I'm sewing! Really, I am.

Here is what is on my design wall today. A few test blocks for a pattern I am trying. The lowest block in the photo was my first. It didn't go together as well as I would have liked. So I changed the size of the longer pieces in the block and tried again. The other blocks are the result of that change. I am much happier with those blocks. They lie flat and have nice even edges and I have not trimmed anything.
This has made me rethink my two block nightmare quilt. Perhaps what I have with those blocks is not a stitching problem after all. Maybe that is also a cutting issue. I will have to give those another look soon. Maybe there is some hope for that quilt after all.



Here is a peek at what I have been looking at outside my sewing room window. I have a robin who has made her nest under my deck. I look forward to seeing some baby birds. I love springtime.

Sewing room re-do is done...pretty much

...and I am thrilled! It is so much brighter in there now. There are still things that need to be done before the job is complete. For instance, I need some window treatments. But I am still deciding what I want to put on them.
This is a view of my design wall. While my design wall was down, I made a little adjustment to it. I added a layer of quilt batting between the foam insulation board and the flannel sheet. I like it much better this way, but I think a second layer of batting would have been even better. Just saying.

I moved my fabric stash from these shelves so that I could eliminate a bookcase. It gives me a little more space in the room. My books are organized by topic. For example, all my books of quilt-block patterns are together, all my quilting pattern books are together, etc. The fabric boxes hold completed quilt tops along with their backing and binding fabrics. Now my stash lives under my ironing station. (I love my extra-large ironing surface. It makes that task so much more pleasant.)

The project bins have been moved from under the ironing board to under my cutting table. That space was not being utilized before. During the room emptying process, I noticed that my ruler caddy was able to be hung up. It has always resided on top of my cutting table before. I will admit that it has been bothersome there. Now that it is on my wall, I am hoping my cutting table will be more functional. I was always having to move stuff around before I could do any cutting. (Maybe I'm just wishful thinking on this. It could be I am just too sloppy of a worker and my table will always be a hot mess.)

I have a nice u-shaped work area set-up. It is very workable. My sewing machine cabinet is in the center of the room. It seemed a little odd to me when I first thought to put it there, but it has really worked out great. Especially since the cabinet has a drop-leaf extension table on it.

On my wall...April 12

This is what is on my wall today. I'm in no hurry to finish this one, but it is always nice to have a couple baby quilt tops at the ready. Check out Patchwork Times for more design wall fun.

New name, same old me

Perhaps you noticed, (or maybe you didn't) but my blog has a new name. The focus of this blog remains the same . It's just that there were at least a couple other blogs with the name I was using for my blog . And one of those blogs is also a quilting blog. My personal sense of individuality wasn't comfortable with that, so I came up with a new blog name. And the timing just feels right, as my sewing room is getting an update too. My blog's web address has not changed, so if you read this over a feed, it should still come across fine. I hope this doesn't create any confusion. It is meant to stop some.

My sewing room now has a fresh coat of paint and the new flooring went in last night. We still need to hang window trim and baseboard before I can begin putting the room back together. Hopefully I will have things put back by next weekend.

Design Wall Moday- April 5

I'm happy to have this top completed. Now I just have to decide if I will quilt this myself or send it to a long-arm quilter. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Actually, this WAS on my wall. As of Saturday, my design wall has been taken down so we can paint. Nothing like a fresh coat of paint and a new floor to perk a place up. :)

This is my sewing room right now. Clearing it out was a big job. But I know the end result will be worth the effort. :D

Where has the month gone?

I just can't believe this month is over. I have accomplished nothing on the quilting front. My February ufo is still unfinished. My March ufo was not even touched. In truth, I did take it out to look at it. But my daughter wants to give it as a gift and we decided that I needed to make it longer. I got a bit bogged down with how I wanted to do that. :( I think I have a plan of action now.
I'm still working on the bow tie top. I am adding the borders. We have had some gorgeous weather and I have not wanted to sit in my basement and sew. So it is slow going. And about to get slower. My sewing room is going to get a new floor and a coat of paint over the next couple weeks. So I will be pulling everything out of the room this weekend. I guess I had better get those borders on now.