Mother Nature Brings Sewing to a Halt

If you've never spent a spring living in "Tornado Alley", you may not have witnessed the havoc of a violent prairie thunderstorm.

Trees bend to the ground under the wind and the weight of the rain, gutters overflow creating waterfalls in front of windows, hail decimates flower beds, and all eyes are glued to the weather channel radar. While tornado sirens pierce the air rainwater creeps silently from the ground onto basement floors.

The nearest tornado touched down 4 miles from our house, but when Monday evening's storm ended we'd had 6 1/2"  inches of rain in just a few hours. The water in my sewing room and in the storage area under the stairs wasn't discovered till Tuesday morning.

Everything came to a standstill. I didn't sew a stitch from early Monday through Friday, and I heated leftovers or supermarket rotisserie chicken for every meal. The pictures tell the story.

Everything was shoved together away from the wet areas. The sewing machine is almost hidden behind the piles.

It was too much for the shop vac.

Carpet pads drying outside on the makeshift clothesline.

Almost dry floors.

Lots of baking soda sprinkled under dry carpet pads.

I'll be sewing tomorrow. A cat quilt needs to be finished. 

The cutting tables sit right in the corner where water came in. They are easily collapsed, the desk is on sliders, and most of the storage drawers have wheels.

For the time being I've rearranged furniture and put the heavy dresser against a wall that stayed dry, and more easily moved furniture by the wet areas. After we get some work done to stop the water, I'll decide where to place furniture permanently. 

They say we'll have a wet summer, and more rain is expected Sunday night through Tuesday. We are hoping we can schedule something quickly, but it's taking time to find a contractor. Everyone who works with basements is overwhelmed by calls for help from all over the city. 

It could have been so much worse! The tornado missed us, and nothing more than a pack of wrapping paper was ruined. This little bit of water is a nuisance, but falls way down in the minor category on the scale of things that could go wrong. I'll be sewing again today. 

Stay dry and safe, everyone! 

Wishing you a super great week!

The Splendid Sampler Gallery - Slowing Down

The Splendid Sampler post is late this week, and I may not have something to show every week, at least not over the summer. I need to swing into wedding mode and work on new designs for my patterns. In addition to that, summer is upon us, and my friends won't have any Splendid Sampler blocks till later.

I actually did make a teensy bit of progress after dinner last night. I chose two very easy blocks and finished them up quickly - anything to make me feel like I'm getting somewhere. Once again, I need to remind myself that I'm not in school, the blocks are not graded assignments, and I can work at my own slow turtle pace.

The hat is actually a bonus block named "Derby Day" from Pat Sloan. I don't know why it simply begged to go on this background piece, but it was unrelenting. Guess it wanted to be a city hat.

The second block I made is Block 17, "Sweet Candy". I absolutely loved making this one! This is one of those fun little things for those moments when a person craves something fast, easy, and no-fail. It is definitely a sweet little block. Marjorie sent this photo of her latest block. The colors are so springlike and happy! Her quilt will be so much fun when it's finished. She's going on vacation, so she won't be be sending any photos of Splendid Sampler blocks for awhile.

From My Splendid Friends 

Marjorie
Marjorie sent this photo of her latest block. The colors are so springlike and happy! Her quilt will be so much fun when it's finished. She's going on vacation, so she won't be be sending any photos of Splendid Sampler blocks for awhile.

 Marjorie says, 

"This was really a relaxing pattern to stitch.  Sad to say this will probably be my last block for about a month.  It is time to close our Fl home and go to GA for the summer."

Dixie
Dixie, on the other hand, has so many other projects in the works that she's taking a very long break from the Splendid Sampler. This Baltimore Album quilt in progress simply boggles my mind. Never in a million years would I have the patience to take on something like this! Just WOW, Dixie! This is gorgeous!

From Dixie:

"Several years ago I completed the same designer’s “Baltimore Autumn” quilt, same size, same format. When Keepsake Quilting offered it as a block of the month, all laser cut, I had to jump in.  I have always been fascinated by Baltimore Album quilts, but I knew I’d not have the time nor the patience for all the extra preliminary work.  It took me several years to complete, and then I sent it off to an award-winning long arm quilter in Maine, and the results were stunning.  Wow, I was so happy.

