Finally, I'm making progress on my sewing studio!

Not a major remodel or upgrade.....but getting a more organized system for my quilting and sewing projects!

This time the room itself is the project!

We bought more of the square "cubies" which make everything look good! In my case, I didn't want to hide the fabrics, my mind works best when I can see and be inspired by the colors and patterns!

This one was sitting on the floor, which I do not like...unless the bottom row were to have the matching baskets to hold the fabric...which would keep me from seeing it!

[This could get really neat and tidy if I folded each fabric around my 6" ruler then stacked them carefully....maybe later....]

I was able to find something to put this next shelf on, making it higher. Then topped it with my vintage aqua Singer sewing machine....charming!

A few hours later, I have now arranged and reaaranged that first cubie.....and found an old chest to put under it, lifting it about 22" from the floor! Yeah!

It now holds my self-portrait from when I was hand quilting. Next to it, my mother's metal coffee tin which has rick rack and trims that she saved. On the wall is a little blue sunbonnet she had made for me when I was little.

Things are looking better!

 

I still have lots of things I have to display....the sketchbook with a fun sketch I did several years ago from my mother's high school senior picture.....I notice it is mostly a black and white drawing and just below her are black and white fabrics. She loved prints in black and white!

This is only one wall....there is still a lot to rework and organize (donate?) furniture and fabrics in other areas of the room!

My desire to make clothing as well as quilts means I have even more fabrics to "stash"! And patterns!

This week I got excited again about that "granny chic" cotton house dress idea! I wrote about this earlier this year after finding "dottie angel" on the Internet. She has just come out with a pattern for her "frock", or that is Simplicity has just released it. Simplicity 1080. Selling out nationwide and being back ordered. Unusual!

 

The author of the Pleasant View Schoolhouse blog loves to sew....and has posted about her frock .....

I do love hers even more than the ones on the pattern! The gingham gives me an idea, as I have some of my maternal grandmother's aprons with cross stitched on gingham.....lovely work. I think I will use them along with some vintage looking florals.....

 

This should make a nice cool cotton dress for floating around the house and garden this summer!

Now to get that pattern when I goes on sale in a few days!

Looking one more time at my new happy space! [ there is a kitchen island from Target being used as my cutting table! Wonderful!]

 

Catching up on some sewing...

I really enjoy using this antique Singer 301! It has a beautiful stitch and after a bit do oil on a regular basis, it sews smoothly and quietly!

This horse print fabric is a shirt I am sewing for my sister......and this guitar print shirt is one I am making for a friend of hers....still needs the cuff buttons....

...those buttons are very special, skull and cross bones! Here is a closer look.

My sewing room remains a work in progress....so many bins of fabric....

...and unfinished projects.....(raggedy Andy here!).....and one of my other sewing machines! This one does zigzag as well as straight stitch...

Patterns and clothes for the grandchildren...

It seems for everything I finish, I then start two or three more!

Here is another view of the sewing room.....a serger and another machine....this one a Janome which has wonderful automatic buttonholes as well as decorative stitches!

Here is a new ribbon organizer/ shelf....from www.goorganize.com....I have more plans for this corner of the room. Perhaps colorful spools of thread on thread racks....

I'll be back with progress reports and "ta-da" moments as I finish some of these things!

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Which reminds me I need a "Ta-Da" moment for my crocheted blanket...finished a few days ago.....after 99 granny squares were made, I decided to put it together with white yarn. 9 X 11 , 5" squares. A nice size and so soft, so colorful!

Love it!

 

Sewing this week...

Enjoying using this retro machine. A Singer from about 1965. Made in Glasgow, Scotland. All metal, an early zigzag stitch model # 337.... And I LOVE the aqua color!

Piecing a "chunky" pastel quilt top with British florals, Cath Kidson and Laura Ashley fabrics included.

Finally, (below) ready for safety pin basting the three layers together. Should I hand quilt with perle cotton and big stitches....or machine quilt myself? I will decide......

love that pink and red look!

Making quilts is so much fun for me...AND I love seeing my grandchildren sleeping with quilts which I make!
Here Nina naps with her special blanky...the soft pink "minky" and satin, which I did not make, and a wedding ring quilt, which I did make!
Soon, I will have to visit these sweeties again....now they are sleeping on a pallet...Sophie and Nina are out of the cribs (since they were climbing out!)

