My quilting spaces

I've blogged about this before but since I've had a bunch of questions recently, I thought I'd share some photos and descriptions of my quilting spaces and schedule it to post while I'm away.

All these photos were taken in April when we moved so the longarm room is messier and while the upstairs sewing room no longer has boxes and the shelves are full - right now it could use a good cleaning.

We live in a 3 story townhouse and I use the downstairs family room for the longarm. I have a Gammill Premier Plus on a 10 foot table that I downsized to from a Gammill Classic Plus on a 12 foot table 2 years ago when we moved to Minneapolis. Luckily, it meets my needs and the transition wasn't too difficult.

This room is also the *office* so I have my desktop computer, printer, and files down here. The longarm table has various bins underneath it but one of these days, I'm going to organize it like Deb has done with hers.

I just added track lighting down here and I love it - it's made a huge difference in the amount of light I have to work by and it's been great to be able to quilt on these nights I haven't been able to sleep.

The upstairs sewing room is the 2nd of two bedrooms and I get a lot of exercise running up and down the stairs between these two rooms.

As you come in the door, the sewing table is to the left - I sew on an Elna which is NOT set up in this photo, the cutting table is straight ahead - it's a buffet from an old dining room set that's the perfect height, and my shelves take up the entire wall to the right.

Looking back toward the door - this table collapses when not in use and I took the doors off the closet for easy access and storage.

The shelves are from Ikea and my favorite thing in my sewing room. I love the drawers that slip in the cubes - you can see two at the top left but I have at least 10 of them. Some hold knitting and crochet supplies and others hold fat quarters that are too small to put on the shelves. My books line the bottom and right side of the unit - I think they take up 13 or 14 of the cubes.

I still miss the studio we created for my quilting in Marietta. It was large, had great light, and everything was in one room BUT I know a lot of people would be happy to have just one room, much less two that are devoted to their quilting and I am grateful that Keith allows me to take up so much of our home just for me.

Postcards

I've been sharing my Christmas postcards but I think I might just have to make a few more. Vicki showed a postcards on her blog, one version with a tree similar to mine using crystals where I used beads and bulbs. I even bought crystals at MQS in May but forgot to use them. And look at these cute trees that Karen posted on her blog they'd be easy to adapt to a postcard.

Who else is making and sending fabric postcards for Christmas this year? Have you tried them? Maybe it's time! I have some brief instructions posted on how I make mine but there's lots of resources on the internet if you want to give them a try.

Having a wonderful visit with the boys. Chris and Becky came last night to meet us for dinner and we ate in the restaurant here at the hotel where Adam works. He had to work (cook) but it was an open kitchen and we were able to watch him work and he came out several times to chat when he had a minute. Dinner was really good too! I felt so proud.

We embarrassed him by taking a bunch of photos but I don't have a card reader on Keith's computer so you will have to wait until I get home to see them - I hope they turned out - Chris and Keith were taking them because I was too refined (embarrassed? shy?) to stand up in front of everyone in the restaurant and take them.

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Sunday's Progress Report

• Two Three tops quilted; one completely from stash including backing & binding.
  
• One quilt bound; top and binding from stash
  
• Finished my Christmas postcards except for the edges on 4.
• Made 4 pillowcases from stash
• No fabric purchased
• Still knitting on the Prayer Shawl
  

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Before I leave - just one more quilt

Keith told me tonight as he headed to bed, that since there was no way I was going to sleep before this trip that he'd see me in the morning. We need to get up between 4 and 4:30 AM to get to the airport and he's right, most likely I won't sleep at all.

So after packing, I went downstairs and loaded and quilted another HeartStrings top. It's hard to get good quilt photos at 2AM. These blocks were made by Betty and pieced together at our HeartStrings Sew-in last month. I quilted it with my Circle Lord Swirls template - the first photo shows the quilting texture and the 2nd gives you a better idea of how nice the quilt looks.

This is top #9 of 10 on my to do list for November so I think I can manage to squeeze one more in after we get back from GA. Of course, of the 9 quilted only 2 have been bound so far so guess what I'll be doing in December?




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Going to see my boys!

Heading to Georgia to see my boys - we'll be back Wednesday evening.


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I failed

One good thing about not sleeping is it gets me closer to my goal of quilting 10 tops in November. This is # 8 of 10. It's 3:50Am and as you can see below, I haven't been sleeping. I loaded and quilted this HeartStrings top tonight after making the pillowcases and the postcards I showed earlier. I have to be up by 9:30AM this morning so I'm going to try to get some sleep.



