A Place For Every Scrap!

As I relished in my sewing time in the basement studio over the weekend, I was also crossing my fingers and my toes that this would be the LAST of the iced-in-snowed-in weekends we would have with this winter.

Enough is enough. Retreats start this week.

We've got to have some sunshine and a bit of warmth to melt the snow pack that is still covering the yard and the back parking lot at the inn.
And it's coming!  We will be in the 40s and above for the rest of the week so things should melt awy and be GONE.

But in the meantime - I had blocks to lay out and start putting together.

Yes, there is sun reflection through the sliding glass door, and that sun felt so wonderful. I tried to put the blind down to block it out for this photo, but it doesn't go down far enough so...

At any rate, I'm glad I took the above photo.  I got the quilt top partially sewn in rows - there is a lot of pinning to math points so webbing wasn't going to work for this one.

And I don't have any blank wall space for a design wall in either the basement studio or the QPO.

I'm a design floor girl and as long as I can still bend and stretch, this is my preferred method.

It makes it easy to move blocks around if needed.

And I'm not a fan of having to PIN blocks to a design wall (not to mention that this quilt is 90'' square at this point and I don't have a wall that big.) and unpin them and deal with pins while taking blocks down to sew them.

I'd rather just pick them up in order and go to the machine.

This is my reply to anyone who says "You need a design wall."  No. I don't.

At any rate - I was quickly reminded Sunday morning on why I don't like to lay out quilts for assembly at home:

Well.  I should have known this would happen!

Evidently Lola liked her new arrangement better.
I hope to finish this today - It's getting close but I'm still thinking that it may need borders?
I'm thinking an inner border of the Essex linen to frame and float the center...and a final outer border of more strings?
It would fit the bed if I did that.
And I've ordered a King sized batting to go with it....because it is 90'' already. A queen batting of 90'' wide doesn't give me enough margin without piecing something on.
So do I go for the borders to make it fit the bed?

Binding Finished!

And I had enough backing margins to use them for a hanging sleeve...My goal is to use as much of the current project's fabrics in the quilt as I can leaving as little as possible to have to find a use for another day.
Sunnyside is done!

And I love how the yellow in Sunnyside reflects our yesterday's sunrise.

Tula update:

She is doing better, acting more like herself.  But juggling 3 cats in the house who can't get along is taxing.

It was one thing to keep Lola downstairs while Ivy was let out of the bedroom for her wander time.  Those two will kill each other if left in the same room together.

Throwing Tula into that mix after having her eye removed?

She is wandering the upstairs a bit more, coming out of her bathroom haven to explore the loft area. There is a gate at the top of the stairs to keep her from coming down.

But a cat on each level of the house that needs to be kept separate from the others while still giving them the time and attention they need?  TAXING.

Tula may be moving back to the QPO soon. As soon as the drive is manageable and we are headed out of this snow covered madness of having to use a pickup with chains to navigate the steepness of the ice-covered drive, and switching to cars parked that the bottom to go anywhere.

To say I'm over this winter is a brazen understatement.

Grey kitty? She's still around and as soon as this car thing clears up I'll be getting her to the vet for a spay.

And there's more....but it can wait for later.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

There is much cleaning and polishing to happen to welcome the February Quiltvillians on Wednesday!

I can't wait to have the house full of chatter and laughter and quilty creativity again.

Have a marvelous Monday