Showing posts with label sewing room. Show all posts

Quilts & Blossoms

First off, I am super excited that I am getting my first COVID vaccine shot on Friday!  Funny to be excited by a shot, but I am.  That means it won't be too much longer before we are able to go home and visit family at long last.

I've not done any personal sewing since last week, but I have completed four quilts for clients. Sneak peeks:




My husband has been working on the wiring in the basement.  We haven't finished painting yet, but it's nice to see the part I did finish in the actual lighting.  I was still unsure of the wall color until I saw the lights on.  I like it now.

I don't have my first daffodil bloom yet, but we are close. (One of the neighbors' daffodils are blooming.)  Maybe this will open by the end of the day?  We are later this year; this one bloomed March 10 last year.

A lot of my daffodils are so close to blossoming.  The day lilies are starting to grow. The trees have very visible buds.  The grass is not really greening up.  We still have some winter birds here. But spring is on its way.

I leave you with yet another messy view of my sewing room. I was working on selecting threads; can you tell?





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Sewing Room Reveal Part One

I'm fully moved into the sewing room now, although we are still not completely finished.  Here is a brief tour of the room with almost everything in it--I'm still really hoping for a separate ironing surface.  I haven't put up a design wall or done any decorating yet.  Many of the cupboards are empty, but the drawers are all full. And let's not talk about the closets, okay?

When you enter the room, you will see my long arm all the way to the right.  I've mentioned before that we added the two-foot extension so that my frame is now 12 feet.  That allows me to quilt most king-sized quilts.  I figured it would take an hour or two to extend the frame, but it actually took at least six hours over two days to get everything to fit properly.  I was a bit disappointed that the extension kit looked like it had been partially assembled before.  There were some chips in the white paint and the hardware kit had clearly been opened and retaped shut.  It was missing a set screw, but that is easily replaceable and we left it out of the batting bar since I don't generally use that one.  The new frame pieces were a slightly different size than the old ones and the silver parts that hold the track didn't quite line up either.  Sigh.  But it's all back together now and I am ready to quilt for you.

You also see my cutting table (original construction details here).  Since I haven't decided on the ironing board situation yet, I'm still using my original setup.  Isn't it lovely?  ha ha.  We do have a new top for the cutting table prepared, and it will match the other countertops.  I also have a butcher block top that will form the ironing surface, but I'm not sure what I want for a base yet. 

If you're wondering what I keep in all the cubbies of the cutting table, I have two bins with scraps and half square triangles, one with charm packs and mini charm packs, one with a bunch of doll clothes fabric, some binders, square rulers, ironing tools, and rotating cutting mat, and a few with random supplies. You can see what I keep in the end--it's mostly my next planned projects and some interfacing.  Once I get my closet situation under control, I may change what I store in there.
Speaking of closets, here are my two closet doors at the right end of the long arm frame. Why two closets? Well, the one to the right was already there since it is under the stairs. The other is directly under our master bathroom, so it's a nice, big size.  I am not willing to share what they currently look like inside.  I have a lot of sorting, discarding, destashing, and reorganizing to do. 

 Oh, you can see my Ikea drawer unit outside the left closet.  When I sewed upstairs, and in a few of our previous houses, it held all sorts of notions and thread.  I emptied it out yesterday, was shocked by my hoarding tendencies, tried to reorganize the contents into my new drawers, and then refilled it with my long arm supplies.
Here's the view of the room when standing near the closets.  My father-in-law made my cabinets for me. The knobs and pulls are from Menards; you can get the same ones at virtually any big box store.  The chair is the Roache Task Chair in blue from Wayfair.  The decorative ceiling light is from Lamps Plus and is no longer available. It looks pretty, but gives off basically no light since it came with an Edison bulb, pretty but impractical. Yes, I can change the bulb to something brighter, but haven't made the effort yet. The flooring is Mannington Adura Max luxury vinyl plank in Sundance Gunstock that we purchased online from Flooring Market.  The ordering process was very smooth and the price was outstanding.  I think that may be the first flooring we've ever ordered online.  The doors are from Lowes.  The wall paint is from Lowes as well.  The cabinet paint is from Sherwin Williams.  The trim is custom that my father-in-law and husband made.  The counter material is Formica in Neutral Weft.  We added the matching Ideal Edge so that it looks more solid surface-like.  We made the counters on site (bought Formica sheets and glued to particleboard).
Here's my sewing machine inset into the hole in the counter.  I haven't had a chance to sew yet, but it looks like it should work well.  I have a Sew Easy extension table that fits similar Berninas available to sell for a good price if someone is in need of one.  Hit the contact button to inquire.  :)
Tomorrow I am taking a class with Kris Vierra.  The class description says you can bring your problem tops and get quilting suggestions.  Is bringing in an Ikea bag full of tops too much?  Asking for a friend.  😉 Saturday my guild is having a Sewcial to start work on the charity quilts we are planning for this year.  Then it's spring break for the kids.  Other than that, I have loads of sorting and organizing to do in my room, and maybe I'll even get a chance to sew or quilt something.  I'm really hoping that having all my stuff in its own room out of the family space doesn't mean that I never get the chance to sew.  It's so convenient to have it in the center of the living room, but not very visually pleasing.