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a lazy day

I worked on a few more postcards tonight. I love this tree fabric and decided a simple star embellishment was enough on this one - the edges of these all still have to be finished.
Pam sent me these cute little Christmas bulbs so I decided I'd make a couple more trees and couch the string of bulbs on. I tried to put a star at the top of this tree but it didn't look good unfortunately I'd already punched a hole so I covered it up with the PEACE charm. Not an ideal solution but at this point I wasn't going to toss the card.


I also made a couple more pillowcases - what a great way to use up some stash and do some good at the same time. Mine will go to Alycia to present Quilts of Valor to wounded soldiers. It will be nice for my Sunday Progress report to have used some stash this week.

And finally, I played around with my blog background again.


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I'm a wimp!

I used to be able to stay up for two days without a problem but I needed a nap this afternoon. So I'll go to bed a little later tonight and get up a little earlier tomorrow - by Sunday I should be able to manage getting out of bed at a reasonable hour in the morning. I'm SO looking forward to seeing my boys!

I made another pillowcase - these are seriously fun and there are so many charities that can use them. I cut both of these out at the same time and just reversed the fabrics I used for the cuff and body. The second one I didn't use the narrow accent band because I didn't think there'd be enough contrast between it and and the print AND I wanted to try the pillowcases both ways - you can either use the accent band or not.

I'm making mine for Alycia's Quilt of Valor project but feel free to join in our Pillowcase Party on November 29 & 30 and donate them wherever you'd like.
Step by step photos of my pillowcases in progress.


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Pillowcases anyone?

First, here's the green HeartStrings quilt - the binding was done during my quiltathon last night. I've got to figure out a good angle for photos with the tree AND I need to pull out those leaves at the bottom, they bother me.

Second, after quilting the log cabin quilt this morning, I decided to make a pillowcase and photograph the steps. Ethel showed us how to make these at the HeartStrings sew-in. I'm a quilter not a sewer so I found the instructions confusing until I saw one made. Maybe my photos will make it clearer for someone else.



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Not the best photo ...but more progress

All ready to quilt last night....

Finished this morning.... top #7 of 10 for November is done.

So my *done* list now looks like this:

Log Cabin quilted and trimmed
5 of 8 postcards for our December Exchange done
2nd load of laundry done
Loaded and started quilting the Log Cabin top
Finished 1st load of laundry
Hand stitched the binding on the Green HS quilt
Started my December postcards
Pieced backing for the Log Cabin top
Made binding and machine stitched it on the Green HS
Finished November's postcard

It's 5:30AM and the easy part is done, now I just have to stay awake most of today. I think I'll go downtown for breakfast around 9AM - it's in the mid 20's out there so a brisk walk in the cold should help.


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Postcards

I've got 5 of the 8 postcards I need for the December exchange completely finished now. The photo doesn't do these first ones justice - they're very cute. The fabric has red and green tinsel like threads running through it, the trees are green wool held in place by red beads.

I backed and finished the edges on the 3 snowmen postcards too. The first one I just did my usual zigzag edge but on the other two....
I stitched a straight line and then used a deckle blade to trim the edges. I like this edge best.
I have an idea for the remaining 3 cards but I need to refer to a one of my postcard books first. Back to quilting for a little while and then it will be time for another break.


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Why push?

Linda commented and asked why I push myself....well there's a couple reasons.

First, I need to get back on a regular sleep schedule because I have an upcoming trip to GA to visit my sons so this involves staying up tomorrow morning - the night part is easy - I've been up all night for the last week or two but have been sleeping during the day.

Second, tired and non-productive turns into the blues for me so basically, I'm playing a game with myself - to see how much I can get done while I'm meeting my first goal of getting back on *days*.

So here's the done list so far:
Started 2nd load of laundry
Loaded and started quilting the Log Cabin top
Finished 1st load of laundry
Hand stitched the binding on the Green HS quilt
Started my December postcards
Pieced backing for the Log Cabin top
Made binding and machine stitched it on the Green HS
Finished November's postcard

Here's a photo of the quilting on the Log Cabin - simple freehand leaves and curls. Now to work on the postcards for a while.



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Quiltathon - update 2

The binding is done - I'll wait until morning to take a photo on the porch. Not much progress on the laundry but one load is done which is better than nothing.

Keith got home from his dinner so I took a little break to chat with him and now that he's gone to bed it will be back to work after I finish checking email and a few blogs....yes, there are breaks built in to this quiltathon!


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Quiltathon - update #1

Getting ready to break for dinner so I thought I'd share my progress.

Decided I might as well get caught up on the laundry while I'm in productive mode so load # 1 is in the wash.

The binding is made and machine stitched on - I'll work on this a couple hours next while I watch some TV.
I pieced a backing for this log cabin quilt - I just realized that I need this quilt done in the next 2-3 weeks and with my Thanksgiving week plans I need to move it up the list. It will get loaded tonight after my couple hours of TV.

