Monday Organizing

So, today's project was to organize all the stuff that had been piled on the table that became the mailing/shipping station.

First, I replaced the table with this set of shelves. One of the plastic drawer units was used in the mail/ship station, but you can still see the other one in the photo below.

This is what I got accomplished. I'm very pleased with the result. Had some lunch, and now it's off to reward myself with some sewing for a few hours. Once the sun is off the patio, I have some backyard stuff to do. I could use another day off work!

I also managed to empty all the totebags on the floor in the second picture.

Here's a final photo of the big open space I managed to create this weekend. Yay!

Birds

This is my third summer in this house, and every year, a bird family nests in this same place (where my house joins the one next door). Every winter, I take down that year's nest. I live in a new development, and there aren't many trees.... so the birds nest all sorts of places. I have another nest in one of my front ornamental trees.

This nest grows daily and there are birds actively tending it. So, I'm hopeful for bird babies :). I do have to wonder where they got the quilt batting :).

The window you see in the second photo is my master bedroom.... which means that Biloxi "stalks" the nest from my bedroom. It's his summer entertainment. 

Quilting projects

I went on retreat with my Four County Quilt Guild sisters last weekend and got a ton done.

I sewed up blocks I won in About.com lottos. I finished 4 tops (2 from each set of blocks) and actually finished two quilts.

I also finally finished a kit I've had for a while. I completed the top while on retreat in AZ and quilted it at this retreat.

I also finished the quilting and bound the Canal Street Tiles quilt. This is a pattern by Gyleen Fitzgerald (http://www.colourfulstitches.com/) that I pattern tested for her. I'm thrilled with this quilt. I think it's my favorite of recent ones I've made.

I also made my Doll Quilt for this month's About.com swap. It's an Amish theme this time. I did not hand piece or quilt it (the binding was not quite sewn on when I took this picture).

Finally, I also finished 6 blocks for the About.com lotto for May.





Organizing

I have been busy, busy today. It's amazing what I found buried! LOL

My sewing room itself is not THAT bad... there are a couple of bad places. I hired a professional organizer about a year ago, and we took care of some things. I took "before" pictures then.

Here is what some of the organized spaces in that room look like today.

My books, magazines, and tote bags. (I need another hook for the additional totes.)

My light table (on left) and sink on right.

Magazines and TV.

Current projects.



But there is still work to do. Some of the mess still there as of yesterday....



Today, I tackled part of the unfinished portion of the basement ("before" pictures posted), which is filled with some craft supplies, some sewing stuff, and LOTS of other stuff.

Today, I cleaned up one corner of the room.....

... and created an awesome gift wrapping/shipping station.

The gift wrap is on the wall now, hanging on cafe curtain rods (an idea I got from a blog just this week). The plastic drawers hold scissors, Scotch tape, and packing tape in the first drawer, labels (shipping and return address) in the second drawer, flat-rate envelopes in the third drawer, and gift bags and small boxes in the last drawer. I hung a shop light above the whole set up. I also put down an old rug on the concrete floor. My boyfriend and I do a lot of eBay selling, so there is a scale and writing instruments on the table. The box to the left holds flat-rate tubes that he uses to ship fishing rods.

I'm also including a photo of my batting, which is FINALLY (4 years later) off the floor. I buy it by the roll, and I have long wanted to hang it.

Finally, there are photos of my system for organizing my quilting rulers and my painting supplies. There are no "before" pictures of those because those items were scattered everywhere.

I have found it's a joy to work in the unfinished space... easy to find the studs! And, I love my cordless electric drill/screwdriver :).

Blogging about Quilting

So.... I've been really bad about posting. Between my posts on Facebook and About.com, I post every day, and I forget this blog. It was my intention to post about what I am working on. The first post was actually an audition piece for About.com to become their writer for machine quilting (alas, I didn't make it through the first round!).

In the spirit of this blog's intention, I'll mention what I've been working on.

Last weekend, I finally started putting together the green quilt. This is a quilt for which I asked everyone I know to send me green fabrics. The quilt is a pattern by Bonnie Hunter (My Blue Heaven) and was made for Joe's daughter Claire for her 22nd birthday. When I finally got around to sewing all the blocks together, it quickly became evident that this would be a ginormous quilt, so I decided to only use half the blocks and make two quilts.

Here is the finished product:

It has more than 200 green fabrics in it. Claire loved it.

I went downstairs to the studio last night to work on the second quilt only to find that one of my kitties had peed on the remaining blocks (yep... I can be a neglectful cat mom and forget to change the litter box and then they pee on something). Luckily, I am an expert in washing cat pee out of things, so I washed the blocks and you'd never know now. But, in the meantime, I hauled out the one quilt top I didn't finish at the AZ retreat in Feb. I was working on it the last day when I realized that hadn't cut enough fabric to finish the last two blocks.

So, last night, I took everything out, found the instructions, and cut the fabric I needed to finish the last two blocks. Then, I started putting together the quilt... and realized that I HAD made enough of block 4 (the quilt has 4 block styles), but that I had put them in the pile with Block 1 <sigh>. I now have two extra blocks. I got about 3/4 of the top put together.

I have a busy week this week with school stuff so I'm not sure how much quilting I'll get done (and I have school in person on Friday and Saturday and Mother's Day with Joe's Mom in Philly on Sunday), but I also need to get two Round Robin rows done this week! Yikes! Sure wish I didn't have to work!

~Patti