How I spent the last weekend before Christmas...

Finally finished my Grandmother's Christmas present. Because really, what do you get for the 87 year old woman who has everything? This matches the colors in her living room quite well. I hope she likes it--I find giving handmade gifts rather nerve-wracking!!



This weekend, my sewing machine has taken a bit of an excursion. Out of the sewing room/office and out to...


The dining room table! Complete with Christmas wrapping paper detritus, centerpiece left over from Thanksgiving, platters set out for hosting Christmas Eve, as well as extra chairs for said holiday hostessing event. Nine people for cocktails and hors d'ouevres? No sweat!

What was I saying?

Right!

What you see here is my new vantage point. It means that not only do I have all the table space I could ask for as I quilt miles...




And miles...


Of my husband's Christmas present (doing organic shattered line quilting), but I also have the TV across the room to keep me company. The finished quilt will be about 50" x 60", a decent sized throw for the Madman's Man Cave--plenty big to cuddle under when he's watching movies on the wide-screen, seated in his recliner. He helped me baste it, so it's not a huge surprise, but it will be done on time (barring any and all catastrophes), and that's what counts. He's out tomorrow night with the guys to see Tron *yawn*, so I'll spend tomorrow evening watching something, anything else, while hand-tacking the binding.

A busy, bloggy Monday

I love Columbus Day--who doesn't love a Monday off?? This one is particularly special. This time last year, I ruptured a disc in my back so badly, I couldn't work (for 4 months), lost most of the feeling and use of my left leg, and wound up needing surgery. A year later, here I am. I still have some bad days. I still have some loss of feeling in my foot. But I am otherwise ok, and so very thankful for it.

That aside, I got quite a bit accomplished! I woke this morning to find out that the thermostat for our main floor has crapped out and won't call for heat. The madman of the house is currently on the case--I'm lucky he's so handy. I was quite tempted to spend the day snuggled up in bed with my book and a cup of hot tea, surrounded by kitties. But I had THINGS to accomplish!

Firstly, a 9.5" log cabin-y block from the scraps of the courthouse steps block I made yesterday, for Belinda since it's her month in the Beehive. The middle looks a bit wonky in this light--it's cloudy here today, and consequently all of my photos are a bit...meh. :P


I also had my runner to be quilted.


I went with a random series of loosely wavy lines, done in variegated thread that runs amber to cream and back. The pattern is reminiscent of leaves in the wind, keeping with the season.


This was really a test, both for me and my little Janome. It has been...a very long time since I've machine quilted anything. Most of my work in the past has been hand quilted, which I enjoy, but is time consuming and hard on my hands. I have done a few things which were quilted on my old Singer (which, by the way, will be home at the end of this week--after over 4 months out for repair... >.<), but this was my first time trying anything with the Janome. I had a heck of a time getting the walking foot ON in the first place, but ultimately it worked out ok. It was a small enough project that I wound up with no puckering on the back (HURRAY!) and a couple of small puckers in front, which I attribute to using a slightly crumpled old scrap of batting. Note to self--roll batting scraps instead of folding! The whole process took some getting used to, and I know that I've learned quite a bit, so the next one will go more smoothly. Here's to hoping, anyway. The best news is that my little Janome tackled it like a champ!

I haven't decided what I'm going to bind this in yet. I'm thinking perhaps I'll piece the binding with more of the scraps that made up the blocks. We'll see. I may find something appropriate when I go to the quilt shop to pick up my machine on Friday.

Happy week, kids. Remember, you have until midnight EST on Wednesday, 10/14 to enter for my giveaway over here.

Janome passes the test!

I spent most of yesterday cheerfully ironing, cutting and sewing. And am just over half-way caught up with AmandaJean's 9-patch a day quilt along!





I'm doing all oriental-inspired prints, a lot of Hoffman I've had for about 8 years, with a few others thrown in. I also chose to do a third print for the center, light, because I'm planning on sashing this in a dark color, likely navy blue or dark olive green. So I want the blocks to kind of glow, and so far I am absolutely in love with these little blocks. I did decide that some of them were getting a little busy, so I sat down for another hour or so last night and cut some green and rust tone-on-tone and marble-y fabrics from my stash to give the eye someplace to rest for some of the busier blocks.

Beyond that, the Janome totally passed the test yesterday. Smooth, quiet, not a broken thread or skipped stitch anywhere. I am so thrilled, I cannot even express this in words. After struggling with the Singer for months, and then being without it for 6 weeks now, I was at my wits end. This is such a blessing. Now, onward to more piecing!!