I thought long and hard about doing this “Spring” one.  I don’t have the same energy these days, but I made up my mind to have the “companion” piece in my collection.  As with my “Baltimore Autumn,” this one will be all machine appliqué, a combination of blanket stitch where I can, and, where the pieces are too tiny, I’ll just do raw edge appliqué. I’ll probably take all the blocks down from my wall soon, as, sometimes when I walk into the sewing room, I want to turn around right away and run as fast as I can, as the work looks so daunting!  Slow and steady wins the race, though, and  that’s what I am counting on."

***

These particular blocks my be slowing down, but even if I have nothing to show from the Splendid Sampler, I'll continue blogging every week about something or another. 

Take Note: 

I love sharing my readers' work. If you have a project of any kind that you'd be willing to share, please send photos and tell us something about it. You can send them through my facebook page, or you can email them to me here: klee2strings@gmail.com. I'll try to post anything you send within a week of receiving the photos. 

Hope you have a truly "Splendid" week!!

Building Baskets

I really like my pretty tulip baskets! I like that there are two styles and two different sizes in one pattern.  I like that each one of them is lovely. I really like the fact that they stitch up quickly and easily. I like the scalloped top, the flared side panels, the hexagonal base, the button trim, and the handles that can drop out of the way. I'm a very happy camper.

There must be dozens of ways to use these containers, and they make super gifts. In the craft room they can hold project supplies.  In the bathroom a basket could be filled with hand towels or with lotions and creams.  Little onesies, bibs, fresh diapers, or cuddly toys could be stored in a pretty basket in the nursery. A basket by the door would be a great container for mittens, keys, or cell phones. I accidentally discovered that the smallest basket is just right to fit around a small plant pot. 

As always, lessons were learned from making something that was different from anything I'd made before. There are two baskets so awful that they will never be completed, and two that look fine, but were constructed in a complicated, round about way. The last three baskets look perfect, and they were the easy ones. I made two of them in one day.

The Lessons: 

1. Stiff bag batting isn't the best for something with six side panels and a hexagon for a base. This pattern sews up way easier with a flexible batting. When I switched to Soft and Stable I found I could relax while sewing. It isn't my first choice for every bag or basket project, but the more I work with this product, the more I like it.

2. Soft and Stable is too thick for making nice buttonholes. A thinner batting or belting work much better.

3. "Y" seams don't have to be hard! When I finally figured out the steps, the bag just zipped together.

4. Sometimes you need to trim batting back really close to the seams, and sometimes you need to sew next to the batting rather than through it.

Happy Stitching

from this

 

The Splendid Sampler Gallery. Slim Pickings.

This week I've accomplished nothing at all with Splendid Sampler blocks. Zip, zilch, zero. It isn't that I've been goofing off, but that I've been busy with writing tutorials and a basket pattern.

Dixie has decided to take a break for awhile. Like me, she has other commitments that take precedence over this project.

Now and again we need to step back and decide just what our priorities are. I love the Splendid Sampler and the tremendous variety of blocks in different styles. It's challenging, it's fun, it's filled with new skills for me to learn. In spite of that, I have no choice but to work on those thing that matter most to my family. There are pants and a wedding dress waiting to be shortened, a garden in need of attention, a house that must be cleaned, meals that have to be prepared, and only so many hours in a given day. 

I will catch up eventually. Will I make every single block that we are given? Absolutely not. I love most of the blocks, but there are some I'll skip. Some are too time consuming and others simply don't fit in with my vision of the finished quilt.

But, all is not lost!! 

Marjorie has come riding across the prairie with two new blocks to share!!

And they are beauties, too!
 

I love the vibrancy of these color combinations. So bright and lively. This will be such a pretty quilt. 

Marjorie's message was short and sweet.

"Hello Karen,  Hot off the ironing board.  Hopefully I am on a roll .  I must say,  I liked working with Solvy.  Will definitely use again.  Happy stitching,  Marjorie"

 
 Marjorie, I do hope you're on a roll! Your work is lovely.

Let's see what next week brings. 

It's been wet, gray, and dismal for long enough now.  

I wish you sunshine and lollipops for May, and a few rainbows and other wonderful things, too.