 One final note--did you see that Warm Company is no longer going to sell their batting and other products at JoAnn?  Yikes.
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Lucky Charm Mini

I am still getting over my cold.  I'm at day 10 and I think I've used two whole boxes of tissues so far.  Things have been close to a standstill, progress-wise. I finally finished up my Lucky Charm mini quilt top last night. Lucky Charm is a pattern from Primrose Cottage Quilts.  I bought the kit from their Etsy shop.  Not sure why, but I have such a hard time sewing hourglass blocks.  This one finishes at 30" square, so I will be putting it onto the long arm for sure.
Something I'm wondering about--do you press seams open or to the side?  Why?  I generally press seams to one side unless the pattern really isn't working out well, in which case I will try with open seams.  I feel like it is much easier to match intersections when seams are pressed to one side.  A complaint I have about open seams is that they always seem to split (I always backstitch at beginning and end of seams, but open seams always come undone).  And if I press joining row seams open, they don't stay flat.  It's like they want to close up.  How do get around that and have them stay flat?

 So, moving along.  We are getting a little closer on the sewing room.  The second closet door is installed and the cutout for my sewing machine is done.  My current bench is too short for the new counter, so I have a chair on order.  Fingers crossed it looks good.
We'd bought some "official color-matched" caulk for the countertop and it does not match.  It dried pretty yellow, so we are ripping it out and trying something different, I guess.  Can you notice the yellow line around the desk where it meets the wall?  So disappointing.
We still need to enlarge my long arm frame--the correct parts arrived Saturday.  Other than fixing the caulk situation, pretty much all that's left is to clean and figure out how to transport my cutting table down there. I think that's going to involve tearing it completely down into its components.

 Here's the updated sewing room to-do list:
  • 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 one more closets
  • install pocket door
  • get some glass cut for one set of cabinet doors on order
  • finish up the crown molding
  • finish making the top for my cutting table
  • break down, move, and reassemble the long arm
  • move all half the remainder of my stuff in

My son started taking a beginning tennis class over the weekend.  I played tennis in high school and took a class in college for fun.  It's been a long time since I played, but I'm happy that he is having fun and that he is willing to hit the ball around with me.  It feels good to have my racquet in my hand again.  😊

 Side note:  if you subscribe to my blog via email, you may have noticed that your email is now very short.  Just click on the post title to read the full post.
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Stuffed Animals & Star Wars

I made some stuffed animals for my kids for Valentine's Day.  Both were challenging projects, but for different reasons.
I made my daughter this corgi.  The pattern is by Fluffmonger and is a free download.  I purchased the fabrics from Fluffmonger's Etsy store.  This is the mini size and it's around 6" tall.  I had a really hard time fitting the butt onto the back fabric, but with the help of about 6,000 pins I finally got it in there.  It was a challenge to sew due to its tiny size.

