I had not yet put away my purchases from a recent local show in late September which was over three weeks ago. I could not stomach having more "stuff" piled even deeper on my counters; buying even more when I had piles I had not even touched. I was still struggling with FMQing a quilt I had prepped to FMQ in November of 2017 and had begun piecing in January of 2016. I decided seeing those thread-dense masterpieces at PIQF would be discouraging rather than inspiring. I was in a sewing slump, having spit out only a few pillowcases and a simple skirt in a month's time. So I was revved up to tidy up!
As an additional incentive, I had a friend coming over on the following Monday who does not own a Handiquilter – I have a Sweet Sixteen – and was curious to check out mine. I wanted to clear out some space for an uncluttered area to play in. I made a few batting sandwiches so we could practice. Before my cleaning frenzy, you would not have been able to see this white surface of the Handiquilter table.
We had a blast. We tried free form spirals. I brought out some of my Handiquilter rulers. With the straight one we practiced stitch in the ditch and up-and-back piano key borders. We tried out one of the wavy rulers for that undulating set of parallel curves.
With the introduction of the clamshell ruler, my friend got really excited and stated that this could be addictive. At one point I said "I think we are starting to go a bit crooked". She replied, "I am sure the chickens don't mind."
We practiced Hooked on Feathers, the Sally Terry method where there is no backtracking required. We chanted "Inside Out, Outside In" to establish the rhythm and motion of quilting the feathers. I had fun and began to regain my confidence, reminding myself there was an assortment of stuff that I did know how to do.
I use a kitchen drawer unit from IKEA to hold my fat quarters and half yards. I use closet shoe caddies to hold my one yard lengths of fabric. The drawers and shoe caddies are all so full, I was very, very content with my decision to not go to PIQF and be tempted to buy yet more to cram in. Those butcher block counters had not been visible before her visit.
That evening, after company left, I had enough clear area on my cutting table that I could rotary cut the pumpkin placemat fabric I had bought three weeks ago and just recently put away. It was a panel of four placemats that you cut on the dotted line and supply your own backing and batting.
I had made patriotic placemats last July using bamboo batting and was not thrilled with the results. Maybe I blamed my FMQ when the batting was partly to blame for the lumpy-bumpiness. My friend had said she recently made a baby quilt with flannel within. I sewed up these four placemats using flannel instead of batting inside, and was pleased with the results. Having just tidied, I knew exactly where I had some yellow, loose-weave flannel, perfect for this purpose.
My choice of fabric for the back did much better with a peach thread rather than a black. I knew exactly where to find that one yard length of fabric neatly folded in my shoe caddy storage system. I'd just cleaned up. Remember?
With the company of a good friend and some tidying inspiration, my hobby is sparking joy once again.
Who would have thought cleaning could be so inspiring? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, though; I find it really hard to work in a cluttered space, and cleaning my crafting area is one of the things I do to ruminate in between project selections. I love those placemats! And playing with your handi-quilter does seem like a good way to remember that we quilt for fun, not for perfection - your friend's observations about the chicken were on point :-)
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