Pinch Me!

I mentioned to Dash how I wished I had more room for my quilting. 

The next thing I knew we were moving the home office into a small desk in the guest bedroom and the entire room was all mine. 

The room is only 10 foot by 10 foot with an extra cubby area that used to be the closet.

First up was the light. I asked Dash to get a florescent one with four bulbs. Dash said he picked out this one because it looked like quilt blocks. I love that man. No, you can't...he is mine.

On the door-way wall I built a design wall. It is six by six foot. I followed this tutorial to build the wall, click here. For my friends that don't quilt, a design wall is a place to hang blocks to see how they look, it's made with flannel so the cotton blocks kind of "stick" to it or can be pinned in place.

In front of the design wall is my pressing station. It is indescribable how awesome this thing is. The top is 62 by 24 inches. See all that storage? It rolls very easily, even on the carpet. I can't take any credit for the genius of this idea...click here to see how it's made.

I learned how to make elastic casing sewing the ironing board cover. I nearly made it too tight to put on! This is the tutorial I followed, click here.

This view shows how much of my design wall is still usable when the ironing station is in front of it. My cutting mat, rulers and a four foot folding table are leaning against the wall at the end of the unit. I haven't decided if I want to put up a pegboard to hang stuff on or what so there it sits until then.

To the left is the doorway.

I learned to sew lined curtains to match the pressing station. Curtains are surprisingly easy to create! I used this tutorial, click here. The fabric is a Kansas Troubles print called Clara's Garden.

I added a second bookcase for more storage. I'm sure things will change over and over until I work out the most convenient place for everything. 

You've seen my computer cubby before. The sewing desk is right behind so I just turn the chair around for each task. Lots of storage above the desk too. 

Every time I look in my craft room I think I'm dreaming. I think I'm way too excited about having it! It seemed to take forever to get everything together, made and put in place and now that it's done I don't know what to do. What to create next? I bet it doesn't take too long to come up with something! 

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

ORTs. Two For One

It's a Bargain Sale this New Moon! I am so sorry for disappearing without warning. I have been completely unable to reach the desk where I stitch and blog. The entire room has been torn asunder the past several weeks as it undergoes a bit of renovation. Here are a couple of photos on a rather straightened up day.

Most days it was much, much worse.

I am seeing the light at the end. Which is good. It's been weeks since I have done any crafting. I am becoming rather cranky about it.

I promise to be back with some awesome photos when Dash and I finish the re-do. I think you will like what we've been busy with!

My ORTs for June are the ones I collected for the May Totally Useless Stitch A Long. Remember I was sewing a purse? That was the last thing I crafted before all hell broke loose and my room became unlivable. It turned out totally sweet!

 =^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your May and/or June TUSAL post(s) so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Totally Useless ORTs

It's the New Moon...time for our Totally Useless Stitch A Long posts! The waning moon was awesome these past few days. The crescent was HUGE and hung low in the early morning sky. I admired it every morning as I drove to work. So beautiful!

I'm very pleased to have a few cross stitching ORTs in my little jar. It's been quite bare of late.

My sewing ORTs are abundant. I really got after one of the Charm packs and sewed and trimmed and sewed again. All this activity made some pretty ORTs for my bowl!

I meant to take some progress photos but I got so involved...I forgot. Whoops! This is the outside panel of what will become a purse. The wide black section in the middle is what will be the base (bottom) part. I still need to quilt this to the batting and sew the lining and strap. Maybe I will remember to take progress pictures? I get carried away!

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Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your April TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Stashing

The general consensus should be to not let me loose with a debit card. This pile is most of my recent stash buys. I do quite a lot of my shopping online these days but I have ventured out a time or two lately. I got a great deal on an Olfa rotating mat. Several charm packs and matching yardage. A Creative Grids Pineapple Trim Tool ruler and the pattern to go with.Orange Aurifil thread. A couple of on-sale fat quarters and to top it all off a fat quarter bundle of Moda's new Bees 'n Blooms by Kansas Troubles. I'm tentatively thinking of doing a pineapple quilt in the Bees 'n Blooms.

Not pictured are some new Creative Grids rulers, a 16.5 square and a 6.5 by 24.5 rectangle. I am going to replace all my standard rulers with the Creative Grids, they are soooo nice! Unless it is a specialty ruler, I will never buy another brand. 

The charm packs pictured are hoping to be turned into purses. I get quite a few compliments on my handbags! Purses are fun and easy to make and you will never meet another lady carrying your bag, lol. I'm hoping to have some photos for you soon.

Have you been stashing lately? Let us see!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Finery Revisited

This WIP hasn't seen the light of day since 2012. It somehow awoke and started calling out every now and then. I finally dug it out just to get it to shut up! In the course of searching for the safe place I put it I may have awoken a few other WIPs as well...

Here is Finery of Nature with a few more stitches added:

Three years ago I was using the lightbox to stitch this. I need to get it out again. This black fabric is a booger to see. The lightbox is on the shelf in the basement. I'm just too tired to go downstairs and get it!

Do your old WIPs wake up and cry or am I the only one haunted this way? Do you even have any neglected WIPs? I think for most of us that might be a silly question! Why not dig through them and see if one wakes up? Then you can post about it and show us!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Belle of Belfast

I'll tell me ma when I go home,

The boys won't leave the girls alone.

They pulled my hair, they stole my comb,

But that's all right 'til I go home.

