The Fabric Stash is Finally Manageable

 When Mom passed away, she left behind enough fabric, sewing machines, books and notions to stock a small quilt store. When we cleaned out her house, I wasn’t able to convince any of my brothers to take some of the stash. My one sister-in-law that also quilts, did take one sewing machine, a few unfinished projects, and some notions. Everything else was boxed up and moved to our house. Just getting it all organized took most of the summer. There is a previous post about that; but, these pictures show all of the nooks and crannies I stored fabric in. 

The last picture is of the boxes of fabric and miscellaneous sewing supplies I donated to the quilt guild. There was just soooo much fabric! 

Over the years, I have used up a significant amount of fabric by completing all of Mom’s unfinished projects, making and donating baby quilts, lap quilts and pillow cases. I even sewed countless masks during the COVID pandemic! Still, it felt like the stash wasn’t really dwindling away fast enough. Eventually, I conned Leslie into joining me in one last ditch effort to sew up fabric by opening an Etsy shop and setting up booths at many craft shows. 

Admittedly, I often felt like the little ant trying to move the rubber tree plant. I had “high hopes.” It paid off because I can now say the fabric stash is a normal, manageable size. All thanks to this beast of a cabinet. 

I spied this massive gem as Ron and I were driving through the neighborhood. It was sitting in the garage of an empty cottage that our maintenance guy, Cody, was painting. At first, I thought he might be adding a pantry to the kitchen, but, it didn’t match the cabinets. So, we stopped and Ron asked Cody about it. He told him the previous residents just left it when they moved. He gladly hauled it down to our garage; just to keep from having to bust it up and haul it to a dumpster somewhere.

It turned out to actually be an entertainment center. After consulting Scott about putting shelves in it, Ron gutted it and installed shelves. I used shelf liner on the back and shelves just to give the fabric a smooth surface to avoid accidental picks or snags. 

Once the cabinet was finished, Ron and I muscled it into the bedroom and I gave the fabric one final, thorough purge.

The beast after Ron gutted it.

We had to remove the crown molding, just to get it inside!

The door are “retractable” so Ron put strips of wood behind the mechanisms 

to hold the shelf supports.

Ron stained the wood strips and shelves to match the cabinet.

I used spray adhesive to attach 

shelf liner to the back, hoping it will

make it a little brighter inside.

Ready for fabric!

Here are pictures of what remains of Mom’s fabric stash. The fabric is sorted by color, with yardage folded and stacked in the rear. The remnants that were of usable sizes were wrapped around comic book boards, then stacked in front of the yardage.

The bottom drawer holds all of the fat quarters; and, all machine embroidery materials are in the upper compartment. Sadly, not all fabric fit into the beast. So, I am in the process of lining the remaining plastic containers with shelf liner. That will keep the sun from fading streaks on the folded fabric. 

I am hopeful that this organizational system will help me see which fabrics work together in any quilt I decide to make. Plus, I now feel like I can actually buy coordinating fabric when needed without feeling wasteful. So… mission accomplished, goal met, and rubber tree plant moved!

Sewing Stuff 2022

 Last week, I was at Leslie’s house to help with Christmas baking. During the madness, we actually had to look up some recipes on my blog. Honestly, I have not been very diligent about keeping my blog up to date. But, the simple act of using one of my old posts motivated me to get at least a Reader’s Digest version of  2022 posted… BEFORE 2023 gets here. 

So, now that the 50th anniversary posts are complete, I will try to get this past year condensed into a few posts. Whether or not anyone in the family ever reads it or not is anyone’s guess. I have at least tried to be a little more diligent at keeping a record going for our children and grandchildren.

This post is about some of the things I managed to do in my sewing rooms. No, that isn’t a typo; sewing rooms…. plural. The sewing machines have moved several times during the year. Half of my things were at Scott’s house because the quilting machine was too long to fit in the guest room of the townhouse.  After I found a welder to shorten the long arm frame, all of my sewing things were moved into the master bedroom at the townhouse. Then, when we decided to move into a 55+ community, everything was packed up and moved to our new home. Whew! Hopefully, that’s the last time I have to move Millie!

