Progress.....

I cleaned for 3 hours in my sewing room today...

Halfway there...

Made some inspiration boards by stapling these (along with some batting) onto canvas.  Can pin things onto them that will inspire me to create...

Rearranged the daybed I keep in my sewing room.  Pushed it up against the railing and butted the ironing board up against it.  Makes the most of my space.

In my closet, I'm organizing my many UFOs...

Now for the messy part...

This stuff is headed downstairs.

This is a very nice old machine (Necchi) and cabinet that I got from my sister.  I think I'm going to move it to a different area so I will have more elbow room.  It will be set up for quilting full-time.  My other (newer machine- a singer) will be set up for full-time piecing near my cutting area.

This is the stack of things I still need to sort through and organize.  It's a table that I have my biggest cutting mat on and it's piled up with baskets/tubs full of misc. stuff... Buttons, thread, scraps, blocks, kleenex, ink pens, you name it.  

Notice my big design wall?  Love it.  Is new.

Here's another view of the mess...

This room is tricky.  Since it is the attic, the ceiling is slanted.  Makes for tricky arrangement.  I would love to have a wall of cabinets and shelves (might someday) but they'd have to be custom.  I even have room for a longarm quilting machine... but alas no funds...

A girl can dream... 

Linus Quilt

I put some 30's jelly roll strips together and am making a Linus quilt out of it.

I even started quilting it.  Myself.  On my machine.  I've rarely done that before and never anything more than stitching in the ditch.

I am fearless!  And Oh, so modern!

Check me out!

All Work And No Play...

I spent a couple hours upstairs today during nap time and then a couple more tonight after I got the kiddos to sleep...

Made some good progress on my attic closet...

My stash of scraps and fat quarters have been sorted by color and put into big baggies on a shelf...

I'm starting to put things into labeled shoeboxes (glue guns/glue sticks, staple gun, etc.)...

And I sorted through organizing bobbins, needles, thimbles, thread, pencils/pens, and sewing machine parts...


I even took the time to do a couple of projects that I've been meaning to get around to...

I was on a yo-yo kick for a while, there.  Made lots of them with my 30's stash.  They'd been hanging on my wall in a very haphazard fashion for a couple of years, reminding me every time I walked by that it was another unfinished project... So I stapled them onto a big canvas I had and *PRESTO*... Instant ART for my sewing room!

About 15 years ago, my great grandmother died.  Here's a picture of Grandma Nell...

At the time, I hadn't started quilting yet.  She was a quilter, though.  We have many heirloom quilts that she crafted over the years.  I went to Arkansas to help my grandmother and my father and aunt go through all of the things that she had accumulated over her lifetime.  This was a huge job because she was a bit of a hoarder...  Not so much in a messy fashion, but in an organized way.  She had lots and lots of things that were auctioned off.  I collected a few things to keep as mementos of her and thankfully, one thing I got was a big grocery sack of her quilting notions, templates and materials.  In this bag, I found some cut-out flowers.  I imagine she'd planned on appliqueing them at some point, but never got around to it...  I've been trying to think about what I could make with them to give to my aunt, sister and cousin to remember her by...  And I decided that they'd make cute lapel pins...  What do you think?

They are reversible.

Here is the one I'm keeping for me. :)  I love blue, you see...

I used antique buttons from my mother's button collection.  I'm thinking we'll use safety pins to put them on.  I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Tomorrow is Saturday, so maybe I can score some extra time to work upstairs...  Would love to get a couple of trash bags worth of stuff out of there...  Stay tuned!

I Told You It Was A Mess...

My sewing room.

A complete mess.  In every direction.

Must clean...

Today's Goals...

So... I haven't posted in a bit.  Let me catch you up!

When I last posted, my kids' toys had taken over my house, so I took them all (almost) and put them in the spare bedroom, which created a HUGE mess in there...  I was so optimistic that I could whip that room into shape in no time, along with my own bedroom (a few piles) and bathroom/closet (disaster area)...

Time passed...

Spare bedroom closet and bathroom were completely cleaned out to make room for organized storage of the toys...  So a lot of my crafting/sewing/painting stuff was dragged out of there and tossed into my sewing room (attic)...

