My Quilt From Helen!

Wow! I got home from work to find a long skinny package from Australia! It was my quilt from Helen! Isnt' it wonderful? I asked her to make something that was "very very Helen."I love, love, love it! Awesome bright colors, and the pebble quilting is phenomenal! You can really see it in this detail of the tree. The quilt is about 22" x 30".

Thank you SO much Helen! I hope you get yours real soon!

Is It Soup Yet?

I moved the books to the bookshelf in the other room.I cleaned out the items in the file cabinets, cleaned off the top of the desk and cleared out the items in the corner.I can't move much else without help. Everything else is big, bulky and heavy. It's not going anywhere until Saturday. I will work a 12 hour day on Friday, so the last cleaning out session will have to be later Thursday evening. Hopefully the Ninja Brigade on Saturday will get the big items in place so I can settle in on Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed.

Helen's quilt is due to arrive at her house any day now. She promised to notify me "the nanosecond it arrives." I have a series of blog posts ready to go as soon as it does.

The Turn of the Screw

(Can you tell I love a good pun?)The fiberboard panels have been mounted in the new studio. (They were screwed into the walls.)
And the shelving has been installed in the other room. (With screws.) What is this, Phase Five?

I need a little break. I am too tired to replace all the books on these shelves.


Ah, yes. Perfect!

Presto Change-o!

As part of Phase Four, the books that were on the shelves in this picture yesterday are now stacked in various other rooms. The shelves are going....
gone.
They will be moved to this wall later..
which used to be this wall:(and yes, this new wall is about 48"(121 cm) shorter than the other wall, so the shelve have to be cut and I have a lot of rearranging to do.)

As for the solid core wooden door that makes up the computer table and the two file cabinets that hold it up, and the two maple bureaus that have to swap places? Well, those will move when there are five Ninjas here on Saturday.


Really.

Stash Moving

In Phase 3, I moved The Stash. Which was pretty interesting. I merely switched the contents of two bookcases. Sort of. I had to empty the contents of one shelf on one bookcase before I could replace it with contents of the other. This bookcase used to hold Art books. Hardcovers. (Damn, they were heavy!)

And remember how I used to store cut 4-1/2" and 2-1/2" strips on hangers in the closet?
Now they are all in the bins underneath my ironing table. (I also replaced the silvery heat resistant fabric on the top.So far, so good. The next step is moving the four long bookshelves (and all the stuff on them)to the old sewing room.

Two! Two! Two!

Phase Two includes not one, but TWO work tables!I can have one just for cutting...and the other for, well, you know...
But the -absolutely best- thing I have ever bought for my sewing is this cushy floor mat. When I work on my quilts I do it standing up.
This mat is -so- nice. My feet, legs and back are much happier!



*PS, VeeV, my ironing table is covered with that silvery heat-resistant fabric that is used for potholders and some ironing board covers. It can be bought by the yard and is not very expensive. You can read more about my ironing table here.

A Little Night Magic

Before
After
Phase One!

A Big Change

Sitting in my computer room last night, I thought, "... this room is bigger, why don't I make this my sewing studio?" After a bit of playing with graph paper I came up with a plan.
It will be a hell of a lot of work, but I want to do it.

Two other things...

1. I am SO HAPPY about the winner of Project Runway! I won't spill the beans in case you haven't seen it, but I was THRILLED!

2. My son turns 30 today. Where did the years go? I love you honey!

Six

My Butterfly tutorial here.

More Letters

I still have letters on the brain. I've been playing with them to see just how far I can push them, although there isn't much to show for it in these. Except the "M" is made from four fabrics, and the "I" depends on your brain separating the purple from the green to make an "i". Dunno if it works, but I have been having fun looking through my stash and playing.

You can click the photo to enlarge.

To Australia!

Helen's quilt is on it's way to Australia. Her quilt is on it's way to me here in northeastern US.

The USPS says her quilt she arrive in 6 - 10 days.

Stay tuned!

