Design Wall Monday - March 12, 2018

This week, I worked on my stash.   I finished cutting up and sorting a paper grocery sized bag of scraps that were in no order at all.  Most of organization in general consists of sorting "like things together".  The scraps are now sorted into shoe boxes of squares.  Most of them are either 2.5 x 2.5 or 1.5 x 1.5, both are sizes I use often for small quilts.  

Other new "alike groups" were triangles and small strips - strips set aside for a log cabin quilt, and triangles to sew together as leaders and enders for future half square triangles. 

Here are pictures of the boxes of my "parts factory" for small quilts:

 2.5 in. x 2.5 in. squares.....2 in. x 2 in. squares.....1.5 in. x 1.5 in. squares

1 3/4 in. x 1 3/4 in. squares.......1 1/4 in. x 1 1/4 in.........1 in. x 1 in. squares

We were at the cabin this weekend, and the tundra swans were coming through Michigan on their migration back to Alaska from the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast.  They are beautiful, and the sound of their bugling calls during the night is like nothing else.  I marvel at their sounds, their beauty, and that they migrate so far.  They spent the weekend "bottoms up" in front of our place, feeding on the vegetation in the lake.  There were several Canada geese there also, but they aren't as noisy.

What have you been working on this week?  


Design Wall instructions are the same each week.  Please link back to this particular post somewhere within your blog post.  I appreciate it so much when you do.

When you set up the link, use this web address:

http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/2018/03/design-wall-monday-march-12-2018.html

and not the generic address:

http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com

There are two more Mondays in March after today, and I am determined to have something new on my design wall by April. Meanwhile, the Valentine Quilt is still there for now.

An InLinkz Link-up

Planning the Quilt Room in Michigan

We are busy little beavers, cleaning and polishing everything in the VA house, getting ready to put it on the market.  Boy does this home look great!  We may keep it!

While working on the VA home, my mind is thinking about the new quilt room in Michigan, and what I am going to put in it.  This three piece old kitchen cabinet has been in our screened porch, and is my only "antique".  It's outside on the deck today, while the screened porch floor is getting stained.  Here is the middle section:

Another picture of the middle section with the porcelain drop down section open:

I think it will go into my new quilt room, to store fabric.  The drop down work area will be a great help when auditioning fabrics, don't you think?

There are two companion cabinets that go with it, one for each side of the main cabinet:

Here's the label on the back:

My husband was born in Stanton, Michigan, and the cabinet was in a house in that small town that his mother bought from the French family.  I liked the cabinets, and my dear mother-in-law gave them to me.  They are the start of my new quilt room design.

Here's a small doll quilt that I'm working on this week.  It was inspired by a blog post that I saw (Here).  The little corners are just snippets of orange that I had left over, and aren't any special size.  It's 14" by 14" right now.  Most of my fabric is packed away, and the black and little bits of orange were the only things here.

I cleaned out the attic space where we store our holiday decorations, and found these two noisemakers to show you today.  Do any of you remember using them?  We used to shake these noisy metal things as we were coming up the sidewalk, and the homeowners would come out to meet us when they heard the racket!

We would yell "Trick or Treat!", but would never even dream of "trick" - didn't even know what that meant, really.  Hope you are having a great September.  I am checking on Design Wall Mondays, as usual, to see what others are doing.  (Here)

Quilt Room Is All Packed Up

The quilt room is all packed up in boxes, and no quilting is going on for a while.  It was fun looking at all of my stash at once, and I packed up 9 legal file storage boxes:

(1) Blues, light to dark

(2) Reds, and pinks

(3) Tans, shirtings, off whites

(4) Plaids - can't believe I have so many

(5) Christmas, Valentine, Baby themed fabrics

(6) Flowered fabrics - who bought all of these?

(7) Strips and more strips and squares of scraps

(8) Solids - also can't believe I have a whole box of these

(9) Browns - and a few greens and purples

Now, I'm back in Michigan, enjoying the grandkids for a week of canasta, miniature golf, blueberry picking, and pizza eating. 

We went to the Mason County Fair yesterday, and I had so much fun looking at all the animals the children had brought to show off at the fair.  We bought a wrist band for each grandchild, and five of them were off to ride as much as they pleased on all the carnival rides.  I rode on one ride - the swings - which is my favorite.

Today is miniature golf, and a trip to The House of Flavors in Ludington, where they make their own ice cream.  This week is flying by all too fast.

The new house with a new quilt room and moving the stash project will have to wait!  Grandchildren are all that I am thinking about this week!

Doesn't Anyone Stay in One Place Anymore?

"You're so far away, doesn't anyone stay in one place anymore?"  I am reminded of Carol King's sad song this week as I'm back in Virginia packing up my quilt stash.  I have such mixed emotions about leaving.  I am really going to miss my good friends in Virginia.

