A NEW YEAR!

Soooo, what are you doing?

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Northeast Ohio and we have a fresh covering of snow!

Very cheerful view if you overlook the 9 degrees F.

I'm tidying my studio and from the looks of my Instagram feed, I'm in good company.

Apparently, lots of us trashed our stitching space (as usual) in that big push for the holiday gift giving season.  I'll be at it all week.

To begin -- this is going to be a year of eliminating ancient UFO's!!

Okay, so it's going to be "another year" of dealing with UFO's but the number has shrunk steadily over the past few year.  

However, this year I am determined to finish up or throw the oldest ones overboard!

Watch my #noancientUFOquilts hashtag on Instagram in 2018!!

As we speak, my APQS George has this beautiful blue and yellow one under the needle!

I could be binding this during the first weekend of 2018!!

Pieced around 2004?

   I started at the north end of the studio by plowing through the UFO shelves.  I emptied every shelf, reviewed every bundle keeping a tally as I went of just how many are there!!

I'll reveal that number next week . . . . maybe!?!

It looks like I forgot to do the top shelf doesn't it -- argh, what is lurking up there?

The bottom shelf is mostly large cuts of fabric -- first stop when looking for a backing!!

All four shelves were stuffed with UFO's 10 years ago -- progress!!

I sorted out a half dozen projects that have been malingering in the piles -- I'll pass off them off to my gang to re-purpose for donation quilts. 

 I pinned notes to each UFO about what needs to be done -- it's so much easier to pick up one for a fast finish if a quick review of "the note" tells me I need to add 4" borders and piece together the rest of the stack into a 48" by 62" backing.  

My brain says -- "that's all?" and I'm in business!!

On an intellectual level, I understand that working in a tidy space is more comfortable for me, but my inclination to start a new project at the drop of a hat means I'm often leaving a mess in my wake -- "can't put that pile away because I need it for that project".

When I left the studio yesterday, I was 75% finished with the area around my sewing machines so that's where I'll start today.

The original purpose for this little shelf unit was to keep things handy near the machines but it's grown quite a few "layers".  That box lid on the top had all sorts of "treasures".

Funny, I was just thinking about this quilt the other day?  And here it is!?!

Pretty sure it's my oldest UFO!

Started it after I opened my shop (1979) and lost interest in hand piecing when I started teaching machine piecing ala Mary Ellen Hopkins (1982).

It's now in the re-purpose box and will meet my quilting gang later this month to be finished into a useful lap robe for someone!!

The flat surface (known as the cutting table) is too large for my own good.  

When I had a shop, my desk was the catch-all for anything and everything -- someone found a cartoon and left it on my door that pretty much summed it up.

Mother to child -- "I want you to clean off your desk."

Child to mother -- "I have a desk?"

That's my cutting table!!

(This picture has not been edited.)

I'm tidying it in spurts and hoping it gets completely cleared off except for my tools.  It's tricky though because each little pile requires "decisions" about what to do with it or where to put it.  Do you have a decision-making threshold?  I certainly do and I've learned not to try to exceed it!

My incentive/reward for staying focused is to work until I can't make another decision, then I can stitch!!

This is my version of Lorena Uriate's Opal Essence.

I'll finish setting it together this week and prep it for quilting next week.

 It's my annual workshop during the Lake Metroparks Farmpark Quilt Show in mid-February.

(Interested in joining me?   Details are HERE.)

Time to go back at it!

Here's to a new year of reaching towards our goals!!

Happy New Year!!

Mary

The "tidying" continues!!

 The "tidying" in my studio continues in spite of all the temptation in the garden.

I've tackled this pile of fabric on the floor because it always in the way (blocks creativity).

Most of it is BIG HUNKS that I hoarded during my years as a quilt shop owner.  I whittle away at it for borders and backings.

I moved it all onto the (cleared off) cutting table and sorted it by color pulling out a few pieces to donate to my charity quilt making group for backings.

It lived on this shelf for a long time before taking temporary refuge on the floor (my son is replacing windows in the studio), so I was happy to have it back in place and out of the way.

Doesn't it look neat and tidy??

Turning around, I decided to handle these floor piles as well -- a combination of UFO's to be repurposed and fabric that hasn't been put back into the "floral" collection.

