It Does Get Better, Right?

I am trying to get things de-cluttered and organized in several areas of my house so I can get this longarm moved in. Things sure seem to be a big mess right now, but they say things get worse before they get better. Hopefully this will be better soon!

The machine is in the soon-to-be sewing/guest room. The frame is in the tool shed. There is a room at one end of the tool shed where the seed is stored after it is delivered until it gets planted. I told Husband that office would make a great quilt studio. It is insulated and could be cooled with a window A/C and heated with a stand alone heater. It is big enough for the longarm, the huge ironing board that was sent home with me with the machine, the huge cutting table now residing in my garage, 

and all my fabric. I suggested he think about retiring from farming so I could have that office. Sounds good, right?

Not likely to happen any time soon. So, I am working on the sewing/guest room. I want to get the bed frame, box springs and mattress set up with a bed-side table. My son still has lots of stuff in there that he hasn't gone through yet to decide what he wants to keep and what can go. For now there are boxes on boxes that need to come out to make room for the bed. I have some under-bed storage tubs that will help store some of it. The rest will go upstairs into the black hole of forgotten items.

Next, I pulled all the fabric and yarn from the pie safe, bins, and shelves that I could find.

Some of this yarn will be going to quilt retreat later this week to pass on to any one who wants it. I have had it far too long without doing anything with it. Time for it to go. Some of the ladies do charity knitting so I am sure it will get taken.

Then, I began to measure, label and stack fabric by yardage. 

This is fabric left over from project for a friend. There is enough to make something.

Projects were bundled and labeled with the steps needed to complete them.

Starting at the top, left - 

Exchange quilt last year - needs blocked sashed, top assembled, quilted

Exchange quilt the year before - needs blocked sashed, top assembled, quilted 

Blooming Stars bed runner for my mom - needs quilted

Fading Charms quilt - needs piecing, top assembled, quilted 

Ombre Stripes quilt - needs more strips cut, top assembled, quilted 

Batik Snowflakes quilt - not started

Four Patch on Point quilt - needs sashing cut, top assembled, quilted

This bin rack is behind my MegaQuilter set up, before...

...and after.

Starting at the top, left is a dark blue wide back with no plans, yet. The grays are for sashing and backing of a T-shirt quilt in progress; right is 3 projects ready for quilting. They are bundled with their backing and binding fabrics.  

Second shelf is more wide backings and projects ready for quilting.

The third and fourth shelves are smaller bins filled with yarn, some bundled with patterns for planned projects - a sweater, Knitted Knockers, socks. One tub is still... empty!

Next, on to the pie safe...

Projects went into the pie safe, on the top shelf, along with the yardage of white, cream, gray and black solids, on the second shelf. The third shelf holds small cuts and pieces of light neutrals for backgrounds and yardage of black. The bottom shelf has a mish-mash of things that will probably get moved to other spots. 

In the sewing room there is a nice shelf on the wall over where the sewing table is and will stay. I began making stacks by yardage there. 

 Starting on the left is yardage 3 yards and over, next 3 yards, then less than 2 yards but more than 1 yard, then 1 yard, then less than 1 yard but more than 1/2 yard, then 1/2 yard, then full 1/4 yard, then fat quarters. Anything smaller than that will go into a different storage system.

This does not include the fabric stored upstairs. I have a big cabinet up there full of fabric sorted by color.

I want this room to still feel a little like home for my son when he comes to visit so I don't plan to paint it, at least for a while. I will replace the curtains which are a made from deer pillow panels that he picked out several years ago. I think something more neutral will work. He plans to take the fish and asked us to store the aquarium and stand until he can figure out if he can manage it at his tiny apartment. That will go into the basement and I will have room for the huge ironing board and a design wall.

My goad today is to get that room emptied out on the end the bed will go and get the bed set up. Guess I better get busy!

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts is

hosting Design Wall Mondays and  

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to 

finish '18 in 2018'.

Check them out.

I'm A Lucky Girl!

I had a birthday the other day. It was a big one. 

Recently Husband has been gifting me with some wonderful things. I came home from grocery shopping the other day and he had a post up on Facebook he wanted me to look at. He said, "You need this." We picked it up a few days later.

Sadly, it is the cutting table from the quilt shop that closed earlier this month. But, I am finding that it is a great table.

I trimmed this quilt this morning, 

getting it ready for binding.

It has spaces on the side that were 

used to display bolts of fabric.

Since this is living in my garage I won't be putting 

bolts of fabric there, but this cooler fits there. 

Then, I had been thinking of getting a different cell phone. I have had mine for quite a few years. It is small, but fits well in my pocket. I only used it for texting and calling, no data. Recently it began not staying charged all day. Husband told me to go get what I wanted/needed - phone, case, cables.

I ended up with something that works well, but I am still getting used to. 

It is quite a bit bigger than my old phone so it doesn't fit well in my pocket, but it has a bigger screen so I will be able to see things easily. I can set unlimited alarms which I use for school. My day changes every 20-30 minutes and alarms help me keep on track. I did upgrade my plan to include data so I can take and send pictures, email, Facebook/Messenger, GPS, games. And, my monthly bill isn't going up as much as I thought it might. 