I made my son an axolotl.  The pattern is by Bee Zee Art on Etsy.  I used micro fleece to sew the pattern.  I had two reasons for this.  One, I hate sewing with minky.  Two, I already had the light pink micro fleece, so only had to buy a small bit of the darker pink.  Overall the pattern was pretty easy to sew.  The only part I didn't like is that you have to hand sew the head to the body.  I would have rather had an open body seam to close up after stuffing.  For some reason my sewing machine had a complete meltdown while sewing this.  I had tons of ripping due to massively long skipped stitches.  And then, when I was almost done, I accidentally ripped a small hole near the mouth seam and had to make a really wonky seam to cover it.  Heartbreak!  The eyes ended up a bit crooked too, but he likes it and I am relieved.

On the plus side, both kids liked their gifts and my sewing machine seems to have recovered from whatever was possessing it while sewing the axolotl.

 I finished up the four Millennium Falcon mug rugs this week too.  The pattern is by Isabella's Whimsy on Etsy. I was amused while binding the first one because we were watching tv and Star Wars episode VII came on while I was binding one of the BB-8 backed pieces.  And then Han and Chewy came in.  😀

I've been trying to start sewing a kit I bought from Primrose Cottage Quilts on Etsy.  Life keeps intervening.  I finally got everything cut on Sunday, spent most of Monday resting with a nasty cold virus, then spent yesterday morning judging my teacher friend's elementary school science fair.  And yesterday afternoon resting again. Maybe in between resting periods today I can start sewing.
I've still been moving bits and pieces downstairs into the sewing room closet.  I've emptied most of the things out of the office, so it's looking quite spacious.  My replacement long arm frame pieces were shipped yesterday.  They show a delivery date of Monday, but I'm hoping they arrive before the weekend so that we can expand the frame to king size.  

 My husband spent part of the weekend working on the desk in the sewing room.  He's been experimenting with different templates to cut an inset into the desk.  The plan is to have the bed of the machine sit level with the counter.  He's going to cut a hole in the countertop and then cut a plexiglass piece to fit tightly around the machine (template at left in picture below). I think we're going to try doing the cutting tonight. We are a bit nervous about this, because one slip of the router and it's game over on the counter top!  If all goes well, I should be able to finish moving in within the next week or two.
Here's the updated sewing room to-do list:
  • 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 one more closets
  • install doorknobs
  • get some glass cut for one set of cabinet doors on order
  • finish up the crown molding
  • finish making the top for my cutting table
  • break down, move, and reassemble the long arm
  • move all half the remainder of my stuff in

We've had so much rain lately, mixed with small amounts of snow and ice, and most days it's been really gloomy.  I'm really hoping that spring is truly on its way.  My daffodils are coming up, there were flocks of robins in the yard last week, and this week I had some red winged black birds on the feeder--they are summer birds for us.  However, I do still have the juncos, which are winter birds. I'm gonna ignore them and go with spring's imminent arrival.

 Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts.
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Why Ugly Photos Are Important

How do you like my new look?  I've been working hard at trying to make everything look nice and function well. It's still a work in progress, like all aspects of my life!  I think I have everything organized into the pull-down menus.  Most of the sidebar is still the same.  There are some additional, clickable labels there and my social media sites and Etsy shop photos are down at the bottom of the page now.  Feel free to use the contact form to send me feedback.  I think I have the no-reply issue solved on my end.  I use an iMac and I had to go to Safari, Preferences, Privacy and uncheck the "Prevent cross-site tracking" box in order to be able to comment.  Maybe this will help some of you too?  

 Anyway, on to this week's topic.

 This ugly photo ended up being very valuable to us.  
Why, you might ask?  Well, I tried to plug in a phone in my sewing room so that I didn't have to remember to bring a phone down from the main floor.  Yes, we still use a landline.  That way we always have a phone that works in case of emergencies.  (I keep a really ugly old pushbutton, corded phone in the closet for this purpose.)  But I digress.  Okay, so I plugged in the phone base and the phone did not come on.  I asked my husband if all the outlets were live and he said yes. We figured something was wrong with either the batteries in the phone or the phone itself. Fast forward 24 hours.  He wants to use the outlet for something and discovers multiple outlets aren't working.

 The reason could be a broken wire somewhere, a dud outlet, or a missing/hidden outlet. He's running around with his volt meter thing and I am upstairs searching through photos on the computer.  I found the culprit when looking at the ugly picture.  The drywallers forgot to cut out one of the outlets; it was drywalled over. Luckily, since the photo showed the exact location of the missing outlet, it was a quick fix to get everything working.

