Messy or Creative?

Looks lovely, doesn't it? Excuse my mess, and actually this is the cleaned up version of the mess! I don't know if I could even function in a fully clean and organized situation, but it is one of those things I might like to try someday!

This is my cutting table. It is covered with things that I need to work on this week. My plan for the day is to sew my way through these piles and have them gone by evening. Then I will organize the left-over piles and deal with them, leaving a clear space to do some quilting work on for the rest of the week. I really need to do something with that overflowing box of fabric that was given to me that is resting on the floor also! At least the garbage bin has been emptied recently!

Ironing board, and notions area. Not too bad, I worked on that over the weekend. There is a stack of magazines on the dresser that needs to be sorted and put away, or at least moved to another area! The balloon sculpture is from a clown that I recently did some sewing for. I suppose I ought to take a picture of it and then give it to someone. It is already starting to get floppy and not as cute as it was! In the back corner is my strip bucket which is absolutely overflowing. Time to start some string blocks to make some more quilts from.

My sewing table, which looks much better than it did earlier this week. I have found some fabric to finish the quilt hanging on the wall, so want to work on that. I even have some backing fabric for it, so it is ready to work on. Also there is a stack of t-shirts that I really need to work on finishing for a t-shirt quilt. I have about half of them fused, but it's such tedious work I have a hard time pushing myself to get it done! Right next to the machine is fabric I bought to make some placemats and napkins that I want to get done this week also. So, as you can tell I don't have a lack of projects to work on, just a lack of initiative to get them done! That's why I did all my shopping yesterday, and planned menus for the week, so I can actually get a ton of sewing done this week and break out of the doldrums. Wish me luck!

Back Talk

Today I had to have a heart to heart with myself about quilt backs. You see, I'm a boring backer. In fact I used to back all my quilts with muslin or white fabric, but that was when I was exclusively hand quilting. When I moved on to machine quilting I started using more prints and colors, but out of all the quilts I have made I can only think of two that did not have a back that was only one fabric. Yes, they are easy, but they are boring.

What brought me to this train of thought is the quilt I am trying to get finished this week. My daughter picked out the fabrics, and I did the cutting and sewing. When I pulled it out to quilt it, I went to the fabric store and bought a beautiful fabric to back it in. Unfortunately, it was too beautiful and in the end I could not bear to use it for the back of a quilt and pulled a bright pink gelato out of my stash. There was just enough (I thought) for the back of this quilt, all I needed to do was cut a strip off the top and piece it to the side of the quilt to make it about 55 inches square.

After I cut and pieced my strip to add the the side I shook out the rest of the fabric, and discovered that an 18" square had been cut out of the other end! Oh, great, now what do I do? I could have gone back to my original plan and used the fabric I purchased, but I remembered having leftovers from the top, one of which I was thinking of using for the binding. Happily, I had not one, but two long strips of green fabrics from the top! I used those with pink strips, making a very lively and appropriate back for the quilt, and the rest of the pink I will use for the binding. And I saved the other print for a future quilt.

Not just Another Day at the Races!

We headed up to Seattle this week, planning to see our horse McLaren run in his very first race. As is the norm for this family, nothing went according to plan - you would think we should be used to this, but you always have hope that this time everything will go well!

On the way to Portland we got slowed down by a fire near Albany, but we did make it up to our motel and had a good nights sleep. We met Mark, Jo and Asher (what a cutie!) for breakfast, but I wasn't impressed with the food and think we need to find another breakfast spot! We picked up Tracy, and actually made it up to Auburn, home of Emerald Downs, with no problems, then headed over to see how McLaren was. After that we headed over to the motel, and had to make a hard decision. We ended up scratching McLaren from the race as we were concerned about him being fit to run that night. It was a tough thing, and it was hard to go and see the other horses run, and see our boys name in the program and hear it announced, but not get to see him compete.

We made it through the evening, and of course none of the horses we wagered on won (until the last race, when Tracy had a winner!). What a big disappointment! But in the long run, you really have to look out for the welfare of your horse, and that is what is most important of all. We hope to be able to enter him in a race next weekend, but I won't be able to go because I am joining my fellow OCEAN team members in manning our first booth at the Blackberry Festival! I'm looking forward to a good time doing that, and will hopefully take my mind off the race and not be nervous about it!

On to the last straw for the trip. On the way home we were caught in a massive traffic jam on I-5 due to an RV fire which sparked a 20 acre brush fire! We were stuck on the highway in 95 degree heat for over two hours, which slammed us right into rush hour going home through Portland. A 7-8 hour drive took us over 11 hours! An exhausting trip, with no gains for us, but we are home and that is great. Now I'm looking forward to a productive week of sewing, and hopefully a little more blogging! More quilting news to follow!