Just a Sample

Hi Everyone,

I spent the weekend in several different ways.  Since the weather wasn't too hot, we made a few visits into the attic to remove all of our rubbermaid tubs of storage.  We have about 28 of the 18 gallon size.  We stacked them all in the larger guest room.  I noticed in the process that many of them felt sticky/gross--like the sticky grease residue that accumulates on decorative items in the kitchen.  It was so yucky that I kept wanting to wash my hands.  Finally, I decided there was no choice but to wash the lids, and maybe a few of the worse tubs.  This was not as easy as one would think!  Imagine trying to scrub large lids that don't really fit in the sink.  I tried the laundry sink and even it was a bit too small.  I tried the big whirlpool tub and that worked marginally better, but I had to bend over too much and it hurt my back.  It took three batches, but I did get them all scrubbed.  They are slightly less sticky feeling now.  I did Google the problem and I think it is an issue with the plastic "recipe" as I found other complaints about them, but it was usually confined to certain colors (and also while sitting in a hot attic.)

I went through all of the bins, too, and managed to empty 6-8 of them!  That's good news, but I've already started refilling two of them with all the curtains I've been taking down and cleaning.  The denial is pretty much over and I'm starting to focus on moving.

I also spent much more pleasurable time in my sewing room, finishing up a few things.  I'm trying to find a "stopping point" so that I can begin preparing to pack up the space.  One of the projects I wanted to finish was this:

Sorry about the wonky picture!  The quilt pattern is "Sample" by Miss Rosie--It's one of her new Little Bites patterns that uses the 2.5" candy squares.  I wanted to make it out of my French General scraps, so I cut my own 2.5" squares.  As you can see, it is a sampler made of different blocks.  They were so much fun to make!  Each one meant new fabric choices and I also tried to "fussy-cut" as much as possible.

The pattern came out a few weeks ago during the big quilt market, and I bought it and pieced this quilt all in a few days.   I even started to quilt it!

But then other things cropped up that I needed to do.  And then I had company.  And now I'm moving.  At the same time, the thread I chose to quilt it with looked like it may run out before I finished.  As I've been out to quilt shops, I searched for more but couldn't find any.  I can order some, but was trying to avoid that.  This weekend, I decided to finish the quilting to see if I would run out of thread or not.  I really don't need any more things (even small things) to be worrying about.  So I finished it.  It went fast, too.  I think I was racing the thread!  Do you ever do that?  Even with hand-sewing, the shorter the thread, the faster I stitch--as if I can "beat" it to the end.  In this case I did "win" and had enough thread to finish!  Whew!  I'm so glad I didn't have to get another spool.

I should back up a bit and discuss the border.  I had the blocks up on my design wall and auditioned every French General fabric that I had and nothing was working!  Initially I was wanting a light, creamy border for a "low volume" look, but none of them worked.  None of the rose/reds was really working, either.  Finally, I remembered that I had this yardage with the "doilies" left from making my Dresden Doilies quilt and so I tried them.  They looked great!  The only issue was spacing.  I did NOT want any partial doilies in the border.  It took careful cutting and measuring, but I got the borders to fit perfectly. I did make one alteration to the pattern.  I continued the lattice and corner stones out surrounding the blocks.  In Carrie's version, the sashing and cornerstones are just between the blocks.

When it came to binding, I again pulled all of my FG fabrics out and began trying everything.  If I thought something would work, I put it in a pile.  At the end, I had maybe 7 different possibilities.  I went through them again and came up with the obvious winner.  It was cream, though, and I mostly use darker fabrics in borders and bindings, so it was a bit "uncomfortable" to use it, but it was the obvious choice.  I always notice gorgeous quilts that have light borders and/or bindings, so I was glad to be able to use one!

The really sad thing is that I think I'm done now with having fun in my sewing room and now it is time to pack it up!  I may have to do a "tribute" post about it.  I LOVE that sewing room and am going to really miss it.

Have a great day!
JoAnne