Working From Home

 

Since leaving my full time job last summer, I realize how fortunate I was to be able to make that choice.

But one thing I hadn't known/realized was going to happen, was how isolating that truly can be.

I came across an excellent article today, posted below that really spoke to me.

I went from a busy customer service based management position in a crazy busy store to a quiet, no-routine day where if I wasn't careful, I could spend the whole day in my jammies, never leaving the couch.Which sounds GREAT...but not really.

I mean, come on. Lookit that sweet face. Who'd wanna go out!?

I realized the problem one day, when I had to go out for milk or something, and I started chatting a mile a minute to the cashier. And I realized, I hadn't spoken to a human being other than my fiance (and the cats) for over a WEEK. Hadn't left the house!!! (Going out in the backyard didn't count).

I watched a family of Blue Jays fledge. Have to say, it was pretty cool.

I immediately resolved to do at least ONE errand, no matter how small, every day. 

I made regular gym times, and started going back to Yoga. It helped, a lot!

THIS article I found on the wonderful "Sew Mama Sew" website REALLY spoke to me. It's all about Fiona Pullen and her new book.                                                                    I love this site. Words cannot describe how awesome it is. The content is smart, funny, absorbing and you can always find help, tips, etc on what you're working on. AND tons of inspiration and inspirational people to keep you always onto something new!

Read it HERE: Sew Mama Sew

"Fiona Pullen runs the UK-based The Sewing Directory, and she has a new book out chock full of excellent advice. Craft a Creative Business helps you plan for success as you turn a love for sewing or other artistic endeavors into a thriving business."  - From Sew Mama Sew

 What're your tips for At Home Work Survival? Anyone else feel like this?

Strippin' in Black and White....Part Deux

It started Saturday.....

As I stared into my stash of fabric.....

thinking....masculine....masculine.....

 

Progressed into new slabs of strip fabrics......

And then....

Voila!! 

Now yes the photo is pretty wonky; the cat tore across the dang thing *just* as I got to the top of the stairs to take the photo.

So it's straight, lol I swear.

I will be finishing this up today and updating the photos as I go!

Strippin' in Black and White

Nope...it's not what you think.

Or...maybe it is!

It was recently brought to my attention that my Etsy shop is overloaded with (ahem) 'girly stuff'. 

Vintage sheet Pink Rail fence

I realized..... that's very true.  There's a lot of pinks and pastels and shall we say, more feminine quilts and things on there. Not so much for in the Manly Men department.

So I am working on that discrepancy this week!

Here's a sneak peek:

Strip Quilts come together quickly!

I cut some of my fav black and white fabrics into varied widths

 

 

I don't know...felt like someone was watching me....

So I have a few planned to work on this week, and a few more finished tops that just need to be quilted up.

Heading up to sew for awhile, get some work done!

OOOOH and I almost forgot...finally finally finally 'they' are printing ALL the superheroines onto fabric!!  When I cut into this darling, I will DEF let you all know what it's turning into!

Batgirl, Supergirl AND Wonderwoman, together at last!

 

 

My finished Wonderwoman Quilt; a gift for my bestie!!

Which comes first - fabric or pattern?

I have a question to pose to all the quilters out there.... what 

 comes first for you?

Do you find gorgeous fabrics INSPIRE you to create and then you grab the pattern?

Or do intricate design patterns INSPIRE you to pull fabrics and then you create?

I found this fabric and fell in love. I didn't want to cut it at first.

For me, I think that it's the fabric that inspires the pattern. But wait...sometimes when I peruse blogs online I see patterns that just yell at me to pull fabrics from my stash. I don't know....laugh.

I put it to the interwebs: What comes first??

The fabric, or the pattern?

And of course. Like all my quilts, Muffin Approved.

Sick sick Sick SICK sick.

Ugh. Is there anything worse than a hard-hitting Cold.

