This was my Wednesday -
Dealing with Lola crawling under the Shoo Fly Shoo, Variation II quilt while trying to get binding on!
Yesterday was deep and heartfelt. So much heavy stuff. And so much support through your comments, and I appreciate each and every voice.
My entire yesterday was spent getting this quilt to binding stage before heading home for dinner, in between rounds of back-and-forth checking on the washing of the dozen new blankets at Quiltville Inn.
Front loader washing machines just TAKE FOREVER. My washer has the capacity to do 3 cotton blankets at a time. They soak up a lot of water and get really heavy. Any more than that sends the spin cycle into break dancing mode.
And heavy blankets spun on MEDIUM take longer to dry because the spin didn’t spin more water out.
The next time I stay in a hotel – long after life returns to some semblance of normal – I will bow down to the laundry goddesses who make all of that hotel laundry happen!
Off the machine and ready to bind!
This just may be my new favorite quilting design!
Moxie by UrbanElementz.com
I love how it looks in the fairly plain tone-on-tone border.
The quilt was made with the 4’’ size block of our Shoo Fly Shoo leader & Ender challenge. The 4 patches and setting triangles were made from 2 1/2’’ squares straight out of the Scrap User’s System Squares box.
The only time yardage came into play was for the borders. I tried several colors for the outer border, and really, ANY color would have worked, emphasizing that color from the quilt center, but that magenta pink just screamed YES – and there was enough of it to do the job, but not much more.
Getting that binding on!
The grey binding is also a piece that I had “just enough of” but had to cut it lengthwise with the grain instead of cross-wise selvage to selvage. WHY? Because it was a gifted piece that likely spent time on an open-to-daylight shelf white on the bolt and it had a huge fade line running down the center at the fold between the selvages.
It’s just one of the reasons I tend to keep my fabric behind closed cabinet doors. Light fades fabric.
Even though fabric looks grand wrapped on comic boards and stacked on shelves like books for all the world to oooh and ahhh at (WHICH LOOKS AWESOME!) – it will fade at the fold. Which isn’t a problem if you can cut around it, but if you were planning on using that fabric whole for things like borders or binding, you just might find that fade line ruins your game plan. So what to do?
Why the fabric rant? Because I am participating in the Love Your Creative Space Blog Tour for Lilo Bowman’s new book Love Your Creative Space: A Visual Guide to Creating an Inspiring & Organized Studio without Breaking the Bank!
My day to post is Saturday. I have a copy of the book and I am pawing through it trying to decide what to do with my stash when I finally bring it up to Virginia from North Carolina. I am rethinking how I store everything from my fat-quarters to my yardage.
Where? At the cabin? At the QPO?
And I will be looking for suggestions to help with my space – so stay tuned for that.
If you think you’ve not heard of Lilo, she is the editor in chief for The Quilt Show (Alex Anderson & Ricky Tims) as well as being an author, instructor, lecturer in her own right. You are going to love what she puts together in this book.
The tour kicks off tomorrow and I will provide a link of where to visit at that time.
And Lola will be supervising at the QPO.
My mind is on the “move this, get rid of that, put this here” stage of making both my cabin studio and my QPO do a better job for me as I bring the NC stuff up to play – and the sheer volume of STUFF is daunting .
Can I say one more time that this tour comes at the RIGHT TIME? I am looking forward to what other folks share in their posts, aren’t you?
An last evening Zoey snuggled in while mama stitched on binding.
Today – No surprise – it’s RAINING!
(So much for my desired hike up Round House Road!)
I’ve got some sewing plans and some computer time plans and all in all it should be a quiet Thursday.
How are things for you on your own home front?
Quiltville Quote of the Day -
But it all begins with belief in yourself!
Have a wonderful Thursday – and please send some sunshine!
35 comments:
Good morning!! To all of you. I hate to say it but we have loads of sunshine here in Nebraska. Wish I could trade it for some of your rain!! I am back to working on Talking Turkey after weed control this morning. Have a great day!
