Finally! Now you can see why the quilting took so long. But it came out well, and I really like it. Especially the “scrappy” binding. I love multicolor bindings.

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Yep, there is all my spare time lately. A herd of Elefelts. For sale on Etsy. The two gray ones and the purple one already sold, but there is another purple one and 3 others in various stages on the way.

I also spent the weekend thinking about what other animals would work well in my shop. I’m about ready to dump all the other inventory and stick to the plush toys. So far, the black cats at Halloween did really really well, and the elephants have always done well. I’ve got a couple of chickens that have been listed forever that no one seems to want, and an orange kitty that is aching for a new home. And I’m going to retire the current fish pattern. I need to make a new one.

So I think I want to make a hippo, and spent the weekend drafting a pattern based on about 14 other hippo patterns and actually animal pictures I found on line. I think I’ve got one, but I’ve yet to actually try and sew it up. Alexis will be happy when I do, because she always gets the “prototype”.

But if any of you two readers have suggestions on cute, faceless stuffed animals, let me know. I suck at ideas.

This weekend I finished this blanket – which has been sitting, cut up in a storage container for nearly a year, I think. This thing is SOFT. I mean really squishibly, snuggly soft. (Do you remember those Snuggle commercials? “It’s snoogly saawft.”)

When I started collecting sweaters for this blanket, I was envisioning it as more white with tan and sage accents. And even when I had all the pieces stacked up in front of me, I still expected it to come out mostly white despite the pathetically small stack of white squares. It’s beautiful though, and I wouldn’t change a thing. I love all the different textures and that I wasn’t completely anal about making all the cables run in the same direction.

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This is the first blanket that I sewed entirely with my serger. I think I’ve got some tension adjustments to work out, but it sure made the job easier. That machine sews through felt like it is warm butter. And I love how it trims up the edges as you go. All those squares… were not so square when I started.

So the big question is, do I edge it, or not? I was thinking a satin binding in a pale brown or cream, but now I’m not so sure. I’ve only ever edged two of my throw blankets, and those were both done with strips of leftover felt. I have used satin binding on baby blankets, but they also have a knit backing. I wonder if the satin would make it look like a big baby blanket. NOT the look I’m going for.

Susan asked me that last night, which disolved us both into giggles.

Somewhere I got this weird wild hair and decided to make this. Yes… I have lost my mind – again. So here you are… 56 grocery sacks worth of plastic yarn. Roughly the size of a basketball. And it only took me 2 hours to cut them up and string them together. ONLY.

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Someone please tell me why can never get rid of all my works in progress… oh! yeah! because I keep starting new shit! I never used to do that, I was strictly a one project gal. Somewhere along the lines, I became corrupted. Right now I have the plarn bag, two quilts partially quilted, a baby hat, 3 shirts, 2 chickens, 3 elefelts, and 2 giraffes started. Oh, and 2 bunnies, which I’m not even sure will work out…

On the other hand, I did finish two projects this weekend. And the floor in the sewing room is once again cleared. I don’t say clean, because it is still covered in little bits of wool fuzz from the last batch of sweaters I felted. I should really learn how that vacuum cleaner works.

Yep, I know, it’s about time! I redid the sewing room um, well I forgot how long ago. And here, for your enjoyment (or amusement) are the photos.

Most of my ideas for changing the room were inspired by a book: Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space by Lois Hallock. Not that I’m much of a quilter. I mean, sure a few here and there. But not really… I needed more of a multi-purpose crafty space. And I’m super anal about neat and tidy shelves.

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One of the best suggestions from the book was about drawing your room and it’s furniture to scale and playing with the pieces until you found a furniture arrangement you could live with. When I did this, I realized that the daybed had to go. It was taking up too much room. So it was off to craigslist. It lasted all of about 4 hours on craigslist before it sold. With the “profit” from the sale of the daybed I managed to buy the Murphy bed you see in the above photo. So now my mother-in-law (who I love dearly, really) has a place to sleep, that isn’t too comfortable, and I have floor space to spread out all those quilts I’m supposed to be making.

Underneath the daybed there were boxes. LOTS of boxes. Most of them filled with fabric. First order of business, empty the boxes and get rid of anything that I wouldn’t buy off the shelf today. That was most of it. You can see all that remained on the two top left shelves of the bookcase. The book also gave great instructions for how to fold all that “quilting” fabric uniformly so that it stacks neatly. So neatly that I felt I could stand to have it out on an open shelf. Which actually works out well, because now I can see what I have without crawling under the dust ruffle and pulling out six other boxes to get to the box with the fabric that I think I want.

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One thing that I wanted to do that actually got done, was moving the Bose iPod dock thingy into my room. Woo hoo! Tunes while I work. Trust me, it’s better than my whistling.

I love that my serger and sewing machine are just an arm’s reach away. And all my thread is stored either on the keyboard tray of the desk or in that drawer you can see. And I love the new lamp from Ikea that lights the machines as I work. I wonder how I ever worked without it. That little appliance bulb in the sewing machine puts out about as much light as a firefly.

sewingroom1.jpg The closet. Which here looks over stuffed and unorganized. Really, it looks much better in real life, but perhaps I should consider some curtains. You can’t even see my most ingenious idea which involves Ikea pants hangers and yards and yards of fabric. All of my Etsy inventory is stored on these shelves. Most of it in the two red baskets on the bottom.

And you get a glimpse of the big fabric covered board on the wall. This is one of those pin boards that everyone seems to be making these days. Not even one of the tutorials on these things mentions what a pain in the butt it is to find homasote. We had to drive clear to Georgetown to even find a piece. And on the way back, with the damn thing flapping on the roof, I had to sit there and pull DOWN on the string going through the cabin of the car to keep us from literally sailing off the highway.

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There is the rest of it, with the one lone pinwheel block leftover from the quilt on the back of the chair. Cool thing was, the blocks stick to the linen covering the board, and I laid out the entire quilt on the wall. No more crawling around like Gollum on the floor rearranging block after block until I get a “random” look. Yeah, I know I need help.

And you can see my easel. With a really roughed in sketch of my friend, Sarah. I haven’t touched it in at least 6 weeks. Maybe this weekend. If I can get enough crap done at work. The easel is great though. It’s beautiful on it’s own, and as an added bonus, I can lower the “shelf” enough to sit on the floor and work. I don’t know about you, but sitting on the floor is usually more comfortable than a chair in my experience.

You can see the little tiny part of my magnet board which holds a few pieces of inspiration cut from magazines. What isn’t showing is my medal from last year’s danskin.

I absolutely love this new room. I love the color on the walls (it used to be YELLOW… like really really yellow). I love my new furniture. I love all the storage. But most of all, I love that it is my room where I can go and hide out. And THAT is why there are no plans for another baby anytime soon.

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