Election Day and October Wrap-Up

Finally, election day is here and we will no longer be on the receiving end of ads, ads, ads. What a lot of money goes into these elections!

I'm not here to talk politics, as you well know. I am here to talk quilting, purging, remodeling and grand babies! Plus, I am a few days behind in offering up my October highlights. 

TOP ROW: As Guardians fans, we enjoyed a nice post-season run through the ALCS. We couldn't get past the Yankees though, but still it was a super-fun season. Another History Day has come and gone, and I once again demonstrated hand quilting, the red/white sampler shown next. The final pic is of some newly-made pillow cases for our newly remodeled guest room. The fabric for the pillow cases came from my stash; the quilt is one I made several years ago. This room was formerly my long arm room, so it has had a major transformation.

MIDDLE ROW: My one noteworthy finish was this Chelsea Garden flimsy. I just couldn't resist those florals when I saw it in the store.  The center photo is from our annual weekend with the kids at Hocking Hills. This is our first year with TWO granddaughters! And little Reagan looks somewhat mystified in that next photo. She is resting on a quilt that my sweet friend Sharon made for her! I cannot believe how perfect it is!

BOTTOM ROW: Late in October, we met up with some cousins for a day in Augusta, KY, just over the Ohio River from Adams County, where many generations of our family hail from. These are the cousins who also winter in FL with us. Trick or treating this year for Cate and her family involved Monsters Inc characters. Cate turned 2 on the 27th, and they were in Findlay for both the birthday and the Halloween fun. Final pic is of Reagan, our growing new babe. She is filling out and hitting all the proper benchmarks in growth and development. What fun to spend time with her.

So now that October is safely tucked away, let's think about the to-do list for November. I continue to purge, but it seems to be on a somewhat smaller scale now. I have tubs that need to be sifted through. Stuff I've held on to that I really ought to clear out. I have taken 2 big loads to Goodwill, and I suspect that I will take at least one more. But the smaller stuff will take diligence on my part, and I swear, diligence is hard to come by some days! *grin*

UFOs top the sewing list. I found a quilt that needs binding, so I would like to take care of that. I have 2 kits for the granddaughters that need finishing. I have started 2 teddy bears, also for the granddaughters, and those need to be finished. And I have a label that needs to be attached on yet another quilt.

 

The biggest UFO of all is Lake Effect, and believe it or not, I have worked on it a bit this past month. I finally took it to the ironing board to press and get an idea of where I am in the long, drawn-out process. I was pleased to discover that I was farther along than I thought. Good!

Besides UFOs, I need to address the issues (again!) with the long arm machine. I was quilting along just fine for a stretch and then, BOOM, thread breakage - AGAIN. *waaahh*

As far as new stuff goes, my 2024 goals included making something with my Winnemucca fabric (so named because that's the town in Nevada where I bought it). I really don't want to let this go on unfinished into yet another year, so I am concentrating on it for sure. Here's a link to when I bought it.

Hope we all have a productive November!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Welcome November!

 Goodness gracious!! I have no idea how we arrived in November already. Whoa! Slow down time!

I'm off to a morning with the Frankfort Girls! Maybe they will motivate me to get back into the swing of quilting. I sure need something to get me back on track. They are always reliable motivators, that's for sure.

In the coming days, I will share my October collage along with more from my ongoing efforts in the "Purge and Organize Initiative" which continues over here. I sure hope I see the end of this madness in the coming month. I'm ready to be done.

I'm gonna' just pledge right now to have an awesome November and get a few things accomplished in the quilting room. Hope you will, too!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Halloween Vibes!

There has not been a lick of decorating for Halloween around here this year - not that I ever do that much for Halloween - so I thought I'd just share a few theme-related items I've made over the years.

Made back in 2019, this round pumpkin table cloth was created from a similar picture I saw on Pinterest, if I recall. It was relatively simple, as you would expect. I had all the fabrics in the stash, so basically it was a free project. I really ought to use it...

In 2021, I made Harvest Pumpkins along with the Frankfort Girls. Each of us made the same pattern, yet everyone's quilt looked so very different. Here's mine. I purposefully made mine as low-Halloween as possible, choosing instead to go with a strong autumn influence.

 

This pumpkin quilt is now quilted and draped across the back of a chair in our family room. You can click here to see the pumpkin quilts from some of the other Frankfort Girls.

My Fall Leaves quilt remains unquilted, doggone it. I had really hoped to have it quilted by this fall; alas I missed the mark. Maybe by next fall? Hope so.