ETA: I have a half-dozen more 9-patches ready to have their final stitching to be finished blocks, which brings me to 14. Today makes 22 blocks to keep up with the quilt-along. I thought I was 2 weeks behind, but apparently I can't count (or was in denial) and am 3 weeks behind. Will be staying in my air-conditioned sewing room/office (95 and 95% humidity? no thanks!) and finishing up on that this afternoon.

Oh, AND...



Isn't she pretty?!

More pics coming soon!

This week has NOT been productive, but it HAS been eventful! My Singer is still living with the repair folks, so I said the hell with it and went to go and get another machine. I am now the proud owner of a cute little Janome electric. I will post pics once I am home with access to my camera. (I'm on break at work, at the moment.)

I have been insanely busy since the machine purchase on Monday, so at most I've gotten a little hand-piecing done on the interminable white and blue HSTs for my pinwheel blocks. Enough for three or four more blocks, perhaps.

I'm also working this Saturday, which cuts me to one day to be really productive. My goal for Sunday is to get caught up on my 9-patch one-a-day challenge, since I'm now about 2 weeks behind. 14 blocks should be easy, right? Famous last words... If I'm fast and it's not too hot, I may try and tackle sashing blocks for a couple of baby quilts, one for Project Linus and the other for a friend's little girl.

I also signed up for a swap! It's a miniature quilt swap that will have a ship-date in mid autumn. I don't even have any information for my swap-ee yet, so I am sort of aimlessly brainstorming. I AM hoping that I have a fellow blogger, so I can go and stalk them to find out some preferences! :)

So, pictures over the weekend, some catching up to do. And a bit more sad news--another local quilt shop is getting ready to close their doors. So if you're near Fairfield County, CT, stop over at Jigglestitch in Monroe to check out their clearance. I haven't heard yet whether their intention is to move (again) or whether they're closing for good. I'm very much hoping it's the former and not the latter.

Headache-inducing machine woes

So, I called the shop that I brought my sewing machine to for service umpteen weeks ago to see if it's come in yet. Initially, they'd said a week. Then it was two. Today makes three weeks.

I called just as the repair guy came in. No, he didn't bring it. Apparently the Singer Merritt I have was a very limited run, with a number of unique parts. He's done the service, but it needs a new presser foot, and is having trouble tracking one down. I told them that I have a walking foot for it--I really don't "need" a new presser foot for it, because I don't use it for anything (now that I've found the walking foot). So the upshot is that if that's the case, I may have my machine back sooner than next year, just, you know, not today. *big sigh*

Ultimately, if the machine is going to be this hard to get parts for, I may work to save up for a new one, and have the Singer be my backup machine. In any case, I'm off to look up sewing machines in Consumer Reports.

But let me ask you, dear readers. What machine do you use? What do you like about it? What don't you like about it? What would you have done differently when buying, if anything? Any words of advice?

Surprises abound...

I knew when we moved in *mumbledy* years ago that it might be awhile before I unearthed all of my stash. And a few months ago, with my husband's help, we went through my boxes of craft stuff (I also embroider and crochet, and knit a little) and I thought I'd found, sorted and stored the last of it.

I was wrong.

In my cleaning today, I found a box innocently labeled "Office, Fabric". Oh, really?

Really.

Another whole big box of stash that I had utterly forgotten about. Well, scratch that. I remembered some of the fabrics, and wondered whatever happened to them. I didn't realize that my husband had simply stacked a bunch of stuff on this box while I was laid up this past winter, as he went through things in the office. (Long story short--we redid our kitchen ourselves last summer. The end of it, the new counter, was put in the day after I ruptured a lumbar disc and promptly lost feeling and much of the use of my left leg. Therefore, I didn't have a whole lot to do with the filling of cabinets from storage boxes--nearly a year later, I am STILL reorganizing things in there... BUT, some of the kitchen stuff had been stashed in my office while we were renovating.)

I sorted through the first layer or so, and was so immediately overwhelmed, I just closed it right back up. It was either shift the box and keep cleaning, or spend the rest of the day re-sorting stash, which will be done soon enough, once the office/sewing room is cleaned and organized.

