Last summer I set a goal of organizing my studio. A friend came several hours a day for three weeks and we managed to sort, organize, give away and throw away enough stuff that the basic studio is usable. She now comes for a few hours every Friday and we must clear the table of a week's worth of accumulation before we can start on her project. She is a young mother living in a very small space with no place to sew or do crafts. She loves the Fridays in my studio away from the family for a few hours and I enjoy the help. Sometimes during the summer she would say she didn't feel like she had been much help that day as I had to sort and make the decisions. I said that her big contribution was keeping me on task. If she had not been here I would have found an excuse to leave the mess and run errands. We still need to attack the closets and laundry room but for now I need to sew.
This fall I started on a major project, The Civil War Love Letters Quilt by Rosemary Youngs. The 121 blocks are all foundation pieced finishing six inches. My goal was to have it finished by January 1st but life got in the way. After finishing 44 blocks I had to put it aside for several weeks. I started teaching a class based on the book in January. It is really more of an encouragement group than a class as the only technique is foundation piecing. To finish in one year the students need to make eleven blocks a month. We thought only a few people would be crazy enough to take the class but there is over 30 sign-up for it. They all came back for the second month so they haven't been scared off yet! The problem was I had only prepared for
15 so at the last minute had to make new handouts and cut new kits. They don't have to use our kit but many are finding it convenient. This month I have started working on the blocks again and have finished another 22 so I am over half way done. Nothing is on my calendar for the rest of the month except making these blocks.Hopefully I will be able to be close to finished with all blocks by March 1st when I leave for a week in Florida. The shop owner would really like to have the quilt finished by mid April for the Rosemont show. I have talked with the long arm quilter and we are thinking that she will do a stitch in the ditch around all blocks and I will bind it by the Rosemont show. Later I can add hand quilting in each block. If anyone knows of a long arm quilter who has experience in quilting small sampler blocks like Dear Jane please email me privately. The only way I will finish this monster is by chaining myself to the machine. I continue to teach the other three monthly classes but have someone else making the samples for February and March.
Now you know a little of what has been happening in the quilty portion of my life.
Susan