Creative Sewing Space and some Show and Tell

A few weeks ago a quilting friend of mine sent me a photo of a very expensive rack that you can set up next to your sewing machine to aid in supporting a quilt while you quilt it.  It was cute but way beyond my budget even if I had space for it.

The idea was great though.  It was using clamps and bungees to support the weight of a quilt.

I sew in a closet.  I have the spare bedroom for my sewing space but I share it with the dogs.  My dogs are bedroom trained instead of crate trained. So while I have total use of the room most of the time, when we go out the dogs go in.  It's a great space but I find that I like the fact that they can't get to my machine and pins etc. etc. etc. when I'm out.

Well I took the basic idea and hung clamps attached to bungees from the wire shelf in my closet that's above the machine.  It works really, really well.

Finished quilt front and

back.

Both of these quilts were made for the local Honor Flight program.  This quilt was made using the pattern  idea from  Mary  who is involved with the Heart Strings Quilt Project.  She shares her patterns and pattern ideas for use for Charitable projects.  I loved this  idea.  It was quick and makes a perfect Honor Flight quilt.

Back.

Several members of my guild are also aiming to use the pattern for this project. Thank you Mary.

1st Stash Builder - Heartbuilder Project

I've been doing rehab for my knee by sewing by little heart out.  Yes I can sew with my left foot but I prefer sewing with my right.  So I am using both feet as energy allows. Physical Therapy right?

I choose my kick off project to be a couple of quilt tops for the Stash Builders - Heartbuilders  project.  Please click on the link to find out about this great organization.

They supply fabric for the quilt top and you can use just what is supplied or add to it as you choose.  I ended up adding to the fabrics and was able to make 2 tops.

I seem to have a new addiction to tumbler blocks. I love them and this top came together over the course of a weekend.  I'm actually working on another tumbler project that I can't show until  couple of months from now since they will be part of a swap.

The red fabrics are both heart patterns. Not my normal go to choice.  A friend suggested bow ties and I found that they weren't a bad place to start.  I ended up with enough left over fabric to do the tumblers with some additional fabric from the stash.

I have also made a decision on my Quilt 365 project.  I started the project on Jan 1 and was gung ho  for the first 3 - 4 months. Daily most of the time and then around mid April it became a job instead of relaxing. I took the bag of blocks out this weekend and did a couple and decided that I will bring the count up to 180 and then stop.  I need to do an official count but I know I'm over 100, my best guess is about 125.  

I realized that I do some kind of crafting every day. I have a project journal where I keep track of what I want to do and what I have accomplished on a daily basis. Most days more than one type of crafting. Some of the projects I am currently doing include knitting, crocheting, stitching, card making and mostly quilting.