Finishes!

 Hawkins called yesterday asking if I wanted to go to Galveston for Valentine's weekend.  It would be the 1st trip in the camper.  Sure, let's try it before the big Lake Waco trip the 1st week of March.  

It also really motivated me to finish the promised café curtains for the windows and the bed quilt. 

This quilt really turned out swell!  

 

 

Cheerful little café curtains for the camper windows

I used a little warm-up time to stitch a few improvisational strip lengths.  I usually stitch and press, then stitch and press but I went all rogue and just stitched yesterday.  I'm just trying to capture the leftover pieces from the latest group of quilts into a manageable piece.  

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Destashing Fabrics & Finishing Quilts

Time moves forward. It seems to be changing lately too.  I'm sure it has something to do with Hawkins and our desire to get out and explore the world together.  Toward that end I find myself less and less interested in sewing or doing projects I only halfway care about completing.  

When I was helping my friend unload her storage unit the other day she made an interesting comment:  I've moved past a lot of this stuff and that makes it easier to let loose of it.

That made perfect sense to me.  I have moved past a lot of my gifted stash fabric.  I've used huge quantities of it and I'm tired of it.  Plain and simple.  I've let it "go first" before my favorite fabrics.  I want to sew with my favorite fabrics now. 

I took a good hard look at the fabrics in my (what would be my master bedroom) fabric storage room.  I did a pretty big destashing last summer of miscellaneous (other than quilting cottons) fabrics. There is still a large amount of fabrics I could return to my friend Mary.  Over the years Mary has given me lots of fabrics.  If I return the ones I doubt I will ever use again I will have emptied my room of 4 very large  and 2 large tubs.  I texted Mary and she graciously agreed to accept the fabrics back.  I'll be having an outdoor patio lunch with her this week to return the tubs of fabrics.

I plan to finish the current stack of charity quilt tops (about 30 or 40!) and then I am closing that chapter of my sewing career.  

My current projects continue.  I'm hoping to reach the finish line this week on a few quilts in progress.  

I cannot go to bed tonight until the queen sized scrap bricks quilt is bound!  

I pieced this baby wale corduroy and denim quilt a few years ago.  It needs a few more rows (which I cut on Saturday) to get it to queen size.  It seems like a good camping quilt.  I unearthed a thrifted twin duvet cover from IKEA.  With opened seams it will be the right size for the backing. 

What's hanging over your head?

How do you plan to deal with it?

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Park at Hughes Landing & Bricks Layout

I met a client/friend in The Woodlands yesterday.  She was staying in a very pretty newly developed park area so while I waited for her I took some pictures.  The area is called Hughes Landing and is developed by the Hughes Corporation (of the famed Howard Hughes).  Great public art with a body of water.

These sculptures are Fenris Glacier, Karale Glacier and Midgard Glacier by Julie Speidel.  Measuring 10' tall out of stainless steel, they are named after glaciers in Greenland.  Clearly, we don't have glaciers in Houston but I immediately recognized them as glaciers even though I have never seen one in person.  

While walking along one of the sidewalks I noticed the brick layout.  Of course I did! Quilt patterns are everywhere.  I'm sure they consulted some notable quilting books before laying that sidewalk.  😎😎

I've been mindlessly (I mean meditatively) sewing pairs of bricks together in 2 row formations just like this sidewalk for a future scrap quilt.  I immediately came home and laid out the same staggered arrangement to see how it would look in multi-fabrics.  I'm clever like that.

It's a little more dramatic in the sidewalk solid colored layout but the multi-fabrics help me scrapbust my stash.  It will be good for the longarm since I won't have to match the seams on alternating rows.  Two rows are already sewn and matched so I can offset the following 2 rows.

Nothing like Mallard Ducks on an early spring day! 

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Bricks/Coin Quilt: Greyed Blues & Florals

 I have a couple of stacks of possible quilts laying around my studio.  They have various pieces and parts already cut or sewn or both.  I'm on a mission to get them finished into usable quilts.  Granted they have been languishing 8+ years but I can't deny the immediate urge I have to finish them.  So because I can I am following the urge.

I cut out a massive stack of brick pieces (3½ x 6½") from some very ordinary fabrics back in 2014.  It was an effort to purge fabrics and sew some charity quilts.  One box had predominantly greyed blue prints.  From the moment I cut them they've been a design challenge I couldn't really figure out.   

They moved to the top of the stack last week.  I also pulled some lengths of leftover quilt backings that had been sheets and curtains.   I originally thought I'd cut those lengths into more bricks.  Yea, what was I thinking?  I came to my senses yesterday.  I'll alternate the greyed blue bricks with the big floral strips.  

I anticipate the greyed blue bricks sitting on a floral surface.  I'll see how that plays out! 

I need to remember:  Stay in Your Magic Baby!  that includes not making more work and getting some projects finished. 

I did a good amount of meditative stitching yesterday.  I expect to follow up with more stitching today.  I'll likely finish the 10 brick strips.  My plan is a queen size quilt.  I had a pieced backing I pulled out of my stash for this quilt. 

I've gathered a pretty good assortment of scraps I can sew end to end and wind on a cardboard reel for future scrap quilts.  I have a pretty big collection of these strips ready to go so maybe this spring I can clear out more fabrics with some strippy quilts.

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Argosy Trailer Renovation & A Wall Hanging Sale

The camper renovation went into high gear this weekend.  Hawkins had his plumber friend come out to help him.  They stayed focused long after I went home.  By night fall they had the toilet installed and water coming into the trailer.  

With a little urging Hawkins decided to remove the useless cabinets over the kitchen area.  They were mainly housing the light and  oversized exhaust fan with a smidgeon of space for a few glasses or cups.  After banging our heads on it enough in one day he took the crowbar to it.  There's plenty of storage under the platform bed.  Besides, this is mainly a weekend trailer for short trips.  And, there's the Denali with a huge cargo area for the overflow.  😎😎

 When Hawkins removed the refrigerator he no longer needed the propane exhaust vent.  So that came down.  Since it was also going through the cabinet space, it just seemed like the logical choice was to remove the cabinet. 

The interior wall covering is a heavy vinyl.  Not wonderful but serviceable.  I scrubbed it pretty well yesterday and years of dirt came off easily.  The manufacturers used a boatload of rivets to hold the trailer together.  The beautiful avocado green towel holder is even riveted to the wall.  That will definitely go away soon! 

Just when I thought I might close my Poshmark closet I sold one of my wall hangings.  It's always been a favorite and I hope the new owner feels the same way.  I stitched it circa 2012 with some machine embroidered birds.

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Can you believe it is already February?

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