 The house we are in is the fifth we've either built or bought in progress.  I have always taken photos and/or videos of the open walls to mark plumbing and wiring locations.  I've taken photos of where the septic system is before it's buried in.  And we have ended up referring back to these photos and videos many times. I realize that most people aren't building their homes or doing all the work themselves, but even if you're doing a remodel, or having someone do work for you, take those photos when things are opened up.  It only takes a few minutes, and maybe you won't ever need the photos.  But if you do, you'll be so glad you took the time.

 We made a bunch of progress on the sewing room over the weekend.  The majority of my stuff is moved into the closets.  (It being neat, tidy, and organized is task for another day.)  The shelves are installed in the cabinets and the knobs and pulls are on.  The wiring is complete. We moved the long arm into the room, though not quite in the fashion I anticipated.

 I received the two-foot extension for the frame for Christmas.  I didn't do anything with it because we weren't ready for it yet.  The plan was to install it when we moved the long arm into the room since we were going to need to tear it apart anyway.  Well.....I opened the box Saturday morning and realized that the place we purchased it from had sent the wrong thing.  It was a table extension for a sit down long arm.  I was so disappointed.  Long story short, I sent back the wrong piece and they are sending the correct thing (I hope).  We decided to go ahead and move the long arm anyway.  I thought we'd have to tear the whole thing apart, but all we did was remove the machine from the frame and remove the bars.  We moved the rest of it into the room in one piece.  I was pretty shocked that it worked and that it even fit through the door!  Now it's all set up in its original 10-foot glory until the extension comes.  
Since the long arm is in its nice, clean, beautiful new home, I am now able to provide machine quilting services. You can see my pricing and policies up in the long arm quilting pull down menu.  If you are viewing on a mobile device, you can click the menu button in the lower right corner and then click the open menu button on the slider window, then click the long arm quilting tab.  I would LOVE to quilt for you!

 Oh yeah, I also uploaded my borders presentation handout.  It's a free download and it's located in the free stuff menu under free patterns.  

 I've done a bit of sewing, but this post is so long already that I will save it until next week.  

 Here's the updated sewing room to-do list:
  • 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 one more 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
  • move all half the remainder of my stuff in
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Blog Issues and Baby Steps

First off, I want to address some blogger issues.  Several people have left comments lately that I am not able to respond to at all.  The issue seems to be two-fold.  First, the commenters are no-reply commenters.  This means that I cannot send them an email response.  To fix this, you need to double-check your blogger profile to make sure your email is available.  You also need to make sure you aren't linked to Google+ since that service is being discontinued. I've read that Google reverts settings periodically, so it's something you need to check on a regular basis.  You could also leave your email in your comment if you want a response, especially if you're not using Google.

 Secondly, my blog is not allowing me to respond to comments on the actual post comment section either. I am working on some things on my end, including a new page set up and possibly a new address and/or name change, and I'm hoping these upgrades will fix the situation.  If not, please know that I appreciate all comments and try my hardest to respond.  If you aren't getting a response from me, please use the contact form to email me directly.

 Anyway, things are moving slowly along here, like usual.  Some things are better, some are the same.  On the plus side, we took the car to be looked at and they couldn't find anything wrong and couldn't replicate the problem. I surely hate when repair people say that! They did replace the battery.  That didn't really seem to do much.  As my husband drove the car to work after picking it up, it immediately started misfiring again.  Luckily it threw a code, so he was able to hook it to the computer and pull the code.  The actual problem was that the spark plugs needed to be replaced.  So $200 for the new battery and "service" and $30 for new spark plugs, and we are back in business.  Like I said before, the car is 10+ years old, so I feel good about the repairs.

 I haven't gotten a ton of sewing done, but I did stitch around all four of the Millennium Falcon window grids.  Each one took about half an hour to stitch around.  The next few steps will go pretty quickly, then it will be on to quilting and binding.
I've also been working on a gift, so I do not wish to share that until after it is finished and received.  Hopefully it'll get done in time.  I'm stuck at a step (just cannot make it fit properly) and I'm determined to power through it and complete it this week.  

