Saturday sewing

Yesturday, I woke up with the desire to do some sewing and that is exactly what I did.  More and more I try not to pre-plan my leisure days.  I find I get more enjoyment out of it.  Just going with the flow.  I know there are a lot of things to do, but there are really no particular deadlines.  I have the whole year ahead of me to work on reducing my list down to only ten items.  I still have to share my year end progress, but that will be another post.

When I went down to the studio, I bypassed the longarm and the quilting I am doing there, to sit for a bit with my tea and look at my list of Works in Progress.  There were a hand full of things that I kind of felt like I wanted to advance on.  Then I look up from my chair on the side and see my sewing space surrounded by a bunch of projects.  What to do, what to do.....

Instead of just straightening things up and putting it all away, to be forgotten again for a while, I thought to my self, what is the worst of the mess.  What can I do or finish, that would make the biggest impact, while moving forward, instead of packing it away.  

I was seeing red!  Literally, not in the bad sense of the phrase.  The burgundy and sand star quilt was taking over my sewing table, my cutting table and the ironing station.  So.....I had my answer.  I haven't made much more progress on this quilt, I just didn't put it away from the last time I worked on it.  At this point, I had to still cut the majority of the beige fabrics, which is what was occupying the cutting board and ironing station.  

Mess control....I sorted the small burgundy scraps to one side, for when I can use smaller pieces on the string blocks.  I took out a medium paper back with handles and dumped all the larger burgundy strings in there.  That alone made a big difference.  By this time I am feeling better and start evaluating what needs to be cut, so that I can finally put away the beige fabric.

I started by cutting all the star points and put them aside in sets of four for each block.  As I already had some string blocks made for the center of the star points, I decided to take a break and sew the two sets.  Then I moved on to the cutting all the pieces I needed for the hourglass units, and again decided to stitch those ones up too.  Time was moving along quickly, but I was content in what I was doing and taking my time to enjoy the process.

After a very late lunch/tea break, I came back down to the studio and started cutting the last of the beige.  I cut out all the small squares needed for the nine patch units that are in the alternate block.  That as well took me quite a while, as if you remember, I am literally using my scraps, not yardage, so all the cutting takes longer.  It took me a couple of hours alone to cut the 204 square I needed.  It's all done!!

I took another hour to sort them all out with the three beige blocks first into sixty-eight piles, followed by sorting all the burgundy squares.  I needed six of these per pile.  These are all ready now to start sewing the units, but by this time it was time to go make dinner.  That morning, I had decided that I was going to have a movie night.  So this is where these piles are still at this morning.  I will need to sort these piles in groups of four to make seventeen blocks in total.

I did get my movie night.  I enjoyed my day and decided to continue with relaxation.  I put on an old movie that I hadn't watched in a long time and pulled out my handwork.  I am glad to say that during the two hour movie, I was able to finish the last two flowers needed on the Gathering Flowers block.  Whoohoo!!  Another one done!

This was so satisfying.  Working on the burgundy and sand quilt allowed me to get some progress on the blocks and now my cutting table and ironing station are cleared off.  The burgundies are organized and contained.  Plus, I get to check off my required appliqué block for January.  All in all a very successful day!

I haven't decided what I am going to do today, but I am thinking of seeing what I am inspired to do when I get down there, and let things just flow....no stress, no sweat....just enjoying the process.

Take care everyone.