Master of Disaster

Does Miss Emmie look disgusted? Well, she does in my opinion. She's my sewing room mascot and has been watching me turn my craft room into a disaster area!

Hence, the name Master of Disaster. Although I guess that should be Mistress of Disaster. You know, you think all this is going to go faster than it does, but then there is all the regular running, cleaning, cooking (why does my family need to eat), gardening (not too much of that - we had a hard frost again last night), etc. So this is a very slow go! Plus, you tend to take your time looking through everything that you've accumulated over a span of years and you come across some charts and wonder to yourself, "What was I thinking!!!!" LOL Then there are those charts you think, "Well, I'll stitch this, won't I"? I finally had to tell myself that with all the charts I love, I'll be stitching for the next bazillion years - so out go the ones that I sit on the fence with. Then there is just the sheer joy of fondling all the stash - looking at all the wonderful things you can stitch - if you only get the time! LOL And all this takes time.

I know that I'm going to be so much happier when this is cleared up. I have cleaned a little bit more since I took this picture. But there is an almost exhilarating feeling to destash the stash, so to speak. I've filled a whole Rubbermaid bin with things that are going to a new home. I'm not sure what to do with this stuff - Ebay or donate to the library for their booksale. I'd love to get some cash for the stuff, but some of these charts date back about 30 years (cutesy geese and bears, etc.), so I don't know if people would really pay money for any of it.

As a result of all the cleaning, very little progress has been on the stitching front.

I've made it over to the right side this week and almost have Eve completed (really need to fill in those leaves on A&E. This is not a hard stitch, except for the fact that there are quarter stitches (can't remember when I did those last), and backstitching in the leaves, etc. So, that, coupled with my not getting to sit down until later in the evening has made for a very slow go. I didn't pick up Shores yet, but I need to so that Block #4 can be finished before the end of the month. Although part of my crazy self has had strange urges to work on VoHRH, HoHRH or Ann Medd. Sticking to one project is something I don't handle well.

Since I've been so stitch-deficient, I thought I'd post a couple more of the quilts that I've done, mainly because one of them hangs in my craft room and since I was taking pictures of the disaster, I thought I'd take a picture of the one in there. I have had a tremendous urge to quilt lately - an overwhelming urge, actually. Probably brought on by all the blogs that I've visited recently. Plus I came across some great homespun and primitive fabrics and a pattern from The Buggy Barn (for those of you who quilt) that I can't wait to take the 'ole rotary cutter to. I'm hoping that my FIL is working on my table as I write this (of course, it would help if the room was painted too).

This is a wallhanging that needs to be backed and bound. I did this for a quilt shop that I practically lived in for a while (they have since gone out of business which makes me sad). I was cranking out quilts right and left and the shop owners asked me if I would do models for their shop. It's a great deal because they supply the pattern, I pick out the fabrics (with their guidance because they want a certain look), I sew it together, and after it hangs in the shop for awhile, it's mine to keep. Free to me except for a little bit of sweat labor!

This is another quilt I did for the shop. It was a Jinny Beyer kit called Mirage and believe me, this was not for the faint hearted. They convinced me that I could do it. Well, I was just stupid enough to believe them, but a couple of the blocks had to be almost all handpieced. Not my favorite thing to do as I've mentioned before. I think I also ran over their deadline by a couple of weeks because it was so complicated. This was a kit that retailed for $200+. Would I have purchased it? Probably not even though I was really drawn to it (I think I was remembering all the quilts I had cut out and that were waiting for me to sew), but since it was "free", except for my labor, I jumped on it. I think it's one of my favorite quilts.

And this is another one I did for the shop. I really like this one a lot. I actually hand stitched the applique onto this which is something I hate doing. It's made with Thimbleberry fabrics which I have a preference for. This is more of a wall hanging size quilt so I basically use it to cover my dining room table on and off during the year.

Well, that's it for now. I doubt I'll get much stitching done this week either. My dental surgery is on Wednesday. I've been told that I can't do much of anything for the next week because of it being a more complicated surgery. Plus I'm not suppose to bend my head for a few days! Now this doesn't bother me from the housework end, but not to be able to stitch! AUGHHH! So I'm on the search today for some things that are small and can be put into the Q-Snaps so I can hold them up and not bend my head. We'll see what happens.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! And thank you again for all your nice comments!