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My cozy sewing space. |
In the summer and when it is very cold in the winter I sew in the living room. This gives me the added benefit of air conditioning in the Summer and not having to heat the studio in the Winter. It also keeps me in range of the television so I can watch a movie or TV show, usually in my studio I listen to music. So sewing in the living room gives me a little variety as well.
I love to spend a day sewing and enjoying some of my favorite shows, shows like Bones, Masterpiece theater, Boston Legal, and old repeats of Julia Child cooking shows. I don't really watch when I am sewing, it's more listening really, some how it is comforting to hear Julia explain a recipe or converse with another chef. It makes me think on my mother when I was young my mother would have her favorite soaps on and be sewing away, I also remember her watching Betty Feezer and writing out Betty's full recipes in piles steno books. My mom loved to collect recipes, she had boxes and boxes of them. I wonder what ever happened to those books and boxes? My mom had the nicest penmanship, something I am still striving to achieve, even today. So there it is another benefit to sewing upstairs in the living room, remembering Mom. Of course, she really is never far from me, she is for the most part, the voice in my head and the reason I crave sewing and creating art.
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| This is my mother, Martha! The frame is one of the last things she made, which makes it all the more special. |
I am constantly saying to myself, " Ma would have loved this" or "Ma would think I'm nuts". Yes, unfortunately, I called my mother "Ma", I tried several more genteel versions like "Mom" or " Mother" I even called her "Martha" for a time, but none of it felt right....she was just plain old "Ma" to me. In my heart though she will always be my Mom.
Now focus, let's get back to the quilt shall we?
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| A stack of 9 patches in process. |
I was watching Eleanor Burns make a quilt from her book Quilt Through The Seasons, you know the one with trees and cardinals while I finished up these 9 patch bits and pieces. It's satisfying to see them pile up and up, to the iron I go.
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| This is my pressing area in my kitchen. The pressing surface is a project I taught in one of my classes, we also made them at a guild meeting. |
These pressing surfaces are very handy, I have several in different sizes. I believe I got the idea from an old Fons and Porter, Love of Quilting magazine. It makes a wonderfully portable and stable pressing surface. If you open it up there is a cutting mat on one side and a piece of felt on the other. I think I would put sand paper on the other surface instead of felt if I were to do it again. It works out perfectly in my kitchen when I am sewing upstairs in the living room.
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| This is a pile of left over squares, I hope I can make use of them in the half and quarter blocks. |
When I originally cut my squares I was planning each block as I went. I soon tired of that and just started cutting 6 - 2 3/4" squares from my 6" strips. This made the cutting go much faster and more enjoyable, but left me with a bunch of left over squares. I did make a few make do blocks, and I am hoping to use the majority of the other left over squares to make the half and quarter blocks. What is left after that I can make half square triangles or make four patches, we shall see.
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| two make do blocks |
I think the few make do blocks will add a bit of authenticity to the quilt and make it more interesting in the process. I have also made the blocks from Jo Morton, Judie Rothermel, and other reproduction fabrics, though I have to admit that a few more modern pieces found their way in and so far I am okay with that.
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| two more make do blocks |
In this make do block the brown fabric is a Fig Tree Quilts print, definitely modern. Sometimes I just can't resist using a fabric, I suppose, I could just call it another more modern form of making do.
Well good bye for now, I am off to my day job. Hope to be with you again soon.
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