Puttering Into The Weekend!

The QPO Studio is looking a bit clearer.

I tackled bins and boxes and flat surfaces.

I needed to breathe "a bit of fresh air" even though windows and doors are staying firmly closed - I am not a fan of temps in the teens. (It was 9 degrees this morning when I woke up.  AUUGH!)

I had caught up on all of my computer and mail order fulfillment work, and I just couldn't settle into working on a project until I tackled my workspace.

Do you get that way too?

It all started with the cutting table.

Which is where my studio cleans usually start - it's where the most mess is.  And it is the thing that is usually going to take the longest because it involves unscrambling (Or would that be descrambling?) of the Scrap User's System strips I'd been working with, straightening them back out and putting them back into their drawers.

It may involve refolding fat quarters and yardage and putting all of that away.

It likely will involve rehanging of the number of rulers I'd been using recently, including the once I thought I had lost that were simply hiding under all of the fabric I had pushed aside to give me a clear cutting space.

If cleaning the kitchen starts with doing the dishes, then cleaning the studio starts with clearing off the cutting table.

From there I moved from flat surface to flat surface, putting things away and giving everything a good dust down.

A good vacuuming and it finally felt like I could breathe in here.

And by this time it was time to come home. I recorded a podcast yesterday with the folks at Quiltmaker Magazine, and I needed to be where I had the best cell reception - and that was at home!

Be watching for that episode of the Quilt & Tell podcast to drop on February 2nd!  I'll link to it here on the blog so you won't miss out.

My recording studio!

I was actually in an upstirs bedroom with the door closed.  They suggested a small space to minimize echo.  I don't have a walk-in closet so a room with quilts hanging on walls and a bed covered in quilts is about as soundproof as I could get. And comfy too! LOL

That's my leg that Zoey is next to, and she watched squirrels beyond the window as we chatted.

With most of the afternoon gone by this time - My studio organization plan took over in the cabin basement sewing room -

This is the BEFORE.  it was not working!

I've been cutting more block kits for my Churn Dash project - and combining scraps from those fabric boxes I received with my own pre-cut neutrals from the Scrap User's System.

I'd been trying to put the ones I'd already cut from on the chair back, and choosing new ones from the pile on the seat, but it just was not user friendly.

MUCH BETTER!

I'm using an expandable clothes drying rack and have put the strips I want to work with in the front, the ones I've already cut from in the back.

It will make the strips easy to put away when i am done with them.

These are the scraps from the bags I've sorted through.  I'm using a second ironing board as a staging surface to keep things off of the cutting table and the ironing board I am actually ironing on.

Many of these scraps date back to the 1980s and 1990s.  It feels so good to be putting them to use right away instead of putting them aside until later.

Oh, notice the clothes pins?  Yep. Ivy.  Need I say more? LOL!

I cut until dinner time!

Today's sewing is ready and waiting for me.

Queue the audio books, I've got a sewing day ahead!

In hand quilting news - I turned the corner to the 3rd side while "watching" Harry Potter, The Half Blood Prince - and I'm thinking about what I need to pull into the handwork line up next.

Wonderful if that string star quilt with the appliqued border (that I never finished!) is in some accessible tub somewhere?  I may search for that over the weekend.

Zoey!  What are you doing in Ivy's spot on the back of the couch? LOL!  Silly girl.

CHECK THIS OUT!

Ellen made her Rhododendron Trail in HALF SIZE!  That means where units finished at 2'' in the original, she finished hers at 1'' in her mini.  This is in sanely wonderful!

Well done, Ellen!

How are you coming along with yours?  

Did you see this release in my 1/15/22 post?

Quilt Size: 67'' X 75''

The introductory price for Cherry Crunch is marked 25% off in the digital pattern section of the Quiltville Store.  No coupon needed!  Price reduction good through 1/31/22.

And while that is exciting on its own - it's even BETTER if we throw in a Gift-Away, don't you think?

I will be drawing for ONE lucky winner and THEIR FRIEND who will each receive the printable PDF pattern for Cherry Crunch along with a Facets of Red fabric roll from Cotton to Quilts! 

(Fabric prize must be shipped to a USA address only.  If you are outside of the USA we can ship it to a friend within the USA who can then forward it on to you.)

You gotta be in it to win it!  Click to last Saturday's 1/15/22 Post to enter.

Drawing to happen Monday 1/24/22!

And it doesn't end there.  I have placed some OTHER Winter themed patterns ALSO at 25% off with no coupon required!

Forever Mine PDF pattern includes the runner too!

On sale at 25% off through 2/13/22

Warm Hands, Warm Heart & Winter Blues are both 25% off through 1/31/22.

If this is your first time downloading digital patterns from my store to a computer click HERE.

If you intend to download to an iPhone/iPad click HERE.

Sunrise through the ice chain!

It's this kind of Saturday on the mountain.  I'm happy the sun is shining through my windows, even though it is too cold to be out in it.

There is something to be said for blue skies and sunshine, no matter what.

The plans for my birthday weekend are simple.  We'll finish up our Harry Potter Marathon, and are planning on Jeff & Ashlyn coming up for my birthday dinner tomorrow night.

If I get enough of the Churn Dash blocks made, I'll start playing with layout ideas.

Let's jump in and get started!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

As I continued to hand quilt the Oak Leaf quilt border last night, I realized that life has given me more than I ever dreamed, more abundantly than could ever have been imagined and I am so grateful.

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Time being snowed in on the mountain this past week, even for just a few days was a gift.

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It occurred to me that If we spend our lives being too busy to notice, we just might miss the wonderful life we already have.

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Today is the last day of my 50s. I'm stepping into 60!

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Bring it on!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!