Getting Ready

I know a whole LOT of ladies (and probably a few guys too) are already knee deep into the first clue of Bonnie Hunter's 2016 mystery quilt, En Provence.  Me? I'm taking my time.  Only minutes ago I made the effort to loosely store away all the genealogy/file stuff that had found a new home atop my cutting mat on my file-cabinet cutting table.  Oh how quickly flat surfaces become overtaken.

All clear.

After spending most of yesterday in the kitchen, my body was pretty achy.  I slept well last night [excepting the nightmarish dream that had the presidential election result switching to the other party - don't shoot me...I wasn't thrilled with either choice, nor did I vote for either...and that's all I'm saying!] and didn't get up until 8:30 this morning. Once I gathered myself from the dream, I got a cup of coffee, read today's Scripture, and then headed to my laptop.  I knew today was the expected release of part 1 of the mystery quilt. 

Along with general dilly-dallying, I've spent the majority of the day browsing through all the comments everyone's been posting on Bonnie's Quiltville's Open Studio Facebook page.  Seeing the fabrics and even alternate color-ways has been a delight.  From reading the comments, there are a lot of newbies, both to quilting and to the mystery quilt.  The excitement is amazing to see.  I love the mystery quilts.  

I remember back in the late 1990s watching Alex Anderson's quilting show on HGTV and having seen Billie Lauder as a guest explaining mystery quilts.  She presented them as "The Case of (whatever)".  I took an all-day class from her once for one called The Case of The Mysterious Voter.  I enjoyed the process, and really liked the resulting flimsy...it's still waiting to be quilted.

A Continuation On My Cutting Table

I see you did come over from my Duck Out of Water post on the file cabinet project.

Part II of that project is putting the table-top, a top salvaged from an old desk, atop the file cabinets.  You'll remember I left the 12" space issue hanging.  It really bothers me to lose that much space.  With the cabinets side-by-side, there is no access to it, and once I get the wall storage cabinet(s), there'll be no access from the end either, so, a total loss of good floor space.  What to do?

Floor space in this room is at a premium.  With my intended purpose it will not work to recess the cabinets.  To do so would make it nearly impossible to utilize the space in the top drawers.  Unlike commercial grade cabinets, these don't fully open - losing in a sense, the back 4" of each drawer so to recess would be bad indeed.

without the top on yet, shows the difference between 25" from the wall to the front, versus 30" wall to front.

I gave this some thought, and really wrestled as to what to do, finally coming to the conclusion that it would be better to lose 5" of table-top space, than it would be to lose 5" of floor space given my compact quarters.  So Marty has approval to take that former desk top down to the garage, pull out the skill saw, and lop of 5" along the entire length.  Why 5" you ask?  The table-top measures 30" x 60".  My large cutting mat measures 25" x 37".  So 25" depth is the minimum depth required.  If I ever got a larger mat, not something I foresee doing, then I'd have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

I'm at a standstill until Marty gets the saw out and cuts it.  He just got home from the gym and is eating his dinner and relaxing for a moment.  It might get done tonight; he doesn't seem to be in a hurry - unlike me.

 waiting *** waiting***waiting

In place, with the  top cut to 25" deep. 

OK, now, it's been done.  I like the look.  Sleek, clean.   I wonder how long it will take before it gets too cluttered to work on?  Also, since I removed the little white desk entirely from this room, I'm thinking I may leave the sewing table where the desk was.  It's easily moved and for now, gives a little extra surface...until I put the machine back in.  The only downside to this position is it puts the TV at my left back/side.  When I'm sewing and want to watch something I suppose I could push the main desk/sewing cabinet towards the TV (not shown, but would be to the right in the room's corner from the chair) and set the portable table in front of it.  I'll find work-arounds until I get the storage cabs, and the acrylic insert for the sewing cabinet.  With that insert, I can take the sewing table down completely giving me just that much more open feel.

There's lots to do to put things away, and get files into the cabinets.