And perhaps the oldest fall quilt in my collection is Harvest Mix, a favorite Thimbleberries pattern. This particular picture is from a few years ago. I do have it currently thrown across the back of the recliner, but I sure don't have any pumpkins on the mantel! *hah*

So, you all go on and celebrate Halloween without me. I will try to get some seasonal decor out for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll be over here loading the truck with another haul bound for the Goodwill drop off. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Grandma's Orphan Blocks

One family trait that I definitely did not inherit was my grandmother's skill at organization. She was meticulous about keeping things in their proper place, never putting anything where it didn't belong. After all I explained in yesterday's post about my difficulty with organizing and cleaning, you know that this clean-freak tendency skipped right on past me.

When Grandma gave me all her sewing stuff way back in 2012, each box was clearly labeled and neatly ordered. And even though I have shared much of her stuff here on the blog, I don't think I ever shared the contents of what I would call her orphan block box. Gosh, what a treasure trove! 

Let's dive into these blocks!

The makings of a fan; I found a stack of these wedges prepared for making more.

Cake Stand

I believe this 2-block combination is called Robbing Peter to Pay Paul.

A basket.

Another basket - or is it a cake stand?

Lemoyne Star - maybe?

A setting block.

Star.

A setting block to go with the two below.

A traditionally made Lemoyne Star.

Bear's Paw - this is a really big block.

Perhaps a block for an Irish Chain?

A 6-pointed star.

A basket block.

A tiny basket.

Another Lemoyne Star.

 So what will I do with these? I know the obvious thing is to make a sampler quilt which would include all these blocks. I don't know about that. The chaotic nature of all these colors would not be especially pleasing to me. 

Another option is to find related fabrics and make more of these blocks to create a quilt that incorporated both Grandma's blocks and mine. I actually have 2 boxes of Grandma's scraps; perhaps I could find enough of her fabrics to make more blocks and proceed with a table topper or wall hanging at the least. I dare not hope for enough to make a small throw quilt, but until I dig around, I'll never know! 

Doing anything with these blocks will have to wait. I don't see myself doing anything this year; maybe it can be a goal for next year.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

The Hard Work of Purging

It is so easy to close the closet door, turn one's back on the mess within, and focus on the pretty project waiting at the sewing machine. Instead of pulling boxes out of the closet and dealing with decades of accumulations - which I have done for the last 32+ years - I have had an uncanny ability to put it out of my mind - totally. 

Reality has come slamming into me recently - maybe this happens with age - and I'm slowly accepting the fact that I need to downsize this considerable collection of fabric, scraps, notions, keepsakes, memories and ephemera. 

Remodeled master; still needs decor, ceiling fan, but mostly done.

The master bedroom remodel we did earlier this summer eventually morphed into combining two previously separate rooms - the long arm room and the sewing room. In order for that to happen, a goodly amount of "excess" needed to go. Like vamoose. Out and away from here. The dreaded "P" word - PURGE.

Would you use a quilt as a throw over that chair??

How much can one keep for "just-in-case-I-might-need-it" purposes? No doubt I way surpassed my limit. As I've dealt with so much of this stuff lately, I've realized that it's my attachment to it all that I've had to reckon with. I attach too much significance to items, yet I have them boxed up and stored away. If I truly cherish these things, shouldn't I be displaying them or using them?

Lest you think I am a hoarder, I don't think so. It seems that over the last 10 years or so, as friends and relatives have cleared out their sewing rooms, I have been on the receiving end of so much. I couldn't say no! The reality of the situation became clear this summer. My need to consolidate two sewing rooms into one, forced me to face facts.

Former long arm room; now a guest room; still need bedside lamps, wall decor.

So I give you all this explanation to illustrate what seems to me an enormous undertaking. I just don't do well with purging my stuff. I seem to be doing things in "rounds." 

First round - the easy stuff. Old clothes; really outdated fabric; items that I simply know I will never need or use.  

Second round - sharing Grandma's stuff with cousins and nieces. That was fun, seeing them take an interest in these things I've stored for so long. I still have a lot of her things left, but a good amount was dispersed into the loving hands of relatives.

Third round - big stuff going to Goodwill and offered in a yard sale. It was a good feeling to get rid of my giant desk, and gobs of random pieces.

This went to Goodwill; it served me well, but was too big to stay.

Maybe I am now in my fourth round. It seems it's a round of endless sorting. I am not a good, systematic organizer. *waaah*

My efforts, however, are paying off. The sewing room is mostly in usable condition, with some further purging, organizing and sorting still needing to be done. The hallway linen closet has been completely emptied and the contents have been divided into Keep/Donate piles. The donate pile is bigger than the keep pile - a big WIN! The linen closet will be repurposed; I will share more on that later. 

