The New Floor, a Preview

 

The new flooring has been installed. It looks great and I like it. Here you can see the shelf that runs the length of the room (20 feet) under the windows. I painted it. I figured what the heck, it was dirty, and I might as well spend the money on a quart of paint and improve the look. I'm really glad I did.

Once the floor was done, we arranged the bookcases and brought in the bins of fabric. We swept the floors,  and I even vacuumed the floors, but it wasn't until I damp-mopped the new floors that they finally felt really clean. This flooring, when cut generates a TON of very fine dust, and it covered EVERYTHING. I had to clean every piece of furniture in the room. In fact, I have decided to hold off putting the fabric back on the shelves because I want any dust to settle so it won't get on my fabric.

Here is the office. The best thing about the hard floor here is that my chair will now glide on the floor and I won't need that stupid plastic mat that I trip over half the time.

Obviously neither room is completely done. There are issues (one lamp crashed and died) and things I noticed once I got the big furniture out, and more work is going to happen (can you say Paint?). But I'm tired so that will have to wait.

But I'm happy and it was money well spent, As the contractor said as he was preparing to leave, "Well, Lynne, you've just increased the value of your house." I mean, the rugs were beige, stained, and over thirty years old. The new floors are waterproof. Woot!

Bonne Maman

 

Back in May I wrote about having a lot of empty jars on hand. My favorites are the Bonne Maman jars.

While what we buy a Bonne Maman product for is truly great (I particularly love their Apricot Preserves), for some reason their jars are just as great.

These are the re-purposed Bonne Maman jars from my own refrigerator. After that blog post I heard from several of you saying you love them just as much as I do.

We are not alone.

Since my studio floor is being refinished (along with the floors in my office and master bathroom) my studio is off limits, so I have been reading. I am reading Martin Walker's A Murder in Springtime, one of his Bruno, Chief of Police novels. I love these and have read all of them.

In the books, Bruno cooks. Walker has even collaborated with his daughter to collect Bruno's recipes into a cookbook, but I digress.

Imagine my surprise yesterday when reading chapter four...

"...Bruno prepared his vinaigrette, measuring his ingredients by eye and instinct into a Bonne Maman jam jar saved and washed for this very purpose. ..."

How many of us do the same? I know I do.

They Love It!

The Field of Dreams quilt has arrived in the City of Angels and as you can see, it was very well received.

My DIL exclaimed, "It's so light!!!" 

They said the sheets were in the washing machine so they could make up the bed with fresh sheets and the new quilt.

Then my granddaughter asked if I could make one for her. To which there was only one reply possible...

YES DEAR!

This is simply a Nightingale quilt made in Green. You can make one any color you want, of course. You can get the tutorial to make one here, at my Etsy shop.

 

Oh Boy!

 

Oh boy! They guys came and made quick work of removing the carpet and getting the new floor installed in my studio. I think this is gorgeous and I am very happy. I love this. Once the trim around the baseboards is installed I'll be able to start moving back in.

I did ask for a gray. I think it will be easier to see all the pins and threads that will inevitably fall on the floor.

Woo hoo. Tomorrow, the bathroom... 

Can't wait for NO CARPET around the spa tub. Who puts carpet in the bathroom? It was here when I got here and I cannot tell you how eager I am to see the last of THIS!

Field of Dreams is Finished!

 

I tied all the knots on the Field of Dreams quilt, then trimmed down the excess backing, folded it over and pinned it down.

Then I machine stitched the binding in place.

(Look at my empty studio!)

The quilt is 78" x 98" or so, and it's already on its way to the City of Angles. It should arrive on Monday.

Woo hoo!

This is a Nightingale quilt, just in greens. If you want to make one, you can get the tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download, so you can get started right away.

Binding Little Brother

 

Since access to my studio will be limited while the floor is being replaced, I'm getting the Little Brother quilt ready so I can work on SOMETHING when the guys are here.

MOOO-ving

 

There's no way to move the bookcase with my fabric stash unless I remove the fabric. And since I already know installing the new floor will create dust, I want to keep my stash CLEAN, so I put them in the large plastic bins. Good thing I had emptied them.

