Category: sewing

Categories
quilting sewing tranquility

Too many room make-over shows!

In the early morning on weekends, when I cannot sleep in, I get up and turn on You Tube to watch quilting videos on the big tv in the living room. My husband bought it so he could watch sports on the big screen. Quilting shows look pretty good on the big screen, too.

Recently, You Tube has been suggesting studio tour and make over videos. Ugh! Sometimes life is like a train wreck and you can’t turn your eyes away!

Here are some examples:

Rea Bee

Power Tools with Thread

SewVeryEasy

Reispecies

Anita by Design

Some of these ladies are not quilters, but clothes makers. That is how I started sewing at the age of 6…making clothes for dolls and my Grandmother’s Dog. Some have many hobbies, like cross-stitch, embroidery, or using a cricut.

I did not make my first quilt until I was in my mid-twenties. My grandmother got me interested in quilting, but she was not really into quilting and piecing. All of her quilts were heavy, tied, practical creations.

My first sewing area was a sewing machine table in our laundry room. When we moved, I graduated to a desk with a hutch top in the corner of our bedroom. After my son moved out, I graduated to the entire room and we moved into his bedroom. I now have the largest room in the house as a sewing room. (My husband really likes to watch football in peace! And I am his queen!)

That leads me to my title for this post. Recently, the ceiling fan/light in my room died. I have lots of task lights around the room, because the ceiling fan light has never been spectacular. Now I have a new light fixture with one of those bladed shop lights in it. WOW! My room is now brighter than the sun…and I can clearly see all of the mess. Time to organize. Yuck!

Here are a few before pictures:

This is all scrap fabric. At one time the bin was all sorted…needs to be sorted again!
This counter area needs to be straightened and sorted. It will never be neat, but it could be better.
This is my ironing area. The pile of foundation papers needs to be moved permanently.
My long arm is a catch-all. This needs to be clear!

Here are some after pictures:

Fabric…labeled and sorted.
These are projects in cases…now labeled…and where I can see them.

I don’t hide things in cabinets, so my space will never be as cute and organized as some of the ones in the videos. I like to see my stuff…right out in the open!

I can only stand to work on this a little at a time, so as with everything in my life, it is a work in progress.

Have you fallen into the organize your life trap?

Later,

Lorrie

Categories
Embroidery quilting sewing tranquility

Jumping on the Resolution Band Wagon

After thinking about my needs and/or wishes for the new year, I came up with 5 goals…and a plan to keep on track.

Goal 1: Quilt top finishes

My husband says that I am not a quilter. I am a topper. I have created many, many tops. A few years ago, I donated several tops that I decided were never going to be quilted by me to a friend to turn into charity quilts. She was happy to have them…I was glad to share, but I still have a good size pile of tops to finish. Some of them have a backing with them, some don’t. I think I easily have enough to keep busy If I quilt at least one project a month. I have a Gracie frame with a Juki machine on it. It does take up a sizeable amount of real estate in my sewing room. Time to put it to more use.

Goal: Turn a quilt top into a finished product every month.

Just 3 of the many…these were closest to the sewing machine.

Goal 2: Blog more

I have not been a very productive author during the pandemic. Last year I only wrote 5 blog articles. This year I am setting the bar a lot higher.

Goal: Publish 2 blog articles a week.

Goal 3: Sew more for my own sanity

I have been reading articles about reducing stress and increasing your self-care. One of the suggestions was increasing the time you spend on activities you enjoy. Sewing entails a long list of activities when you break it down. Here are my qualifiers:

  • hand sewing (applique, binding, English paper-piecing)
  • machine sewing (quilting, piecing)
  • hand embroidery
  • machine embroidery
  • writing patterns
  • ironing/ pressing
  • cleaning/ organizing my sewing area…okay…room (I am a spoiled princess…my husband likes to watch football in peace!)
  • cutting fabric (Accuquilt is a gift that keeps on giving…)
  • sorting fabric (I am a scrapaholic.)

Goal: Complete a sewing activity from the above list at least 80% of the days in the year…that is 292 days.

Today’s little stack of fun…cut with accuquilt crazy block die…finishes at 6 inches.

Goal 4: Read to self

My mother-in-law loves to read. When she finishes a book, she gives it to me. I have been stashing books in bins in our “library” loft for more than 5 years…getting ready for my own retirement. I love to read, but I sometimes have a problem putting down my tablet to read a book. I also have conditioned myself to fall asleep while reading…not good for reading an entire book in a timely manner.

Goal: Read at least one book a month.

Books, books, and more books…I need a librarian to organize this mess.

Goal 5: Read Aloud

I admit that I would never have read the Lord of the Rings trilogy on my own…or Winds of War…or War and Rememberance. My husband never would have read Gone with the Wind on his own. We started turning off the tv and reading together when our son was in high school. It drove our son crazy. Now he and his wife do this, too. Mwahahaha! Recently, we are drawn more to the enticing, mind numbing glow of the television after a long day of wearing masks. Time to get back to entertaining ourselves.

Goal: Read to each other at least 2 days a week.

