Disappearing Nine-Patch

For quite a while, I cut various sizes of blocks from left-over fabric - Now I have a use for some of them.  This scrappy quilt was made by sewing five-inch blocks, alternating darks and lights, and using a dark navy for the middle.  Then, by cutting down the middle of the finished block, both horizontally and vertically, and manipulating the cut blocks in a uniform way, I ended up with this little quilt.  Lots of fun and fast!  The disappearing block has taken over.  There are disappearing 4-patch, hour-glass, and pinwheel blocks.  Someone got very inventive and tired of the same old thing - why not play by sewing simple basic blocks, and then cutting them out again.  Never know what one might end up with!

Organizing My Sewing Space

 There is no doubt that we've had a very mild winter.  Ron has not once had to use the snow blower.  Therefore, spring cleaning hit very early, and I made a decision three weeks ago to organize my sewing life.  My sewing "studio" is comprised of an upstairs bedroom, with an overspill into the next bedroom.  However, no matter what the size of a work space, it just doesn't work well unless it is organized, and this certainly wasn't.  Entropy happens when you keep working in  a space for years, making little adjustments, but never addressing the problem.  So....

 Fabric is measured, labeled, sorted according to color and style, and stacked in cubicles and shelves. Now, I can get out a piece of fabric and see immediately if I have enough for a project.

 In between my cubicles, I have room to hang my extra cutting mats with skirt hangers .

 Some of the shelves are labeled very carefully about the nature of the prints.

 This shelf came from a closet in our Tumwater home 20 years ago.  At last it is organized with baskets, boxes, and the ability to find things.  I put away the ironing board that blocked the shelf for so long,  and put an ironing mat at the end of my big cutting board.

 All of my unfinished projects are sorted into boxes, and labeled.

 Either side of the southwest window of the room is flanked with bookshelves and cabinets.  This one holds buttons, sewing books, clippings, my radio, iPod,  magazines, and miscellaneous.  You can see the small design wall, and my little wall-mounted TV.

 Bookshelf in the guest room (subsidiary quilting room) next door to my main sewing room.  Here are my quilting books, with the exception of Harry Potter, who lives one the top shelf and a few special books on the bottom shelf.  The middle shelf also houses my bean-bag lap quilting frame.  Just for show is the card that Dwight sent to me of of of Sue Gilgen's landscape quilts.  She is one of my heroines in the art quilting world.

At the top of the bookshelf live the two visiting teaching ladies that I created while in Washington for a dinner.  The smaller couples are living in another bookshelf in the same room.  

  I can only point out that this is extreme luxury - a far cry from sewing on the kitchen table for years and years!  Now, maybe I can also have time to sew and play with fabric.