Haven't seen THIS in a long time. So where is the stash?

It's in the dining room. I actually had to go to the big box hardware store and get MORE big bins.

I have given a lot of thought to where I am going to put the stuff that normally lives in the studio while work is being done. You'll see over the next few days. I've also planned menus that require minimal cooking and preparation while work is underway.

And yes, I am fully aware I have WAY TOO MUCH FABRIC. What's a gal gonna do?

MAKE MORE QUILTS!!!!

I mean like, duh!

Number 10 Crochet Cotton

Since inquiring minds want to know, I use Number 10 Crochet Cotton that's 100% cotton. I WANT this to shrink when I wash the quilt in warm water because that will tighten the knots and they will never come out or untie themselves. I also make sure I tie a good Square Knot (Left over Right; Right over Left) and I tie it TIGHTLY.

This is the same stuff your grandmother used to make those crocheted doilies. At least mine did.

This is the way my grandmother made quilts, tied, with no batting. We took them everywhere - to the beach or the lake where they were a lot more comfortable to lie on when wet than an itchy blanket. We took them to the park for picnics and to the fireworks. We used them to make forts over the dining room table on cold winter days or when we were bored. We used them to wrap my mother's paintings when carting them to one show or another. They were utilitarian in every sense of the word. We threw them in the wash when we got home. They washed like a dream.

And of course we slept under them. They are indeed, excellent in summer.

They were never considered "precious." My grandmother stopped making them in the 80's, but they have endured. Several of my relatives have since asked me if they could be repaired or fixed, as they have mostly worn out. My grandmother would be aghast to see them now, ratty and worn, given places of honor at the end of beds, on display. She would have thrown them out, and that is what I recommend. 

My relatives are horrified. 

 

Left over Right, Right over Left...

 

I am tying the Field of Dreams quilt with crochet cotton. I use a needle with a big eye and a sharp point. I am tying the quilt at the corners and center of each block. First I do the corners, going. up and down the rows.

I have a little pair of scissors that are designed to remove stitches (in people), so the bottom edge can slide under the thread and not risk cutting the quilt underneath. I cut all the threads.

Next I tie the knots. Square knots. Left over right, right over left. I pull the threads to one side. 

When I'm done tying all the knots, I go back and grab the threads and trim them. Then I go back and do the centers of the blocks. This way I have threads long enough to grasp comfortably to tie the knows.

This is the color of the crochet cotton I'm using, and if you can't see the knots in the photos above, then that's a good thing. It means I picked the right color. I've got about three quarters of one half the quilt done. This is rough work for my hands, so I do it in smallish doses.  

When I was much younger I used to do this with the quilt spread out on the floor.

Not anymore!

This is a Nightingale quilt, in all greens. It is one of the easiest quilts you will ever make, and it is fat quarter friendly. You can get the tutorial here.

Needs Must

 

I finished sewing together the Field of Dreams flimsy. The thing is enormous. I didn't know how I was going to lay out the backing and place the top on it without moving any furniture in my house.

But I had an idea. I knew a place that was big enough, and empty enough, and had a nice clean floor. I made a call. The answer was yes.

Later, after my Tai Chi Quan class ended, I unfolded the back of the quilt, and taped it to the very slippery floor of Studio C at the YMCA in my town. With the help of the instructor and another student, we placed the quilt atop the backing and centered it.

Both the instructor and the other student couldn't get over it and kept complimenting me on how beautiful it was. They laughed as they pointed out fabrics they liked. "Look at those pretty flowers!" "Oh how cute, there are dinosaurs..." My instructor asked me how long it had taken me to make it, and were shocked when I told them less than three weeks.

They left and I got down on my hands and knees and used safety pins to secure the top to the backing at regular intervals. After about half an hour I folded it up and brought it home. I'll work on tying the two layers together over the next couple of days, then I'll fold over the excess backing and sew it down. I expect to have this in the mail early next week.

The folks at the Y were more than happy to allow me to do this between classes in that studio. Sometimes the answer to a thorny question is easy and nearby, you just have to ask.

