Mom's Sewing Room

 

After a whirlwind few weeks of getting my mom moved out of her home, I'm unpacking the treasures I brought back to my own home. There wasn't a lot in the sewing area that I nabbed as she'd already been generous in sharing a lot of the fabrics and stuff from her mother. But there were of course a few items, as seen above. I wrote about her sewing room back when we were fire-evacuated and staying at my parent's house. So much has happened since then!

These are the type of pin I really like to use, and they're "the quilter's pin" so that's so very official and all. I'm probably going to toss the cute and somewhat vintage box. But maybe I'll make something with it.

There were two pincushions, one the red traditional tomato (or strawberry) red and the other a mid-70's wild floral in the same shape. Some of the pins are rusty, so I tossed those. And a silver thimble that maybe fits my pinky finger, but it's really pretty. A wooden box with wooden spools of thread that are likely too old to use. But I'll try them out to see. Some empty wooden spools that are just lovely all on their own. A box of miscellaneous buttons, one heavy duty zipper and some cotton-polyester threads in dark colors that I can use.

And lastly, I brought home an unfinished hook latching project from my rainbow-obsessed preteen years. I was willing to part with it, but my daughter said she wants a pillow made out of it, so I'll have to actually finish the project after 50 years. Polyester yarn is of course-- forever.

Go Giants

The 3-d printed container got a new buddy, so we swapped the lids around and now there are two black and orange arrangements. 

That obviously required some San Francisco Giants stickers. I found some perfectly sized ones for sale on eBay and they worked out pretty well.

One is currently empty and the other one has foam with pins stuck in it. Not exactly the right kind of foam as it's rather stiff and unforgiving. And we also put a big circular magnet in the bottom to help hold the pins down. 

The Last New and Circles

 

My order from Sewtopia for additional Ruby+Bee fabric to finish my challenge quilt arrived. And of course while I was there (on the website, not in the actual store in Utah), I had to order some sale fabrics, a pin and some checked webbing. That's it, no more fabric buying for the year. I'm officially full up of fabric now. 

I love Happy Sew Lucky patterns and was so happy to see this pin which I will wear during the next few months as I write my political postcards.

Two Ruby+Bee solids, Rain Cloud and Turmeric, two Carolyn Friedlander prints to add to my collection. Someday I'll make a quilt with just those fabrics, maybe one of her patterns. A button print in the oddest colors, the background is almost a match to the Turmeric solid. And a very cute tossed calendar print to use on the back of my calendar quilt.

A trip to a LQS with friend Jaye, The Granary led to two more fabrics getting tossed into the final new fabric purchases pile. One a really interesting layered print by Valori Wells, and a fabric that I'd resisted buying earlier, the completely made-up just-for-fun Crytptids of the National Parks. This will be the backing for my National Parks panel when DH and I go traveling when he retires.

An interesting table runner pattern from Atkinson Designs. I'm pleased to see it offered at the same price online and for the .pdf version too. Not sure which month this will be for in my monthly table runner rotation, depends on which fabrics I choose.

From Sue Spargo online, after resisting the Toned Down Circle Sampler pattern several times I broke down and got it. It is sold with a kit, which I didn't buy as I have a lot of embroidery threads and I don't need to exactly replicate the pattern's colors. That led to me making a database (of course) of which embroidery threads I do have on hand. That was quite a fun diversion to look through all of it! And yes, I have plenty to do this pattern. 

This wool/acrylic Ellana thread was the only type I didn't have so I bought the kit pack. I already have the Sue Spargo book, Creative Stitching, that explains the stitches that are combined in each circle.

Pin Baste Improvement

Even though I used fusible batting for my Lone Round Robin, the batting was kind of old and didn't seem to have the same amount of stickiness, so just in case, I decided to pin baste the area I was going to start quilting on. Memo to me, order some more fusible batting for the next wall quilt.

 Clover Wonder Pins worked really really well for me. They were so much easier on my fingers than the old stand-by of regular safety pins. The colors are bright, especially with the white, so they'll show up well on most fabrics.

Now that I'm getting older, that kind of ouch adds up a whole lot quicker. I really want to save my finger and hand strength for the actual quilting! 

I found that they were very easy to pin and un-pin, the plastic handles on the top of each pin are a perfect size to grasp. It's a clever design, and I think the actual pin itself was very high quality. They're smooth and very sharp, and just the right size too, so it won't leave giant holes behind. I was able to grasp them and take them out even with my quilting gloves on. 

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