Here are some things I worked on while we still lived in the Central Texas area. First, I managed to finish all of the blue work embroidery that Mom and I started YEARS ago. Plus, I had an extra embroidered panel of a Sun Bonnet Sue and Sam that I had embroidered when Seth was a baby… 20 years ago! Done, done, and done. I also added a couple of pictures of the red work quilt I finished at the end of 2021. Just because I wanted all of these quilts posted together.

I have always enjoyed doing hand embroidery. My grandmother, Minnie Veach, taught me several stitches when I was young. Over time, I taught myself more stitches and improved my skill. My mother and I had bought the blue and red work kits at the same time. We would both take our little embroidery bags to doctor appointments, on trips, to bee meetings, or anywhere we had time to kill. Mom passed away before we finished our blocks. These quilts are very precious to me because they are a tangible reminder of time we spent together, doing something we both loved. The two blue quilts went to family members and I kept the red work. I think that would have made Mom happy.

Eventually, Mom bought a sewing and embroidery machine combo from a local quilt shop, owned and operated by her friend Gayle. As a new owner, Mom took a rather extensive class, during which she embroidered several quilt blocks. When she put the blocks together into a quilt top, her intention was to use her embroidery machine to actually do the quilting as well. I think that project must have been a bit much for her to tackle because she never got around to it.

Sadly, this quilt top remained unfinished for years. She had intend to gift it to my daughter, Leslie because she was the first person to tell Mom that she liked the quilt top. I finally tackled the beast and quilted it with my long arm. There were enough pieces of fabric to make a matching wall hanging and pillow cases. The quilt is amazingly heavy and I was really worried about how smoothly it would quilt. Luckily, I used an expensive, high quality batting and the quilting looks amazing. This thing was a true labor of love in many ways.

There wasn’t a lot of sewing going on from April until August. We had made the decision to move into a 55+ community I found in Weatherford. That meant I needed to start purging things. I decided to go through my scraps and pre-cut them into standard sizes: 2 1/2 inch squares and strips, charm squares and fat quarter sized. The bits and pieces left over were cut into small chunks and I used them to make dog beds for the local animal shelter. 

While I was sorting through fabric, I found a fun little bag pattern that used fat quarters. My daughter-in-law, Jamie, is often contributing to my fabric stash by purchasing dozens of fat quarters she sees on sale because,  “they are just too cute and a really great price!” Therefore, she received one of the first bags I made. They are super cute and so quick to go together. 

Once the fabric had been purged, boxed, and labeled, I started ripping up old tee shirts to make pull/chew toys for the shelter as well. With just a little time and effort, I kept several pounds of fabric and tee shirts from ending up in the landfill.

The middle of 2022 was a crazy whirlwind. In May, Ron and I, with an AMAZING amount of help from our grandson, Seth, started packing our possessions and placing them in a storage unit. We were notified that a unit in the 55+ community would be available in August. We had already reserved a cruise to Alaska in June, so we knew we needed to have the majority of our things packed up before we left. I know that God guided every step of the way in our move. I will write more about that in another post. But, the move, cruise, and a case of COVID put a halt to any sewing until September. At that time, I needed to bust my chops and get Christmas gifts made. 

While on the cruise, I found a fun quilt pattern in a quilt shop in Sitka. I decided to buy fabric from Alaska that had a specific memory of each individual family on the cruise attached to it. For myself, I selected the fabric that was designed to be used specifically with the pattern. It was a panel with images of different sites in the town of Sitka. Since that was my favorite stop, I couldn’t pass it up.

For our oldest, Ryan, and his family, I found fabric with images of various sea life on it. Whale spotting seemed to be a favorite activity for their twins. Besides, the seas and oceans are a great source of peace and enjoyment for their family.