 I do have my handouts for borders finished.  My presentation is Friday night.  The handouts will be available here on the blog next week Wednesday as a free download, so be sure to stop back and check them out.

 My free time in the past week has mostly been spent on family, trying to figure out my blog issues, and working a tiny bit on the sewing room.  We are getting closer! The last few days I've moved the majority of my stash into the bigger closet in the room.  The only things left to move are the long arm, books, and most of the stuff I have upstairs, where I've been sewing for the last five years.  In case you're curious, that includes things I'm working on, all machines except the long arm, and my cutting table.  Oh, and my doll stuff, which I've been terrible about working on in the past year.  And more books and magazines.  And lots of batting pieces.
The good news is that everything fit into the closet.  I was worried about that.  Seeing it all in there tells me that I need to do a serious culling of stuff.  Some stuff I haven't touched in five or more years, so I think I can safely get rid of it or give it to someone who will use it.  I also need to be more serious about devoting time to sewing the doll clothes, since those bins are about half of all things I have stashed.  It will be fun to sit there and sort through all the boxes and bins.  I'm sure I'll find all sorts of treasures!  I already found a near-complete doll blanket that I was knitting for a pattern sample.  I'm not sure why I never finished it.

 Last night we got the door and doorknob to the big closet on, the rest of the lights installed, and the smoke detector installed.  My husband hooked up the wifi booster thing over the weekend.  I am hoping my husband can wire at least enough of the outlets to move the long arm into the room this weekend.  Speaking of the long arm, the longer leaders I'll need when we add the two-foot extension should be arriving today, and I am making the final long arm payment on Friday!  Woo hoo!
Here you can see the smoke detector, wifi booster, and the decorative light.
Here's the updated to-do list:
  • 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 one more 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
  • move all half my stuff in
I've had flocks of robins gathering in my yard and this morning I saw a group of around 20 turkeys strolling the neighborhood.  Could spring be arriving soon?  I hope so!  Here's to a productive week.

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My First Finish of the Year

I finished binding my Gracie Girl quilt over the past week.  It is my first finish of the year.  The print fabrics used are all Gracie Girl by Lori & Kassidy Holt.  The pattern is called Sunburst and was a freebie that came with the kit I bought from Fat Quarter Shop four or five years ago.  I used the Unwind pantograph in a custom size to quilt it.  It is a small lap size at 51" x 60".


My kids finished their stuffed animals.  My daughter made her seal pretty much on her own.  My son's flounder was a joint effort.  They both seem happy with their makes.
It's been a kind of rough week.  The only thing I feel like sharing about it is that one of our cars is acting up.  It's 11 years old, so the cost of the repair will determine whether we fix it or trade it in for something new (along with a car payment).  The car has had a good life, and other than the three deer strikes last winter and basic maintenance it's been essentially trouble free. 

I'm also not enjoying the cold snap/Polar Vortex.  I'm cold all the time and don't feel like doing anything except huddling under some quilts.  And whenever it's this cold, the furnace runs all the time and I just get a mental image of the electric meter numbers spinning so fast you can't see them. About the only real productive thing I've done is work on the final layout of my borders presentation papers for my next guild meeting. I guess I can sum it by saying that I dislike January and I'm glad it's almost February. 

My husband got the carpet installed in the sewing room closet.  A coworker of his gave us their leftover carpet pad and let us borrow his carpet stretcher.  The carpet itself is a remnant left from our upstairs.  He says I should be able to move stuff into the closet as soon as he has the threshold done and the door put back on.  
Here's the to-do list again:
  • 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
  • move all my stuff in
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No Finishes Yet

Well, it's been a week.  I haven't finished anything yet, but I've started a few things.  Story of my life!  Ha ha!

 I quilted my Gracie Girl quilt last week and am slowly (very slowly) binding it.  The binding is a dark navy and I have trouble seeing my stitches in dark colors, so I've been working under my magnifying lamp.  Hopefully it will be finished by next week!  I'm just short of 3/4 done now.