We have made a big life decision to move back to Michigan.  We are getting older, and it is difficult to live in Virginia part of the year, and in Michigan part of the year.  We are moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan, which will locate us geographically 2 hours from our cabin so we can enjoy it more, 2 hours from visiting my sister in Flint to care for her, and 1 hour from Lansing, with all that we enjoy there with Michigan State games, children, and grandchildren.  When it is bitter cold in Michigan in the winter, we can go visit our daughter in Texas and visit friends back here in Virginia.

So that is why I haven't posted for a month!  We have started the process to purchase a new home, and I am back in Virginia for a week to turn the quilt room back into a bedroom before we put this house on the market.  Here is my stack of empty boxes that will be filled tomorrow:

I wonder how many boxes I will need to pack up the whole quilt room stash. 

While at the cabin, I finished sewing together the cake stand streak of lightening quilt top.  Here it is:

I am happy with it, and am going to quilt straight lines down the green and pink sashings, following the zig zags, maybe three or four lines wide to emphasize them.  I don't know what I will quilt in the cake stand blocks; any suggestions?  I want to do something that would be in keeping with the civil war era.

It is now 86 inches by 98 inches before binding.  The cake stand blocks are 6 inches square.

I'm looking at everyone's design wall at Judy Laquidara's blog (Design Wall Mondays).  Enjoy your day ladies, and say a little prayer for me, that I will be able to box up everything and label it well, so I can find things when I unpack.

Fall: Back to Williamsburg

I'm back home in Virginia and I'm getting in the fall mood.  Yesterday we walked down Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg.  It's so beautiful. 

Also, I hung a new wreath on the front door.

  (The little girl in me says "Ta-Da!!")  The grown-up girl in me looks up the meaning of ta-da.  

1. ta-da

   tä ˈdä/

   exclamation

   1. 1.

      an imitation of a fanfare, used typically to call attention to an impressive entrance or a dramatic announcement

Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about.  Fall......Bring It On!

Today what is needed is unpacking quilting supplies and fabric that were taken to Michigan for the summer.  Also the quilt room could stand a good cleaning up.  Neither option is happening. What am I doing?  Sewing nine patches.  When I feel the need to postpone cleaning up the quilt room, nine patches are in order.  Peaceful piecework.  Definitely in my happy zone when I am making nine patches.

This is the start of today's sewing:

Which is part of this quilt kit I bought.  It's from Marcus Brothers Moda, Collections for a Cause - Comfort:

I will set the timer for 20 minutes and get to cleaning and organizing the room, with rewards at the sewing machine when I finish a job.

Later, I'm going over to Esther Aliu's blog to see what others are working on; their posts are part of her WOW - Work in progress On Wednesdays.  (Here) 

Time to Plan and Dream

2012........ Almost gone!                                              2013.....  A new year!

My quilt room tip this month is:  Look for tools that make your quilt room fun!  This sand timer measures about one hour, and is fun to use.  I bought it from T.J.Maxx.  When little kids visit my quilt room, they love to turn it over and watch it.  Today I'm working with the timer in the quilt room, organizing and planning for 2013.  

One quilt I'm interested in making is a Philadelphia Pavement quilt.  It's a postage stamp squares quilt in a variation of a trip around the world.  Fons and Porter have a free pattern for one here:  Philadelphia Pavement Quilt  Wouldn't a Philadelphia Pavement doll quilt be cute?

Today I refolded and sorted all of my solid fabrics in preparation for starting.  Here is the now orderly stash of solids:

Also, in cleaning, I found some half square triangle blocks, and put them on the design wall.  Since I am trying to finish started projects, I will sew these blocks together, and finish the rest of the half-prepped blocks.  I'm sure there are other ways to combine these blocks too, so this may change.  Here's a picture:

What are your plans for 2013?  I've been looking at quilt room ideas on Pinterest and one of my goals is to have a place for everything (and then put everything in it's place).  Another goal is to choose an antique doll quilt each month and try to duplicate it.  I really enjoy planning.  No gliches happen in the planning stage.  Execution stage is another matter.  But also fun to problem solve in that stage.

Vacation Cabin Sewing Area

Here's a picture of the sewing machine wall.   I hung the little quilts with straight pins in the corners. I brought lots of quilts with me to show to some friends who are visiting us at the cabin. 


My view to the right out the window is of the lake, so it is a double pleasure.



I haven't been doing any quilting for two weeks, as I've had grandchildren here and have been busy with them.  We are near Lake Michigan, and I'll leave you with pictures taken two different nights of beautiful Lake Michigan.

Life is good on vacation.  Hope you are enjoying your summer too.