For Scott and Molly, I found fabric that had been commissioned by the National Parks service. They asked a local Alaskan artist to design a fabric that depicted travel posters and post cards of the many parks in Alaska. Since Scott has always had a love for our National parks, and Molly loves to travel, I knew that fabric was perfect for them.

For Leslie, I picked a fabric that had images of beautiful eagles in flight. One of the things she and I did onboard as we sailed up the inside passage was watch those magnificent birds soar high above the ship. The colors in the quilt also remind me of her home. Her girls both picked  this quilt as their favorite so I think it was the right choice.

Our daughter, Rebecca, who has had a very difficult few years rebuilding her life after her marriage fell apart, wasn’t able to be on the cruise with us. I knew Alaska fabric wouldn’t mean very much to her. I wanted to give her something that had a strong connection to family. I was digging through fabric, looking for something that spoke to me, and came across a box of small quilt squares that Mom had made. They were made of beautiful fabrics; but, were strange little blocks. I couldn’t figure out how they were supposed to go together. Plus, I couldn’t find a pattern for them in any of Mom’s quilt books. After shuffling them around a while on my design board, I figured our how to take a part of each block off and sew it in a different location. It was almost as if Mom was guiding me. I rummaged around and found more coordinating fabric and was able to get a quilt put together that represents Rebecca rebuilding her life. These were left over blocks, that could have easily stayed buried in my closet. But, with a little “rebuilding” they became a lovely quilt. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of all of the quilts in their finished stage. But, my kids have them in their possession and now they have my record of why I gave them the ones they received. 

I am hopeful that my sewing efforts in 2023 include mastering Mom’s stupid embroidery machine. But, If I do, you can be sure that I will NOT be making a bunch of quilt blocks!

Etsy Shop and Sami Show; Final Chapter

When I inherited all of Mom's sewing machines, gadgets, notions, books, patterns, and fabric, it was overwhelming! There is a whole post, complete with pictures, describing the vast amount of stuff we moved out of her house after she passed away. I honestly never expected to whittle it down to a reasonable amount. 

Over the past two years, I have donated boxes and boxes of fabric to the local quilt guild. I've made quilts to donate to local charities. I've made stacks of pillow cases to donate to the nursing home. I finished several of Mom's unfinished quilts and gave them to all of my children and grand children. I finished one of her baby quilts and gave it to a niece's baby. I turned several of her orphan blocks into art work for the walls of my home. I even convinced one of my daughters to help me set up an Etsy shop and participate in the local Sami shows to sell various items.  

Our last Sami show and most recent inventory items have pretty much used up the miscellaneous bits and pieces that really weren't big enough or numerous enough to make a quilt out of. I had reached a point where I was going to have to start buying fabric to go with what was left in order to make something that had matching fabric in it. That's when I realized it was time to stop.

During the time I've been using up Mom's dribs and drabs of fabric, my designing, cutting, sewing, quilting, and binding skills have improved ten fold! While it has been bitter sweet to work through her stash; but, I think she would be proud of my growth as a quilter. 

So, this is the last post about items I've made for the Etsy shop or a Sami show. The existing inventory will be available as long as the current listing is up. Once they expire and it is time to renew, the shop will close and we will no longer set up at Sami Shows. I'll even retire my tax ID number!

It was fun having Maggie, Sophie, and Leslie help out at the Sami Shows. I loved that the girls made their own craft items and sold them as well. I appreciated Leslie's administrative support with the shop; but, now it is becoming a job. That's when you realize it might not be much fun if you keep going. I don't want to turn a hobby into a job because it takes the pure joy out of it. 

So here are the final pictures of Etsy Inventory and our Sami Show experience. It was fun; but, the party is over!