I will post on my quilt blog about quilts I am sending the girls to use in their new sleeping area! [In this photo you can see the tangled crib quilts with ruffled pink edges which are now a little small.]

Status report

Yesterday, I made a trip to a nearby flea market to get another Singer 337.  Just love them, and it was still there!

Then, I made the winning (only) bid on Ebay for this original manual.

My problem with tuning up these machines, is that I can't get the machine to stop sewing while it winds a bobbin.  Not a big problem. but I would like to "solve" it.

[By the way, this new blogger format is even more difficult for me to control the layout,  I keep forgetting to try doing my post in WORD then cutting and pasting it here!]

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I am also doing some assorted watercolors of mangoes for a special request....

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Then I came across a luscious (to my eye) quilt here, and combined her idea with an idea from my friend, Paula.  Paula showed me how to use selvedges in string piecing.  So this will be a soft, gentle quilt with hidden messages in the fabric.  This selvedge says "Paris Flea Market".  Another I will use says "Pretty Little Things".
Sort of combining "found poetry" with lovely fabric images!  I even have a pale rendering of the Eiffle tower which will become the center of a quilt block.

Meanwhile, I have been sewing one more little ruffled dress.  This one is for a 2 year old to wear to her mother's wedding.  The wedding color is pale peach.

The scraps from this sewing project are perfect for the Paris Flea Market quilt project!

Reflections....pondering and BEing...

(warning: this is a very self-absorbed post!)

Recently, I took my camera to capture a current image or reflection of myself. This is one of several reflections in a mirror taken from different angles....a self-portrait using modern technology.

This is my 60th trip around the sun,and, as I told Mr. Pear and my mom, I am beginning to feel dizzy! [They are both older and appreciated the thought!] So many memeories and thoughts spinning in my brain...Like I've been here for quite a while and what next????

I'm trying to decide what to do about hair dye....tired of pretending that my hair isn't gray. Dying it is required so often as more gray must be covered...I'm wary of the constant use of harsh chemicals on my head, so, I am about to try some natural dyes from our organic grocery store. These are packaged and have wonderful names. I will be trying Naturcolor "Woodruff Blond" # 8C , a dark ash blond which I hope will work well with all the resistant gray.

Once I get through the transition to gray, it will be very liberating (and probably aging too!). Will I be wiser???

---Update Friday after using the Naturcolor--I LIke the way the cool taupe blends with the gray which peeks out here and there....much better than the brassy dark blond I was always gettting with L'oreal!

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Hobbies and passions keep us from aging too fast. I would like to use my time well and wisely still pursuing my life-long interest in art. My favorite aspect of art is COLOR! My favorite medium for painting is watercolor! I love to see the paint flow onto the paper and have a few surprises for me as it dries!

This is a watercolor/collage which I sold last year. I identify with the little birds now hopping into my still life paintings. They are just like me, BEing there, appreciating all the beauty and shapes around them! The collages use fabric and colorful papers collected from anything and every thing. [fortune cookie fortunes, receipts, notes, magazines, newspapers, nothing is too mundane to find it's way into some little corner of a collage]

I think my love of collage grew out of my love for combining fabrics in scrappy quilts. I am actually rather tired of sewing and quilts....but nostalgia and romantic ideas about all of this still have a great hold on me!

My latest acquisition is pictured here. Something I really have no "need" for other than that I love it's aqua color and "life-story".

This Singer 337 sewing machine was manufactured in Clydebank, Scotland in 1964. It was owned by a 90-year-old sewist (not "sewer" any more, the term is now sewist....as a sewer is a receptacle or pipe for dirty water!) who is down-sizing to move in with a family member.

In the photo you can see some of my patchwork. We always said, "When life gives you scraps, make a quilt!"

Life has certainly given me riches in many forms, rather than just scraps, so I am grateful!

This week, I am riding with my sister to Georgia to visit my daughter, her husband and my grandchildren. We will visit with our mother along the way!

I'm sure the trip will give me even more memories and events upon which to reflect!

Somedays at work things are fun!

We have used machines here which are sometimes ready to sell. Here is a rare Singer model 337. These were made in 1963 to 1964 in Scotland. They are all medal except for the tension dial which is plastic. But the most wonderful thing about this is its color!!!! Aqua, turquoise....just wonderful!

So today, I tested and demonstrated that this machine does still sew well.
I could take it home....but I already have 4 machines...so restraint is called for.
We will find a good home for it!