A Revelation

(Wouldn't that be a great fabric print?)

I'm still rethinking my sewing room. I got more milk crates so the board is now as high as my elbow. It is a little too high, but I'm managing. (I put bundles on it to hid the horrible brown stains. Yuk!) 

For the last 2 weeks, I've been finishing work later due to my co-worker being on vacation. One night, I came home and DH had a surprise for me. 

A wooden box! The board is now higher than when it had legs but lower than with the milk crates. It's at the perfect height for me. What a sweet man. 💓

As I was working on the sewing room reorganization, I had a brain fart. 

Call it a "New Year's resolution", call it a "sewing room rule", call it "Darn, why didn't I think of that?" but I decided to declare 

the ironing board for ironing ONLY!

Flabbergasting, isn't it?

The rule is "If something does NOT need to be ironed, it can NOT "rest" or "sit" on the ironing board." No more piles of fabric for a future projects, or fabric that needs to be cut, or put away, or boxes of PhD, etc. I have to be firm with myself and diligent. It's so nice to have a clean board that I think I can pull this one through the entire year. 🤞

You can see some of the binding on the ironing board's photos above and here's more that are done. The smallest binding is 175" long; the biggest ones will be cut to the needed size. Three need folding and ironing. 

I'm also sewing some Hollow 9 as leader-ender while doing the bindings. 

Oh, look! I almost have a double 9-Patch in this picture. 😊 I got my 2" square tub on the kitchen counter so I can "kit" some little Hollow 9 while the soup boils over simmers. 

All those little piles on the right of the tub are blue Hollow 9 but I'm sure I can find more green ones in there. 

That's all I have, friends. Hope all is well with you. Have a great week, everyone. ;^)

Join me at these ladies' places for more inspirations

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Work in Progress (WIP)

These three words can apply to so many things and even situation. Like my sewing room. Hahaha.

Hollow Nine as leader/ender. Red, blue, purple, aqua. 

I started last year to (again) organize my sewing space. I talked about it with the girls at the Artisanat group and was relieve to hear that I am not alone with this "task". One even said that she sews at the kitchen table because there's no space in her sewing room. (So, she does have a room specifically for sewing but …) okay. In a weird way, it made me feel good because, at least, I still sew in my sewing room. 👌 

Regardless, a reorganization was needed. (See this post for the beginning of the journey)

More milk crates added 

Then, DH removed the legs on the ironing board which I always deemed a waste of space.

 

So much better now. I need more crates as the board is too low for me but it works for now. 

BUT am I sewing? 

Not much to show besides the Hollow Nines. I'm mostly sewing backings and bindings. 

On Saturday, Jan 17th, we (five ladies and myself) gathered to cut the batting for 42 baby quilts. I should had taken pictures but forgot, sorry. 

This is what I brought home. 

Each bundle consist of a top, batting and backing (in one piece or in pieces). I have 34 quilts with me. Two of the ladies wanted to bring some home to finish right away. 

One of the ladies had strips of flannelette that she generously gave for the cause. I'm sewing these strips together for the backing. She had some gorgeous prints. 

I'm in love! 😍

Anywho! I'm cutting and sewing binding too but that makes boring photos. 

While reading Sara's blog, I was reminded to check my fabric purchases for 2025. I keep everything on spreadsheets. (I love spreadsheets!) I was surprised to read a total of $185.33 was spend on fabric. It doesn't include the $25 spent on bonding interfacing (steam-a-seam) for the Table Scrap Challenge with Elvis. In 2024, I did real well spending only $56.39. I'll try to do better this year. 

This big boy celebrated his fifth birthday. I was finally able to take a decent picture of him. Raven is usually camera shy but seems to be okay with a phone picture. 😊

We had snow, then snow, then snow, then a "heatwave" of +6 Celsius, then we had snow, and snow, and then . . . frigid cold at - 40 Celsius this morning. (There are no typos in the previous sentence.) This year promises some wacky surprises. Better buckle my seat belt! Lol. 

Join me at these ladies' place for more inspirations

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Alycia for Finished or Not Friday

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Have a great week, everyone. ;^)

Something Different EDITED

EDITED 

So many things happened since I last post but not much in the sewing department.

The office had its Christmas Party at the Chateau Laurier. Yes, there are a few castles in Canada too. It was such a magical venue. Wow.

The woman dressed in black in the mirror is me. I could have go on and on as it was fabulous everywhere, but it wasn't a tour, it was a party. I will visit it one day and bring my good camera. All these were taken with my cell. 