Oh, Bonnie -- I love your blog and it's how I start each day! Thank you, thank you!! Your faithful follower in Minnesota . . .
Have you considered putting your washer on a second spin only cycle after you have spun out most of the water on medium? I think you could spin it on high at that point and your washer would't wobble. It would certainly cut down on the drying time if it works for you.
I love the bright border! Not my usual choice, but it is perfect.
I am still working on part 4 of Unity. Slow but steady.
I do that too if I have had a heavy load that didn’t spin out as dry as usual.
Fold lines are a constant worry down here in the Bahamas. I have my fabric on open shelves out of necessity, but they are in the northwest corner of the room where the chance of direct light on fabric is the least. I've even tried storing them with the wrong side facing out. I just pulled out a piece of Androsia (cotton batik made here) I have been saving and found a fade line. :( Well, it will be used as a backing on Good Fortune which is for me, so no worries. Tell Zoey that the fabric has potcakes on it (her people) and was made as a fundraiser for the Bahamas Humane Society!
Me too! I love Bonnie's blog. I read it first every morning.
love that quilt! After undergoing chemo I am ready to participate again on the leader ender challenge in July...so looking forward to it. I have some of my fabric folded in a lawyers bookcase with flip down doors, but haven't had problems with sun fade as this cabinet is located on south facing wall with no large windows near by, my fabric in the attic on shelves is covered by a sheet..ugly...but hey the attic is for storage only at this point. I thought of making a curtain to use instead...but...I have quilts and now masks to make.
I realize the Tour picture above isn't your studio, but my first thought (if asked how to protect THAT storage) is to string some cord along the top of the cabinet, on which can be hung 8 long, thin curtain panels (so they can be opened in the middle of each cabinet section). The cord can be further supported with screw eyelets or hooks at each intersection.
I had a similar problem, but it was affecting the flimsies waiting to be turned into quilts. I solved it with a window covering made from sheer fabric and orphan blocks (http://cbottsprojects.blogspot.com/2019/08/devil-cloth.html). I do hope adding that link to my blog isn't bad blog manners!
Looking forward to learning new tricks!
That new quilting patter is so lovely. It would make a beautiful whole cloth quilt.i would say that the back of the quilt looks as good as the front.
It is a beautiful sunny day after rain in the night here in Indiana. I am working and keeping tabs on my son’s dog who is feeling under the weather today. She is 15 years old and missing her dad who is on vacation. I plan to continue to sew a binding down on my Good fortune quilt after supper tonight. Have an awesome day Bonnie!
Lola is such a beautiful Tabby. Love seeing her among the quilts.
that's what I do with heavy blankets too! Saves drying time for sure!
While you wish for sunshine, we wish for rain. Being thankful for both, I hope for both in the right time. I am thankful for your blogs and hope for a better tomorrow. In the meantime, I am grateful to have the means and time to stitch. I appreciate all who stitch or quilt and glad to feel a part of it all. June
Thursday is a much needed cleaning day by my friend Mona. I am packing for a retreat in a remote part of Texas where all COVID precautions are being considered. We will be distancing, fewer to a room, mask when we pick our food up from the kitchen staff and we bring our own quilts and pillows. Love the idea. But first a softball tournament for my granddaughter. Her last one before she heads off to college in August.
Hi Bonnie,
I keep my fabric folded on open shelves in my north facing sewing room. That room gets no direct sunlight. If a fabric fades along the fold line in those conditions, I really don't want to use it in a quilt. Fortunately, that rarely happens anymore with the great fabrics we have now. Aren't we blessed!
Love your blog! The way you share your everyday tasks & things going on in your world. I envy you the rain - its HOT, HOT, HOT here in Northern California. Can't handle the heat anymore, so no gardening for me today. My beautiful 11 yr old granddaughter is here today and Grandpa is going to cut wood pieces so the two of us can build bird houses for all the birds we have here. Luckily we have a carport the size of an airplane hangar & can open the barn door & have lovely breezes coming through as we work in the shade. Have a wonderful day! Deb E / CA
mdenders@msn.com
I've got sunshine you can have, please send rain. I never remember a brown lawn in June in Maine and I'm in my 70s.
