Stories from the Sewing Room

I watch a lot of PBS via streaming passport and I always get the ad for Viking River Cruises about how the only thing we really have too little of is time. While we could have a philosophical discussion about that statement, that is not my intent here. There are so many things I'd like to do and learn, both in my sewing life and my personal life, that I just don't have time to do in this season of my life.

Once again I feel like I've been fairly busy but with little tangible evidence. I did press all the Melodic Mystery rows and transfer them all to the design wall. I still have a good ways to go to accomplish my OMG of completing the top. There are also outside borders to add. Sorry for the weird picture. I can't get a full shot of my design wall from the front due to the long arm being there. 

Oh, and speaking of the longarm, I really liked the new lighting system APQS has, but the price is pretty steep. My husband decided to engineer his own version for a fraction of the cost (though he's put in a ton of hours on it). I think he'll be done with it within a few weeks.

Back to sewing, I worked on a secret project this past week as well. Obviously no pictures.

And in keeping with my time issue, I was going to quilt one of my own over the weekend. I had a pattern picked out and then decided that I didn't want to invest as much time in the project as the pattern was going to take to stitch out. So I picked an alternate design that could stitch in half the time. I got two rows in and just could not stand how it looked. So now I will spend more time ripping out those two rows than it would have taken to stitch out my original pick. Ugh. Definitely a lesson learned there.

I hustled on some client quilts over this past week. This is probably where most of my time went.

First up is Deb's tumbler block quilt, quilted with stipple. She hand-sewed this!

Next up is one I did for SCQG. I drew a snowflake pattern in my Intelliquilter for this one. I also made and attached the binding to the front.

Then another of Deb's, a baby quilt also quilted with stipple.

My next project was quilting two t-shirt quilts for Carolyn. You know I always recommend Diagonal Plaid on t-shirt quilts. She provided me with thick fleece for the backing and these quilts are very heavy. I am working on machine binding these quilts this week. My back's been acting up, so I'm taking it really slowly--pulling on a quilt to machine bind is definitely  a strain.

And finally, Trish's quilt. She picked the Rosemary design and I didn't have a great thread color match for her vision. I ordered a bunch of different green threads and the winner was a 60 wt Bottom Line. Bottom Line is often used either as a bobbin thread or as a stitch in the ditch thread, but I like it as a subtle top thread. I've used it on one of my own quilts before.

In house news, our year and a half old dishwasher malfunctioned last week and wouldn't run. Of course they only warranty it for one year. My husband tenaciously pursued a fix and after several days of trying things, it is currently working. We also have a lot of spare parts on the way. In case you were wondering, it's a GE Profile and I have a complicated relationship with it. The bottom rack is one of the dumbest designs I have ever seen. It does not wash well with powdered detergent, only the Cascade pods. It is generally very quiet and does a good job of cleaning most of the time. The racks are just really awful. I bought it sight unseen during the pandemic based mostly on what was in stock that I could get quickly.

Our living room project is now complete. Both cabinets and the coffee table are in place. These are all inexpensive IKEA parts that we customized with either walnut legs or top. Is it what my first choice would have been? Not really. I wanted nice, solid wood pieces and couldn't find any that suited my taste and/or my budget. Does it function to hide all the mess? Yes, so I am satisfied. Do I lack the decorating gene? Yes, absolutely. Have I been buying lots of house plants? Yes! I hope I can keep them alive. Am I trending toward sad beige? Sadly, I think so. 😂 If you aren't sure what sad beige is, Google it. I find it amusing, though a bit sad for the children of sad beige parents. Really though, do what you like.

I have a few more plants to put out. I need some more pots though. The white pots I had before don't quite work with the giant white cabinets, but it's what I had. I could use some height variation with the plants as well. I'd love to add a walnut top (and sides, but I have to get someone on board first 😉) to this cabinet. The tv is off-center due to where the wires are in the wall. We had to cut holes in the back of the cabinets for the outlets, so that factored in as well.

I don't even think I have appropriate attire because I am always in jeans and a shirt. I got rid of all but one pair of dress pants and they are ancient and out of style. I have some dresses, but I think I've gained too much weight to fit in all but one. 😔 Another area of my life where I need to spend more time and a lot more effort. 

The temperatures are stabilizing and I think it's almost time to plant my early vegetable crops. We haven't done any spring clean up anywhere in the yard yet since it's best for pollinators to wait as long as possible. I'd also love to do "No Mow May" but my husband doesn't think we can wait that long. Right now the front yard looks like a cute meadow with little flowers blossoming everywhere. The onion grass is pretty tall here and there though. 😄 Our neighbors probably can't stand our yard. That's okay, I can't stand all the chemicals they poison theirs with.

Lamb's Ear is almost invasive here. I can literally throw a chunk on the ground and it will grow and spread everywhere. All this at the bottom of the picture above have self-sown. I guess the term would be "volunteers". I'd love to turn my whole front yard into a garden, but maybe not with so many Lamb's Ears.

We get violets in the side yard when it isn't mown. Cute!

Well, it's time to get to work this morning. Have a great week.