Before I get into what I was working on in the sewing room, I want to show you what I’ve been working on in my dining room…CLEARING OFF THE TABLE!!
For an entire month, my table has been covered with items for the postage auction. I had two auctions back to back so once one set of auction things went out, the next came in. It’s such a joy to see it this close to clean.
I have one package left from the auction. The winning bidder was Donna but I can’t get ahold of her. The email address she provided isn’t a working email. UGH. So Donna, if you are reading this please contact me at joscountryjunction@gmail.com.
I really thought I would have ZERO sewing time this week. I’ve had kids many of the days but it turns out I was in the sewing room a lot. On Monday I had my old childcare kids here along with my daughter Kalissa’s big boys. Gannon wanted to go upstairs and play with my pins. He loves doing that. I said I would go up and get them. It turns out the girls came with me too. They ended up wanting to stay up there so Gannon and I did too. The girls learned to fill bobbins…They thought it was the coolest ever.
Then the oldest asked what my longarm was. Then I showed her how to load a quilt onto the frame and did a quick run around the edges to tack the top down. That was awesome because now the quilt is loaded and ready for me to work on…
Gannon just kept playing with my pins. I have some that are metallic and some that are butterflies. He takes them and sorts and makes designs with them. If a pincushion has sections he’ll put all the white ones in one section and the yellow in another. He just loves doing it. I think I’m going to see if I can find some other styles of pins. Honestly, he’ll do it for hours and it lets me be in the sewing room. HA! Does anyone know of a place to buy some unique pins? Please share if you do.
Wednesday the boys were here again. Again, Gannon begged me to go upstairs and play with my pins. I said we could once his baby brother Anders fell asleep. He did and we did. It was Carver’s turn to fill bobbins.
Once he had that all done I gave him some Q-tips and showed him how to clean the lint out of the bottom of the machine. Yes, the machine is turned off. He thought that job was gross.
While the boys were doing that, I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Project leftovers got put away. I sorted and organized. Things had gotten out of hand. Truly they had. I ended up unearthing another UFO. I went back and added it to the list. I would so love to work on this one this year. A blog reader sent it to me. This is Emerald City from Bonnie Hunter in the String Frenzy book. I have every intention of making this in 2023 so if you want to sew along, jump in and start. I have a pretty good start already.
As I was cleaning the counters were getting better and better looking. There was this project laying on the counter though. I refuse to put it away. So…I told myself this was going to be the morning project I wake up early and sew on.
So the first day, I sewed the corner setting triangles. The next day I made two side-setting triangles. Then Friday afternoon I finished the rest of the side-setting triangles.
These are not for the faint of heart. They are intense piecing that easily gets twisted and turned.
I have four blocks that didn’t have all the pieces for them. I fudged in some pieces and I’m calling it good. I even got a couple of rows ready to sew together. WHEW. This project is happening!!
I can’t believe that some simple cleaning work kicked this project to the front of the list. I really hoping that by the next What I’m Working On Update that this one will be a top. YAHOO!!
That’s not the only thing I got done…
I decided on the fabric for my Civil War Star quilt. You might remember that Ila sent me a stack of fabric. With my cleaning and organizing I had a big enough surface of counter space to lay it all out and make some decisions. I think this is the final answer.
I would have loved to cut it out but that didn’t happen.
When I knew I was going to have grandkids at my house for several days in a row, I grabbed a bucket of scraps from the sewing room and decided I’d work on cutting them up for my scrap users system. I worked on that over the course of three days. I would have finished it up more quickly but a package came in the mail from a blog reader that was all scraps so I sorted them all immediately being I already had the mess going.
I have another box that I need to trim down yet. I might let that one wait, I might do it as long as the mess is out. All I know is that I do want to get to cutting out the Civil War Star Quilt.
At the beginning of the week, I thought I would be struggling to have anything to write about in my What I’m Working on update this week but look!! I actually accomplished a lot. Having the sewing room clean is a huge accomplishment just all on its own. I have today and tomorrow off from kids so fingers crossed the Frolic quilt will be a top!!
You sure got things moving the way you wanted. Good, well done job. My younger granddaughter likes to play with my pins. I like the idea of butterfly pin heads. They’re easier to use.
Missouri Star Quilt Company has a variety if pins with different shapes on top, stars, gems, leaves, etc…
I love it when my grandchildren join me in the sewing room. Two sources of joy, grandchildren and sewing at once! Pin arrangement is a definite thing.