Good luck reorganizing. And as usual I love the pink border, makes everything POP.
Ooooooh, Bonnie! I love todays quote. That's a new one to me. I find myself running around doing chores every day so I can be "useful". Hmmmm..... believing my value and worth is not based upon what I DO vs. who I AM is a lifelong journey of learning I'm a human BEing not a human DOing. Anyhow, thanks for that and everything else.
Hello from earthquake prone Washington! I believe that you can buy a strap that attaches the washer to the wall so you don't find a flooded laundry room after your washer decides to go walkabout!And Lola! Sweet girl! Any hints about the leader and ender challenge? My crumb bags are bursting!
When a piece of fabric makes it to me with that fade mark I tear the fabric along the line before it enters my shelf.
LOVE that magenta!!
I am in the process of reorganizing my creative space. I wrapped my fabric on comic boards, and I keep it behind closet doors. Also my other shelves do not receive direct sunlight. Learned that lesson the hard way many years ago. Love the shoo-fly quilt. A real bright spot this summer.
I have always kept my fabric in cupboards with doors to keep the light out. After buying fabrics years ago and finding that fade line because the bolt sat on a shelf in the store too long and then I came along and saw the beauty in it and bought some. When you mentioned how pretty it looks to have the edges of the bolts of fabric showing I had a thought. Take pictures of the bolts of fabric and then have the pictures enlarged to a size to fit on the front of your cabinets. Now with the doors closed it will look like beautiful bolts of fabric. Love Zoey all curled up on the sofa with you while doing your hand sewing. My animals cats and dogs over the years have always love to lay on my lap or beside me while I sew on binding. They all got used to me moving the quilt as I progressed and stayed right where they were with just a few dirty looks and groans at me to let me know that I disturbed them. I love having a sweet pet with me.
Im confused i thought Lola went to the cabin to live. Is she a communiting kitty?
Either way she is beautiful
This is what I do too. I use the regular spin cycle after getting most of the water out on the 1st spin.
Lola is so cute supervising both your sewing and quilting lol
I’ve also hear you can get straps to help stop your machine from bouncing I hope you can solve this problem.
Just love how your shoo fly shoo quilt has turned out the 4 patches really work brilliantly next to the block and the pink border is beautiful.
We have been having a bit of a heatwave here we hit 95f yesterday and it was melting heat my little fan was working overtime on my desk.
Hope you have a wonderful day
Stay safe
Love and quilty hugs
Anne xxx
Yes, I feel the same way! Where do you live?
Provide a part time job.. hire the laundry 'out' to 'off your property' but be specific with soap product use and dryer products. It's a waste of your time and you are only on part time volume.
Hang in there... we are grieving and wish you well.
I read it early every day as well but I am always a day behind - any idea why that is? Don't get Monday's blog until Tues am for example so when an announcement is made about something I am always a day behind....
Thank you I love your blogs I am new to it You have been keeping me sane Through this darn coved thing Thanks Maggie
That is also what I do - and sometimes I put a dry towel in - it helps. I hate these new machines.
Your quote of the day really resonates with me. As a life long (almost - slowing down on it a bit) over-achiever, I over do and work to out do on just about everything. Need to stitch a sampler with that phrase!
She did for a short time after Dresden's death but her and Emmy Lou DID NOT work so back to QPO where she seems to be thriving judging from Bonnie's posts.
I had that problem until I saw this tip - scroll down to the bottom of the comments, you'll see a link on the left for "newer post", click it and that will take you to the current day's post.
Lucky for me the mid-Atlantic coastal plain deluge rains have recently been shorter and followed by sun. But who knows how long that will last! When the heavens open up, work is indoors (in the house for sewing, or in the greenhouse for sowing) and when the clouds part work is outside. If you can't beat the weather, join it and work with it on its own terms.
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