Field Of Dreams Grows

 

This is the top half of the Field of Dreams quilt I am making for my son and DIL.

The parts on the floor in the top photo are represented by the dark area in the diagram above. It's getting closer and I am getting excited.

Because this quilt is so wide and I decided not to use a wide quilt backing fabric, I needed to add a strip of leftover blocks down the middle of the back.

I like it. You can see I included some Dino fabrics from my DGD's quilt.

I got some green crochet cotton for tying the quilt. My goal is to have this finished and on the way to the City of Angels before work on the studio floor starts.

The Field of Dreams quilt is a Nightingale quilt, it's just green. You can make one too. It's super easy. You can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download so you can get started right away. It's fat quarter friendly, too!

Bird Class at Night Owl

 I taught a bird class at the Night Owl Quilting Studio this past weekend. Here are some of the students and the birds they made.

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If you want to make birds, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It's an instant download so you can get started right away.

More on the Studio

I figured as long as I was doing a head to toe deep clean in the studio, I might as well update a few things.

If you have a cutting mat you use regularly you know it gets worn out. You can see the worn area above on my mat. It's a blob of gray. The mat is very large, and covers most of my worktable, which is about 39" tall by 51" wide. The rest of the mat is in terrific condition, so...

I detached it from the table (it was held in place with double sided adhesive tape) and rotated it so the worn part is at the top. then stuck it back down again. I can't reach that worn spot, so I'm good. I bought the mat about five years ago, so I have another five years before I'll need to replace this one.

You can see where I do most of my ironing on my ironing table. If I don't replace this soon, the worn area will start to crack and tear. I could simply rotate the table top, but that won't really work. I've ordered some heat resistant ironing board cover fabric, and will replace this in the next few days.

Trays are useful for organizing. I keep all my business cards and postcards together on the bottom shelf of on of my bookcases, but when I want to get at them, I have to get down on my hands and knees because invariably something has fallen to the back of the shelf. Now I have put them on a quarter sheet pan and when I want them, it's easy to get the whole stack.

My sewing machine table is directly behind my cutting/work table. Because the work table is at an angle, I often place my rotary cutter on the sewing machine table directly behind me. It's normally OK but sometimes the rotary cutter gets knocked to the floor, and we know that can sometimes be hazardous (not just to me, but to the rotary cutter blade.) I now use a one-eighth sheet pan as a tray for the small tools I find handy to keep there. As you can see I also keep a pair of snips, a seam ripper, and a pencil and eraser there as well. The tin holds small safety pins.

I put another one-eighth sheet pan directly to the right of my sewing machine. As you can see I have snips, seam rippers, a ruler, bodkin, tweezers and other tools I use the most often. The chocolate tin on the right holds bobbins of colored thread.

You can't always see it, but underneath the long wall of windows is a shelf that extends the length of the room. I keep all kinds of good stuff there.

While my sewing machine has an automatic thread cutter sometimes the needle unthreads itself when I use it. Many of my students complain their sewing machines do the same thing, and it doesn't seem to matter what kind of machine they have. So rather than piss and moan about it, now at the end of each seam, I run it through a scrap of fabric. I keep those in the yellow plastic bin. 

You can see my small container of bobbins threaded with gray thread. They are within arm's reach. Normally I keep the little container closed, but I left it open so you could see.

I'm the kind of person that if I don't see something it doesn't exist, so the empty blue cone is a reminder that I need to order some more of my favorite thread for piecing. When I order the new thread I will throw away the empty spool. Unlike many quilters, I do not feel the need to collect empty spools of thread.

Well that's it for now. 

More on Black Light

 

Turns out I had a black light. It was nowhere near as powerful as Randy's but. I bought it years ago when one of my cats (pre Millie) had issues with the litter box.)

Here are the WOWs I bought yesterday. Hard to tell what they look like, right?

My little black light only worked in complete darkness, and then not very well. However...

When I ran the photo through my photo editing software, add added a bit of light... I got this. I mean it isn't terrific, but you can see the patterns of the WOWs I bought.

I think it's pretty cool!