I started my Christmas Postcards. We usually just exchange one card each month but for December we have an option of sending one to everyone participating. I'm not doing anything elaborate but will make 2-3 different ones to send out. There are 9 of us that participate so I need to make 8 of them. The cute snowman print just has some snowflake brads attached - cute and quick. The other two are waiting for trees and I'm still debating what to do for the remaining ones.
And just because this was on my camera from yesterday. The IDS center has a beautiful atrium. I had lunch at a restaurant here yesterday.

See you in a few hours with another update.


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My own personal Quiltathon

I've been feeling very, very tired and lazy the last few days and with Keith gone last week, my sleep patterns are completely messed up. I've been up all night and sleeping away most of the day but with my upcoming trip to GA and my need to get some actual work done - I've decided on a personal Quiltathon tonight.

I'll stay up ALL night and the goal will be to NOT go to bed until tomorrow night. If I find I can't manage staying up all day tomorrow - I'll try for just a quick afternoon nap.

Keith has a business dinner tonight and I've already started working. I'll share my progress with you through the night and into the day tomorrow. Wish me luck!

My first two projects were to piece and sew a binding on the green HeartStrings quilt - I'll work on stitching it down while I watch America's Next Top Model and Criminal Minds later tonight and I also got the backing fused and finished the edges of my postcard for our November exchange.


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Just a reminder

Have a question? Want an answer? Enable your email address in blogger or leave your email address in your comment.


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#6 of 10

A HeartStrings top pieced by Barbara in FL and quilted today with Wonky Flowers from the Pajama Quilter DVD makes the 6th of 10 tops quilted so far this month.

Just a comment on these clamps from Tomorrow's Heirlooms. I like them a lot better than the clamps that came with my Gammill but they are fragile. I broke another one today - the plastic broke right where the velcro attaches. I first bought a set in May 2007 and both had broken within about 9 months. I replaced them in July 2008 and bought 2 sets at that time just in case I broke another one. At $20 a set they're not all that expensive but I do wish they were sturdier.

I've got an errand to run and then hopefully, I'll have time to get a binding sewn on before Keith gets home from work.


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Working? Not me....

I know some people are participating in Judy's Quiltathon this weekend but I haven't sewn a single stitch. Keith's sister left today - it was a quick visit but we had fun. Does anyone recognize this Minneapolis symbol?

I thought I'd show you a full shot of my little tree too - I'm not crazy about the branches stuffed in the bottom of the pot but if I understood correctly, they're  just sticking in the pot and they'll die off or I could even just pull them out. The plan is that this will be our Christmas tree this year too - we'll put some lights on it and it will adorn my deck both before and after Christmas.

You've seen this quilt already

but I just bought this potted tree for my deck since my flowers are gone - I need to practice getting the quilt photo at the right angle since the tree is taller than the stand with my flowers.

For those interested a photo of the log cabin quilt on my chair can be seen here at this link.

New shoes

I saw this post on Suzanne's blog about the shoes she was ordering....I needed a pair of dark tennis shoes for the winter with good support for all the walking we do. I ordered these Thursday and they came on Friday...free shipping and rather than the 4-5 days they promised, they arrived overnight.

At first when I put them on they felt kind of weird but I wore them when we walked downtown for dinner last night and they were really comfortable. The reviews warned that they ran about a half size small but I'm not sure I completely agree. Normally I wear a 7 or 7 and 1/2 so so I ordered the 7 and 1/2. I tend to wear thicker socks in the winter so they'll work just fine for me but they felt a little, tiny bit loose with my thinner socks.

Funny, I was telling my SIL and Keith that I'd ordered my first pair of shoes online and she said she orders shoes all the time from Zappos...which is exactly where I ordered these...free shipping both ways. Can't beat that.


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Let the fun begin

These chests are my favorite pieces of furniture - I have 3 of them. Most of the time they act like end tables....but when I have company coming....
everything gets tossed inside and all the sudden things look neat! I'm done with the cleaning and Keith and his sister arrived around 6PM. We walked downtown for dinner and drinks and had the best time....and my house is sparkling clean!



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Almost done

I spent most of the day cleaning and now I just have to put the clean dishes away and wipe the counters down one last time. The dishes I'll do tonight and tomorrow after picking up a few groceries I'll give the counters one last swipe.

I like having family visit but don't like getting ready! This will be a very short visit from Keith's sister. She's arrives late tomorrow afternoon and leaves Sunday morning.

Next on the to do list (probably won't get done until Sunday)

• Load top #6 on the longarm
• Bind the green Heartstrings quilt

Just 9 days and counting before we head to the Atlanta area to see the boys. I came across these photos yesterday when I was looking for the *cleaning* photos. They were taken about 9 years ago, the boys would have been 14 and 15. I haven't seen them since July and damn, I miss them!