Isn't this fun! It's a Wordle. You can make your own if you want, either with your specific words you want to use, or with words from any website or blog. I used words from this blog. I made a bunch of them, printed them, and I think I'm going to put them up in my sewing room when it's done as decorations. Have fun!

Not a whole lot of sewing going on

Plans for the built in shelves in the bedroom nook

Well, let's see what I have accomplished in the last week or so. Hmmm, cut holes in a log cabin (mine), bought and painted trim for the new windows, put up a 2x2 frame for the drywall in the
sewing room.Bought and put together a drill press. Designed a built in for the bedroom nook, bought the wood and had it cut to 10" strips. Surely I've done more than that--moved all the junk out of the sewing room (to be), moved all the stuff out of Joe's office, put up an outdoor shade, moved lots of stuff from the tool room. Tore down all the ceiling tiles in the sewing room. All the moving was necessary to have room to have the windows put in and then put up the drywall. All of this was accomplished with the help of the hubby, of course.

And, for all of you who want to know, here is a pictorial of installing new windows in a log cabin. Some of the pictures are from one room, and some from the other, but both windows started out the same size and ended up the same size.


Take out the old window, cut the opening to the new size, sometimes through the spikes that hold the logs together, patch the part that is too high from the old window, install the new. We still have to trim both inside and outside.

I'll get back to sewing sometime soon--I hope.

Just stuff

So, here is the design of the tile I bought for the ceiling. They're fiberboard and 12" square.
Here is what I am doing today--don't think I like it very much, but we'll see.
And here is a visitor I had today. Actually, he brought a friend that was about the same age.

Working on the House

I have been busy, but not much sewing. We are continuing the remodel of the house, and now working on my sewing room. We had to clean everything out of it before we could begin, then took down the ceiling. It was those 12" x 12" fiberboard tiles so wasn't too hard to get down, but now we need to decide what to put back up. Hubby suggested a tin ceiling and I think that sounds really cool. I have done some research and found a couple of suppliers, but it's a bit pricey. I'm thinking we might go with the fiberboard again, but this time, something classier. Just so I can include a picture, here's one of the ceiling with the old tiles, and with them removed.

Booty

Here's the Booty

I'm home and the most recent thing to be done is unpacking and checking how much I really spent--way too much! But I got some really cool fabric, a book I have been wanting (and a couple I didn't know I wanted). We did our own little shop hop up the central valley of California, and then added Bend Oregon to the list. Let's see if I can remember them all.

• Lancaster, California-JoAnn Fabrics-- forgot a ruler I needed, didn't find it but did find "One Block Wonders" I've picked this book up and put it down many times, I finally bought it, after all I did have a 40% off coupon. Also bought some thread
  
• Atascadero, California Sew Fun--I didn't buy anything but a cool little shop.
• Fresno, California Hancock Fabric-needed a ruler I left at home, bought another one I didn't have.
• Hilmar California Sew Central Quilt Works--beautiful hand dyed fabric for $8 per yard! I bought 4 fat quarter bundles.
• Cloth and Quilts in Turlock California--nice little shop. My sister found a pattern for oriental fabrics and bought quarter yards along the way, she found some here. (I still resisted) I think it was 104 while we were there.
• Chico California--The Rabbit Hole where I bought the shirt fabric and Honey Run Quilters where I bought the Strata Various book--no more fabric.
• Next was Redding California and Sew What-- this is where I bought fabric from Fabri-Quilt called "The Wave".It seems the fabric is no longer available, but you can see a picture here. I love this fabric!
• Klamath Falls Oregon was the next stop--Kate's Quilted Rooster -- A shop in an old storefront--can't remember what is was, but the only sign you have is on the marquee. I bought some very cool rock fabric here--red and blue. I would have bought it in many colors, but that's all there are.

Our next stop was Bend, Oregon. We arrive about 8:00, so went to bed without shopping in Bend. We took a class on Wednesday, but shopped that afternoon at

• BJ's Quilt Basket--I almost resisted, but decided I would start collecting dragon fly fabric. They had a fun one there so I bought a yard.
  

The next day we went into Sisters. We thought it would be better not to try to get in the store during the quilt show.

• The Stitchin' Post is a nice store, too. We didn't even attempt to go in on Saturday. I held off here--no purchasing.
• On the way back into Bend we decided we had to visit the other store, Sew Many Quilts. It doesn't have a web site, it might be too new. The store had a bus parked in front of it, and a store full of quilters. It was Friday. We didn't spend much time there and went off to the last store in Bend
• Mountain Country Mercantile Fabric. They don't seem to have a web site either. A really large store--where I bought another book "Accidental Landscapes" and a few more pieces of fabric, including another dragonfly fabric.

After the show we continued to sew--we got home Sunday night so had time to finish. I finished the top, minus the borders and also finished a shirt for Joe. I bought the fabric on the way up to Sisters in a town called Chico. I know most of people think it is a bit whacko, but the hubby loves it. I finished it before I got home--buttons and everything.

I'm going to be making some shopping bags for my sister and one of my sisters in law. I think it will be fun. I certainly have enough fabric to do about 2 million or so. I bought some webbing for the handles yesterday (yes, more fabric purchasing aacckkk!) and I am going to just do a simple bag. I found a very cool site that has a set of links to many fabric shopping bags. I'm not really going to use a pattern, I just used them to get the approximate size for the bags.

Almost back from Sisters

Here's what I've been doing. I expected more people than were there--of course we did arrive on Saturday about 6:30. We got to see the quilts being put up, we got to enjoy the wonderful cool weather--and by the time we left there were many more people.
One of the many quilts pictures I took. This was a series done by a local quilt guild--I liked them a lot.
And here is what I did. I took a paper piecing class with my sister--but I hate paper piecing so I figured out how to piece the quilt using strips of fabric. We called it the quilt that never ends. There are lots and lots of seams in each block--but I think it came out looking good. The original paper piecing blocks were 5 inches finished--these are 9--so I made a top instead of a wall hanging and I added a couple of rows to make it rectangular instead of square.

More when I get home. I'm flying home tonight and will arrive in Colorado just about midnight.

Off to Sisters

Tomorrow morning early I'm off to California, then to Sisters Oregon for the quilt show on the 12th. I'm not bringing a computer with me, so I'll take pictures and blog when I get back.

Have a happy 4th of July.

Starching

I just wanted to mention that I decided to try a starch on the next pattern I'm making because of all the bias edges. I have the flaking and residue left from spray starch in the bottle. I was in my local Ben Franklin's and saw a product that I decided to try. It's Mary Ellen's Best Press. I got the unscented because lots of smells bother me--it works great. So far I've used it on binding strips as I pressed them in half, and the kite shapes for the spider quilt I am making. The fabric is nice and crisp, and doesn't seem to distort. It was $7.95 for a 16 oz. hand spray bottle (so low environmental impact). I don't seem to do very well with bias edges, and heard about using starch to make the fabric less liable to stretch. I'll let you know if it works for me.

Just need binding

I love the way both of these quilts look. The dragonflies pattern on the spin cycle is great, and the meander is cool too. I had them quilted and they do such a great job on set up and follow through. These are machine guided, and so well done.

Now on to the bindings--hope I get them done today, because I leave for California on Thursday--on my way to the Sisters quilt show with my sister (how appropriate).