Quilting Frame Will Travel

When I first bought my quilting machine, we were living in Killeen. My parents were alive at that time, and encouraged me to buy the longarm quilter. Mom had been quilting for years and had started paying professional quilters to get her tops quilted. She still hand quilted some of her work; but, mostly the ones that she had put a lot of applique' work into. Unfortunately, she had stacks and stacks of tops that needed quilting.  She told me she would split the price of the machine with me if I would quilt all of her tops for her.  It was a win-win deal for both of us!

Mom and Dad had a free standing garage, which had been used as a wood working shop. They hadn't done any wood working in years, so it had turned into a huge storage room for Dad's carving tools. Basically, a big mess of a room. They offered the shop to me, so the family helped me cleaned it up, paint it, and replace the garage door with french doors. It was perfect; at the time. 

Eventually, Ron and I got tired of living on a cactus and cedar farm, and decided to move to Temple. Luckily, we ended up buying a house that had a room large enough to accommodate a 14ft. quilting frame. So, all of my quilting items were moved to Temple. And... it was perfect again. 

When we retired and sold the house in Temple, Scott offered his garage to use as a quilting room. Once again, Ron and I painted, carpeted, and fixed up yet another room for the quilter. We were using Scott's house as a home base while we lived in the 5th wheel, so it was the perfect solution at the time... again.

Life happens, plans change, and we move on... this time back to Temple. We left the quilter at Scott's and it was okay. But, I soon discovered it was actually inconvenient. When the quilting machine is at the same location as my sewing equipment, I can quilt as I go. Meaning, I can assemble a piece, and immediately quilt it. Thus, only requiring a few hours at a time standing behind the quilter. With the quilter in another location, I was driving over to Scott's with numerous pieces to quilt and coming home with a back ache, sore feet, and grumpy because I was exhausted. I decided I needed to have everything in one place. Unfortunately, none of the rooms in the town house would accommodate the quilting frame.

Originally, I wanted to trade my long frame in on a shorter one. Sadly, the company only takes trades on machines; not frames. So, I listed it on their long arm forum as a possible equal trade for a shorter table. I wasn't surprised to find that most people were like me; wanting to trade a long table for a shorter one. I talked to Scott, who is the smartest person I know, about possibly hiring a welder to cut down my existing frame. His main concern was the fact that part of the frame is steel and part is aluminum, which evidently requires specialized welding equipment. Most of the guys he knows through the fire department aren't able to actually do that type of welding. 

One day I was driving home from Scott's place and noticed a sign on a fence near his house. It advertised a mobile welding service. I decided to call the number and see if the guy could help me out. At first, he couldn't figure out what the heck I was talking about, but was more than willing to look at the frame. Long story short, he said it wouldn't be a problem. So after some trial and error, schedule conflicts, etc... the frame was cut down to 10 ft. and I was able to move it to the town house!

The first thing I had to do was switch the guest bedroom and master bedroom. So, the twin bunks for the grands were moved into the corner of the master bedroom. 

Next, I had to move my the cabinet that Dad made for my mother's sewing room to the town house in Temple. It went into the master bedroom to store notions, threads, books, tools, etc.  

After that, I had to deal with the shelves and shelves of fabric in boxes that had been stored at Scott's garage. All of that needed to be moved over as well. I put most of it on shelves in the master bedroom, and the remainder in shelves inside the guest bedroom closet. 

Some of the fabric is stored in large, Rubbermaid containers that I keep under the quilting frame or under my bed in the guest room. 

Once all of the fabric was moved, and the welder worked his magic on the frame, we got it moved over as well. It fits perfectly in front of the two windows in the room, providing oodles of natural light. 

The best thing about putting the long arm in the master bedroom is the location of the bathroom!! Just steps away from my work station.  I am now a much happier quilter because once again... the room is perfect!

                                 

As I close out this post, I have to thank my family for being so patient with me. We all thought our moving days ended when Ron retired from the Army. Little did I know that my gypsy blood would bubble up and cause so many moves by choice. Honestly, I hope this is our last move for a very, very long time. But, who knows what life will bring or where this crazy quilting machine will end up next!

