Seven steps back

Looking for a way to get an overview, I have been taking many, many steps back in more ways than one. The house is slowly progressing, and I mean sloowlyy compared to the frantic work going on everywhere in the pre-moving-in chaos. I haven’t got my in-house creative space sorted out yet and am missing the calmness that comes from taking half an hour off and just do something fun. I have realized that I don’t just quilt because it makes me happy, I actually become unhappy when I don't.

Quite a few of you have asked about my new sewing room, and the answer is – I will not have one here at home. The original plan was to have a downstairs studio, but we made an apartment for our young ones instead. I will however have a desk in one (or maybe two?) of the bedrooms, and husband has (almost) built shelves for me to keep some stash at home. I will still have my fabulous studio where I am happily making a mess without bothering anyone – and I get to have our daughter and grandboys close so it’s a win-win I’d say. Living close but not together is brilliant. We have a door between our hallways so we don't have to put on coats and shoes, but other than that we have our own homes.

One of the worst things about not creating for a while was, as always, the fear of not finding the mojo again. Nothing new there. So, I did what I usually do, grabbed a few scraps and started sewing, and soon thereafter I had two small projects ready for some relaxing hand stitching. 

You don’t need a sewing space for that, do you. Needle, thread, thimble, light, and off you go.

This little quilt was a present for a friend who needs to practise saying no. It says “No thanks, that’s ok” which is my go to phrase.

The other quilt, “New beginnings” was a present for a friend who just changed career. It’s made from 1" leftover strips from daughter’s Christmas present and a piece of a thrifted ikat-woven shirt.

Aaaah, the bliss of stitching one scrap to another.

The theme for 2015 for our guild is scraps and we have put lots of different scrap related fun on the programme so there will be plenty of opportunities for colourful play this year. We have shown & told about our scrap quilts. We have demonstrated paper piecing. We are doing a string block swap beginning this month. We have played with our scraps for a whole Saturday at our scrap quilting workshop. And the first scrap challenge is making mugrugs/place mats for the April meeting. Both these little quilts would be the right size.

I have enjoyed having company in the studio a couple of days. I understand oranges, like this couch, and hot chocolate are good for nasty colds. Company does indeed make tedious work like sorting through and ironing boxes and boxes of scraps more fun.

Right now I have some scrappy tops waiting to be turned into cushions for the old couch upstairs. I pieced them at the workshop and cannot wait to start quilting.

(Yours truly at the workshop, picture by my friend Sissel)

Orange is a perfect neutral, wouldn't you say. The funny thing is that I could have sworn that I had never seen that fabric before I emptied one of the bags in the studio last week.

Just a few boxes to be emptied tomorrow morning and off I go with a somewhat clean conscious. Does one box, one hour in the studio sound fair?? With the overwhelming number of boxes and bags that still needs a place to live, that would be a great incentive indeed.

Thanks for stopping by!