Stories from the Sewing Room

My goal for May is to finish my Flower Patch SAL top and make time for myself to get it quilted.

I need to make the final block, sew the last row on, and add some borders. I bought backing fabric, so I will need to press it and seam it. 

Speaking of irons, my iron died the other day. This wasn't a surprise; I'd thought it was getting close. I have gone through three of the same iron, the red Shark one, in the past five or six years. The last one lasted about 2.5 years. I was going to run to Target to grab another, but they no longer sell it. I looked at Amazon and found it, but the price had gone up. So I ended up getting this one. It had tons of good reviews, so we'll see how it goes. It weighs more than the Shark model, which I wasn't expecting after reading the listings. It's not as heavy as my back-up iron though, and the cord is long. I'm hoping to try it today.

Last week I'd mentioned that we were getting the new carpet in the basement replaced. I loved our original pick, but the seams were very visible. They couldn't improve on the appearance and the carpet place decided that the carpet wasn't meant to go in such large spaces. 🙄 So they offered us a replacement, which they said was of similar quality. Well. It wasn't. The replacement ripples when you walk on it, it's wavy and puckered around all the edges, it's so thin that when you step on the thresholds, the tack strips poke you in the foot. Not pleasant. Additionally, they were not to drill into the floor because we have radiant floor heat tubing. Guess what he did? To say I was upset would be an understatement. The installer knew it was bad too, because he snuck out of here without telling us he was finished and he'd already sent pictures to the owner. I sent pictures and videos. Now they are saying that the replacement carpet was defective 🙄🙄 and they want to replace it with the same stuff and have the Mohawk training installer, the owner, and the same darn installer who's already botched two installations put in round three. This is not acceptable to me because I don't want this cruddy carpet that clearly is not of the same value and quality as what we paid for and I don't want the installer back either. My husband is discussing it with the owner today. So I lost three days of working time last week and got 💩 carpet in return. Total nightmare.

I was happy to be back quilting Thursday, though I struggled a lot with having to see that carpet continually. I've now moved from utter despair to rage and am moving a bit towards acceptance.

The first quilt I did was one of Elle's, quilted with Tia's Daisies. I'd been looking forward to this one.

Next up was Maria's cute hexie quilt. I added the borders, quilted, and partially bound this one. Quilted with Stipple.

Then I did Charlene's Macaron mystery quilt. She made fancy centers and added borders to hers. Quilted with Sea of Stars.

I also bound this one. I even did that fancy trick where you sew an entire side with no bobbin thread!

The next one I did was Maryellen's Macaron mystery quilt. She won free quilting from me through Cheryl's quilt-along. We went with Windswept. It looks amazing!

Next up is another of Elle's, quilted with Christmas. 

I kept looking at this quilt, wondering why the fabric seemed familiar. I finally realized that I had made a purse years ago with the same fabric! 😄

And one more of Elle's, quilted with Persephone 3. I love how the thread really pops with the batiks.

We went to the art museum yesterday to see the immersive Van Gogh experience. It was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday. A bit too people-y for me, but I enjoyed the exhibit.

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We also have done two trips to IKEA, one last week without the kids and another yesterday, to pick up parts for our planned upgrade to our master closet. Most of it has been out of stock forever. We now have all of the frames and rods for two walls. No drawers and no shelves yet, and nothing for the stand-alone cabinet on the side, but it's a start. 

Our weather is warming up and we've had a lot of rain. I think my husband has mowed twice in the last week. The peas and lettuce are starting to grow. The rose-breasted grosbeaks have arrived. They usually stay for around two weeks. A pair of bluebirds has decided to attack their reflections all along the back of the house. I'm not sure why they've suddenly decided to do this. We've been here 10 years and it's never happened before. {We have had cardinals attack their reflections plenty.}

Here's to another productive week. Happy quilting, and May the 4th be with you.😉

Linking with For the Love of Geese and My Quilt Infatuation.