pattern got easier. LOL. This is my shawl in progress. I hope to finish it this year. It is a complicated pattern for me so I tend to work on it for short periods of time.

(BTW on the same block where I found the yarn shop there was a bead shop and a quilt shop...heaven) .

Every other year the guild I belong to has a quilt show. As a part of the show we raffle off a quilt and a doll. The doll is an American girl doll complete with as many outfits as the guild can get made, a bed, a clothes rack and a set of plastic drawers to keep all her stuff in. I really am not very good at garment sewing so I usually try to knit something. For the show coming up this fall I knit a dress
(pattern from Ravelry).
And a shawl in case it gets cold out. (I think this was a free pattern, but not on Ravelry).
I also found an adorable skirt and a cable top I want to make before the show. It is in the fall so I can do it.

I am working on some Christmas gifts too. Maybe I will get them done before December.

I won a magazine from Sue (here) She designed the cover piece! How cool is that? I am going to try making this one, but I think I need to dust off the crochet hook first.

Happy stitching

Update: When I took the picture of the shawl, I saw I made a big mistake way back . I will unravel and start all over again. Thee mistake is a whole row and very obvious. :(

2013 UFO Busting

Two years ago I happened onto the Pat Sloan quilting forum and I have had so much fun every since then.  So much quilty inspiration. Pat has challenged us to bust some of those UFOs. She will be giving tips along the way.
I pulled out all of those UFOs.

I looked at each and every one of them. I knew that I no longer loved all of those projects, but I just could not seem to part with any of them. I realized that my UFOs were starting to impact my desire to sew. I was just feeling so very overwhelmed that I just moved projects from place to place and stopped making progress.  Something had to go.
Projects barely started like this tree of life class I took. Way too fussy for me and I know it will never progress from this point so out it went.

BOM from Joann's years ago. I quilted the pieced blocks and stopped. I have looked at this so many times and concluded that while I like all the colors and even the blocks. I just don't want to finish it. Bye bye.

A speaker at guild showed these fantastic animal quilts. I bought the Westie pattern. I pulled fabrics. Much later I prepped the fabrics and put them back in the bag. I know mine will never look as beautiful as hers did, normally that doesn't bother me, but this time it did. Outta here.

The guild is collecting scraps for resale (as a fund raiser) in conjunction with our quilt show this year. I have a stack of fabric for them. I don't mind sharing fabric. I don't mind donating fabric. Just can't toss it out.
Ended up with this bin of completed tops with backings.

This is quilt tops that still need backs and batting.

A not full bin of projects started that I do want to finish.

WIP (works in progress, like current BOM do not count as UFOs.) Unstarted projects do not count either. Lucky for me.
My tally:
8 quilts that need to be bound
29 that are completed tops, need to be quilted
2 applique pieces that need blanket stitching
18 projects in various stages of completion that I do want to finish
I do have 13 WIP.
I have 90 projects not started, and 35 wool projects not started.

I will not even get into all the cross stitch, needlepoint, punch needle, and knitting projects. I do have to go through those too.

Do you feel better now about your UFOs? :)
Happy stitching

What on earth have I been doing?

Coming fast on the heels of the wedding reception was Christmas. At the same time we were planning the next set of classes for the shop. Of course new classes means new samples. There were also some patterns we got at market that we wanted to get samples made for and up in the shop.
All the shop girls sewed like crazy to get everything done. (except me, I still need borders on two quilts). I am a baaad girl.
One of the new classes that I will be teaching is a chevron quilt called Party Girl. This will be a follow up for beginners. The quilt is giant HST. It was a lot of fun to sew! I think I will make another with more colors and maybe smaller HST.

Another new class is a string quilt. The pattern is Wrapped up in Memories by Bonnie of Bonnie and Camille. I am using the pattern for the basics of string piecing and then adding in more string ideas . I think it will be fun. And I can use up some of my strings making sample blocks for class. For the class sample I used a jelly roll and just trimmed to different sizes. It is missing a border too.

The last new class I will be teaching is basic embroidery. I plan to do some straight lines for them to sew on to learn the stitches. Then they will get this design to stitch if they want to. We have had a lot of customers who want to do some cute stitching projects but say they don't know how.

We also have some really cute bag classes coming up. Maybe if I take the class I will actually make the bag?? I will ask permission to post those bags.

I enjoy keeping up with all my blogging friends and what they are doing. I hope to get back into regular personal sewing and regular posts here too.
Stay tuned.
happy Stitching

Some wedding pictures

I wasn't able to post pictures the other day for some reason, but I think it is sorted out now.

My family

the venue, Friendship Park Conservatory

the happy couple

Highlights of 2012

2012 flew by in record time. It seems like every year time speeds by faster and faster. No wonder I always have stuff left on the to do list. Time is going faster and I am going slower. LOL

2012 started off with one of those projects that starts out simple enough and just keeps growing. We set out to have a bit of painting done around the house. (And it needed it). Before it was all over the entire house was painted. We had a new kitchen. My sewing room lost paneling and I got new furniture. Add in a bit of new flooring and some new window treatments and the house looks new.

I went to quilt market twice!!! Spring market in Kansas City and Fall market in Houston. The energy and excitement is really hard to describe. I enjoyed every single minute of both markets. It is so cool to see all the fabric that is not out yet. Meeting designers, authors, and quilt celebrities left me a bit star struck.

The fall brought family together for the vow renewal and reception of DD and SIL. It was a wild and crazy time for me. Two days after Thanksgiving might not be the best timing for such a big event. ;)
The total number of house guests 11. (No I do not have a big house) Total number at Thanksgiving at my house 37. The vow renewal was lovely as was the venue.
Have tried all day to get photos of the bride and groom with no luck. Will try to again next post.

The year ended with a quiet Christmas. And and even quieter New year. Quiet is good.

On to 2013. Wonder what it will bring.
Happy New Year