january wrap up

I figured I should post to close out the month.

It's been a pretty good month. DS got through his mid terms, finished a couple of college applications and we filed his FAFSA. He has a couple more applications to finish up with and then just the waiting. I don't think he will be upset if he doesn't go this upcoming year. He is having a hard time deciding what he wants to do and thinks a year of working might help with choices. He is leaning towards Sports Media or Audio Recording, but isn't really passionate about either one. It's funny how different children raised in the same house by the same parents can be so different.

Our DD has been focused since she was 13. We moved here because of the ballet program in the High School. She worked hard all the way through, keeping good grades as well as dancing sometimes over 5 hours a day. She is currently a professional ballet dancer and was doing great until life threw her a curve last November. She was with Ballet Internationale in Indianapolis and dancing soloist and lead roles until the company closed. It was very hard for the dancers to find jobs part way through a contract season. Most company seasons last from August or September through April or May. She and her boyfriend were lucky and started new positions with Tulsa Ballet earlier this month. When Tulsa's season ends they are then moving on to Cincinnati Ballet until May. They aren't sure what they are going to do for next season, but hopefully they will find a more permanent position. They have a number of possibilities, but are waiting to see where the Artistic Director from BI is going. We are voting for Boston :c), but neither of them really want to go there. :c /

I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I would like, but it's about what I would expect with my work schedule. I always have lists longer than I can accomplish. My rug is getting bigger, I have worked on some of my UFO's, started on next years Christmas presents and am ready for my quilt classes starting next month. I still have so much to do to get ready for the move and selling this house. I don't know how we will ever get it all accomplished. I think maybe next weekend I will start sorting through and packing up a room at a time. Suddenly, this house seems HUGE and reducing stash much more important.

stress: the ultimate motivator

I have gotten so much more done this weekend than I have since Christmas. I guess having too much to do makes me do so much more. I made a list of what needed to be done. I got the striped border on my third yellow brick road baby quilt. Now they are all three ready for longarm quilting. I got some embroideries done and ready to be put into Christmas presents for next year. I got all the supply lists for my quilt classes compiled, printed out and took them along with my samples to the quilt shop for my new students. This plus all the regular household chores that needed to be done and the taxes.

I was on such a roll, today I just kept going. I had designed a small mystery wall hanging in Electric Quilt for my Advanced Beginners to make. I had written out the supply lists and instructions so I decided to test them out. I got all the cutting done and found one mistake (good thing I tested). I then sewed together all of the units up to the point I will need them for demonstration. While I was sewing the units, with my leaders and enders I got 4 - 25 patches ready for the scrap quilt I am working on. :c)

I feel great. It was a really productive weekend.

how do i get myself into these things?

I got a call from my LQS today and I agreed to teach 3 upcoming classes. A beginner class that's going to be 6 Monday nights, an advanced beginner class for 6 Thursday nights and a Saturday wool applique class. Luckily, I have the classes all prepared except the wool applique since I agreed to do an Easter theme, but WHAT was I thinking??? I barely have time to work, do housework, pack and try to complete all the UFO's I have accumulated over the years. I am going to have to start being really creative with my time. I'm a programmer I should be able to figure out how to multi-task :o\

never enough time

There is never enough time to do all that I want to do. I had big plans for this weekend and I ended up doing almost nothing. It's a really good thing I decided not to sign up for the UFO challenge on the stashbusters list because I would certainly be Queen by now. All this working for a living is getting in the way of living. I end up spending at least part of every weekend doing my grocery shopping and house cleaning. Then by the time I take care of obligations I have hardly any time left for quilting. It's also a good thing I didn't join the No Buy challenge as I fell off the "not buying" wagon this weekend. For me I was very good only buying 4 yards, but Marden's is my downfall. You never know when you might need that fabric.

I did take a class on Saturday and learn to make an Aunt Philly's rug. It was fun and I got quite a bit done. It will be a good TV project. I picked colors to go in our new living room. It doesn't show very well in the picture, but it's greens with a redish plaid. I'm mixing in a plain green and maybe some beige depending on how big I end up making it.