Wikipedia says:   "The common cold (also known as nasopharyngitis, rhinopharyngitis, acute coryza,^[1] head cold, or simply a cold) is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract which primarily affects the nose. Symptoms include coughing, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, and fever which usually resolve in seven to ten days, with some symptoms lasting up to three weeks. Well over 200 virus strains are implicated in the cause of the common cold; the rhinoviruses are the most common."

Lookit. These little buggers are responsible for the misery.

In layman's terms: You lay on the couch because everything is achy and it sucks and you can't breathe and So. Much. Snot. Gah. 

 

This is Day 3. 

I will say that I haven't just been wallowing on the couch in a sea of tissues (with aloe). I did manage to shower every day, and yesterday I vacuumed and even ventured out to Target. Where I realized I had no business being.

So, no. No sewing this week. Nothing. I did watch a lot of Netflix and discovered the BBC Channel for documentaries on Youtube. Yay.

This gratuitous shot of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is brought to you by Dayquil.

I also read and reread several of my favourite Bloggers for inspiration when I'm feeling better; which I shall now share with you. Enjoy.

  

I have been a long time fan of Rita at Red Pepper Quilts.

Her amazing attention to detail and precision floor me every time I look at her work. I aspire to be as good as she is, some day. :)

 

Another quilter I love is Crazy Mom Quilts; her tutorials are great and she's a fellow Canuck. :)

And it's really neat when you find another person that writes like you do; it's like reading your thoughts in someone else's life. Weird? Maybe. But this is a great healthy living foodie blog that I discovered this summer, and have had a great time catching up and trying several of her recipes.

 

Check out Meghan at Clean Eats, Fast Feets

That should keep you busy for awhile. Thanks for your patience whilst I wallow. Heh.
Oooh. There's a documentary on Wombats starting. Must go!!

How was your week??

Work in Progress Wednesday

#wipwednesday in photos

 

 Big pile o bloomers to be photographed and added to my Etsy page. Perfect for Reenactors, Rennies, theatre and more!

 

'Shattered' blocks, in progress. More on these later.

 

String quilt all put together, just needs borders and ...everything else. Lol.

What are you working on today?

Spring (!!!) Cleaning

It started snowing overnight....yesterday it was plus 8!!

Today.... cold and it's snowed alllllll day.

So, THIS happened outside. It didn't stop until oh, 7pm.

SO, since I was snowed in, I decided to finally, FINALLY attack my Sewing Room of Doom.

Since I moved in back in May, I haven't really had time to git in here and go thru stuff. Like, the filing cabinet. And um, bins and bins of fabric.

I'm so embarrassed by how much of an explosion I created I couldn't even post photos. Nope. Nuh-uh.

When it's cleaner, hopefully this week, there shall be photos.

Snow makes for CUTE PHOTOS

Last year for Christmas; I received a wonderful and thoughtful gift....a Canon Rebel camera.

I love it. I'm still learning to use it, for Christmas THIS year Santa brought a super cool zoom lens...(which I also have to learn how to use.)

I know that photographs are probably the most important part of any blog; and I am slowly working on redoing most (all) of the photos of my quilts so you can really see the colours and work involved on them. Here are some updates you can see on my Etsy page:

Under The Sea Baby Quilt

Pink Princess Quilt

Pinkest Pink Twin Size super warm quilt. Vintage sheet backing!

Retro Vintage Chic Baby Quilt.

Fell down go boom. Ow. No quilting today.

Well, no sewing for me tonite.

I was takin' out the garbage, and there's this ONE sidewalk stone that I know is raised up a bit. I know it's there. I know you know I know it's there.

I forgot it was there.

Ow.

Ah. The moment when you are happily skipping along and then the next you are mid-air, flailing....

Then, you are dazed with pain, scrambling back up the steps to get inside as soon as possible.....hoping that no neighbour witnessed your graceful descent....

Hoping no one is noticing you are trying *really* hard not to cry.

Yeah, it hurt that much.

Yeah I bangeded up my knee and shin prettttty darn good. I landed square on my kneecap. It hurts to bend it. But it bears weight so I don't think it's broken. Just painful. I put frozen veggies on it and kept it elevated...now i'm hobbling around.

