Moving My Piles Around

That's what my husband calls it whenever I try to clean/declutter/organize my things.

He's not wrong.

I am STILL trying to get my sewing areas better organized. I really, really dislike having to move something to get to something else. I also like to have things in sight and easy to reach.

I decided the sewing area in the corner of the living room needed to be a little more tidy.

I have an eight drawer unit that holds scraps organized by size. It had gotten really messy. At least two drawers were filled with miscellaneous items that definitely were not fabric. That caused me to forget which drawer held the 2 1/2" strips or the 3" strips and I had to open several drawers to find what I was looking for. 

Those drawers and the whole area is now cleaned out and better organized. I have two projects that I am actively working on behind the sewing machine. On the bulletin board are patterns and instructions that I refer to frequently. The cutting and ironing mats are clean and easily accessible. The machine on the floor will have the walking foot put on and left on so I don't have to remove feet every time I want to bind a quilt.

But, now I have another problem.

The things that came out of the drawer unit are now piles on the big ironing board in the sewing/guest room. Now you know why Husband says I am just moving my piles around! Most of these things will go into the green cabinet he got for me so it's not as bad as it looks.

Notice the wooden bin full of fabric on the right. My son made that when he was in high school. It is suppose to be a casserole carrier/trivet kind of thing. 

I was, and still am, proud that he made that and gave it to me. But, I knew I would not use it as a casserole carrier. I don't have any bakeware that would work with it. I felt bad. Then one day I needed to move some fabric for a project from one area to another. I had an AHA moment. I covered a paint canvas thing that I found at a craft store with muslin to make a solid bottom.

And filled it with fabric!

Works great for that and I am using it. These are some of the fabrics I am using for the 365 Challenge and I need to keep them together but separate from other fabrics so I don't accidentally use them for

something else.

And, speaking of the sewing/guest room, Son had installed a switch plate cover that fit with his hunting theme. 

He has asked for it for to put in his 'man cave' room in the house he rents. So I needed a new switch plate cover.

I haven't actually made the switch (ha ha) yet as I just got the new one, but it is on my to-do list to do soon.

Retreat

I did handwork on Thursday and Friday because we were filled to capacity. On Saturday and Sunday several people had left so I had a space at a table to set up my machine and sew.
I completed this Fab 5 Windmills.

It needs one yard each of five different fabrics for the top. The backing and binding are extra. I had purchased a 5-yard bundle of grays and whites recently and it worked perfectly for this quilt. I have been thinking I might need a few quilts in my stash that would be suited for guys. I removed one of the gray prints that had large flowers on it and replaced it with the red that I had in my stash. (Gotta love having a stash!) I have a wide backing that will work well and the binding is already cut from the red.
I worked on a scrappy quilt that I started a few years ago. I will post that when I get the top together.

There was a lot of hard work going on and lots of Show and Tell.

 On the left a three yard quilt pattern. On the right a flannel quilt for someone's husband.

 On the left a bordered panel (I was too close to get the entire quilt, but I love that border). On the right a kit from a favorite quilt shop.

 On the left that same kit made by a different quilter. Both quilters making this kit are in the picture. On the right a quilt made with a lovely lilac print.

On the left a Churn Dash in three different sizes. The quilter who made this quilt belongs to a guild that several of the retreaters belong to. There has been much grumbling about the 3" churn dash blocks required for this quilt. On the right two rows of an Illusion quilt. Also in the picture on the right is a quilter holding a tree made from quilt fabrics.

 On the left a beautiful 4-patch quilt top in progress. On the right a basket sampler quilt that several of the Thursday Sew Day quilters are working on.

 On the left a cuddly flannel quilt for a quilter's grandchild. On the right a quilted, not bound yet, quilt for a grandchild. The print is dancing Hula Bears.

 On the left a HST pattern. It is hard to see but the fabric is very cute. On the left a top made using Missouri Star Quilt Company's pattern Quartrefoil.

A lovely scrappy 36 patch with tiny star cornerstones.

I was gifted everyone's bonus HSTs.

And, this lovely tin full of teeny tiny pieces.

I think the quilter had a plan, but there are no notes or pattern in the tin. I will have to give this some thought.

All that's left now is to unpack.

On My Wall

To see what other quilters are up to go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

I still need to trim and sew the binding on this quilt.

I hope to get that done today.

I had hoped to do that at retreat, but just didn't get around to getting it trimmed and the binding attached by machine. I underestimate how much time I have in the mornings. Oh well, retreat was still productive for me.

We were filled to capacity this time so I took handwork the first two days so that other quilters could have access to outlets and table space. I finished the Christmas tree skirt for Son and his GF.

I think it is really cute and the non-traditional colors will suit them well.

I made this cute bee wool applique that I am going to gift to my niece for Christmas. She has a wall display of her dad's bee-keeping items. I am hoping this will fit right in. 

I happened to have the cute display easel for a project I am working on, but my project is smaller than the bee piece.

I think it is better suited to the bee.

And, of course, I worked on the GFG pieces. 

I have 8 more to make than I can work on adding the green diamonds around each 'flower'.

I have more retreat pictures but will save them for another post.

Packed

for retreat!

I am only taking this one bag. We have a full house today so I am taking handwork so as not to take up a space that could be used by a sewing machine. 

Along with my supper and beverages I have the Christmas tree skirt to bind, Grandmother's Flower Garden hexies 

to baste and stitch together and a wool applique pincushion to work on. 

I think I am set for the day since I have several GFG flowers to make yet. 

If I need to take handwork tomorrow I have the Ten Minute Tiles quilt to bind plus GFG.

A local church has a Simple Blessings meal on the fourth Thursday each month. One of the quilt ladies takes our 'order' and picks it all up for us. That will be lunch. 

Off I go!

Quilts and Cards

I finished the quilting on Ten Minute Tiles. 

My goal was to do that and get the machine sewing part of the binding done so I could do the hand sewing part at retreat if I needed to have more handwork. The plan is the get the binding made and sewn on tomorrow morning before I leave for retreat.

Before I started quilting this morning I made a couple of simple Halloween cards for Son and his GF.

These are simple, but I managed to smear the ink on one. I cut off the flap that I smeared and tried again with the flap that hadn't been stamped yet. 

I love the big ironing board. 

It is a great work surface. I use it all the time for things other than ironing.

More Filters

I have been working on getting this quilt quilted.

When I took a little break I decided to take a couple for pictures using filters.

This is Alpaca

This is Bazaar

This is Blush

This is Eiffel

This is Metro

This is Modena

This is Ollie

This is Palma

This is Reel

This is Vista

This is Vogue

This is West

I generally use West, but sometimes I just don't like the way a pic looks so I may try using the filters more often. 

I can see definite differences in some of them, but some of them look same to me.

I can see how the black and white filters would be helpful in deciding values when picking fabrics. 

I do find the names interesting. 

I wonder who comes up with them?