cough cough

It seems that every fall, I get a cold. Same this year. After a couple of days of lounging around, I have new energy and am ready to go...

Good news today. My cottage blocks arrived at their destination - now it is just waiting to get my swap blocks. I can't wait.

This week I have been working on one of my UFOs...a vintage block. In the stash that I found among the Grandma's attic, I found a Sun Bonnet Sue that was partially appliqued and basted onto a muslin oval. I finished Sue and appliqued the oval onto a background and am now creating some blocks to go around the background. All the fabric is from the vintage stash. It's still in the creating stage but I think it will turn out ok....I'll have to post a picture later.

I've also begun creating some items for our guild December auction while I'm waiting for my blue and white quilt to come back from the quilters. I guess this is just a time to finish up some things.

Off to work now. I was asked to fill in for someone tonight so that limits my quilting time....oh well...more money to buy books and FABRIC

Busy time since last blog

Over the weekend, I spent some time at my son's and played with my grandson while mom and dad had a few days of respite. It was a great time but keeping up with a toddler is quite a challenge. I did get my cottages done for the swap and I will try to get them in the mail this week. I have also been playing with some fabric from our guild Fat Quarter Challenge. The fabric is from Australia. I have it out and have been spending time just looking and trying to decide what to do with it. We have no guidelines except that we need to use it in a project by the first week of February.

Nannette at Freda's Hive has been encouraging her readers to share pictures of their stashes. Mine is in a walk-in closet that my husband outfitted with storage units. It's hard to get good pictures but here are a few.

As you walk in, you can see a cabinet and drawers with open shelves. We cut down an old cutting mat for the top of the shelves so that I can do quick measuring using the lines on the mat. The bins contain fat quarters, scraps, small tools, yarn, tape, and other "cool stuff." The pegboard is great for storing those cumbersome hoops and rulers. The drawers below the cabinet are used for storing trims, patterns, templates and template plastics and such. The cabinet has plastic boxes of thread and some other crafting supplies.

To the left are my fabric shelves. You can't see to the far left beyond the shelves for fabric where I have a place to store my iron and ironing board and a lower shelving unit to store sprays and such. You can't see the very top, but there is storage for plastic tubs, pillow forms, and other bulky items. I am amazed how empty the shelves actually look in the picture. BUT I have been working very hard this summer to use up fabric in my stash. I am trying to figure out another way to store fabric. I tried doing it by color but that really didn't suit me. I would like to find or make some "mini bolts" that the fabric could be stored on since all of the fabric on the shelves is at least a yard in length - most of it is more. .

To the right are other open shelves which I use for more fabric (which you can't see at the top) and crafting supplies (beads, glue, jewelry findings, etc.) Between that unit and the wall is a space to hang quilt tops on hangers while they are waiting to be quilted.
All in all, my storage is pretty efficient and it is great to keep all my crafting supplies in one place. ALMOST. I keep my vintage fabric in the storage space under my cutting table and there are always piles of fabric on the table and the sewing table....and ....

A cottage

Here is a picture of just one of my cottages. Each cottage is different but this will give you an idea. I have most of them done just need to do some finishing touches. I'm not going to post much today because I want to get back to quilting!

Bits and Pieces

I have been having great fun putting together the cottages for the Christmas swap. I've played with fabric, mixed and matched, and fussy cut. I dragged out my stash of rick rack and trims this morning to see how I might embellish the cottages. I'm not going to sew any together for a few days because each time I look at the design board, I get a new idea! To give you a preview, here is a picture of my design wall. I'm off to the quilter today. Marie is another long arm quilter who is a member of our guild. She just moved her studio and I am so anxious to see her new place. It is wonderful to have such talented people in the guild.

Christmas stash

Here are pictures of some of my Christmas fabric stash. I will be pulling from the pile for my Christmas Cottage swap blocks.

My son's surgery went well and I am home now - tired, but ready to quilt. Taking care of a 2 1/2 year old sure takes a lot of energy but I am happy I was able to help out....that's what Nanas are for.

Deviated diversion

I am away from home for a few days. My younger son had surgery this morning for a deviated septum. He has been having chronic sinus infections that just don't seem to go away. That combined with his allergies made him miserable. Hopefully, the surgery will allow him to breathe comfortably. The doctor said that the septum was really bent! We figure it might be from when his nose was hurt while he was boxing at the police academy several years ago. The doctor said that his sinuses just didn't drain, thus the constant infection.

The surgery went well. He had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am and the surgery was scheduled for 7:30. Luckily the hospital isn't far away so my daughter-in-law took him over to the hospital and got him all settled in and then ran back home to pick up me and their 2 1/2 year old son. This was one of his preschool days so we dropped him off there by 7:20 and then ran back over to the hospital. The surgery lasted about 2 hours and went well. We shouldn't have laughed but when we were able to see him in the recovery room, he had his nose packed with straws sticking out so he could breathe. He was rather out of it so I didn't stay long. Tonight I'm babysitting so my daughter-in-law can go back to the hospital. He should be home tomorrow but will need to be off work for about 2 weeks. I'll go home on Sunday.

Nevertheless, quilting isn't far from my mind. I finished my winter blue and white wall hanging before I came here yesterday and will be taking it to the quilter on Tuesday. And I have been dreaming about the little cottages I will be making for the Christmas Cottage Swap. When I get home, I'll post a picture of my Christmas fabric stash...I'm trying to decide which of the fabrics I will use. I will probably make cottages using a variety of fabric but I'm not quite sure yet. I can't wait to see the variety of cottages that the team makes. The quilt should turn out to be a nice size by the time we use 12 of the blocks!

I have enjoyed visiting the blogs of my team members...it looks like we will be a fun bunch!