 I started making four mug rugs.  The pattern is called Millennium Falcon Cockpit Mug Rug by Isabella's Whimsy on Etsy.
I did order some fabric for a new quilt top.  I already have the backing, so I just ordered a solid that matched.  I'm waiting for that to arrive.  I also ordered a mystery mini quilt kit.  I know what the fabric looks like, but not what the pattern will be.  I may or may not make the project.  I think I'll need to finish a few things before I start these new things though. 😁

 My kids somehow found some free patterns for making your own beanie stuffed animals and insisted they must make some.  We started on my son's yellow flounder last night.  My daughter is making a seal with her leopard(?) fabric.  I had to go digging through my stash to find some polyester pellets so we didn't get very far last night.  We'll probably work toward finishing those tonight and hopefully be completely done by the weekend.
I finally finished ripping apart and reassembling my cross quilt.  The top is now done.  So far I haven't been able to find any matching backing fabric.  I'll need to make a trip to a quilt store some day when I have time to drive.
I've also been working on a presentation for my guild about how to attach borders to your quilt top so that the top lays flat.  That's nearly done; I just have to organize the information and make it look pretty.  I may share it here after I give the presentation.

My cross stitch projects have stalled out.  I have mistakes in both.  When I get frustrated, I need to step back for a while until I have calmed down.  Sometimes it takes a really long while.  I know where the mistakes are in the corgi pattern. I just have to decide whether I want to rip out what I did or just try to adjust and fix what I can.  I haven't found my error in the Devil's Tower one.  We're also still stalled out on our puzzle until we have a larger work space.

I got a surprise #getyourquiltywishesgranted package yesterday!  This one was a trade.  I sent various scraps and she was going to send me some selvedges.  Better late than never, and it was a nice surprise to an otherwise mediocre day!
My husband has been hard at work in my sewing room.  The trim is all painted and the drop ceiling is installed.  
 
In case you missed it last week, here's what still needs to be done.

  • 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
  • move all my stuff in
Speaking of moving all my stuff in, I'm a bit worried that even with this big space, my stuff will not fit.  That's pretty embarrassing!  I know that there is a lot of stuff I could sell or donate, but still.  I guess I just need to work a lot harder at finishing things.  And spend a lot of time reorganizing things so that I can see and use what I have.
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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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Best of 2018

Happy New Year!  2018 was full of peaks and valleys for us. And those valleys were really deep. I thought I'd try something a little different today and look back at my five favorite finishes of the year as a way to lift my spirits. I'm linking up with Meadow Mist Designs for this post.

 You can click on the title of each item to go to its original post.

1.  Postcard from Sweden 

I participated in mmm! quilts' QAL for this.  I love my finished quilt and its matching mini.

2.  Kaffe Walk About 

This quilt was my first finish of 2018 and I still love everything about it, from the fabric to the quilting.


3.  Sew Together Bag featuring Alison Glass fabric

I made this as part of a swap.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I'm super happy every time I see it lurking in the background of its new owner's posts on Instagram.

4. Cross Stitch projects

I completed quite a few simple cross stitch projects this year.  Here are a few of them.

5. Nessie

Such a simple, quick make, but this is the first quilt that my son has actually used, so it's a winner in my book.
I finished 29 quilts, mini to huge, in 2018, nine cross stitch projects, two sew together bags, three Woppet bags, a quilted pillow, six burp cloths, and a hand-stitched ornament. That's not too bad. You can see them all on my 2018 finishes tab (link up above). I'd like to continue on this year with finishing old works in progress.

 My goals are to move into my new sewing room, long arm quilt for others, take better, more consistent, photos, and update my blog look and/or blog address to reflect these changes.  All I have to do is come up with a name, which is surprisingly hard to do.

 Speaking of my sewing room, we installed the flooring this week.  It is Adura Max luxury vinyl plank in the Gunstock color way.  This is the first time we've used this product.  It was quite easy to install and we had very little scrap.  I think it actually looks like a wood floor.  Here are a few in-progress photos of the installation.


Finally, now that we have finished and put away all FLL and Christmas stuff for the year, the kids and I started a new puzzle.  This one is posters of National Parks.  Just like with the Mustang puzzle last year, we decided not to look at the box at all in order to make it more challenging.
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