Let me tell you a little story about shopping for this phone. My carrier is AT&T. I have a automatic pay-as-you-go plan. My first stop was the AT&T store. As soon as the sales person heard me say pay-as-you-go he responded that they don't stock many of those phones and he doubted that they even had any but would look in the back. He came back with a box that he never opened and said that they were required to sell me a different data plan. He suggested that I go to Best Buy. So, I did. The sales person there could not have been more helpful. He showed me what they had available, explained the different features well, and was even willing to transfer my contacts to my new phone, MANUALLY! I told him of my experience with the AT&T store and he said I was the third person that week who had been in with the same story. They didn't have any cases except the very basic plain - in black or white - but he got me set up with an extra charging cord to keep in the car and a Popsocket grip and stand, which I didn't really care about but it lowered the price. I have ordered a prettier, more protective case, glass screen protector and holster so I can wear this phone since it doesn't fit well in some of my pockets.

And, then, my quilty friends called and wondered if I wanted to join them on a fabric acquisition trip. Of course! Husband said, 'Get whatever you want". So I did.

From the left - a paisley print, just because I like it, plus the fabrics in that bundle on the right so well with it, two gray fabrics that will be used as sashing in t-shirt quilts, three batiks for the stash, a light gray and paisley for the stash. 

They were having a sale on batiks, which I LOVE, so it was hard not to buy more. I picked up this butterfly batik, put it back, picked it up and put it back again, finally put it in my cart and picked out some others to go with it.

 

I am a lucky girl. My husband is so generous and understanding of my quilting addiction!

My Poor Garden

Newly planted in 2016

My garden did not do well at all this year.

A couple of years ago Husband gave me a raised bed because I had complained of heartburn from bending when working in the garden.

Covered raised bed 2018

This year he added a raised bed with covers because we have a had issues with the wind destroying plants.

Peppers and cucumber seeds 2018

I researched and used what was most recommended to fill the beds - equal parts top soil and composted cow manure. 

 

I planted green peppers and started green beans and cucumbers from seed in the covered bed.

Garden area

I put a tomato plant, and sowed lettuce and radish seeds, and later transferred the sprouted cucumbers to the uncovered raised bed.

A lonely green bean

I planted potatoes in tubs, summer squash in a hay bale and a zucchini plant in the ground on the other side of the hay bale and pea seeds went directly into the ground between the raised beds. 

None of it is doing well. 

Sad green beans

The peppers and green beans have lost their leaves, perhaps to bugs or birds, I don't know. 

Spindly tomato

Half of the green beans have died.

The peas are struggling and I doubt if they even produce peas.

The zucchini died. 

The radishes got about as big as a marble. 

The lettuce didn't do well at all.

I have gotten 3 tomatoes with 2 more about to ripen.

Potatoes - or should I say potato since this is all that is left

The cucumbers are just not growing. My neighbor is getting 4-5 cucumbers a day from her garden, that she planted after I planted mine.

Summer squash in a hay bale

The potatoes have all been eaten by something. I never see what is doing it.

 
The summer squash planted in the hay bale is better than anything else I planted.

Volunteer cucumbers possibly

But, the thing that is doing the best is whatever this is growing UNDER the covered raised bed. I did not plant it. It is growing beautifully and has lots of blossoms on it. Crazy. I think it is probably cucumbers. 

The rest of my yard does not look wonderful, either.

The apples are very small and bug-eaten. 

 

Purple Coneflower

Plants have not bloomed well, and when they did the bugs - Japanese beetle and some other unidentified insects - have destroyed them.

 

This Hosta has had curled leaves for about a month. None of the others do. I don't know what is going on with this one.

But, this Hibiscus if finally blooming. 


My foot is there for size. 


They are huge!
 


And, it is loaded with buds. 




I can't wait to see this with more blooms.

I hope I can figure out what went wrong this year. We joke that it is a good thing we don't have to rely on the garden to feed us. We would starve!

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts is 

hosting Design Wall Mondays and  

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to 

finish '18 in 2018'.

Check them out.

Fair Finale

I helped close up the fair building on Monday.

Here is the quilt display during the fair.

And on closing day after all the projects have been picked up.

We push all the display cases to the sides. People rent the space to store RVs/campers and other items in here during the winter.

Here are my projects and placements...

A tiny knitted hat that did not place and a tiny knitted scarf on tiny needles (toothpicks with beads on the ends) inside a glass ball. I was surprised to get a blue ribbon on the knitted scarf. It was so easy to make I really didn't think it would place that high.

A third (on left) in Quilt Top Pieced by Owner, Machine Quilted by Owner or Other. 
And no placement for the quilt on the right.
 

A second (on right) and third (on left) in Quilt Top Pieced by Owner, Machine Quilted by Owner.

A second on one birdhouse. The other didn't place. 

Third place for my Collection Under 25 Years. These are Salt and Pepper sets the my brother had given me. My son and niece decided to continue the tradition this past year after he passed.

Did not place with Collection 25 - 75 years old. These are pieces that I have been given or inherited from family members - a pie plate (it has a raised floral design that doesn't show up in the pic), pastry blender, rolling pin, Fiestaware dessert plate, Fiesta cup and saucer and tea strainer.

Twelve inch quilt blocks on the right got first and second. The six inch hummingbird block block got third and the pieced one above it did not place. I was disappointed with not placing with that one because the pieces are pretty small and I made sure it was perfectly pieced. Oh, well.

I am happy to be able to help the day of judging so I can see all quilts in all their glory. You can see from the above photos that not much of them shows by the time they are folded up to fit in our allotted space.  

My son received a first place with his project.

His project has special meaning for him - my brother was a police officer and he has several friends who are on volunteer fire/EMT departments.

So, another fair finished and closed up. Now I need to think about projects for next year!

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts is 

hosting Design Wall Mondays and  

What a Hoot Quilts is challenging quilters to 

finish '18 in 2018'.

Check them out.