Trying to stay in the light

I've been feeling weird for the past several months and it has been crazy for everyone who lives with me or talks with me on the phone. With my dad being in and out of hospitals, nursing homes, back and forth from his house and now permanently in a long term care facility I have been fighting hard to not  go into a depression. I have not been completely successful, but I am not down in the bed, crying either. I'm doing ok.

On to happier things!

I have been following a series of posts on Fabric Therapy about stash organization. It has been wonderful. Teresa has put a LOT of time in this series and it shows.  I will probably be refolding my fabric after this.
Do you remember when I was preparing to move and I refolded and sorted all of my fabric? Well I loved the results but I always felt it was exactly what I wanted. I knew something was not right and there was surely a better way. I think the way Teresa folds her fabric may be the answer. I think I will do my Civil War fabrics that way and see what I think.
I will be changing my design wall a bit too. When I put my wall up several months ago I didn't get it quite straight and it bothers me. I want to fix that and buy another piece of the insulation to add a small section so the whole wall is covered.

Have you ever heard of the Aunt Becky quilting tool? It is supposed to help with the under hand and make it easier to quilt. I have never been able to do the rocking stitch and with this tool you don't have to. If it works I will be a happy camper. If you have tried it, do you like it?
I have so many tops that need to be quilted, so I hope I can get the stitch going and it works. I'll let you know.

Later gator,
Diane

I can't get shed of it

Have you ever been so dogged by a thought that you couldn't, as Granny would say, "get shed of it"? I have at least 500 other things I could/should be working on but I can't get the thought of making a baby quilt out of my head.
 I tried to work on Ray's quilt, but my mind kept drifting and the next thing I knew I was thinking of a baby quilt.
 I tried working on a ring for my daughter, but couldn't keep count due to the baby quilt.
I even pulled out my Texas flag strips and sewed a couple of them, but once again, the baby quilt filled my head.

I have been squirreling away a stack of "kiddie" fabrics. My idea was one day I would make my grandchildren an I Spy quilt. I have no grandchildren and no prospects of any but this overwhelming urge to make the I Spy quilt has a hold on me.

Just thrown on the design wall

Dental dinosaurs

Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty little ball of fur...

the only kind of flying bugs I like

balloons

reminds me of my silly dogs

I cut my hexagons very large thinking if it went together quickly and well I could always make another one only smaller. So far it is going well, of course I only have two star points on opposite sides so far. We will see how it goes putting them into strips then all together.

Cutting was easy. Years ago I bought a Omni-grid hexagon ruler and when I was working at the quilt shop in Mobile I bought a Super 60-degree ruler for a class. I never got around to the since I was working but the ruler was perfect for the job.
I have had lots of issues lately with fresh fabric (not pre-shrunk, fresh off the bolt) running a bit and or shrinking more than average when hit with steam and the iron so I have taken to prewashing. This is new to me since I have never really bothered with it unless I was going to fuse something. Since I hate fusing you can guess how much of my fabric has been prewashed.
I hate wasting and hour washing and drying fabric when I am eager to cut and sew. I have a wonderful setting on my washer that is just rinse and spin. It uses about 3-4 gallons of water and 22 minutes. God bless the one who thought of that setting! My washer spins so well that they get popped in the dryer for about 7-8 minutes and I am off to iron and cut.

I can't guess how large this will end up being as I can't figure the angle and all, but then I'm not really concerned about size either. If it ends up being huge then it will be perfect for a tent or picnic spread.

I guess this has been enough of a break, I need to get back in there.

Later,
Diane