Hello Old Friends

Whew, has it ever been awhile since I've posted on Webs of Threads!

I still haven't turned my sewing machine on (except to mend a pocket) since December 2017 when I last worked on En Provence, and the week prior on my Bow Ties.

So what have I been doing? It would seem to be not much, though we did do the kitchen remodel as shown at Duck Out of Water though I don't think I posted about the finish which was at the end of May, and I won't bore you with that now...getting things back in place with sometimes reshuffling has taken awhile. I have some sciatic and other back issues which make the process slow. It's perfectly functional and I'm loving it.

I also did my annual summer trip up north. My aunt Irene flew down and stayed two sleeps, then we drove north about four hours and spent a night at a cousin-in-law's. The next day we drove up beyond the border but instead of staying on the interstate we diverged east and stopped at a quilt shop in LaPine, OR. It was five minutes before closing, but the lady graciously allowed us in and we shopped a little. From there, we went to Sisters, OR and spent the night then had breakfast with another cousin who lives near there. The restaurant was great, and we felt obliged to leave a more than generous tip as we hung out for about three hours. We didn't take the time to go to the Stitchin' Post but before breakfast stopped at the bakery and each of us got a couple of their dinner plate sized apple fritters, oh they are so good! From there, we headed on to my aunt's home a couple hours away, where I spent the next couple of weeks.

When it was time to head south, my sister had planned her vacation at my home so she met me at our aunt's and we drove down in tandem spending one night north of Sacramento, CA. She stayed for about 10 days, I helped her with a project she was just beginning, though my heart wasn't really into it. She hasn't quilted before but is retiring in the spring (maybe) so is planning to do some craft-related things. She would say all I wanted to do was play Minecraft (don't judge, lol) and she might have been right, but really, I only played a couple times while she was here and that was when she was sitting at a table I'd set up for her so that we could be in the same room while she learned or while she was working on personal stuff on her laptop. Last year I helped her with a quilt-as-you go block which she wanted to use for pot-holders. This year was quilt-as-you-go table runner.

I've done some "remodeling" in my Creation Station. The upper cabinet originated in the lower bathroom, was removed 7 1/2 years ago with that remodel, used temporarily in the kitchen prior to that remodel and has again found a new home. It's housing office supplies mostly. The bookshelves (both the above and below images) mostly lived in the pre-remodel dining room beneath an 8' window. We replaced the window with a sliding door, so no place for the bookshelves. The plan was to use one of them in a corner in the new dining room area, but between the baseboard and the extension of the countertop, the bookshelf was about an inch too wide and wouldn't fit. We purchased a new unit, which left these two up for grabs. I'd been wanting to replace the pseudo-bookshelf that had been there for a long time, so this seemed to me to be the solution - stack them along with that cabinet. The upper shelves have my color-coded scrap tubs and tubs of projects or pieces and other miscellany.

The lower one has a tubs for selvage trim, patterns, and plastic bags I use in sorting scraps. On the bottom-most shelf is just more office supplies. The Creation Station doubles as my genealogy work room, so I need lots of folders and papers as I use a color-coding system for it as well. This is the first time I've been able to see the top of my sewing machine table in a very long while, and still sitting there is En Provence and Bow Ties. It's pretty much the first time I've been able to sit in that chair in months!  Barely visible on the left is the book case where I have all my books, some of which I decided I'm getting rid of, not all quilt-related. I'll probably hold them to see if my sister wants any of them. I also went through all my old quilt magazines and pulled out patterns of interest and tossed the rest into the recycle paper bag. There's only so much a small room can hold, and the excess clutter needs to be dealt with - in all rooms of our house. This is a start.

My friend Panda just sent me a message to say her machine needs to go to the hospital and asked if I'd like to ride along...there's a quilt store only a block or two away, and we'll get lunch out, so yeah, time to get ready.

Maybe my next post will show some progress on that two year old mystery since we're getting close to the colors reveal for this years. Can you believe that's only a month away? Time is absolutely passing at light-speed!

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.