Why I Should Sew Alone, or, Don't Sew When You're Tired

I had high hopes for the amount of sewing I'd get done over the last week.  I was going to put the borders on the Gracie Girl quilt, make at least a top during the quilt retreat, and start putting together the Sewcial Bee Sampler top.  Plus I thought I'd quilt Gracie Girl too.  Ha!  Big HA HA!

 I put the borders on Gracie Girl yesterday.  I really wish there would have been a bit more fabric included in the kit so that I could have either 1. cut the borders the length of the fabric to avoid seaming, or 2. been able to match the pattern better for the seamed borders.  The border fabric has a pretty big, bold pattern and it is pretty noticeable to me where all the seamed parts are. They are only little chunks, under 12", so I feel like it's just a bit odd looking.  But it is now ready to quilt.  I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt it yet, but it is ready.  I have backing fabric.  It's not a super huge quilt, nor is it something that's going to be used a lot, so I think I'm going to try to piece some batting remnants together on this one.  The plan is that this will be a decoration or lap quilt as needed in our office.  It has similar colors to the blinds I made several years ago.  My husband thinks it's strange that I'm making a quilt for the office.  I think that every room is improved by having a quilt in it!
As far as the Sewcial Bee Sampler, I went back to JoAnn to find more of the background fabric I used.  The one they currently have is much more yellow that the original and the dots are slightly different.  Bummer.  So I got a background fabric that has similar base fabric coloring even though it has a different pattern.  Hopefully it will look okay.  I haven't done anything further yet.

 I packed two quilting projects and a knitting project for my guild retreat over the weekend.  Most of the time I just go on the Saturday, but I paid for the whole weekend this time.  What I didn't anticipate  when I signed up is that we would have a lot of things going on at home.  Or that there would be a big snow storm.  So it was pretty hard for me to relax.  I went to the place on Friday evening.  I worked on my cross quilt.  I got a very fitful, poor night's sleep.  I was really cold, there was a light outside shining in my window, and it was hard for me to block out noise from other rooms.  I got up and kept right on working on the quilt top.  By mid-afternoon I could barely keep my eyes open.  I kept working on the top.  I was down to pressing the sashing strips and adding the two outside sashing strips.  I got up to use the iron, decided I'd rather press it at home, and that I was just done.  So I just packed up and went home.  And slept 10 hours that night!  And nine the next!  So even though I really enjoy my guild mates, I think I'm better off just going for only Saturday in the future.  Tired, cranky Anne-Marie is not very fun.

 I looked at what I'd sewn at the retreat and noticed how pretty much nothing matched up.  So I've been doing a ton of ripping and reassembling.  It's so frustrating.  I don't think anyone enjoys ripping out stitches.  Lesson reinforced:  don't sew while you are super tired.  You will mess up. I'm not really sure how I want to quilt this or what backing fabric I want to use.  I made one with the same pattern for my mom a few years ago and wasn't really happy with how I quilted it. I attempted to do the same style as the original quilt pattern maker used, but it just wasn't for me. This is the cover quilt on issue 31 of Love Patchwork & Quilting.
It's really wrinkly due to the amount of ripping and resewing I've been doing.
My sewing room is inching along.  My husband has all the trim on the walls and is getting ready for painting.  We also added a new bookcase outside the door of the sewing room.  I think he has that primed and ready for painting as well.  I've been cleaning the floor and have mopped it several times, trying to have it as spotless as possible before trim painting. Anyone have tips on cleaning vinyl plank flooring?  I tried using a vinegar and water solution and a microfiber mop, but that didn't cut the construction mess.  I then mopped twice using Spic and Span, and that looks better, but still not totally ideal.

After the trim is painted, we (my husband; at this point I am basically only helpful in cleaning up) still have to wire the outlets, install one more light, install a drop ceiling in the big closet, install carpet in the big closet, install knobs and pulls on the desk and cabinets, clean all the cabinets and install the shelves inside them, finish the countertop, install shoe moulding along the cabinets, install a smoke alarm and wi-fi booster thing, put on the doors for both closets, install doorknobs, get some glass cut for one set of cabinet doors, finish up the crown molding, finish making the top for my cutting table, break down, move, and reassemble the long arm, and move all my stuff in.  Gosh, is that all?  I'm probably forgetting things.

 What new projects are you working on?  I want to finish up my works in progress.  I'm about halfway through my list now.  I wouldn't mind adding in something new, but I'm not feeling any inspiration either.
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