In the process, I uncovered this hoard of random strips that I used for a charming little string-pieced kaleidoscope quilt.  I'm not sure why I haven't let the leftovers go since I never do the same thing twice.  You could help me out with this!!  There is at least 1 1/2 yards in the assortment and if you'd like to use it, you can have it for the cost of postage -- just leave me a comment -- first one wins!!

My magazine hoard is also housed there and I let go of some and have plans to let go of more as the month progresses (we'll see??), but I found this article and set it aside for a closer look!! 

Perhaps we could use that information??

So that corner of the studio is much tidier!!

At this point, I decided I had earned a stitching break!!  This wall hanging is on my third quarter 2015 Finish Along list and I decided to try out "pencil" quilting on it.  It's 29" square and a teaching sample from the triad color scheme lesson in Quilting From the Heart by Gai Perry.

I thought I would use a turquoise thread since that is the dominate color, but at the last minute decided to audition a variegated gold thread as well.  In the end, that was my choice primarily because it didn't contrast so strongly with the background fabric.

I used the edge of my walking foot to measure the distance between the lines.  I started at the center of quilt and worked out to each side.  The lines became somewhat "organic" -- why can't I quilt as straight as I piece??  Not sure why, but it is what it is this time.

I love that there are no thread tails to tie off when I am done with the quilting since all the lines went from raw edge to raw edge!!

I need to learn how to keep the line spacing more uniform or else do this as whimsical lines in the future, but I like the look and the flatness of the finished piece. (The wonky upper right corner is the camera angle, not the quilt!)

 

I spent the evening stitching on the binding and adding a casing to the back so it's all ready to share with someone.  I've decided to call it Cactus Flower for no other reason that it seems like the right name. 

 

I'm feeling good!! 

A bit more of the studio tidy and another UFO finished!!

Next???

 

Mary Huey

 

Linking up over at PINK DOXIES!!

 

 

 

Let August Begin!!

Since I wrapped up a couple big projects (and I need to find something . . . . ), I decided to commit most of August to organizing the studio (again) and getting caught up with some machine quilting.  Hopefully that will put me in good order for the fall upswing in stitching!!

 

I've just finished reading this little book.  My tendency to scoff at such idealism will likely get in the way of the (as I view it) dramatic approach the author advocates but I have gleaned some useful ideas which I hope will help me de-clutter effectively.  

I did the sewing table first and put away quite a few UFO's that have been traveling with me on various teaching gigs this summer. (Happily, the number of UFO's seems to be dwindling!!)

But the cutting table which sits in the middle of the room would be handy to use for the sorting -- what it is about flat surfaces that attract such disorder? -- so it is my current target.

I thought you might enjoy these "time-lapse" photos of my progress yesterday afternoon.

Most of it just needs put away -- blocks from my Stash Bee hive mates, new bits of fabric, tools, leftovers from this and that -- it all belongs somewhere!!

15 minutes later . . . this isn't so hard.  Look at all that space that's been revealed so far?!

Another 15 minutes shows some real progress -- the rulers are all back in the holder, lost things are beginning to emerge, the paper recycling bag is filling up.

But at the one hour mark, the focus has shifted.  I'm cutting up scraps -- 3" or 2 1/2" strips and squares -- and sorting them into the boxes -- needs to be done sooner or later anyway, right?

 

Once I start cutting up fabric, that is a sure sign that my decision-maker is finished for the day.  I've learned to stop and come back tomorrow. 

 

How will I keep on track all month? 

I don't know. 

The author of the "magic of tidying up" urges her readers to only keep what gives you joy and discard all the rest.  Mmmmmm, I wonder if she's had any "quilter" clients. 

There is so much to love in that studio. 

And she advises that you clear-out first and do it in one big swoop -- swoop? 

Obviously, she's never been distracted by the lure of a fat quarter stack.  I have given in so often to the lure of a little stitching to escape the boredom of making decisions, I'm not convinced I can maintain the momentum to do that? 

But didn't I just banter about that -- building momentum -- thus the entire month is needed.

 

I have determined that no new projects may be started during August and that all my stitching time will be focused on machine quilting -- there's quite a stack!! And I hope that will give me the break I need to go back at the swooping.

 

It will be so terrific to thin out the studio and make it tidier and to finish three or four small quilts so I need to soldier on!!

 

Only keep what brings me joy?

 

I wonder how much that is?

 

Back to the studio!!

 

Mary Huey