Today I worked on some UFO baby quilts I started last year. Yellow Brick Road makes a good quick baby quilt when you don't know the decor or colors. I added some embroidery to try and make my Bernina 200 pay for itself. I like to keep a few baby quilts on hand in case someone needs one unexpectedly. I got 2 of them bordered and ready for longarm quilting. I have one more to do, but the border I chose has stripes and I didn't have time to match stripes today.

I also spent some time cutting 2 inch strips for leaders and enders. There is a quilt in my 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts book that I have been wanting to make. It has 25 patch blocks and I would say I have at least half of what I need to make the quilt cut and quite a few sewn. I am really enjoying the leaders and enders concept. I feel like I am getting more bang for my time.

my sewing room

I have been collecting fabric for more years than I care to remember. My maternal grandmother was a quilter and although she didn't use quality fabrics taught me the value of mill shopping and buying when on sale. It has become something of an game to me to get fabrics for less. There is a Maine chain of odd lot/insurance loss stores called Marden's that sells quality fabrics for about a third of the price at the LQS per yard. I am about half way between 2 of the locations. Needless to say, since we moved here 7 1/2 years ago my stash has been increasing by leaps and bounds.

I have been lurking on the Stashbuster Yahoo group and have decided to accept the challenge to photograph at least in part my stash.


My husband is very supportive and no matter how much I come home with the only time he has complained was when we moved it here. I shudder to think what he will say when we move it to the new house. He built me this wonderful cabinet to hold "all" of my quilting fabric. As you can see I am running out of space and since most of the fabrics are stacked 2 deep I have slowed down my buying considerably. I always "shop my stash" and have not bought fabric specifically for a quilt for a long time. As I was viewing the pictures posted by other Stashbusters I was thinking that mine wasn't so out of control after all, but then as I started to realize that not all of my fabric is in this cabinet decided I may be out of control. The large blue tote under the table holds my solids.

My husband also made me the ironing board which is perfect for quilting. The totes underneath hold various categories of fabrics as well as my embroidery threads and sweatshirts and towels to embroider on (I am an equal opportunity stasher) . The closet doors in the background lead to a walk in closet. I am not even going to attempt to take pictures in there but suffice it to say that has my 108 inch backings, wools for braided as well as penny rugs and bolts of quilting cottons that were too cheap to pass up.


This is the nightstand I designed when we got our new bed a couple of years ago. It was so high that we had to lean down to put things on our old ones. My husband built these to maximize storage space. I hate unused space. Some of my quilting books are on the bottom shelf as well as the notebooks I keep patterns downloaded from the internet in. My husband has a matching one on his side and I really did wait for him to fill it on his own. :c ) He had an empty shelf since he doesn't like to read in bed like I do so the last time I straightened up I filled it with my neatly folded UFO's. He laughed when he came up that night saying "Hey, I thought that was my nightstand."

moving

We have purchased an 1810 brick colonial farmhouse in rural Maine. We will be moving in a few months after our son graduates from high school. We are planning a trip over tomorrow to start cleaning and dh is going to start building a closet. You know how old houses are, never any closet space. I am so lucky to have a husband who likes to build. We are going to have an entire room for a closet off the master bedroom. It will be walkthrough so I can get down to my new sewing room without going through the whole house.

I am still debating about how much redecorating I want to do. The person who owned it before us was more interested in art than history. She painted with lovely colors, but certainly not period. She gave us articles and journals written by and about former owners and I was very excited to find a lot of clues to how the house was originally including Moses Eaton stenciling in the hallway. My Aunt Joyce works for a landmark society and is coming over tomorrow to have a look and see what architectural clues she can find to the original layout.

The former owner is a photographer and had built a studio in the barn/shed. I am going to be setting up my sewing room in there. It's 15 x25. I have never had a space so large before :c) I can't wait to start moving my sewing cabinets and stash in. I have been working for the last 6 years in one portion of our bedroom. Granted it's a large bedroom, but when dh wants to go to bed my sewing tends to keep him awake. I am a night person and often stay up late and could be sewing.