 

COVID 19 Gradual Resumption of Normal Life

It is now the beginning of June, and life has started to return to normal... somewhat. Businesses are slowly reopening. Many people have returned to work. Doctors, dentists, and service industries are treating people while following strict safety guidelines. Some churches and daycare centers are back in operation; but, with restricted attendance. And, most state borders are relaxing the self quarantine expectations, allowing for more frequent state to state travel.  It is progress of a sort. However, we, as a country, still have a lot of unknowns ahead of us. For example; no one really knows what public school will look like in the fall or how long it will take for the economy to recover. I simply cannot help but think this might just be our new normal until the Savior comes. There are just too many prophesied events that are taking place to deny that this is indeed the end of times.

All of that being said, as I look back on the past 3 months, I can see areas where I  have weathered the storm well. And, there are areas where I stand in need of improvement. But, as should be the case with this thing we call life, I have learned much. The most important lesson is this; I must continue to live my life the best way I know how.

Staying anxiously engaged and being productive with the time as we have sheltered at home, has given me a sense of accomplishment AND help me keep sane. Here is a brief photographic look at life during COVID-19.

I have worked on inventory for the Etsy shop, and donations for the One Million Pillowcase challenge and various quilt charities.

I went up to Ft. Worth to help the Gutierrez girls finish their at home learning assignments while Leslie finished her end of the year documentation for her speech patients.

I enjoyed local wildlife on my daily walks, like a crazy crawfish crawling along the side of the road! And, I watched a strange lizard and huge moth take up residence in the ash tree in Scott's back yard. I have also had 2 encounters with egg-stealing snakes outside the chicken coop.

 

We have planted a small, raised garden in Scott's back yard. So far we have picked 3 squash and one tomato. I hope we never have to sustain life with this tiny garden!

     

   

When shelter at home restrictions started to ease, Leslie brought Maggie down to learn how to use the quilting machine. She finished her elementary school T-shirt quilt. 

   

I shopped Bountiful Baskets for the first time. It is a way to get fresh produce from local co-ops. The food was fresh and plentiful; almost too much for Ron and I. We ended us sharing with Scott and Molly.

 

While in Ft. Worth, I got to do a little crafting. We painted sea shells that were collected in Port Aransas. Then, we made some garden gnomes from clay flower pots. I've worked a ton of puzzles, colored coloring sheets, completed word search puzzles, binge watched The Black List and Midsommer Murders on Netflix and Prime, and worked on completing the Yellowstone 128 mile virtual hike. As of today, I only have 45 miles to go!

     

                           

  

During this time, Ron and I have had to review our lives and make the difficult  decision to move out of the RV and find a townhouse to live in. His health makes it difficult to travel full-time, so we've been driving around neighborhoods in Temple and looking at several options. We just recently found a townhouse in Temple and will move in there later this month. Before that can happen, we need to replace all of the furniture we sold when we sold our house. I've started by becoming and "Indian Giver" and taking back furniture I gave our kids.  We refinished a couple of rocking side chairs that had originally belonged to my parents, went with Leslie when she moved to Dallas for college, and finally made their way to Scott's house.

                      

                                                         

We have started packing items we will take to the townhouse, while leaving the basic necessities in the RV. I have decided that the minimalist lifestyle really appeals to me. Having fewer possessions actually lifts my spirits. Ron and I have a followed a rule while living in the RV that we will try to continue to apply in the townhouse. If you bring an item into the house, you must eliminate an item from the house. The land fills, Goodwill stores, resale stores, and close-out stores are evidence that society has placed a lot of value of having stuff. 

So, as Ron and I transition into this next chapter of our lives, we hope and pray that we can continue to weather the storms of life in a way that provides us with growth, happiness, and a renewed faith in God and our fellow man.