Tidying

I got the shelves, now I need to purge and figure out how to fit everything where it belongs so I can keep it neat. The first step is take all of the fabric out and look at each piece to decide if I want it, and if I do, how I will store it so I can find it and put it back when I am done.

I didn't get a picture before I took anything out, but here it is with most of the fabric and stuff still in the closet. You can see I have each cubby stuffed full.

Here is all the fabric from the top section on the kitchen table (with my pressing board put into service to hold the extra). I don't know if it looks like much here, but it is a bit embarrassing. Now to go through each piece and decide if it brings me joy and if I want to keep it. I also want to turn the cubbies in the closet sideways so instead of stacking the fabric I stand it on its side like a book so I can access it more easily and put it away more easily.

Now, to start!

This is amazing!

 Not a great picture...but I was able to make a cake at 8,600 feet and do you see it is not collapsed? The amazing thing however is that these were stuck in the pans and I was expecting them to be crumbs. Not a happy thought. So, how did I get them out of the pans you ask. Well, I asked Google of course. Google said I could freeze the cakes for 6 hours or more and they would then come out. I believe that would work. However I didn't want to wait that long. So I asked again, and this time Google said that I should wet a dishcloth and wrap it around the pan. Shake the pan and the cakes would loosen. I was doubtful, but it worked and I am amazed.




Next. My birthday was on Saturday and I decided I would like some shelves for my sewing room so I had room to set up my new quilting machine. I went to Ikea and purchased three Billy bookcases in white. I took out the three shelves I had attached to the walls and removed the storage I had painted last year. Once I go through and get rid of stuff that doesn't bring me joy I'll have plenty of space for everything. See!

Need More Storage...or more room

North Wall

Allie suggested I look for more storage by going up. I guess I'd have to reconfigure lots of stuff because I already have most of my walls full.  I haven't used them to their full extent I don't think. I also have many bins under the cutting table.

The possible solution is to get rid of some stuff. OH NO!

Anyone have any clever and inexpensive suggestions to my storage problems?

East Wall

South Wall

West Wall

under table storage

Sit Down Quilting Machine!

I got the Bailey's Home Quilter two days ago and I've been trying to figure it out since then. It was pretty easy to set up, though the light gave me a little problem. The stitching has been a problem. It kept skipping stitches, not picking up the bobbin. I think I have that figured out. I can't sew as slow as I was. I have to have the same type thread on top and in the bobbin and I had to work on adjusting the tension in both the top thread and the bobbin. I want to play with a lot before I start quilting so I get the idea better.

I don't have a lot of room in my sewing room for it. I may have to reconfigure the whole room. I only have a 11 x 13 room and when you put as much stuff in it as I have it gets very crowded. You can see I have quite a mess here. I moved stuff around so I could get the new machine in and a lot of it got thrown on the sewing/cutting table. I may need to figure out a new table for my regular machine, maybe something smaller. The problem with that is I have all kinds of stuff stored under the table.

What to do? What to do?

I'll post some pictures when I finally get something quilted, even if it's only a square of something.

Finishing up

I got my Bernina back from being serviced. Nice and smooth and quiet. I was able to quilt the last two octagons on this quilt. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the outside border area. I don't want to make it too fancy but it also needs to match the density in the interior of the quilt.

I also want to work on the hexagon maze. I only have these two blocks done, but this is going to be one of those quilts that will be done all at once because of the nature of the pattern. Each hexagon needs rounds of fabric, then they can be sewed together....lots of rounds of fabric. I have the grey done on all 25 except for one piece on each. I got sidetracked yesterday because the Bernina came back and I needed to finish the quilting that got interrupted.

I'm supposed to get my new quilting machine today. Here is a picture from the shop. It is from Bailey's Sewing in New York state and will certainly be easier to use with the large harp space. I'm pretty excited to see how it will work for me.

The finished quilt will be about 70 x 100, so will work for the guest room (I think). I just design and make them I don't plan them :-).

So much going on, but I'm having fun.

I'm linking to Lee at Freshly Pieced Modern today. Check out what others have in progress there.

New--Hexagon Maze

 here are two of the blocks for the new quilt. The pattern is the one shown below. I'm making it up as I go along, which means sometimes I cut pieces that don't fit because I don't measure well...oh well.

I like the pattern. It is going to be a bit complex to piece, but I don't seem to be able to design easy patterns. It took me a bit to figure out how to add that little vertical bit of fabric at the bottom of the block. I decided the easiest way was to top stitch down the sides. I unpicked a bit of the sewing between the grey and blue borders, stuck the bit of blue in and top-stitched. I like it.

The process is slow. I have 25 hexagons and each one has to have at least two rounds of fabric sewed on. I only have These two completed. The other 23 have just 6 of the 6 pieces needed for the first "round" of grey.

I am currently using my Featherweight because my Bernina was making horrible screeching noises. I guess after more than 25 years it needed professional care. I took it in to be tuned up last Tuesday so I should have it back soon.

The Featherweight is doing a great job (after I figured out how to put the bobbin in correctly) but it is a bit slow. It also seems I have to replace the bobbin a lot!

I'm linking up to Judy at Patchwork Times.

New Hexagon Quilt

Since I can't finish up quilting on my lily pad quilt I decided to work on something new. I was looking through my fabric and came across cut sets for these blocks. I have enough fabric to make maybe 10-20 more. They are only 8" across, so won't make a very big quilt.

I bought a light pearl gray and deep blue to go with them.

Using those fabrics and this layout I think I have another one I'll like. Because I don't have enough fabric for the kaleidoscope blocks I think I am going to make some of them from the blue. So I will have a mixture of the kaleidoscope blocks and solid blue blocks.

I'm linking to Esther's blog  and Freshly Pieced to share my WIP today.