Unfinished Projects

One of the perks about this house was the empty room next to the family room in the downstairs of the split level.  There was also a laundry room, but this empty room?  Lots of outlets.  One window.  No closets so it wasn't a bedroom.  What could we do with this room?

Rebecca, our realtor, and I stood in the room, looked at each other, and nearly simultaneously said, "Sewing room!"  

I do like to sew.  I really do. I like the straightness of the seams, the crispness when they are pressed open, the excitement when a project comes together.  

My Grandma Greta Ritchie taught me to sew when I was young, probably around 8 or 9 years old.  The old treadle sewing machine sat in the corner of one of the upstairs bedroom.  Now let me tell you....learning to sew is one thing.  But learning to sew on a treadle machine requires so much coordination!  Actually I think that requirement helped me later on when I was playing the organ and needed to coordinate two hands and my feet!

Through the years my time for sewing has varied, depending on the stage of my life, the time that I had, and the space that was available.  In our old house near Pulaski  our house did not have enough space to devote to a sewing area.  The three bedrooms upstairs were our bedrooms.   The bedroom downstairs was our storage room and it was full of stuff.  So we were relegated to sewing at the dining room table.   During 4-H season the table was covered in fabric, patterns, thread, various notions, and scraps, plus the ironing board was set up in the kitchen area, blocking either the counters or the microwave and making meal time difficult.   

When I began quilting, I tended to work in large blocks of time (which were rare) so that I could start and finish a project without having to put everything away, remember exactly what step I was on, and then pull the machine and the fabric out again.  Result:  many unfinished projects

Of course there have been many finished projects also.  A John Deere quilt for Landon.  A quilt for Cooper (which had been started for Nick and never finished).   A quilt for Lynnlee.  A quilt for Owen.  A baby quilt for Allee.  A baby quilt for Ryan Rausch.  A baby quilt for Jen and Aaron's baby.  Several bags from duck fabric (and no it did not have pictures of ducks on it).  And various other projects.

Finally this week I have been working on organizing the sewing room in the new house.  Yes, I know that we have lived here over a year.  Yes, I know that it should have been done before this.  But honestly I was tired, so tired, of unpacking, sorting, organizing, and pitching stuff from various houses that because I didn't have to do it, I didn't.

But it was time.  We hauled everything out of the room to do my favorite thing ---sort through the boxes and tubs.  We went to the Quonset at Sandy's and moved back the chest of drawers from Hilary's old room to the sewing room.  We moved some of the furniture in the sewing room to better accommodate everything.   And today, I finally have things in place and I am ready to tackle all of those unfinished projects.

• Adding the binding to the queen size quilt, in gray and coral, so that we can use it on our bed.  We painted the master bedroom a light gray and carpeted the floor with gray so that it would be perfect for the new quilt that I made.  But the quilt is one of those unfinished projects.  Once I have the binding sewn together, Hilary is coming over to help me maneuver the quilt under the presser foot because that thing is HUGE and I can't do it alone.
• The Cubs table runner that I started for Amanda's birthday.  What better gift for the new apartment of this very loyal Cubs fan but a table runner with the Cubs logo and all fabric in Cubs red and blue?  It is ready to be machine quilted.  I just need to do it.
• A baby quilt for a little boy.  I made this for a former colleague when she was pregnant, then for several reasons, it wasn't finished.  All it needs is the binding, just like the queen size quilt, but it shouldn't be too hard to finish.  And the best thing is...Shelby and Caleb are having a boy in February and this will be perfect for him.
• A John Deere wall hanging.  This one is a little difficult.  I am not sure what we will do with this one.  Landon was our big John Deere kid, but now that he will be 10 and Papaw isn't farming anymore, the John Deere attraction isn't as strong.
• Finally, the sampler quilt wall hanging.  This is the one that I made in the class at Rossville Quilts during a great quilting class a couple of years ago.  In fact, I was taking the class when we began looking for houses in the area.  It was also the time when we were spending Tuesday night at Megan and Matt's so we could take Cooper to pre-school in Frankfort, then stay with Lynnlee the rest of the day.  For 6 weeks we left early Tuesday morning for my quilt class (Gary stayed at Hilary's house), then later in the day we went to Megan's and returned home later on Wednesday evening.  Yes, a move closer was needed.  Anyway, the sampler was ready to be quilted and I opted to have it done professionally rather than attempt it myself.  I just need to take it to Betty and then put the binding on it.  Now I have a perfect place to hang it also!
• A small quilt that Tessa is making for her American Girl dolls.
• Finally I have packages of fabric that are ready for projects that haven't been started.  Coke fabric for another table runner for newlyweds who have already celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary.  Fabric for a quilt for Tessa.  Baseball fabric for curtains in Cooper's bedroom.  Red/white/blue patriotic fabric for a table runner for our house.  Lots of Christmas fabric that was supposed to be for stockings but will be made into table runners for Christmas gifts. Several charm packs and layer cakes to be made into projects for various people.

I am excited that this is finally coming together.  I love to sew, and I think the finished projects will be appreciated.  At least I hope they will be.

Now that everything is put into the drawers, sorted, and organized, I can work on learning about the new sewing machine that I brought from Mom's house, try to figure out the quilting machine that I bought from Cathy that was Aunt Joyce's machine, and learn some new techniques to use in the process of finishing the projects.

I am excited!!!

Stay turned for more posts about their completions!