You might inspire me to see where I am with my Frolic top. I know I need sashings
do you want more extra’s?
Sure…I’ll take extras. I’ve been having fun playing with them.
I followed you years ago…. Somehow “lost” you….. but I’m back! Your energy still amazes me!!! You go girl!
Mona…I wonder when you lost me? How many grandkids ago was that?? I have 10 now. HA!
I was supposed to take a class with Bonnie Hunter for the EmeraldCity quilt. It got canceled as it was scheduled for February 2020. I have all the fabrics and the book, but I have one more quilt to finish before I start. I may just join you, but I also have a pile of Frolic leftovers that I have been meaning to get to since your terrific finish with them.
Feel free to send them my way!! It’s gotten to be a bit of joke at how many Frolic related quilts I’ve made!! I was just thinking I need to sit down at the computer and design another quilt with the leftovers.
Hey Jo, you rock the UFO’s.
Wondering where the “previous” & “next” buttons on the bottom of your blog went?
I stopped using them thinking that might be the problem with the goobly guck that some people are getting. I’ll try again and see what happens.
You made a lot of progress in your sewing room, that is great! I am slowly going through everything in my house, doing a major downsizing and moving. It’s not for the faint of heart! I have donated so much stuff, and still have a long way to go. On a side note, my son moved to Sumner over the weekend, so he’s in your neck of the woods. He will be opening a brewery there.
OH My word. I didn’t know there was a brewery coming. I’ll have to tell my son Karl. He LOVES breweries. When is it opening??
They plan to open this fall. They are hoping by September 1st, but that will depend on how everything goes. Anyhow, look for them to be open sometime this fall. They are calling it “Ten Wasp Brewing”.
When you go for a visit, let me know, I’d happily come meet you.
Weill they serve food too?? Sumner could use a good restaurant.
I believe they plan to serve food eventually. Probably not at first. And yes, I’d love to meet you there!
I miss being notified of your postings. What is the pattern of the quilt on your longarm in this post, please.
American Jane Tea Party is the pattern.
How fortunate you are to have those wonderful grandkids. It’s special to have them “helping” and they’ll have memories of that for the rest of their lives. Lucky you :)
Feels so nice when things get accomplished, cleaned, organized and all!! Super nice that the kids could go to your sewing room with you and you could get all that done!! IF it cools off, maybe I will get something done in my sewing room!! Know better than to hold my breath though!! Thanks for the tips on the quilting books too!!
I have some new favorite pins I ordered from Amazon. They are Taylor Seville’s Comfort Grip Magic Pins. I got the extra fine. Hard to describe them… you will have to look at them to understand, but they have a nice grip on them. It’s easy to pick them up, even if you drop them on a fluffy blanket (ask me how I know). I thought they were kind of expensive ($15 for 100 pins) but they were what I needed.
The year Bonnie Hunter did the Frolic mystery I talked a friend who was interested in quilting in making the mystery quilt with me. Well my top was completed as the mystery progressed to the reveal but hers languished. The other day she brought it all over to me and asked if I wanted to complete it. I used my seam ripper more on this quilt top than I have on any other. Yes indeed, it is very easy to fumble it up. Lol. The blocks are all made now but they still must be sewn into a top. Never again. I think I have been dissuaded from doing mysteries for a while.
Love your colorful quilts !
A late answer. The box to comment did not show on your original post. I think you will be able to get 12 quilt tops together and at least four, if not all, of your smaller goals, more blocks on ongoing projects. I like your idea of at least making some progress on projects. I can think of at least one I would like to make a goal like that. I already have a good start. I found the project just the other day when looking for projects for my Dirty Dozen list. I thought it was too much to even hope to get finished in a month. Many basket blocks for a scrappy Betsy Chuchain pattern, but 10 blocks should be doable. It’s going on a list! Maybe add to the bottom of my Dirty Dozen list my own private smaller goal list. I can think of another Kim Diehl project, too. And the Laundry Basket Perfect Union. I did the 48 stars as leader-enders one year. Put the red blocks on my smaller list, then next year it would advance on to my Dirty Dozen list. Oh my, I think you have started something here! Thank you for inspiring me and getting me to thinking that smaller goals are good, too! I agree that Missouri Star has quite a few really cute pins. There are smaller amounts so don’t break the budget. Gannon would really have fun with them. Happy July 4th sewing the day away. That’s where I am heading off to, too. I’m ok with a sewing day on July 4th, too.