Accountability

I found this great little blank book to keep me on track. I have set up a section for each goal to keep me going. All I have to do is add titles, dates, etc. Since I invested some time to get this little book set up, I think it will help me keep going.

My free blank book to keep my goals moving forward…

So what habits do you want to form? What soothes your soul when you are stressed? Share in the comments. I love to hear your thoughts!

Later,

Lorrie

Categories
quilting sewing tranquility

Inspirations

A brand new day

Good morning or day…whatever the case may be. 2020 was a hell of a year. We are coming up on the year anniversary of all of the craziness that we have had to accept as the “new normal”. (I personally HATE that term, and refuse to accept anything! HA!)

Hopefully, we are starting to emerge from our confinements, quarantines, and isolations to a healthy world. There are many new quilters and sewists among us. (I am not using the term “sewer”. That is spelled just like the underground lines where poop goes…so…uh…NO!)

I have a Sunday morning ritual. I get up to have a cup of coffee and watch some quilty things on the big screen TV that my husband bought for himself…to watch sports, of course. I have a long standing argument with a family friend that quilting should be considered a sport, just like Nascar. I say, “You have to push a pedal to make it go.” He says that is not the same. He has obviously never been on a deadline to get a quilt finished for a graduation, wedding or baby arrival. He says, “No, it is hot in the cars.” Well, I don’t have air conditioning, so sometimes it is hot in the sewing room, too. Maybe I just need some sponsor stickers for on the sewing machine and a nifty sponsor outfit! So when I am watching quilty things on the tv, is that the same as watching sports?

Put that pedal down…and zoom, zoom, baby!
They look the same to me…fast…and pedal controlled!

Back to this morning’s discovery…I am a big YouTube fan. I am fairly certain that I could google anything and find a video to do it, fix it, etc. I recently did this at the parts store. The person working “wasn’t allowed” to help. I have a word for that…lazy. Thank goodness for free wifi to their parking lot. Fixed it myself! I digress…this morning’s discovery is all about quilty inspiration. It looked wonderful on the big screen, just like a sporting event, but better…because it was quilty and there was no fear of losing! Enjoy my find! Road to California quilt show 2020…filmed by Jolly Molly TV.

Remember…sometimes it is good to take a deep breathe and enjoy life as it comes to you. Have another cup of coffee!

Later,

Lorrie

Categories
sewing

Curtains

In my last post, I had a picture of the lake view from our cabin in Hale, Michigan. There were many usable items left behind by the previous owners, but some things just needed to be refreshed.

I love this kitchen! The fiberglass curtains were, well, let’s go with hideous.

Let’s talk about curtains. The ones in the kitchen were serviceable…in the 1960’s! They were fiberglass, so there was no real issue with them catching of fire when they got caught in the oven door…OMG! (Yes, you could actually catch the corner in the oven door. Yikes!) I love this quaint kitchen. It screams 1955. It was perfect for the time it was built.

Kitchen with valances that hide blinds. Updated appliances and “island” for storage and additional counter space.

This is my modernization. Behind the valances are “wood look” blinds to be closed only when the cabin is shut down for long stretches of time. In the new picture, you will also notice that we stimulated the local economy by replacing the appliances. The good folks at the Do It Best Hardware in Hale were helpful and wonderful.

Nice sea green curtains…status quo for now.

The curtains in the main living area are fine for now. I will deal with them next year. At the moment, they can be closed or opened as needed. They adequately block the view from outside, keep out heat/ drafts, or open to let in light. They are a pleasant color. I can’t decide if I want to keep some of them or change all of them…decisions…decisions.

Small bedroom…before set up.

The bedrooms all have black out curtains. Well, they would be black out curtains if they weren’t about 3 inches too short when they are closed. They also gap and hang awkwardly because of the curtain hooks at the top. In two of the bedrooms, the sun streams in right on the eyes of the sleeping guests. Wakey, wakey is not a good plan for vacation. I slightly modified the curtains to match the theme in each bedroom. I also eliminated the curtain hook.

To improve the bedroom curtains, I first cut off the pleats at the top. I know…I know…someone paid a lot of money for those pleats. I don’t care. I am short and could not reach them to close them without knocking them off the curtain rod. I added a fabric sleeve at the top. I used a self-seaming method that I learned while making homemade pillowcases.

Update: I read somewhere that this is called the burrito technique. All unfinished seams are inside after sewing just ONE seam. Miracle! This is a great seam technique to learn here.

Curtain ready to sew.

To prepare the curtain to add the fabric at the top, the ends of the fabric are seamed so that the new topper is the correct width. The fabric is basically wrapped around the rolled up curtain. After the seam is sewn, the curtain is pulled out from the inside…turning the new topper out right.

Curtain being pulled out of sewn fabric roll…
Curtain slightly less than half way through the turning process.
New curtains in second guest room…correct length and easy to close.

Curtains are not the most exciting sewing topic because they are simple rectangles. This little project would have appealed to my great Aunts, those wonderful ladies that survived the Great Depression.

An appropriate quote to sum up my point from http://brainyquote.com.

What make do projects have you been working on recently? Drop me an e-mail. I would love to hear about your work.

Later,

Lorrie