When my daughter had been here over Fathers' Day weekend we'd gone to my local quilt guild's presentation by Alex Anderson on quilt studio design where she showcased the work area of Libby Lehman (extremely organized) and Ricky Tims (not very organized so he hired Libby), among others. Alex showed her own studio as well with the admission that it was organized periodically for photographs. We left with quite a few inspiring ideas. My daughter had to leave to return to work but my sister and I followed up the next week with a visit to the Container Store and enjoyed looking at all the clever ways to manage a fabric stash and all the accessories that go with a fabric-centric life style. Alex Anderson uses a mesh basket storage system and this elfa® one at the container store looked promising. There is a rather neat online closet design tool at the Container Store website that is fun to play with.
I also got input from my sister and daughter on what pattern to quilt onto my Grinch Quilt. I rented time this Friday on a Handi-Quilter longarm to do it and I admit I am a bit nervous. I will need to be decisive on the spot, whereas at home, I ponder a bit and dawdle between sections and decisions. I decided to outline the Grinch cartoon image in each section and to quilt curly waves that change in size to frame each wonkily-set image. I tentatively plan to do lazy-L loops in the vertical sashings and the word grinch written in cursive in the horizontal sashings. Writing out the word grinch was my daughter's idea and I think it will be both fun to do and fun to enjoy when finished. I am not quite sure how to dot those i's on grinch or what to do when the horizontal sashings and vertical sashings intersect. I still have today and tomorrow to work out the details. Here is my sketch made with whiteboard marker on plastic page protectors. The backing will be green so I think the thread color will be green or perhaps a multi-color if there is a red/green/yellow combination available.
My daughter browsed through a few of my quilt magazines and found there were a lot of ideas and patterns she wanted to copy out of this one. As she sat down to scan them all I told her it was so much, not to bother, just take the magazine and I would get myself another. After the weekend, when I went with my sister to my local quilt shop where I'd bought it originally, they told me they were sold out. Oh, no! I appeared so dismayed they looked around again much closer in some back drawers and found me one! Yay! Ever notice how you want something more when you think you cannot have it? I love the shop hop issues but it appears they are a special interest publication, available in stores but not by subscription. So if you see one of these and think you want it, grab it up while you can. Hmm... did I just shoot myself in the foot? You can get back issues on e-bay and Amazon but they are pricey there. I love the quilt on the cover especially, both the color combination and the pattern. It reminds me of topiary trees.
My sister poured through my pattern boxes to borrow back patterns we had used for our kids and re-use them for our grandkids. While she was busy with that, I sewed the buck-a-block for this month for my quilt guild. It is the Star Flowers pattern from the Fons and Porter March/April 201 4 issue of Love of Quilting. Our guild is doing it in a patriotic colorway.
And of course with an assortment of kids clothes patterns, you need snazzy buttons. We had fun shopping at Hobby Lobby for buttons suitable for grandkids. Maxine has four granddaughters and a grandson; with two granddaughters, I have some catching up to do. My sister bought an eclectic assortment that had owls, butterflies, ballerinas, frogs, and monkeys. We also stocked up just a bit on flannel for more burp cloths.
I had a great time with my sister, so that completed project was a huge success! My only new project for this week was my star buck-a-block for my guild, which I am counting as a completion, too. I'm counting the decision on a quilting pattern for the Grinch as progress. It looks like I am feeling generous with myself today as I settle back into a post company routine. I never did get to placing hexagons in my mask quilt with my daughter and sister, but with a house full of company and little ones, that really was an ambitious goal. I moved it up in my priority list to after the Grinch, though. It's pretty embarrassing that it has been hanging around since 2011.
Now I will check out this week's Freshly Pieced's Works in Progress Wednesday.
Completed projects (2):
- Buck-a-block star
- Hanging out with my sister
Ongoing projects (5):
- Grinch quilt (May 22, 2013 post) - pattern selected, scheduled to longarm
- Mask quilt (October 19, 2011 post) - hidden away awaiting inspiration for arranging hexagons, did not happen this week
- Chicken quilt - spray basted, awaiting embellishment (April 24, 2014 post)
- Classic Cars strip quilt (August 3, 2013 post) - need to back, quilt, and bind
- Overlapping square wall hanging - awaiting FMQ
New projects (1):
- Buck-a-block star
Now I will check out this week's Freshly Pieced's Works in Progress Wednesday.
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