Rascal decided to move "in". He was here almost all week. Early in the morning and at 6PM, we would let him in for some food, some love and to warm up too. 

I called different places like C.A.T. (Community Alley Trappers) to pick him up but their are at full capacity at the moment. :^(  I'm sad that they can't take him in and it is also sad that there are so many pets waiting for a good home.

Anywho! Rascal eats like an ogre and he's about to blow my budget, lol. Since him and Raven don't get along, we brought a big box outside, jammed it under the patio table so the wind wouldn't blow it away, brought out some blankets and spread a quilt on top in an effort to protect him from the wind. 
 

On Wednesday, he was gone. The snow melted a lot this week, so we figured the wild was calling him back. It's easier to catch rodents when the snow isn't deep. 

I worked a bit on the Four-Block quilt. As I was quilting, I wondered if the pencil marking will disappear in the wash. 

~ EDITED ~

(I completely omit to tell you about the something different. Haha. Too many pots on the back burner here.)

I want to finish this. An old Petit Point canvas received in a box with all the yarn in a bag. No numbers to identify which yarn goes with which canvas. It has been on the frame for a very long time. The masking tape on the right side is all dried up. 

I'm thinking of bringing it to the office for some fun stitching during my lunch break. It's hard to tell in the photo but the girls are done except for the faces. The snow is what I'll start working on first. 

I am also getting backings together for the baby tops. Isn't this one lovely ? I have enough of this one for three baby quilts. Yay. 

I was in the "process" of getting my sewing room organized, again! 

2024

Through the years, this place is only getting worst. It's a mess. 

2025

I'm so organized at work but my sewing room . . . 

It's an enigma to me. So, I started to remove everything from the floor. 

It took a while to get to the bottom. 

I thought these milk crates would be better since they store upward. Before I was even close of having half of the fabric organized, 

I decided to get the flannel out to make backings. (on the left, the two pinks and in the foreground the blue and green fabric are all flannel) Sigh! I know I'm ADHD and I knew I will do this and I tried to stop myself but this morning, I got up and all I could think of were the flannel that would go great with this top and this one and . . . and there's no cure. 😞

The far end of the room, is no better. The flannel bin has been opened, exploding fabric everywhere. . .

I bet you didn't know that the top of a cabinet door is a flat surface. Ha! 

Hopefully, I'll start 2026 with an organized sewing room. 😶

Back to the office.

We had the potluck lunch on Dec 18th. That's when we receive gifts from the bosses. There's so many things in the gift box like a prepaid credit card, lip balm, chocolates, Mason jar soup, hard candies, amongst other things, and a Christmas card. The one I got is so cute that I want to share it with you. 

Peace, love and hot chocolate . . . and a quilt! Oh my gosh! She gave me the card that has a quilt on it. She SOOOO gets me.  💝

With this, I wish you all a very 

rest of the year, filled with good time, pleasant company, sweet moments you will remember forever and health. And hot chocolate!

Cheers! ;^)

P.S. The comments left on my last post are not coming to my inbox. Sigh! The more it changes the more it's the same. Lol.

 

More fun happening at these talented ladies' blogs: 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap!

Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching 

Barely Alive But Still Kicking

I wrote (it seems like such a long time ago) that I had found a job. Thank you all for your good wishes. It breaks my heart but, unfortunately, the job was short-lived. My back didn't like that job, so I had to quit. Sigh! My back is more important to me than minimum wage. I spent the next three (four?) days in bed nurturing the cranky back in question. I gave it a try is all I can say.  Now, I'm at the computer, searching for a job. Fingers crossed again. 

And life goes on. 

On a more fun note, let's talk scrap!

Remember this picture from the beginning of March? Let's see what happened to it.   

Along with all the purple sewing I did here, here and here, I added a "raspberry purple" Stained Glass and a 6.5" square. 

A reminder of the mess crumb sewing makes. 

I tried to separate the different purples, but they kept walking all over the desk. Sigh! 

I started to create some 4.5" crumbs because another quilt took shape in my mind ... it is now annoyingly haunting me. The little "blueberry purple" is for the Hole in the Barn Door quilt. That border needs help. 

Little 3.5" 9-patch blocks were also added. 

I needed the help of brown fabric to please this finicky purplish wine, far right. I tried so hard to use them all up. But the month came to an end. 

Crumb blocks that are half done. Sorry for these bits but they returned to the bag and await another purple sewing session. 

This is what's left of the purple scraps. 

This is the smaller of the two bags in the first photo and it is this flat! 

I'm so happy! The goal is to get all the bags holding the smallest scraps into ONE drawer. If I may blow my own horn, this is an excellent start. (insert happy dance here) 

Challenge accepted! 