I can't believe I fell down and skinned my knees, hands and cut my toe somehow. Owie.

Even though I had a full nite of sewing planned; I spent most of it on the couch watching hours of junk tv. The cat was happy, he snuggled right up to me and is still snoring happily beside me.

To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow... I shall sew away to-morrow. Knee allowing, of course.

Ow.

Good night, all.

Holy Cow,it's WIP Again! Yay!

Okay so I'm almost caught up...um, sorta....heh.

Here's my updates for WIP Wednesday:

 

This quilt is a custom order; just awaiting FMQ and binding, to be done tonite after work. Yay!

Circus Animal Quilt

 

This is a custom memory quilt made from baby clothes and blankets. A bit of a challenge, but it is awating quilting and binding..

Baby Clothes Memory Quilt

 

A custom order, new this week, so needs to be sandwiched, basted and quilted.

A custom order Rail Fence with creams and browns.

 

This colour block quilt is for me; I LOVED the colours of the fabric.I had a "Oooh" moment in the fabric store and it was almost painful to cut into this fabric (I know you know what I mean) but it came together with hot pink blender cotton that I love it even more now. I decided to make it bigger, queen bed sized, so adding more as I go.

Colour Block Quilt

Other quilts:

My Pink & Green Railfence: No progress

Misc quilt tops for store: Some extra blocks assembled, no real big woop progress this week.

That's it for now, I'm off to work. More quilting to be done later tonite!!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, here in Elgin County the temps went back up nicely today!

By the way... NEW Machine!

For Christmas, I received the most wonderful gift ever.....

My new beautiful Janome QDC4030!!!!

I had my old Brother machine for 12 years; the same machine sewed every curtain, every quilt, every costume for every show I've been in or costumed for the last 12 years. And that's a lot. And never a problem, it was a midlevel machine and did everything I asked it to....but alas, the quiltmaking was starting to prove too much. Tension was never right, no matter what, thread breaking, rough edges on the bobbin case, you name it. Wobbly seams, the works.

The End came when I was frantically sewing the final touches on Adult size Onesie Superhero Jammies (yep, Christmas gift, from the KWIK Sew pattern and they're supercute) and my Brother ATE the elastic fabric. Yep. Ate it. Right down thru the feed dogs past the point of no return. And....yep, you guessed it...the Tantrum commenced. With the yelling and the screaming and the throwing of the thread....and of COURSE that was the moment J decided to arrive home...aaaaand witnessed the Horrible Tantrum In Progress.

And that was that. Tears were dried, boots were put on, and off we went to the local mall. I thought, to distract me from the events. Nope. Went to the Singer store.....and ... there She was.

I absolutely LOVE her....she's not named yet...but My Precious keeps coming to mind...(not in a creepy way)!

I love her though, did I mention that??? Great stitch functions, ALL the feet I will ever need ( oh yeah...1/4 inch, walking, open toe, you name it) auto needle up/down, the COOLEST thing where i can UNPLUG the electric pedal and go foot free with the easy start/stop button, that's so neat. I love it.  Best of all, it sews a straight line. LAUGH.

I've got a few projects in progress, more later. I teach tonite, this semester we're taking on some SHAKESPEARE and gulp, SWORDFIGHTING!!!! Aiee. Fun though!

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's WEDNESDAY!!!

 

It's WIP WEDNESDAY!

Okay! Time to get seriously focused here.

Projects to finish this week::

Finish quilting the Teenagers' P&G Quilt....this pic is just the top; I just have to finish quilting the sashing and bind it!

I have to cut these and start on my modified Hawaiian Sunset pattern. This will become TWO quilts; one king and one queen. 

Both are for Christmas. Am I insane????

Last but not least...I have to finish tidying up this one and start quilting it. Not sure but I think I'll quilt just INSIDE the blocks cuz the shiny fabric might not work out to well with being quilted. I'll test it...but I'm pretty sure I'll leave the shiny bits be.

Alright! I'm off to the Quilt Cave to start my day! Enjoy your WIP Wednesday, may it be productive and FUN!