Wizard of Oz

I finished the quilting on Lisa's quilt yesterday - Dakota's Wizard of Oz

I showed the family when they were over for dinner yesterday and Nora right away asked if the quilt was for her. I told her no, it belonged to someone else, I was just working on it.

She reached up and hugged me and said, "Will you make one for me?"

I can see that there will be a Wizard of Oz quilt for Nora's birthday. I've never purchased a design collection before, should be fun. Besides the characters on this quilt, there is a lovely Glenda and numerous others.

I love Nora's confidence that I could make such a quilt, or any quilt, really, that her heart desires.

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July, everyone.

Friday Fill-In # 131

You'll find my answers to the Friday Fill-ins in bold.

1. When I heard the sound of a few random firecrackers in the evenings, I knew that the 4th of July was coming. I hope everyone has a good holiday.

2. Antibiotics are the best medicine for some infections. It's hard to believe that they're relatively new. When I had a ruptured appendix a few years ago, I was so grateful for them.

3. It's late but I'm going to get this quilt finished for my work friend Lisa.

4. They're always coming out with new things, but the new interchangable dual feed foot is amazing. Nice and wide, and there's a changable quilter's guide foot for straight stitching with 1/4" markings and a stitch-in-the-ditch guide.

5. My eyes have seen the lushness of my front yard garden this morning, with plants spilling over everywhere. Tomatoes and squash soon. And the first time I've been able to get a good start of lavender.

6. I feel strongly about civility. But then, you already know that.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to finishing Lisa's quilt, tomorrow my plans include Fourth at the Fort in Fort Thomas, and Sunday I want to sleep in - no church on this Sunday because many members are at the nearby conference in Columbus, Ohio.

Happy Friday and happy 4th, everyone.

July 1

July 1. Turn to new calendar pages. And note that half the year's done. I wonder what's happened to all that energy I had when I made New Year's resolutions. I've done well - I think, haven't done the mid-year check yet - but still, I'd like to have some of that freshness I felt in January.

Sometimes I make midyear adjustments, sometimes add a few midyear resolutions. That may happen this year, but not on July 1.

I did a little more basement cleaning this morning, early. Everything to do with painting (wall painting, not artistic painting) is in the basement storage room with the big spider. I wonder, do they still have the pest strips that keep the creatures away? Or have they been banned like lots of other things?

What I'm gearing up for with the basement cleaning is to have a nice dyeing area, uncluttered. I'd better hurry and get it finished before cold weather is back. Some people have asked to come and do some dyeing with me and I'd like to have a pleasant space before I have any company.

And then there's the issue of finding things . . .

Neatness

Yesterday when I mentioned putting pony tail elastics around my embroidery threads to keep them from unraveling, this is what I meant.

I'm not Type A about very many things, but these are my treasures, after all.

Some may be wondering about the Coats and Clark threads mixed in among the others, and yeah, I've seen the magnification pictures that show that it's a rougher thread. My machines don't seem to mind it, though, and it does cost a lot less. If I could have anything, I'd have a basket full of wonderfully silky Robison Anton (hard to find around here,) and I do use the big Sulky spools for the colors I use most often. I am fussy about metallics, though, and only use Yenmet. It's incredibly well behaved.

I have an assignment to make a sample using a pattern called Dots & Daisies. It's supposed to be flowers, but I've decided to see if it can translate into snowflakes. We'll see. Our next seminar is Christmas in July and that would fit right in.

Organizing Day

No sewing today - I just had to do some organizing/cleaning before I could be creative again. It takes a lot to get me to that point, but there it was. I still have a long way to go - I'm looking at a trashed desk right now - but I feel like I can breathe a little.

I got three of these plastic shopping totes at the Dollar Store,

one for dots, one for linens and one for stabilizers. They hold quite a lot - I was able to get all my stabilizers off the floor except for one 25-yd roll. Dots and linens are what I'm into right now and I wanted to keep them accessible.

My shelves of fabrics separated by color were ever so messy where I'd pulled out my selections. Better now. Do I really need all these? Yes, of course.

I spent ages in the basement, too. Put up two sets of shelving, the stuff that holds 900 pounds. One for paint cans, rollers, drop clothes, etc., and the other for all those little containers, spray bottles, buckets, etc. that I use for dyeing fabric. When I was at the $ store I got some dishpans to load them into. There's also space for my metal basket of dust masks, clothes pins, clips, rubber bands, etc. Between the shelving there is a space for plexiglass that I spread some fabric on.

I really meant to get some pony tail bands at the $ store to put around those Robison Anton-type embroidery spools that are always coming unwound, but I forgot. Another day for that.

Completed Projects

I'm sure everyone with a new serger makes napkins first to try out that rolled edge.

The next one's a work sample - Husqvarna Viking Embroidery Club 141.

The numbers are done on 4D software and the red piping has pretty green trim. The back is the same fabric as the napkins. After it's time in the store it will go to Nora and Aaron.

My next foot of the month class will use the Spanish hemstitch foot and here's the sample for that. Heirloom stitching, really easy. I didn't used to be a fan of the different sewing machine feet, but I've come around now that I've seen what they can do.