A new month, a new wall hanging

I finished the vegetable homemade wall hanging finally and I like it. A lot of times, by the time I get done, it’s just sort of meh. But this one I like. Click on “homemade table runners and wall hangings” on the right and go to a picture, if you’d like.

The beads were interesting. I went through a lot more than I expected I would and it took longer than I expected, but I’ve never done anything like that before. And the beads are glass so this particular wall hanging will have to be handled a lot more carefully than I’m accustomed to: no machine wash and dry for this one! Then again, my homemade wall hangings just sort of… hang there. Aside from brushing off some dust from time to time, they really don’t get dirty. It’s not like a bed quilt that does need to be washed from time to time.

It does help wall hangings last longer, I think — not needing to be washed and dried. My homemade table runners and wall hangings are part of my legacy, in a way. They’ll last years and years longer than I will, with the proper care. Although I suppose I’ll last years and years with the proper care.

Only a few days to go

I am leaving my current employment as of Tuesday. It’s about an hour commute one way, so I’ve been counting down the “trips.” Right now, I have eight trips to go. It’s scary to leave, but will open up new possibilites for me. I’m going back to school! There’s a lot of decisions to be made and they make my brain tired.

The best way I know of to soothe the spirit is to work on a homemade table runner or wall hanging. The beading is done (I think) on my vegetable wall hanging. Now I just need to add the borders, sleeve to hang it up, binding and it will be done. I’m pretty happy with it. Once it’s finished, I’ll post pictures on my Facebook page and my etsy page and see if anyone else is happy with it.

Putting something up for sale feels a little like I’m giving up a child. I spend a lot of time and effort on it, do my best and then just set it free to see if anyone else likes it. The first wall hanging I sold was about eight years ago and I had a pang as I wrote up the receipt and put it in the bag.

It’s gotten easier since then. If I didn’t sell this stuff, where would I put everything I’ve made? And if other people like it, then I can spread the fabric love around. I’d hate to be selfish.

Rain, rain, go away

I mentioned before that rainy weather is good quilting weather, and so it is. There’s something cozy about listening to the rain on the roof and the skylight, and being warm and dry inside while creating homemade table runners and wall hangings. There’s no pressure to be doing something outside. I can watch movies and drink tea or coffee or whatever and relax.

However. It’s starting to feel like days since I’ve seen the sun. There are rivulets running down the street. My roof is leaking again out on the porch and the cat is drinking out of the Cool Whip bowl under the drips. The trees and grass and flowers look like they’re drowning. Enough is enough!

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, too. So much for outdoor activities for Father’s Day. My granddaughter is spending a few hours with her dad, and I guess they’ll be indoor hours. I’ll run errands and hope I don’t get mildewed in the process.

I expect to have lots and loads and oodles of time to sew starting in July. Maybe I can make a dent on my stash, which is almost embarassingly large. Not that it’s a bad thing…

What was I thinking?

So I decided to sew beads on the latest homemade wall hanging. It will look really pretty when I’m done, I think, but what in the world was I thinking? This is going so slowly! I supposed part of that is because I’ve never done this kind of thing before. But after an hour, I only have about four inches done. *sigh*

This is where movies come in. The best movies are ones I know well enough to follow just by listening, with an occasional glance at the good parts. I don’t want to put in a movie I’ve seen so often that I’m sick of it. But I also don’t want to put in a movie I haven’t seen before. Then all I do is watch the movie and don’t get any work done. It’s fun, but not productive.

For my other project, I’m trying to put in movies I haven’t seen in a while that I knew well before but may have forgotten. I’m looking for movies I can get rid of. Found one a couple of nights ago — just wasn’t that good. So why keep it?

So if I sell some, not only will that give me a little more space, but I can maybe get a movie I used to have on VHS but haven’t replaced yet. So I’m multi-tasking.

Embellishments solve the problem. Probably.

I am working more on the Drunkard’s Path pattern with the yummy vegetable fabrics. When I got the blocks done, and before I put them together, I thought there wasn’t enough contrast between the two fabrics. It happens sometimes. Two fabrics that look like a match made in heaven are actually as compatible as my ex and I were.

Well, these two aren’t that bad, but there isn’t as much contrast between them as I thought there would be. All 16 blocks are made and I don’t want to waste them, so I’ve been thinking and thinking about what to do. Then I thought that, after the top is together, I could stitch on some beads. If I sew them along the borders between the two fabrics, it will help define them better and add a little zing.

I’ve never added beads before, but I have some lovely orange beads that should look good against the pumpkins and corn and whatever else is on the fabric. It’ll mean the homemade wall hanging probably can’t be washed; or at least, will need to be washed very, very gently. But since wall hangings don’t generally get dirty enough to need detergent and agitating and spinning and rinsing, it should be ok.

If I can get my act together, I will try to finish the wall hanging this weekend. As soon as I do, I’ll put it on my etsy page (link to the right). ‘Cause every day is better with a little sparkle.

Just another day

Ah, to get home and be able to sew. After I’m finished here, of course. I’m adding a couple of homemade table runners to my etsy page and then I have a wall hanging I’m working on. The pattern is Drunkard’s Path, and I’m using some lovely vegetable fabric I found at Fieldstone House in Sidney Center. The store is out of the way, but well worth it. Last I heard, they have more than 10,000 bolts of fabric. Having just been there a month or two ago, I believe it!

It’s a day trip for me to go, but Mom and my little one and I pack a lunch and lots of stuff to keep us busy in the car. We often eat dinner out and just make a day of it. I wouldn’t go in the winter because I’m getting to be a wuss about winter driving. But the rest of the year it’s lovely.

After a trip there, I need… oh… about three months off to sew everything I can imagine standing amidst all that gorgeous, gorgeous fabric. I could get fabric cheaper, but I really want to enjoy myself when I sew. And life is too short for poor fabric. Fieldstone House has fabric from all my favorite designers, too — Laurel Burch, Hoffmann, Nancy Halvorsen,  Alexander Henry — it’s a dream come true. I imagine all the wonderful table runners or wall hangings I can craft. *sigh* That’s a lot of therapy, just sitting there waiting to be washed and cut and measured and sewn and pressed.

Even just thinking about it makes me smile!

And here I am.

Well, I never expected to have a blog and yet here I am, with a blog. As it says when signing up for Word.Press, Hello world! I never seem to have enough opportunity to talk quilting, so I’ll let my obsession spill over here.

First, what do I do? I make handmade table runners and wall hangings. I used to make bed-size quilts, but I really don’t do that any more. I have some arthritis, and the big quilts are just too big to maneuver any more. And those are harder to market, because people want fabrics to match their color schemes. Smaller pieces just seem to be easier to make, to match and to sell.

Choosing fabrics is the best part, and that’s where the obsession part comes in. I just hate to see homeless fabric. I find a pattern that I just fall in love with, and have to match it to other fabrics. Naturally, I bring home a yard here or a yard there. So I make my handmade table runners and wall hangings just to avoid being inundated with fabric! Selling them keeps me from drowning in fabric.

Sometimes, I get home and decide that one or another fabric won’t really work together, then I go to my stash. I’ve spent a number of years building up a respectable backlog of fabric, and subscribe wholeheartedly to the bumper-sticker philosophy of “She who dies with the most fabric wins.” There’s just something so tactile and satisfying about working with fabric — choosing patterns and colors that “walk” or move gracefully from one to another, cutting them up into little pieces and sewing them back together. I’ve heard that described as a particular form of insanity. If so, count me in.

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