Now I have organized most (not all) of the toys and put them away nice and neatly...  The kids have their favorite toys out and are being better about not scattering them everywhere... And my room is a tad better off...

Still my guest bedroom is not suitable for company, so I have been avoiding my sewing room as punishment for not completely spiffing things up around here... Until the day before yesterday.

I figured I needed some quilting therapy.  You see, I recently joined two more quilt guilds.  Yes, that's crazy.  I hear you.  I have been in Blue Valley Quilters Guild for several years and I have a fun time there when I can go.  It's during the day and I stay at home with my kiddos (1 and 2 year old boys), so they're not used to daycare of any sort.  My mother-in-law also belongs to the same guild, so we've been taking turns going every month or two and that's working out ok, but I've been feeling a little uninspired lately and needed some new energy... New inspiration...

At Blue Valley, my mother-in-law and I coordinate our efforts to make Quilts of Valor for US military service members who have been affected by war.  This is very rewarding and I have (seemingly) an army of women who help in so many ways.  I mostly coordinate this and do very little sewing.  I raise funds for materials, I help make kits and copy patterns, I write letters to the soldiers, we make pillowcases to go with the quilts and many other things... My mother-in-law helps a LOT.  She is a Godsend.  Over the past 1 1/2 years, we've sent many quilts to soldiers and more in the works.  70 something total (finished and unfinished).  Amazing.

After Christmas, I heard about a new guild that was forming.  The Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild.  It's a group that's growing quickly and has lots of energy.  Very inspiring.  I love that they're tech savvy (not the case so much at Blue Valley) and that their ideas are fresh and new.  They don't worry about perfectionism and that is a relief.  I feel more freedom to create.  We had a meeting last night.  Great fun. Very crowded (we've gotta find a bigger place to meet) but fun.

But I visited the Starlight Quilt Guild a couple of months ago and felt the urge to join.   I have a few friends there (some defectors from Blue Valley and others who are members at both) and am excited about a lot of the projects they're working on there.  Very excited to be doing a black and white charm square exchange in March.  Will get EIGHTY 5 inch squares... :)  FUN!  We had a meeting a couple of nights ago and I'm excited to get busy sewing.

And Starlight does Linus quilts (quilts for kids).  They want us to make 3 quilts per year to donate.

2 days ago, I escaped upstairs and started a Linus quilt.  Sewed together strips of 30's fabric from a jelly roll and sandwiched it.  I started quilting with my machine that I got a couple of years ago.  I haven't tried quilting with it before.  It's going pretty well, but I was VERY frustrated because it took me 45 minutes to find my sewing machine manual in that mess of an attic...

I must clean it up or I will not be as productive...

So I'm going to get off of this computer (kids are napping) and trudge upstairs to see what I can do about the mess.  I've started collecting shoeboxes from around the house...  Must make some visual progress before the boys wake up.

To spur myself into action, I'm going to take some before and after pictures.  I intend to post the before pictures on this blog soon....  Hopefully the embarrassment from sharing the pictures will FORCE me to get serious about tidying things up.

See you soon!  Stay tuned!

Tataw's Quilt of Valor

Here's the finished top...

Spring Cleaning... A Little Early...

Clutter has taken over my house and I have decided to take it back.

Until I get the rest of my house in order, I've actually forbidden myself from going up into my attic to sew.

*gasp*

I know.

Insanity!

But if I don't do something drastic, I think I'll misplace one of my toddlers in this house...

Stay tuned.  Hopefully, I can be back in business in a couple (or a few) days...

PS  Am also forbidding myself from buying ANY more fabric.  I have gotta start using up this stash of mine...

Red Scrappy King Sized Quilt...

I spent 6 1/2 hours on it yesterday.  Am a woman obsessed.

Alas, the housework has piled up.  Spent a week away from home with the boys and our mess followed us home...

So tonight involves rounding up toys, sorting them out, putting them back in their proper places, endless laundry...

But I'm on glass # 2 of wine!

And brownie #2...

So all is not lost...

Might even sneak upstairs when I can to sew a stitch or two...

I want the front of this quilt to be scraps of red fabric sewn together in a haphazard way... and I want it to be 100" by 120".

So far, I have 100" by 67"...  A king sized quilt takes a LOT of scraps, my friend!

Pictures will come soon...  Just let me sew a few more seams...