Away for the day , week! Drive on!

 It's vacation time in the summer!

We have planned to go on a few road trips and 

I really want to make sure I have 

something to do on the road!

I found this rug project and 

 I haven't figured out how 

to improve the process ( or what I had planned),

so that may stay home. 

Isn't the tin lovely? It was

designed as a kit/project box 

for liquid embroidery. The top

is even a hoop to hold the 

project as you worked!

I do like the crocheted rug project.

Here is the first one I made. 

The Rental dog loves it. 

I have an avid crafter friend who 

churns these out to order . 

I am not that speedy! 

Mine also curve sometime. 

Her advice was " Loosen up!"

That is what vacations are for so 

I will remember to try that. 

The one in progress is rectangular.  

It will be portable and 

not too hot on my lap. 

I am not a big hand sewer but this 

will keep the creative brain busy 

while I enjoy western Canada. 

The selvages just need a little 

sorting before they get packed

in the go bag.

Stay safe and sew on !

Design wall cleanup!

 My design wall is 

temporarily empty so I 

am going to try to clean it!

 (Sorry, no dirty picture here!?!)

First up are the tapes. 

The packing tape and 

painters tape were both a bust. 

 They seem to pick up

more of the flannel than the threads.

Then I tried picking it off

but the life is too short for that.

Next I tried a small brush. 

This is actually a surgical brush 

the nurses used on my boy's hair

when he was born. 

(Yes now an antique!)

It worked a bit better.

Inspired, I found a retired

boar bristle brush. 

It worked very well! Ta Da ! 

 

An almost pristine design wall!

                    Oddly enough, the bargain table clothes that 

I use for additional design walls are easier to clean!

Maybe the lower quality flannel on them 

doesn't hold the threads as well!

Good success and ready

 to fill those design walls!

Stay safe and sew on!

Still More Marie!

 Well , the renos are moving 

slowly but I am charging ahead on the 

sorting and thinning!!

I have managed to thin 

all my bags. 

 I certainly didn't need 

that  many on the shelf!

I brutally went thru them 

and sorted them by purpose. 

The office type bags took 

the biggest hit on usage.

As I don't go to an office 

anymore, there is no need

 for a bag to carry necessities for the day!

I now have three that will serve

for dinner out or more formal events.

Next up were the travel/shopping bags.

I now have three. 1 backpack style and two

side carry cross body bags. 

Two of the three are black. 

I had a recent scare where I thought 

my bag had been lost or stolen simply 

because the black color blended into 

the dark interior of the car! 

Now both bags have been embellished with

bright trims so can easily been seen! 

The third is a travel crossbody bag , 

brightly colored for plane travel. Lots of pockets

for all my smaller travel needs. I even 

modified the edge to carry a small

sanitizing kit !

  

The top shelf looks a lot lighter now!

I did save this little pink purse for my grand daughter. 

It was too cute to donate!

Also , side story, I have a friend

whose mother loved fancy bags .

 She had asked that her grand daughters

get her bags when she passed. Imagine the 

stir at the play school when her little 

grand daughter showed up with all her Barbies 

neatly arranged in a $3000 Louis Vuitton handbag. 

We all see different value in things. 

Like this little girl said, "It's my gamma's!"

Stay tidy!

Finish and go!

July was  a busy month and it looks 

like August will be the same!

The Saskatchewan quilts were 

well received and spread some joy 

and great feelings all around the province.

Now I am finishing up a quilt to take to 

family in Vancouver. 

This is the color block quilt using

white sashing around colored scrap squares. 

Some call them crumb blocks but these

have large pieces and often include parts

of previous projects. 

This one of my go to blocks to use up scraps

and get a great result every time!

You'll notice the parched looking grass. 

We've been under a water ban for

weeks now. A dry hot summer here!

This quilt is so much fun to make. 

It may end up on my remake list !

It resided on the design wall for some time and 

was even part of the design wall pile up for a while!

One difficulty I ran into  was pressing

 to the least amount of seams. 

I turned out to be a problem as 

all the colors showed thru the white sashing!

I had to unpin , aggressively  repress

and re-pin but it was so worth it!

I took advantage of the different colors to 

use a different free motion design for 

each different color of block. 

Part of this busy month is watching 

one of the family dogs (rental dog).

He did help with the photo shoot!

The quilt is bound with a scrappy binding made of 

left over block colors. 

I used 20" squares for the back. 

It really helps pare down the stash!

Doing the label today and then it 

is ready for delivery!

Stay safe and sew on!

Linking up with :

Wednesday Wait Loss

Design Wall Monday!

Next to dos!

Remember all these florals?

 Well , I hate to admit it, 

but I found a few more florals !

I managed to gift all the floral quilts 

I made, so these two tops 

will certainly not go to waste!

The first one was made with more

 2 1/2" inch wide strips and the 

square , 2 wide border. 

The final floral (famous last words), 

design got a little different!

There were no more 2 1/2" strips

so I combined 2-  2" strips and 

joined them with a lattice. 

Not sure what the border will be ,

 but it should be fun to find out!

These two are on the list of to dos,

along with labeling 2 quilts.

This wedding quilt needs a label. 

It has been waiting a while 

since restrictions on gathering 

kept changing.

This color block quilt is getting a label

in preparation of traveling west to 

visit family. 

Also some shopping to restock the blender threads. 

Can shopping really be a to do? 

How fun is that!

Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with :

To Do Tuesday!

Needle and Thread Thursday!