"e" is for experiment

I was wondering what a letter made out of selvage dots would look like. I think this one disappears too much into the white and would need to have a more contrasting background. This "e" is 5-1/4" tall by 4" wide.

I like making my lower-case "e" this way. To me it looks like it's saying "Eeeek!"

Fooling Around

I have letters on the brain.

Amazing Flying Quilt

The quilt for Helen will be flying it's way to Kununurra Australia on Monday. The one she is making for me will also by flying on it's way here, to New Hampshire USA.

I stayed up late last night to watch Project Runway. Regular readers know I have been watching from the very beginning (Season One). Last night I was kinda bummed to see the designer leave. I won't spill the beans in case you haven't watched it yet.

O Boy!

I love making letters. I especially love having some fun with them.

Two You Wednesday

I needed to do a little something different...
(oh crap, I just realized I did the second "u" wrong. That left hand upright was supposed to be a completely different fabric.)

More Fun for Helen

Helen told me that each of the photos of (my) quilt she has posted so far has had colors "altered" in PhotoShop! The nerve of her!So this is an actual unretouched photo of the quilt I am making for her!

(Not!)

Goodie Bags

Helen has two young daughters, so I made each of them a little skinny bag for their goodies. She's working on my quilt, and has posted a few sneak peeks. I have to tell you, I can't wait to see it!

Binding the Helen

I trimmed Helen's quilt down to size, added the binding and the hanging sleeve. It's all finished.


Until I send it on its long voyage halfway around the world, it is hanging in my dining room for me to enjoy!

Quilted Zig-Zag

Here's a little zig-zag quilting for Helen. I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out what this is. I'll be adding a hanging sleeve and binding the quilt this weekend.

Another Little Peak

I'm quilting. I'm almost done Helen's quilt. I've got the fabric for the binding, and I'll be adding a sleeve to the back.

I like the way the quilting is looking, although quilting with a walking foot is a royal pain in the butt. (Sew, stop, raise the pressure foot, move the fabric, move half the quilt around and through the really tight "throat" of this damn sewing machine, flatten everything out, lower the pressure foot, sew [quilt] two or three inches, repeat...)

Helen will be finished in about a week, then we'll be shipping them across two continents and two oceans to each other (another week), so two weeks until you get to see the whole thing. And if you think YOU are having a hard time waiting, let me tell you something... it is driving me crazy that I can't show you! But I promise it will be worth the wait!

Quilting on Helen

Hi Helen! I quilted half your quilt last night.You don't think I'm going to show it, do you?


For all the rest of you wondering what the hell this is all about, please stay tuned! Helen and I have agreed NOT to post any pictures of the quilts we are making for each other until we each receive them. Indeed, we will try to ship them to each other on the same day, so they arrive at about the same time.**

Once Helen receives her quilt, I promise to blog about my entire process, from my first idea through completion. I'm so excited about it, I have worked on it every free moment since I returned from my trip two weeks ago. If I am very, very, very lucky, I will have it completed Sunday.



**Helen lives in Kununurra, Australia,

View Larger Map


and I am in New Hampshire in the United States.

View Larger Map

a mere 14,534 mile, 55-day trip by car and kayak.

Here it is, Helen!

Here's your quilt, Helen!OK, it's the fabric for the backing. Very Helen! (yeah, I know it's not quite big enough. It's not my fault. The quilt grew. It said it wanted to be bigger.)

But see that yellow underneath... that's your quilt.

Really and truly!

I'm totally stressed about quilting it. I need to go buy quilting thread...

A Butterfly for Helen

Helen, I am putting one of my signature butterflies in your quilt. I hope you like it.

Sneak Peek 2

Here's another sneak peek for Helen.


You got Questions? I got Answers, and I ain't tellin'!


(But it's turning out GORGEOUS!)

Look! It's Helen!

Helen asked if we could post sneak peeks of the quilts we are making for each other. I thought it was a great idea. So here's mine:Look! It's Helen herself!

Yes, Helen, you are in the quilt!




And yes, I know I am very bad.

A Hint For Helen!

Oh Helen, here's a hint about the swap quilt I am making for you!



April Fool!