I think I can, I think I can...

center of the top going together

pile of border units

If I keep my nose to the grindstone I will be able to get the Pineapple top complete. Fingers crossed!
 Then I can concentrate on packing for the retreat. :)

Back to sewing!!
Diane

360 degrees and lots of yammering

what is that saying? When the cat's away ...

Well I have been playing, in the "studio" as I am having to call it since I have moved ALL of my quilting/knitting/beading/and everything else into one room. Beading and kitting are recent loves but I decided I didn't really want to see them all over the house all of the time. When I am actually working on them while Ray is home is enough.
I already got off topic...surprised? Not me. :)

I took a couple of pictures to show off the new shelves and a drawer unit which I hope keep me more tidy and organized.

This wall of shelves and drawer cabinet is wonderful so far. I have all of my patterns in the red drawers divided by subject; paper piecing, applique, hand piecing, embroidery, etc. The fabrics (not all organized and pretty yet) are sorted by colors except the far right side which is baby/children fabrics.

The white cabinet of drawers holds all of my beading/jewelry stuff and misc. stuff I couldn't decide where to put.

The Great Wall  :)

Paper piecing above, companions below

 While Ray is gone I have been piecing again on my Pineapple Crazy. It is such a mess maker I will be glad when I am finally finished.  I have loved working on it. It is really good for stressful days or insomniac nights, but man at the mess! I didn't take a picture of the trash can and around it, the floor of strings after digging again, the front of my clothes at night before leaving the room. I am covered with threads...covered!

Paper piecing machine and stuff

 I'm not sure how much I love my computer being in here, but I am trying it. I thought I would like watching Netflix or DVDs in here, but I find myself watching the screen instead of sewing.  Music may be my best bet.

Finally all of the pineapples!! Some knitting

 Look! See all of those blocks? That is all of them! So exciting! Of course I thought I had them all finished and then I counted and saw I was one pineapple short. :^/ But I remedied that!

Scrap digging...and a mess

I'm so ADD! Look at that mess. Very far left is three different block/quilt designs I have been working on. Then a pile of light scraps on top of a tray with PP.  The books are some I have been looking through for some new quilt designs then more scraps.  What you can't see is a stack of books and magazines and quilt drawings, two huge plastic boxes of leftovers from fabric cuttings. When I took out my cutting table I lost the area to have my drop box. The drop box is where I put the scraps that are too large to strip into 1", 1.5" or 2" strips, but too small to put back on the shelves.  Right now they are being stored under my cabinet the Bernina sits in.



My constant companions and helpers in all needlework

It us going to take some more thought to get the room clean and organized properly. If you know me you know I will change it three more times before it feels right. But then that would mean I would have to stay home to do this. Fat chance! Ray keep saying he wants to retire so we can travel. I want him to retire so I can stay home! We travel enough! Too much sometimes.

Later!

Diane

Thoughts for this year

I know, I know most people do this after Christmas and before New Years Day so they are ready for their NY resolution announcement on the first. This is me though and I am never on time...unless my husband is driving!

I will not make resolutions because once again, this is me... but I will write down things I would like to do this year. Goals.

Personal Goals:

 Be more organized.
 Not just in my sewing room or kitchen, but everywhere. We travel so much now that it seems like all we do is search for items because we can't remember where we put something that we unpacked from the previous trip.  Case in point. Ray looked for 45 seriously stressful minutes at 2am this morning for our video camera. Not fun! He thought he might have left it in the rental car. That is another problem with owning black cases on everything and renting a car with black interior. When and if I ever buy another car I promise it will not have black interior.

 Move more.
Fibromyalgia and RA causes lots of discomfort and I tend to give in too often and say to myself "I don't feel good, or this or that hurts" so I don't go for a walk or work in the flower beds.  I give in way too often.  I really want to get more exercise. I don't want to lose any more mobility.

Cook more healthy delicious meals.
Again, with travel and pain I can go a long time in between home cooked meals. NOT GOOD! I want to get organized (see #1) so I can write up menus and grocery lists so life is easier and the meals are better.

 Go shopping and buy a couple of nice outfits.
I seriously hate clothes shopping. I hate it so much that I have to put it on the calendar and make myself go.

Craft wise:

Get more serious with machine quilting. 
I need to become a quilter and not just a topper. I have promised quilts that need to be finished.
 
Bead at least one really pretty necklace and bracelet.
I always forget that we have a couple of company functions that I need to get dressed up for and I never have anything pretty to wear.

Knit a pair of socks.
Or two!

Home goals
 
Paint the formal rooms
Get bookcases for Formal Living room
Buy a small table for the breakfast area
Get some bar stools
Rework the flowerbeds
Put more rocks around lanai
Get floors done!
New ceiling fan for sewing room
Blinds for front door, front windows and back door.

Now I'm printing this out and posting it on the fridge, on my bathroom mirror and  in my sewing room so I can stay focused! Hopefully!


Diane

Working for more fun

I haven't been lost or gone away. I haven't quit the blog or quilting. I have been redoing the whole sewing room.
UGH!
Along with redoing the sewing room I have ha to rely upon the help of those stronger than me for this work, namely my husband. His work schedule is way different than mine.
Also I have managed to injure myself during the process so deep restorative sleep has been traded for drug induced, knee jerking sleep that keeps me in a fog. 😡

I tell you though when it is finished it is going to be great! I have one whole 130" wall that is Ikea shelves. I am so excited! After many months of living with the furniture arrangement I have decided that the "U" shaped sewing area needs to shift 90 degrees. The wall that did house my fabric shelves traded places with the design wall. 

The reason for the whole change up was this. While quilting the cousin quilt and working on the quilting for a baby quilt I discovered that I really couldn't use the back part of the sewing cabinet that lifts to give you a large support area for your quilt. If I lifted the table with much struggle from lack of room to get behind it, I could no longer get into my fabric closet due to the same lack of room. One could say that would be incentive to get the quilting finished quickly so I could move on to the next project, but really? Does that sound like me? Didn't think so.

You would think with the husband being home for two full weeks we would have this done by now, but...anyway...

122 inches of wonderful storage!

I promise pictures as soon as it no longer looks like the previous post pictures. Believe it or not it looks worse now than then.

Take care,

Diane