She is handsome, she is pretty,

She's the belle of Belfast City,

She goes courtin', a one, two, three

Please won't you tell me who is she?

I never shared my finished Irish chain quilt with you. I must have been very tired when I took these extremely unflattering photos of it! It is so snuggly. I should know, I snuggle underneath it almost every afternoon!

I quilted it with a nice crosshatch between the points. It's bound with leftover scraps.

Design ~ Irish Chain

Pattern ~ Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Fabric ~ Paula Barnes Companions, Jelly Roll and Miniature Gatherings, yardage.

Size ~ 70 x 81 inches

This was an incredibly fun project. As soon as it was finished I was fighting the impulse to begin another one...if I hadn't had the t-shirt project to start I'm sure I would have given in! One day I will make another one, maybe in postage stamp size. I only have like ten or twelve projects planned out in my head. Waiting their turn.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

The Mystery Box

A while back a HUGE box arrived at our house. One. Big. Box. Dash and I both denied ordering anything that would come in such a large box.

I ordered 3 pairs of white gloves, Dash said. These for folding the flag at Veteran's funerals for the PGR. Three pairs of gloves would not come in an 18 inch box, would they?

I ordered a $10 pair of earrings with free shipping. Surely they wouldn't send a teeny jewelry item in a giant box and express ship it for nothing?

Ha! I won! 

Inside the ginormous shipping box was this cleverly secured gift box. 

And my tiny pair of $10 earrings, safe and sound. (Yes, She Went To Jared.) Rest assured, if you order from Jared, they sure don't skimp on the shipping...even if it is free.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Channeling ol' Rip

How can we already be more than a week into March? I swear I don't know where the time goes. I know I have to take too many naps these days and when I look at the calendar I feel like Rip Van Winkle, sleeping 20 years of his life away.

Anyway, it's the New Moon again and I have a TON of ORTs to show off!

Okay, maybe that is just a little bit cheating. Those aren't really and truly ORTs are they? I saved them just in case they counted, lol! These are the bits and pieces of T-shirts left over after creating quilt blocks out of them!

Here are my real ORTs. I've been too busy preparing to create to actually create anything. I did play around with a few fabrics, teaching myself the best ways of making hourglass blocks, You can see the teeny triangles; dog ears I trimmed off. The bits of black are from making sashing strips for said T-shirt quilt. This is a request project for my dear sister-in-law.

Here are the T-shirt blocks, ready to begin sashing with the black strips. I just have to get up the energy to start. Maybe after a little nap...

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your March TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Four Totally Useless Photos

I wish the New Moon would stop sneaking up on me. It seems to keep catching me out, lately! Yesterday was the New Moon...let's see some ORTs, people! I really haven't done much in the last month. I'm still working on the Irish chain quilt and that's just binding which doesn't create a lot of ORTs to toss, a few...but not much. I did cut some scrap fabrics into 2 inch squares for my leader-ender quilt, I even cut up the bit of binding I had leftover!

Here are my fabric scraps. I nestled my bowl into my WIP. I'm hoping to get this binding finished this coming weekend. It's only hand sewing left, which I love to do in the evenings while watching TV but I haven't had time! Oh, I take that back...we are in the big middle of watching Sons of Anarchy on Netflix...I simply cannot take my eyes off the TV to even sew! OK, that's enough. Don't Judge!

Here is a photo of my sad little cross stitching ORTs. Which are zilch. It's so empty - it sparkles.

Just for fun, I thought I'd show you a photo of all the ORTs I've collected over the years. When I dump the little jar...it goes in here.

And I dump the leaf bowl of fabric scraps into this one. The 2 1/2 gallon cookie jar was jam-packed full when I emptied it at the first of the year. I'm sure I will fill it again this year! Only fabric scraps too little to save go in here, along with empty needle envelopes, spools and other sewing jumbles. Scraps big enough are being trimmed to 2 inch squares, sorted light or dark.

=^..^=

Now it is YOUR turn...we want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your February TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox 

Under the Stars

A few years ago Dash and I stayed in a cheesy motel room. On the bed was a manufactured quilt. It wasn't a "printed" design, it was actually pieced but not handmade. It was lovely; all different plaids and I loved it. I wanted one for my bed at home. No one I knows quilts. It was then I decided to learn how to quilt, simply to have a quilt for my bed made my me.

I made a quilt. I made some rag quilts. I made another quilt. I made pillowcases and pillow shams. I sewed purses. I sewed tote bags. I made pot holders and an oven mitt. All the while, I was learning how to sew and how to follow directions and learning what can be done with fabric. I had fun! I still hadn't done what I set out to do...make a quilt for my bed! I had been saving up fabrics for this dream quilt. I knew I wanted it scrappy but I could not decide on a design.

Then I saw it. Every Friday, Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Co. releases a new video tutorial on YouTube. One week she presented a quilt called Under the Stars. Oh, how lovely. It looked complicated but was truly very easy. I could do this! I gathered up the fabrics required and started...

Here is how it turned out:

Quilt stats:

Size 113 x 113 inches, King

Started July 2015, top finished November 2015

Quilted by Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Top fabrics, various.

Backing fabric, Clara's Garden by Kansas Troubles

Binding fabric, Old Cambridge Pike "Fruitlands"  by Barbara Brackman

I am just thrilled with how it turned out! My bed is so cozy...

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox