At Present

I am happily now settled back in Washington State.  Each weekend I have tried to spend some time organizing and "moving in the sewing room" - ah, I'm still working at it.  But now when I walk in, I don't want to run right out. 


I've worked hard organizing fabric, and grouping elastics, zippers, buttons and etc. into their group home and then finding the place they go.  I have used up a lot of fabric garment sewing and I find a lot of my cubbies have free space, way to go me.  And honestly, other than my annual July big fabric purchase, I haven't bought that much.


I was delighted when I found out the 365 day quilt challenge is going to re-run in 2017, I wanted to do it last year (SO BAD) but too much was going on with house painting and gardening.  I have 4, yes 4, plastic hampers full of scraps and I want to do the challenge using these up!  I may aim to make two of each block. 

The above are fabrics from a kit I thrifted.  The kit was an ugly quilt, so I'm not surprised it was donated, but the fabrics aren't that bad (probably not what I would normally buy, but what the hay), and I chose a different pattern out of a magazine I liked (as pictured).  I'm also using some of these for the Westerning Women blocks.  I'm making two of each.  I figure as long as I am cutting, I might as well prep two to sew.  I hope to catch up in the final weeks of this year and then be ready to start the 365 day challenge.

My spare time has been spent cutting out a lot of garments.  I do this during A's T.V. time, what I consider my break.  I've been trying to cut out about two patterns a day, but sometimes it is more.  Somehow the cutting makes me feel that I get to sew.  I mean besides pillowcases, new pillows for the couch, Halloween costumes, and the huge stack of potholders I just prepped and pinned together.  Hopefully I finish the potholders by Christmas, well especially the Christmas ones.

I aim to get up a picture of the sewing room.  I now have a machine up on a frame, and I am really excited about it.  I loaded a quilt top from the thrift shop and have been free to accept whatever comes of my first attempt at quilting on a frame.  Then I can attack my half a dozen quilts that are ready to be quilted.

As I have been cleaning up my space and organizing, I am really pleased to finish up and clear out a nice amount of projects that have/had been stalled due to moving, or needed just a bit of finishing.  Several garments, out, done, and in the laundry.

I'm really looking forward to this next year to be a productive one for my sewing.  The room is set up, A is going to be 3, and I want to document my makes. 







Why they should print this in a quilt magazine so advertisers will buy ads.

Pre-lude to, Buy Sewing Machines:

Buy Fabric:  A Comedic Essay

More fabrics than quilts?  Quilty/guilty, Fabric Acquisition Disorder (FAD), compulsive fabric buying when it is one sale; clearly the definition of addict.  I choose well stashed, words will create reality.

Not one to stop anyone from a fabric fix, I encourage myself too much, after all, if you don't by fabric, the store won't be there.

Is there an approved program to insure the stash is busted before you die?  Never sew a quilt with triangles, -don't say?  Just get 'er done, then use that new bundle over there.  What, I was suppose to have a pattern that wanted to be used with that?

Stop the wash, the new fabric is commanding, it was supposed to be located under that pile of fabric over there.  The laundry will fold itself anyway, later, while more fabric is acquired.

"I should have bought all the rest of that green," and other regrets felt your better behaved self as the car pulls away from the store and the airbag light comes on because the front seat is loaded with fabric.  Clearly, had there not been small children involved, and infinite diversion, you bill would have at least had two zeros after it.

Is the dryer done yet?  The new fabric needs to be:  ironed, petted, sorted, filed, lost under another pile for awhile, justified internally in regards to how one should use the excess fabric just acquired, and finally just folded.

Believe, in yourself.  Forgiveness, fabric, they both start with "F".  I can think of "F" words I'd like to say to people who tell me I have too much fabric, or rather that the "sewing collection" is too big.  I would tell them to forgive the fabric up.

Someday, when outside it is below zero degrees and snowing, you have young children still and are pregnant, appreciate the forgiveness of fabric mistakes; these past mistakes will make the quilt, that one more piece you needed to finish a quilt will be there.  THAT is what you'll do with it!

Really just want more creative time?  Buy fabric.  It will feel like creative time, almost, fantasize about it.

Really down because ah, you haven't bought any fabric when your not supposed to, but your studio is in boxes to be moved; buy fabric.  Make a temporary stash on a shelf and screw whether it goes with a project or not.  And when the door to the closet won't shut, admit yourself a hoarder,(full permission is granted to HOARD, remember the Civil War?  Just don't forget needles, they ran out of those), move on, acceptance will make a better fiber artist.

On the night when a full crock-pot would be heaven sent, make peace with eating noodles cause the cook is too tired, and sew that fabric.

Resolved:  quilts will be left in this world.  Kids may remember how much they hated that crock-pot pot roast, and how cool just eating noodles for dinner could be.

And with satisfaction, when all you favorite color is depleted from stash, buy some extra cause mean people have way too much ego, and probably never had a quilt as a child.

The black book is a mega binder of quilty ideas.  And there are books with post-its, and ideas for quilts that haven't made it in the burgeoning mass yet.  These ideas take lots of fabric which is waiting to be purchased.

A smart phone is good for noting fabric requirements, but after years of sleep deprivation, it never hurts to buy three to four yards of a lovely.

There is always noodles, and FAD is way better than drinking or worse, and usually way less expensive than fine shoes.

Buy the way, don't buy crap cause it is cheap.  No one wants to look at it or feel it against their skin when they cuddle a quilt.  Buy quality fabric, so when each child gets their chest full of quilt someday, they will also get to pass those quilts on.  Quilts will endure.  Don't let your qulits get caught with fabric that can't last the years.

And even if the quilt doesn't get sewn, at least others will know you went for the good stuff, and smile.

Give yourself permission not to measure; focus on the delivery of your goal.  We each have our own way. 

And besides, if buying fabric inspires you enough to sew, its worth it.

Fabric awaits ironing, now go checkout that abandoned cart, chances are one of the fabrics will lead you down a path you'd never want to have missed. 

  







2015

This year I look forward to accomplishing more.  Last year I had a very colicky baby boy who is still quite convinced the world will end if his mother happens to be out of sight, so I am quite behind.  If you have ever been through extreme colic you may relate.  It is my hope that separation anxiety will cool somewhat, and I can cross most of these goals off my list.


My year holds a move, and possibly two (one back to Washington, and hopefully another when we buy a house).  Moves are very hard for me for reasons stemming from a childhood remodel.  My childhood house was packed up in boxes, stored away.  And it never came back out.  I wrote a poem about it once.  It was moving.  I will see if I can find it.


I struggle emotionally during these times, and that is on top of just the normal stresses people undergo during a move.  I know the man upstairs is giving me lots of practice in this area for a reason.  Each time the cut feels so painful, with the re-opened wound having to surface and heal again.  Each time I vow and remind myself, "This is ME, I unpack every box, deal with crap, and make a home"  However I chose this path, I chose these stresses because I firmly believed I needed to follow God's prompting in my heart and that involved some extra moving that we were not anticipating.


These moves themselves are as a quilt.  Each neighborhood and location has brought us many gifts we would not have realized if we had lived just in one place only.  I remind myself of this quilt that is made, each place a patch.  Like one of my teammates who chose each place as a tattoo on her leg.  My quilt is more a mental marking. 


Every move I make a vow to banish each and every cardboard box, as just seeing them in the house brings back hard memories for me on a personal level.  The kind of level where you can't quite speak it, it is just a tramatic association; and sort of an unbalancing force that once must rid themselves of quickly and with determination.  I am sure everyone alive has their own "cardboard box" issue.


I am thinking of for once, just unpacking a small portion of our belongings until we purchase a home.  I struggle with this though because of the associations I place when I look at the boxes.  I want to save the boys from boxes in their living space.  So maybe the solution is just packing full the garage for a bit?
 
I am making my 2015 goals with all this in mind, and as such trying to be a little kind to myself realizing that probably over half the year will involve deconstruction and reconstruction of the household in addition to three young children to care for.




Goals:
REVIEW GOALS ONCE A MONTH!!


Household:
Go through/organize one drawer/area/shelf/box or container each day I am at home during the week. 


I want to be ready for the movers and have things in order and easy to pack up.  Unlike last time when I was pregnant and puking.


Start using up the pantry and limit myself to buying only what I can use in the time left.


Spend some time each month in the garage analyzing what I can put away or get rid off.  I am thinking 10 min. per week before the move.



Personal:


Take more pictures.  These boys are growing so fast and I need to take time to snap it up.


Edit together some of the snippets of video.


Reduce sugar consumption, be mindful of it and specifically add more plain water.  This will be hard to measure, but my goal here is really being aware of what I am drinking during the day. 


Try to get to the gym once per week(or push the workout into the next week to make up for it), and maintain b-ball games.


Live in the now.  Enjoy where I am while I am there.  Do not worry over the future or dread it or envy it.  Simply do my best each day.  Know that my best is enough.  If nothing changes, nothing changes.




Blog:


Post once a week before move, or at least write down my ideas so I can spring from them when there is some quiet available.  There is so much accomplishment that has yet to be documented.  This next year I want to document what I make.


Use these posts as a way to aid in completion of goals for 2015; ideally posting once a month about goal progress.


Post a video.




Sewing:


-Keep my embroidery machine running as much as possible
-embroider my way through my design library so designs are ready to go into quilts when I have more time, but right now I can at least keep the machine humming...and besides it helps me de-stress and feel like I accomplish something.
-buy embroidery software
-make boys capes
-sew larger tunic size for Roman Soldier costume since studio        will be packed up still around Halloween
-sew 4 things out of Burda Magazines or patterns
-make something to wear on vacation
-make some shorts for the boys out of clothing I need to re-purpose
-sew up all the flannel solid navy and green purchased for boys
-cut some blocks to piece by hand during move
-cut more pieces to use up scraps for snail trail quilt
-sew up the two wild full scrap bags I have in the garage (one done this past month!)use for mindless piecing and save larger scraps for specific things if needed.


Things to finish:
-one WIP per month of any variety
-quilting of rose quilt
-"Sailor's Joy" quilt blocks out of civil war repros
-quilted jacket
-cross stitching A's stocking
-cross stitch on "welcome" sign over vacation
-quilting of star of quilt
-quilt colored bar quilt for Aunt by summer vacation
-make something for me to wear on vacation
-pillows for the family's beds
-work on Mermaid quilt if I ever have large blocks of time

Studio:
-organize one shelf a month til move
-put all knit fabrics/ribbing in a tub and remove from shelf
-file all patterns back
-try to elimate WIPs, reduce WIPs in cube of WIPs
-file fabric thrown up above bookcase

Which do you like the best?

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Awake

I'm here, really.  Starting to come up for air after nine months of super colic boy.  I would like to post some reviews about my new additions to my sewing room.  I am excited to be getting back to machine embroidery again after my hiatus.

Alaska has had some awesome weather this year.  I am enjoying it.  Soon oldest boy goes to school, and I hope to have more time to post every so often.

Seasons

I've always joked that I wanted to "homestead" in Alaska.  I never really thought that I would live there, but I do now.  My vision may have been more along the lines of one room shack filled with books, and fabric, and a sewing machine;  location somewhere in the very, very remote hills.

While in real life, it rolls more like a different house with more bedrooms, and a heated driveway so I don't crash into the neighbors house when I back out.  And lots of things to arrange after the movers left their wake.  Like all the books they shelved with the spines in, and the cords packed in boxes which nested and require a fifteen minute experiment in trying not to feel overwhelmed about unpacking a house, cleaning, organizing, and decorating so pregnant all while trying to mother two little boys amid the waves of morning sickness the third trimester's cruel joke.

Maybe I said it too many times and the man upstairs heard me.  Maybe my version wasn't big enough and it needed a major overhaul.  Maybe it was as simple as an answered prayer about not having to move with a new baby.  I am overhauling my whole life right now it seems, and right before a baby.  Baby number three who we hope to meet likely just after Thanksgiving.

I just finished reading "1776" and I must say, sometimes reading the struggles of others while you are engaged in your own battle puts things in perspective.  I mean it is not crucial if my fabric sits a little slouched on the shelf until I can clear the cubby it is supposed to be in, or the fact that I haven't sewn in a WHOLE MONTH, and feel so adrift, but still avoid tackling a nasty box of misc. which sits under my sewing card table.  Looking at the bright side, at least my machines are plugged in and I found the telescope for my serger so I can quit having nightmares.

I have never not had a baby quilt ready by this point, so in the morning I tackle that box like a Hessian soldier was trying to invade my homestead, with the gun of persistence that not even old George couldn't help himself to stop to admire.


And though difficulties may pester me it seems now from all angles of life; I will do my best each day.

Scenes from last week:

sewing cubicle

After almost a month without stuff, I think they were shocked to see it all arrive.

Snow on the first day of fall.

 

"Above all Washington never forgot what was at stake

and he never gave up" 

-McCullough p.293

 

On The Fly

What have I been sewing lately?
How about what have I completed?

Pillows for couch = complete with handmade forms stuffed with foam and closed with invisible zippers.
Burp cloths       = Chenille on one side, flannel on the other.  I curved the shape so I could just serge them easily.  Some will be given away (while I was doing them I got a little carried away).
Kid Fleece Sleeping Bags= top edged with satin blanket binding and stitched with a programmed train stitch, will add the zippers today.  I used 1.5yds of Thomas the Train fleece.
Log Cabin blocks        = for a baby boy quilt, blue centers, blues, greens, whites, and naturals.
A simple zippered pouch = used a piece of quilted fabric that came flying at me, edged with leftover lace satin stitched decoratively on by the zipper.
Heavy Duty Fleece P.J. pants as well as flannel ones=  for the boys for winter.  Used a double needle to make the waist stitching, very pleased with effect on the heavy fleece.
Flannel Nightgown      = for me!

Summer winds down, I throw away things and use them up as we will be moving at month's end.  To the northern most city in the U.S.  I imagine days to sew when it is way too cold to venture out.

I bought a new sewing machine.  Five months of hyperemesis gravidarium gives one ample time to research what they really want.  And it took the full time to decide.  I will post on that later as I have not had much of a chance to play.  I am super pleased and excited about it.

I have some zippers to install, and a car seat blanket to make (like on pinterest) and some mending that I should do.  The boys should nap, but are not.  I am excited for what is ahead, a rec room, with a big fat corner where my sewing stuff will all go.  So no more moving machines to sew.  They might all be able to set out in a line!