Nothing but tail lights!

Good bye!!!

Yes that is all I saw as my friends/quilting buddies left yesterday morning....just tail lights leaving!
We had a fun and somewhat productive weekend. We also got in some shopping, a visit to my local Fall Fair and many walks around town.
Before they left we took pics of everything we worked on during the past weekend.

Barb was making stars

my BOM with a green background

Louise's baby quilt stars, embroidery and quilted maple leaf

Barb's other finishes

My quilt top that needs borders..maybe

It was definitely an awesome weekend but then again good friends, good wine and good food!! How could you go wrong except there just wasn't enough days. We also missed having our fourth Piranha Kathy, with us. We hope she was resting and healing after her fall. One of us took a fall too but it isn't funny yet and she isn't ready to laugh at it so we aren't allowed to talk about it yet. Kathy ask Barb maybe you can compare booboos!!!

Well summer is almost over and now it is time to start thinking of the start of guild years for me. I will be the President of one of my guilds and I am on program for another guild. This makes for a busy year. So samples have to be made and classes to get ready for. Watch the blog for those to start happening. The BOM I worked on this past weekend are the first of many things I have to do. So I better get at it!!!

Under the influence!!

Have you ever gone to a retreat and been coerced or influenced by the other attendees? Now this is not all bad...but lottery tickets have been bought and won on and tomorrow I go to collect more winnings$12!! I am not normally a lottery ticket buyer but my enablers were hard at work.

Today we went to a couple of quilt stores. There were some purchases made of course for future projects. We are working hard to get our projects done but our time together is coming to an end for this year.It is late as I post this so more pictures will happen tomorrow when there is better lighting. They will show all that we got accomplished this past weekend during the Fabric Piranha Retreat!!

Fabric Piranha Retreat has begun!

sewing room ready

We are well into our annual Fabric Piranha weekend.....minus one! My two friends Barb and Louise arrived yesterday. Our fourth member, Kathy, took an unfortunate spill two weeks ago and isn't able to join us this year. We really miss her but we will sew on!!!

new mascot

We mostly got set up and caught up last evening and this morning...well we went to a couple of yard sales and a farmers market! One even had fabric so we were sort of sewing and I got a newer iron for $3.!!! We have gotten some sewing in today but took another break in the afternoon to go to the local fall fair.  My DH was playing some tunes with his band and I had to pick up my entries I put in the fair. Due to some errors on my part, none of my pickles were judged as I didn't label the jars.....ouch!! But my quilts and sewing projects never let me down!!

green background-that wasn't planned

I am working on blocks for a sampler quilt.I had fabric all picked out but at the last minute changes were made and influences were made. I am jumping in and going to see how it looks when it is all over!Stay tuned there will be more to come.

Miss you Kathy and hope you are relaxing and recuperating!!

Purging, cleaning and falling in love again

So this week I took on the task of cleaning out my basement sewing studio. I work mostly upstairs in my living room but my stash and other things are in the basement. Over a year ago we got water in the basement...before the ohhhs and awwws...no fabric was damaged! I have wondered what to do with the space so this week the clean up/ rearranging began!
I remembered to take before shots that you can see and read about here. I am still sorting and purging.WOW you just don't realize what you have till you go through it all in a couple of days. I haven't even started sorting fabric yet.
It all began when I came into possession of two new tables that would work great for a cutting station. Now how to fit them into the space. Exit one table and one old door(that was my cutting table for many years). I am slowly going through things. I have a box for friends, one box for charity and one for guild. I am waiting for a dry not raining day so DH can buy some drywall to finish the wall repair. I also need to buy some shelving units. After that I will be putting it all back together.

still messy but way better than two days ago

I think I might like the new space so much, I might want to sew down there again.(only on the hot days) I have discovered so many projects, ones that I started and ones that I have adopted from other people. The whole time I was cleaning and purging, all I could hear was my daughter saying"what was she thinking" as she cleans out after I am gone!!! This pushed me to clean more!! I have included an updated photo ....it looks like not much has changed but believe me it is neater and more organized. That being said even I am not going to find something that I have moved to a new place.

This has been a busy long weekend here in Ontario at our house with a funeral, a wedding and today a birthday party. Monday can't come fast enough for a rest....oh nope a family reunion to get ready for!!!So the slow stitching will have to wait but I will be checking in with Kathy and seeing what everyone is working on. Have a great  week everyone!

Spring Cleaning in August!

Oh my...what a mess!

That just doesn't sound right ...does it? But I got up today and because it was cool thought it was a good day to head to the basement and clean out my "other" sewing room!
Originally when we moved into this house, I set up my sewing room in the basement. But over the last few years it just gets too cold down there during the spring and summer months to do anything. So I moved upstairs into a living room that we don't really use. Most of my stuff is still in the basement. Now we have also had a couple of issues with water coming in...so when you take all that into consideration...it was time for a clean out!!!

shelves under both windows...gone

I had shelves all along two walls and wanted them gone. I had to move everything off the shelves and temporarily put it everywhere in the basement.  The shelves were removed along with my cutting table. Two newly acquired tables were added as  cutting tables(they are the reason for the clean up, I needed a place to put them).
Next will be removing the water damaged drywall and replacing it. After that I will have to go shopping and find something for a sub floor and two free standing shelving units. Once they are in place, I can start the large task of putting everything back in place. There might even be some purging happening!!!

still messy but looking a bit better

I remembered to take some before shots. It is quite the mess. It seems to have become a dumping spot for everything with nothing having a home or being organized.
I have figured out so far that 1. I don't need any more fat 1/4s   2. I have more sock yarn than any one person could use 3.even if I started all the projects I have set aside, I would never get to them all and that isn't even taking into consideration my stash!!

Oh dear I am in so much trouble here. So many projects, fabric boxes and UFO. I am not sure where to start first. Oh well it is fun getting reacquainted with everything down there.

Come back and visit and see how I am making out. I will keep posting as the makeover goes along. I am hoping it won't take too long!

Update on scrappiness

Happiness is ....scrappy!! Yes another top is done. After much debate and suggestions from everyone including my DH, I chose the blue. It was the one fabric colour of three that I had enough of to do the job I needed it to do. I wanted set-in triangles and a second border. That all got sewn up yesterday!

Also yesterday the program committee for one of the guilds I belong to, got together to firm up the plan for the coming year. So today I am in preparation mode. I have samples to make, and blocks to build. I want to go scrappy but I am afraid I will need at least fat quarters and that won't get rid of the itty bitty scraps that I am accumulating.

each block is unfinished 4"

These also happened today too. Catching up on the Monday blocks at Temecula quilt co. Some of these pieces are only 1/4" finished.....yikes!! These used up some of those itty bittys!!!