And I did take a few before pics this morning, so that on the other side of this, you can see the progress, much to my shame and chagrin. I suppose the best news of all of this is that I'm now worn out from cleaning, and wouldn't be able to accomplish much in front of the sewing machine today even if I did have it.

Frustrated!

So, the one week turnaround on sewing machine maintenance? Is now going to be a minimum of three weeks. So instead of getting caught up on my 9-patch block-a-day quilt-along, and perhaps finishing a flimsy this weekend, I will be handpiecing, and cutting stash. Because it will be NEXT Thursday at the earliest before I get my machine.

Seriously? Any longer and I'll be looking to purchase a new machine, and keep the old Singer for backup. I'm going through horrible withdrawal. Also, yes, I have looked into sewing machine rental, and there isn't anyplace nearby that does rentals. The good news is that I found out that one of the quilt shops that was near where I work, and had been flooded out in the Nor'Easter of 2007, re-opened about 6 months ago in a new location, under a new name. How cool! Now I actually can do a bit of fabric-shopping in person without having to drive through 2 counties to get there!

Which, of course, is neither here nor there if I have no machine. *headdesk*

Time for some lovely, um, photos...

Ok, so a day late, but y'all should be used to that from me by now...

First, I have to show off the present that Jay got for me at Target this week...




It's a turquoise, black and white argyle mug, with lime green lines...and a skull and crossbones on it! I literally squealed and hopped around the kitchen like a moron for a full minute after he gave it to me. It is officially my new favorite coffee mug! *grins dopily*

And of course, drinking a whole mess of coffee to test-drive my new mug, I managed to get a smidge of fabric cutting done...



I'm doing double-duty as I cut. The squares are 2.5" for AmandaJean's 9-patch quilt-along. (It's not too late to join, sign up over here.) I've noticed a new trend of 9-patches being done with a light or dark square in the center, different from the other fabrics in the block. I decided to do light squares in the center of my blocks for this go-around, and we'll see if I like it. Those have all been cut now, for all 70 blocks. I'm about a third of the way through the other, darker fabrics for this project.



I love this particular fabric. It's about 8 years old, and I honestly have no idea who made it. It came as a part of a FQ bundle of oriental fabrics, several of which are showing up in this quilt. I just love the tesselating pattern.

So, as I cut the squares, I'm also cutting triangles...


For my eventual flying geese quilt. Since I've long-planned to do this in oriental-themed fabrics, I figured I might as well kill two, ahem, birds with one stone... Don't know just why this decided to turn on it's side, but I'm too lazy to change it. :)

In other news, I have gotten "official" confirmation that my machine "should" be back on Thursday, meaning I "should" be able to go and pick it up on Friday. We'll see, at any rate. I'm anxious, but trying not to be hopeful. Nothing worse than a crestfallen quilter with three days off and no machine, am I right?

Also, has this ever happened to you? A coworker came into my office the other day, wearing the most striking blouse. Navy, aqua and white in this vaguely floral, large-scale swirling pattern. I was instantly smitten with the colors and the design. I have a quilt based on the color combo brewing in my little brain, and I'm not sure it's one I can ignore. We'll see what unfolds.

For now, however... Sleep.

So much inspiration!

Every new quilt blog or site I go to, every Yahoo Group digest I get in my email, it all seems to give me more and more new ideas. I know I need to clean and organize my office/sewing room, and all the talk over on the Stashbusters group is spurring me on. I just need time, and a day that my back isn't killing me, to move some things around, and hopefully unearth my sewing machine. I tend to be a handpiecer, but a lot of that is simply from necessity. I have located a local repair shop, and god knows the poor machine, if not actually broken, is in sore need of a tune-up--it's a 1970's Singer, originally my mom's. If I can get it up and running, it could make some of my projects move along a bit faster. Though I will continue to handpiece things like the stars for the Xmas sampler, because I am a bit obsessive about my points. :D

I also found a pattern, in sorting through photos posted by other Stashbusters group members, of jar-shaped blocks. Hers was done with bug and frog prints, and it immediately made me think of a friend and former roommate, who was a biology major in college. She actually flagged me down on-campus one spring afternoon our sophmore year to warn me not to open the shared mini-fridge in our dorm room, as she had stored some enormous bug in there. Blagh!! Twelve years later, it still gives me the creeps!! But I have some fabrics with frogs, lizards, fish and butterflies, and thought perhaps those might work well in a jar quilt. :) Looks like a quick project, at least, I hope so! Add it to my list of WHIMMs...

--Meg