Decluttering with Joy ( 100 Days 100 Things Decluttered )

I didn't manage to declutter this week but my son came to my rescue, unknowingly to him. He emptied the dishwasher and declared that I had too many cups. He couldn't put them all on one shelf. Well, then. Let's get rid of some. 

5 cups and 2 travel mugs later, I had decluttered. Thanks, son! (The metal cut on its side is where I used to work.)

On Tuesday, we had our Artisanat meeting and the Take-Away table had something EXTREMELY interesting: FABRIC!

I came home with 1 meter of orange fabric, 3/4 of a meter of black/grey/orange fabric, half a meter of red fabric and some big scraps of blue, about a quarter of a meter. Free! Yay! 

Also, a quilter friend gave me a lettuce box full of scraps. I am so spoiled! Thank you, Michèle. She also brought me two quilts to donate to the Quilts for Survivors. But more on that in another post. 

So, now for the next week: Yellow. I happened to knock two birds with one stone (not that I would do that literally but ...) The Table Scrap Challenge's theme was "bird". This challenge is hosted by The Joyful Quilter. Click on this link to see all the beautiful birds. My entry has a bird and it has purple and it has an umbrella and it has yellow! Now Table Scrap Challenge's theme for this month is "umbrella" and Angela called Yellow. What are the odds of that? 

Anywho! Back to yellow. This is what I have to work with. 

Let's see how light these bags will be at the end of the month. 

Have a great week, everyone. 

;^)

Joining these talented ladies during the week: 

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever

Moda Mauve

This block is from the Moda Free Pattern page. Moda calls it "Love". (See webpage here.) (PDF Pattern here.) It's a nice name, but I don't see the love in there. It is so versatile in the sense that depending on where the values are, you can change the look of the block and quilters love that. 

So, I searched for another name. Spent a lot of time with Google and some translation websites, trying all the possibilities with Star, Nova, Comet, Shining, Rising, Morning, Praising, etc.  

It finally boiled down to two options: Rock Star ... or ... 

... Double Halo Star. Which one do you prefer? I'm open to suggestions, as always. 

Do you remember when I did the red one I said that the back of the block was a hot mess? I decided to construct the purple one as a 9-patch block, to see if it would be easier. 

The corner piece... 

First row second unit ... I don't know what happened to the middle unit's picture but it's basically a square-in-a-square block. 

It was easier to assemble and it lay flatter. 

To catch up with the RSC colours already called a green block had to be done. Out came some green scrap and ... 

This one was assembled as per Moda's instruction. The direction says to sew in rows. Well, this was the toughest of the three to do (for me). I had to refer to the picture constantly while sewing the pieces into rows. I ironed the HSTs in the wrong direction (too often), and the points won't align properly (that bugs me) due to the long rows. I might unstitch some parts and fidget with it. IMHO, this way is harder than necessary. 

The next one will be assembled with Flying Geese units and a real square-in-a-square unit. I'll let you know how that works out. 

Although I've not posted a picture of my bloopers for a long time, you can be sure that I still do them frequently. Here's my latest one.  

Decluttering with Joy ( 100 Days 100 Things Decluttered ): 

Some cutting, some cleaning, and some decluttering occurred this week again. 

The drawer of the 3" scraps was emptied and cleaned. It now houses my crafting and graph papers. 

The top drawer still holds the "bigger pieces" scrap, then two cleaned drawers (originally the 3" and the 2.5" storage drawer), and next will be the 2" drawer. The last drawer holds the letter paper and notepads. 

Don't have many 3" scraps left but they are nicely settled in this tub and stored in the bookcase...

... and look who I found at the bottom of that drawer! 

Another piece of the M&M millennium fabric. Yes, millennium! Gosh! will I ever live this fabric down? Haha!

This mini bookcase, the size of a lectern but with a flat top, is my cutting table beside my sewing table. It will be so easy to grab the tub I need now. 

The decluttered things being sent to a second-hand store include a photo album, a binder and some patterns. 

Did you do any Creative Glass? I had a lot of fun with this craft. It's a liquid leading that sticks to glass and then you paint the inside. I did the entire window next to the principal door with leaves way back when. 

I'm leaving you with a picture of Raven. He's not happy because I'm taking pictures of scrap instead of petting him. 

Poor thing! How will you feel when I'm sewing all day because it is International Quilting Day? 

I have a few projects lined up for that. And you? 

Have a great one! 

;^) 

Joining these talented ladies during the week: 

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

NinaMarie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever