Saturday, January 9, 2016

Glutton for Punishment




Or just plain CRAZY?

I decided to try and participate in the 365 Challenge: https://www.facebook.com/365challengequiltblocks
 
I say try because I am not good at ‘stick-to-it-tiveness’ as you who have been following me have already figured out...I have trouble being Consistent. (Previous post). Somewhere on the Face Book post about this challenge I thought I saw ‘Farmer’s Wife’ mentioned. Because that quilt is on my To-Do list I imagined this would be a do-able way for me to eventually cross that one off my list.
*Getting off track just a little:
I am almost ashamed to show this but it is real in my world. When I see posts of sewing over cleaning I know they are posting  about me….
I store all my extra ‘stuff’ in the spare room and have to move it to my sewing room when the kids come home, hence:

A picture of my sewing room of which I am able to open the door 6 whole inches!
In a good way when the kids leave I have to move it all back again so this time  I started to ‘clean’ out the ‘junk’. (Not as much as I should have but it's a start.)  I decided to throw out the magazines I had on the shelves (of 2 bookcases). I kept telling myself whatever is in the magazines I can find ‘online’ and that made it a lot easier for me to toss them! It was such an exhilarating feeling when I dumped the 3 large boxes of magazines in the recycle bin. Now I have a little more room for ‘stuff’, ummm I mean projects….

ALL the selves were crammed FULL!
I digress. In moving, sorting, and organizing I found a box of what I call my Jo Morton fabric (even though not all of it is JM fabric) and some shirting fabric (which I put in it's own box - yeah organizing!). I thought this challenge would be a great place to use these fabrics:
 

and thus this Crazy Person was created…..
I have 4 blocks sewn, 4 blocks cut out and hope to cut the 2 blocks out this weekend, sew all and catch up.

I am also finishing a miniature. I love creating miniatures because they are tedious enough to challenge me and I can finish a ‘whole’ quilt faster than a queen sized quilt.
I used George Siciliano’s: http://www.georgesiciliano.com ‘Birds in Paradise’ pattern and reduced his pattern.

 
George’s original 'quilt' finished at 12” x 15” (without borders) and mine with borders finished at approximately 9” x11”.
The chalk marks represent the quilting pattern but I am very unsure if I really want to quilt it this way. Does anyone have a better way to quilt this as I would love all ideas?

As stated I organized and ended up with things I just couldn’t throw away: patterns, projects I intended to do and now don't want to, ones I have already done, etc. If you would like a chance to receive FREE one of these (I have so many I just might make this a monthly event) leave a comment and my secret picker will draw a name.
Also let me know if you like to do Woolies, embroidery, paint, quilt, sew, whatever you like to do, I might just have something to help with your creation.


As I mentioned almost everything is online now even brain surgery! (Yes I looked it up on You Tube.)
Before I threw out the magazines I quickly went through them to see if there were any projects I might want to do in the future. I ripped out the patterns and I am keeping them in binders now. This takes up much less space... now more craziness can begin when I go to organize the binders!

 

Have a great week!
D.G. L
 

4 comments:

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Ha Ha Ha!! A few years ago I did that magazine purge, complete with binders of project patterns and ideas. Just a month ago I went through those binders...Now I have 11 empty binders that are going to the school because I just Purged Them down to 6. It's good to clear out. Our tastes change over time. For me, I'll be 65 this year and am realistic about what I will really use that I have collected over the years. My main interests are embroidery, sewing and crochet.

If you have floss to dispose of, I'll take it and pay the postage too!!

I'll be clearing more stuff from my house...I have a room like yours too!! You know what I think...Less is More!! (Less stuff, More room).

Gosh your Bird in Paradise mini is gorgeous. Beautiful colors. Stunning.
It's cool that you found a group to help you focus on stitching. I joined a FB group for a crochet project but all the posting is annoying since there are over 4000 members.

xx, Carol

Heidi said...

Looks like a lot of work went into the Bird of Paradise - it is stunning!

I do the binder thing too, and really need to downsize them now. As you say, any and everything is online and I find I do not often refer to them. It is hard to let go of everything though, tastes do change and just you never know...

It is very generous to share. My shelves are full of books and magazines, but what are woolies? I received a little pincushion pattern I would like to try, a cute pear. It was included with a giveaway I won from Mary at Quiltin Grandma. It calls for scraps of wool. I have looked in several quilt shops and have only found large packs of wool - much more than I need for the pear!

Sue said...

Your Bird of Paradise is beautiful! I think a lot of us have a room like that! The binders are a great idea. I'm in the middle of unpacking and organising my stash. It arrived from Australia a month ago and it's taking a while to get sorted and put into some sort of order in The Craft Cave!

Lynette said...

Oh my gosh!!! That is exactly what my storage room looks like right now~! It is astonishingly exploded. I'm going to start working on it when I get this Allietare top put together. I can't believe your teeny birds of paradise - it's gorgeous. Did you already quilt it? I like your plan that's chalked on.