One final room awaits my attention - the remaining guest room. It became the dumping ground through all this business, and the randomness of things jumbled up in this room is overwhelming. I will say, though, that a very large stack of EMPTY plastic storage tubs fills one corner. Empty bins are a definite indicator of progress.

Purging is hard for me, but I do feel a sense of accomplishment for tackling this task. A weight feels lifted as if the burden of all the excess was too much to bear. I get a good feeling as I drive away from Goodwill after leaving a donation. I liked seeing someone buy an item in my garage sale, knowing I no longer had to own it, and that someone had a genuine need for it. I must remind myself of this as I tackle the remaining room. 

Lotsa' words today, Peeps, and no quilt pictures. Maybe you can zoom in on those bedroom shots - plenty of quilts in both rooms!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Chelsea Garden

Anyone who sews or quilts or engages in any other creative endeavors, knows the calming peace that envelops you while you work. Lately, I have been able to carve out some time to rediscover this calming peace and at last have a finished quilt top to share!

The upheaval of this summer's upstairs refresh has taken so much longer than we expected. What started out as a quick update of our master bedroom - a simple matter of replacing the carpet with flooring, painting, and replacing our bed - became so much more involved with pretty much a total overhaul of both sewing rooms and the other bedroom.

And that's the short version of why I have been blogging so infrequently all summer. With this sort of chaos surrounding me, I didn't have the space to sew nor the inclination to write. 

Thankfully, the biggest parts of our refresh are behind us, and finally some normalcy has returned. With that return to the near-proper order of things, I have been sewing! 

In mid-September, when I took my machine in for repairs, I bought a bit of yardage and 2 mini-charm packs of Chelsea Garden. It was just too irresistible. I paired the mini-charms with some neutral Max and Louise fabric from my stash. Nine patches!! I never tire of them! I used the yardage with the tiny blue flowers as the setting blocks and thought that would be enough. 

 Hung up on the design wall, though, it just didn't have any impact or 'ZING!' Too blah. It needed to be bigger. So when I picked up my machine, I bought two more mini-charms and more yardage. They'd sold out of the tiny blue floral, so I got the tiny pink floral. I would just encircle the blue section with pink. And that is what I did. I am so much happier with this enlarged version because the chain of light squares shows so much more prominently.

And the 'ZING!' factor definitely comes from the border. I added a neutral inner border and a spectacular floral for the outer border and TA-DA!! I have a 70"x76" quilt top!

Here's a situation where in person this quilt looks so much better than the pictures indicate. The colors are so much more vivid, trust me. Maybe this close up below (when I decided that an inner border was imperative) shows the best or truest colors.

Isn't that border floral fantastic? I knew the minute I saw it that it was destined for this quilt. I love a totally impromptu project! Clueless in September and done in October! Chelsea Garden sure satisfied all my creative hankerings.

I continue with our upstairs refresh, but the jobs now include some fun stuff like creating a brand new guest bedroom and decorating spaces. Yes, I still have some boxes and closets and drawers to purge, but it's not as all-consuming as it was a month ago. Thankfully!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Cate's Overalls

A second grandchild post is called for today, and believe it or not, it connects to sewing. 

Back at Christmas time, I made Cate a pair of overalls out of some fabric that her mother had purchased. The overalls turned out just as cute as can be, complete with a row of snaps sewn into the legs for easy diaper changes. Click here for a post about it.

Finally, I have a picture of Cate wearing her overalls! I was unaware that they have been too long all these months. While we were at the cabin in Hocking Hills, Erin dressed Cate in these overalls and they looked just as darling as expected.

They are still a bit long for her, but it was great that Erin made the effort to show off Cate in her fancy, Grandma-made duds. The weather was perfect for a cozy pair of overalls, and she should be able to wear them through these next few months. Cate is always in constant motion, so getting a clear picture of her was challenging. These two are the best of the bunch.

In that post from last December, I referenced the little pastel stripe fabric that was still to be made. I did, in fact, make a sundress for Cate, and I have a picture from their June vacation to Hawaii where she wore it.

Cate looks jet-lag weary, but adorable nonetheless. Seeing these little outfits makes me want to get back into the swing of sewing and making more of these. I have all the necessary materials - mainly patterns and fabric - I just have to do it.

So coming up while I continue sorting through boxes and making donation piles, I have come across some interesting finds in the depths of these long untouched boxes. I honestly didn't know what I had, in a few cases. I think they are worth sharing, so stay tuned for all that in upcoming posts.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne