Reflecting

I'm in Houston. My dad has been put on Hospice. I'm not sure of just exactly what that means so I needed to see for myself.

Hands, used for so many things. For now I hope they can bring comfort. Relieve anxiety and fear.

Diane

Show us your socks

Judy over at Patchwork Times wants to see your socks so here they are, I live in Florida so socks are a rare occurrence. The temp dipped a little this week and I was able to pull on a pair and pretend it was winter outside.

Have a great day!
Diane

Crazy busy weekend

I have been so busy this weekend I am totally exhausted. I woke up this morning and while setting and looking at blogs first thing I fell asleep sitting up! But I have too much to do to sleep.

The sewing move and redo is still underway, but I have lots to report.

First of all my husband was in rare form. He is mostly agreeable and will go along to get along, but there are a few things he draws the line in the sand about. He HATES Ikea. Not so much the products or the idea of the store, but he hates going inside. He says it is a rat maze and you are trapped until you find the end, and the prize instead of cheese is the exit doors.  Well I wanted to go and buy a few things to go into my new sewing area. I wanted to get rid of the plastic drawers I have been using for years and wanted a put together look, but on a budget.

Not only did he take me and never uttered a snarly word, he even loaded a really heavy wall unit (4 boxes) twice. Twice you ask? Yes twice since the first one he loaded on the cart was the wrong one. Who told him the wrong one? Me! :(

I had figured the cost in my head, but while we were there we had picked up a few items we spotted for Joseph's room and a couple of the best lights for a great price. More on that later. To be honest I was WAY off on my math, but sweet man never even blinked. Hmmm, is something wrong with him?

We got it all home and I didn't want to cause any frustration for my sweet husband who loaded 12,000 pounds of stuff three times already so I said I would start putting it together while he went and rested with the puppies.
He kept asking if I needed help, but I trudged on. 

The red is double drawers. I have a few more to assemble.

I LOVE this! It isn't in place yet since it needs to be attached to the wall for security. Loaded with heavy items it would be a death trap if not secure. Maybe this afternoon.

Civil War fabrics in the closet and sorted. 

Perfect! Civil war fabrics neatly stacked and visible. I was sick of plastic boxes all over the place. I was constantly opening boxes looking for what I wanted and then I had all of them all over the floor with jumbles of fabric. Constant mess.

Thread and incidentals not in permanent place.

Last but surely not least, a thread and incidentals drawer unit. Woo Hoo! I have plastic drawers but I really don't love them. They were both bought at garage sales and didn't match but they did the job. This is what I have wanted for a long time since seeing it on Mel's Fibermania blog. It isn't as tall as the other sewing tables I have but it will be fine. :) I'm happy.

Oh I almost forgot. This is a Closet Maid stackable shelf I thought would fit in this spot and oh my it is perfect. The closet doors when opened just about cover the shelf but doesn't touch it so instead of wasted space...I can use it! It is holding patterns and hand piecing kits.

Now to put the ironing/cutting table back in place and put fabric away. No rest for the weary.

Later,
Diane

I'm serious this time! ***EDITED with pictures now**

Really I am!
NO MORE FABRIC PURCHASES!
 Stop laughing! I hear you Linda! Hush up Karen! Don't howl so loud!

I need to remember this not only because I have A LOT, but because there is no room for another fat quarter!
All it takes to let you have full knowledge of your sickness is moving your sewing room from one place to another. You unstuff all of the things you crammed into empty holes and it looks like your stuff exploded. Basically it did!
There is no way all of this is going to fit into this room and it is the exact same size.

I'm headed to Ikea Friday to buy a small shelf to fit into the new closet. The rooms are the same size, but the closet is just a bit different. The old room had the built in shelves more behind the wall and so my fabric shelf unit was more exposed. The new room is just the opposite. I have to rethink how I will use the space.

New closet space is shifted a bit from the other closet

I used to have my "kits" behind the wall and the fabric very visible. This caused me to forget what kits I had already made. Thus too many kits forgotten about until today. UGH!
Are you kidding me? I forgot about that! I don't remember ever cutting that! Who's is this?
That is the mumbling that is being heard over here.

Forgotten kits in old closet

Kits placed by the door under the light switch so I have to see them until I do something with them

I plan on not bringing the ironing table. That will allow me to have more room to move. I will use the small ironing board for piecing and when I need to iron a large piece of fabric I can still put my big ironing board on top of the cutting table. With that decision made though it causes another storage issue. I used to store boxes of wool and flannel under the ironing table and boxes of flimsies under the cutting table. What do I do with all of this now?
Get rid of the wool? Quilt the flimsies?

Former ironing table...it was neater until I started the move. Wool in boxes.

New cutting/ironing station in the middle of the room. The fabric is the CW fabrics waiting for the Ikea shelf. Blue and white on the right is strips sorted by size. I must do some rethinking. Too many boxes!

New sewing area. I'm so excited! I sewed some last night at it is a good set up I think.

I am able to have my regular piecing machine (Bernina) and my paper piecing/quilting machine (Brother) set up at the same time. Pretty cool! I have it set in a U shape so I can just wheel around if I need to press a seam or nip off a corner and not have to do so much up and down. My ironing/cutting area is just there beside the yellow floor mat so it is far enough to make me move if I need to iron or cut something bigger. 

Kari brought me my first wall art! It's over my door and I LOVE it!

Diane

Comparison

First I need to say to Karen, I was being a pill that day at guild meeting. I felt snarky when the Martelli rep was there and should have been nicer. Although I still feel like we were watching one of those old time snake oil shows.

Now to my post.
I have owned a Martelli ergonomic rotary cutter for years. I think it is an ingenious design and it really works. I have much less pain and better accuracy when using it. The better accuracy comes from the less pain.
Recently a Martelli rep was in Mobile at the Azalea City Quilters Guild meeting while I happened to be in town. I really don't care for their manner of selling their product but it is a personal thing with me. I can't think of how they could change it to make it better.
After coming home I got my Martelli cutter out and played with it again. I then remembered why I had put it away and not used it in a while. The spring had popped off and the guard wouldn't stay out of the way. I emailed Martelli and told them my problem. In less than 30 minutes I had a reply email asking for my mailing address as they were going to mail me a new spring and a DVD showing me how to replace it. I was impressed!
Sure enough in about 3 or 4 days my spring and DVD arrived. In about 15 minutes I had it replaced and I was back in business.
Now to the comparison. They have recently reworked their rotary cutters to make them even more ergonomic and comfortable. They worked with a physical therapist and orthopedic dr to make it better. I felt it was worth it to me to try the new cutter since my arthritis us getting worse.
Can you see the difference in the handle? The new handle is thicker and more cushioned and really does feel better in my hand. Also the cutter feels more sturdy. The plastic is thicker.
I have been using this cutter exclusively for the past couple of weeks and decided I really like it. If you have any arthritis issues at all you may want to give it a try. If you decide to buy one I recommend you shopping around until you find the new design. You may need to order it from Martelli's website to make sure you get the newest one.

I'm still waiting...

I painted my sewing room over 3 days last weekend. I am still waiting on the horrible, strong odor to ease up. Man, it stinks! It's making the whole house smell. I went back to Lowes and asked why it smelled so bad and was told it was because I chose semi gloss. I will have to do some research and find a lower odor semi gloss since that is what I prefer. Either that or move down to an eggshell finish. I really dislike flat paint and love semi gloss. I like to wash my walls and really be like a " bull in a china shop" with it on the walls and not do any damage to the paint. I have my ironing and cutting tables up against the walls and they wiggle a little since I am so rough and they have really rubbed the paint in the old sewing room. Possible problem could be that I discovered that the paint on the walls in the bedrooms are original builder's beige paint and it was just barely enough to cover the wall board. Such thin coats! I put two coats of the thick paint with primer to cover the hot pink that was on the one wall.
Anyway, while I am waiting to get back in there, dear husband says to me " why don't you wait a bit more and we will get new carpet in there". I really don't want carpet, I want vinyl but he thinks carpet is best in case I change my mind again and want the room to be a bedroom again. I see his point, but believe me I don't plan on moving this stuff again!! But then, Grandma is supposed to come live with us and who knows what room she would feel more comfortable in.

I have managed a few stolen moments in the old sewing room in the evenings. I have been piecing a bit and sorting a bit. Trying to decide what will move and what will move out. I have to use the laptop to put the pictures on since I haven't learned to resize pictures on the iPad, more in a bit.

Later,
Diane

I hate it but...

I had to put word verification on the comment section. I hate that but I have been getting so much spam it is pitiful.
I hope it doesn't irritate you too much.

Diane

What do I do first?

Yesterday on a whim I drove to Venice (FL) and went to a quilt shop I have wanted to go to since moving here. For some reason I thought it was really far away but it was only about a 45 minutes drive. Not too bad.
Anyway while I was at Deborah's Quilt Basket I noticed a bulletin board with items for sale. A lady who lived near the quilt shop had a gently used Koala quilt pro sewing cabinet for sale. I called and saw and will go pick it up tomorrow in my big red truck. I'm pretty excited!

Ray and I have been talking about moving my sewing room into the front bedroom since it is cooler. I have put it off since that would mean moving all of that stash I managed to get so neatly put away just a few short years ago. I think it will be a good thing though since now I can paint the room, hang the design wall and get everything exactly like I want it from the start instead of just trying to make everything go together. Over the short time we have been in this house I have rearranged the sewing room twice since I could never quite get it how I wanted it. Maybe this time will be better.
What to do...
- take down wallpaper border around closet.

- paint fuchsia pink wall

- empty closet and rearrange shelves
- remove furniture....maybe this should be at the top of the list?
- spot clean carpet...someone spilled and didn't clean up after themselves...which kid was that?

It sure sounds like no sewing for a while again...:(
Maybe I should sew today and just start fresh in the morning...I guess we will see what the day holds.

Later,
Diane

New Years superstitions and thoughts on them...

Whatever you do on the first day of the year is what you will do all year long.  I have heard that all of my life. My mother's side of the family tends to be a bit superstitious so I have always heard all sorts of things that I think are crazy.
1. Must eat black eyed peas and greens for health and prosperity.
2. NEVER wash clothes on the 1st; if you do someone you love will die in the year.
3. No hard labor on the 1st. If you do you will labor all year long.
There are more I know, but I forget.

#1. No one in my house likes black eyed peas or greens so that one is not done. Could explain a lot about the checking account.
#2. There is seldom a day I don't do laundry. As far as I can remember I have done a load of laundry every single Jan. 1st since I have been married. Can you say rebellious? :)
3. I'm not sure if I have ever dug a ditch or re roofed the house on the 1st but everyday is a day of labor around here. There are beds to make, laundry to do (check #2), dishes to wash, etc.

As far as how I opened this post...I did sew. If any of these superstitions have any truth to them I want to sew all year so I'm not messing with that one!

Here is hoping 2013 is a great year with little stress and lots of love!
Diane