Design Wall Monday - Week 24, (20 June 2016): LATE!!

Better late than never; my posts are sporadic at best, but I'm not ready to call it quits.

Not directly on my design wall - that's the same as last week with the two Allietare blocks - but on the pinning tables!  Close enough.

My friend Panda was at my house yesterday because she had a small quilt that needed to be pinned and I have two tables that can be set up side-by-side.  So while the tables were up, I decided I could get the quilt for grandson (who is now almost six) pinned.  That's at least one step closer to being finished.  

Tiddly Winks

I gave all the information on this pattern way back in this post from May 2015.  Yeah, I'm slow as molasses.  That may be my new nickname.

Panda then treated Nick and I to dinner (Marty's out of town on business) at a favorite local Chinese restaurant...oh yum, and there are a few leftovers in my fridge that I plan to go have for lunch as soon as I post this.  

Linking up at Patchwork Times.

Wasn't In The Mood

On Monday, I posted what was on my design wall and that to finish Step 4 of Allietare, I needed only to sew the seams of the matched sets of headless geese, the units with the black, red, and neutral - the halves were termed headless geese because they're similar to flying geese blocks, but they don't meet at center.

I clearly was not in the mood, or mindset to be working on sewing.  The time just dragged by.  It seemed more a tedious chore to do all those seams, and then press, than the joy it should have been.  After a little over two hours I had accomplished my task, and was thankful it was done.  Quilting mojo will eventually return...I hope!

A sample of how the block will look.  I'm happy.  All seams came out well and I didn't have to rework any of them.  I think the next step has me putting together the black square with the gray & neutral triangle blocks for the corner sets of the other block. 

Design Wall Monday - Week 23 (13 June 2016)

I'm still working on Allietare of course.  

I could get a little sewing in today; it's been a week again.  Panda and I aren't meeting today as she's out of town, but we will meet next week, so I need to make some progress.

A couple of pics: 

The pieces that go into the 'white space' are the ones I'll be sewing the last seam on today. 

Then I'll be able to sew the four pieces together which make up the corner units for this block.

The link is up at Judy's Patchwork Times.

Surfacing

I've been absent from my blogs again. But you knew that, didn't you?

One reason for not having any quilty stuff to report on was that I was busy with genealogy (you can read about that at DOoW.  Why that's a problem is that typically, I spread out everywhere on every SURFACE with papers and would have to put them away in order to sew.  So, I hadn't sewn in over a month.

But, guess what that meant!  Rearranging! Again!  I know, I know, but something had to work so that when I do genealogy, I don't have to put it away to sew, and vice-versa.  Each time I'd put the one away to work on the other, I'd have to completely review and figure out where I left off.  I needed a better solution.

From previous posts, you know all about my Creation Station space and the dilemmas of arrangement with the furnishings I have.   Well, something came to mind one day, I pulled out my tape measure and realized 'it will fit' in the way I was considering.  Ultimately the problem was more that I didn't want my back to the door than anything else so I had been limiting my options.  

Against the wall, under the window - no free SURFACE space.

I moved the sewing cabinet/desk directly against the wall under the window.  The right end butts up to a 2-drawer file cabinet, the left side has ample space for the black cabinet drawers to open with ease.  See how much stuff gets pulled out onto that surface?

No open space on this SURFACE!

This is how much stuff is piled up on my CUTTING table surface.  We had to get a new printer... it has a slightly larger footprint than the old one, but I can once again scan my photos and documents. Hehe, I just realized my calendar is still on May.

There's a raise-able shelf behind the door.

Behind this cabinet door is a lifting platform and originally I thought I could raise it and set my laptop on it.  That was problematic - I couldn't access the drawer, it was hard to lower, the metal support interfered with my knee and I didn't have sufficient elbow room on the left and there was no place for a mouse pad - I don't do well with those built-in thumb pads on laptops.  I had pulled the portable sewing machine table close by to use for the mouse, but that proved cumbersome and was not the right height.

Pretty crowded SURFACEs here too

I was wanting to get back to sewing, so moved the portable table to where the little white desk had been prior to getting the black cabinets...and realized I could turn it so that it faced the window, also allowing TV viewing ease, so brought another chair up from downstairs.  Right behind that chair to the left, is the door to the fabric stash closet.  When the chair is rolled under the table, easy access for the door to open.  This works well...and I was able to sew! and not have to put away all of my genealogy stuff.

rolling desk

The solution to the laptop area, was to again lower that shelf, close the door (I was using the area for odds & ends storage only) and bring the little desk back in.  It has wheels, and rolls easily, so if I need to access the drawer or cupboard, I can easily roll it to the right a little.  The ironing board is directly behind it, so when it's needed, I just roll the desk away from it.  This too is working well...and the desk is lower so it's a better height for me for typing, and there's room for my mouse and a few other things.  I now have two separate work stations!

The new arrangement actually provides a more open feel as I enter the room.  Now, on to some sewing progress.  I pulled out my Allietare bin and got to work.  I progressed through a couple of the steps.

Allietare parts

This is where I have now left off with Allietare.  I think this is part of Step 4.  Pinned and ready to run under the needle.

more Allietare parts

These are some of the other components that have been ready to go since each step was released.  I kept up with the cutting with each step, but not the sewing since I was waiting on my friend Panda to return home, and she wanted us to work on them together.

I know all looks very cluttered in my Creation Station, but I can work in it.  Both sewing and genealogy can be accomplished.  In time, as I progress with my projects, it will get better.  Still need wall cabinet(s) to replace the shelves next to the portable sewing table (see the 4th picture - either direction).  It'll hold the supplies that don't need to be out on the surfaces.  I have hope it will look better in the future, and I'll be more productive with both of my hobbies now that I can leave both works in progress out all the time.