Finally Sewing Again!!!

I have finally made it back to my machine! Well, to the cutting table and ironing board anyway, but that means that I will be sitting down at the machine really soon.

I would have LOVED to be in the sewing room all last week once we got home from my daughter's hospital stay, but, while we were gone, my husband and older daughter gutted the older daughter's (SingAndDance) bedroom for a room re-do/tween update.  It was a logical (ummm, sort of) time to do it, with MonkeyNinja being out of the house.  She shouldn't be exposed to great amounts of dust, paint fumes, cleaning stuff, etc...and all of that was involved in the room re-do.  And, since I wasn't home, either, it was logical (ummmm, sort of) to move everything out of SingAndDance's bedroom and into the sewing/crafting/toy room.

So, after 12 long days in the hospital, I arrived back home to find my entire upstairs, especially MY space, filled with the belongings of a wonderful 11 year old who was making her very best effort to sort through everything and purge/donate before moving things back into her room which still wasn't quite ready yet, despite her father's very best efforts to get it done.  It was hard to be upset.  But really, seeing my space filled up like that when my nerves were already raw was unsettling.  I might have cried (a little).

It was kind of comical how they had just tossed stuff in, and piled it up, too.  I should have taken a picture to show you but, honestly, I think I might still cry, looking at it, even now.

All's well that ends well, though.  My husband finished a self-designed, custom built loft bed for SingAndDance.  They worked together to paint her room a really lovely shade of blue with orange and pink accents (she had a plan, he dutifully followed it).  And she and I sorted through her "stuff" and packed up and put away a lot of keepsakes that she just doesn't need on hand, sent a few boxes full off to be donated and are working on setting up and accessorizing her new room.

ALL THAT to say...I have my space back!  I am celebrating by starting a quilt that has been on my mind for months, since SingAndDance commented, "You should make a Pink and Brown Chevron Quilt.   That would be really pretty."  After that, chevron quilts and patterns seemed to be everywhere I looked.  And she's right, I DO love pink, brown (and cream) together.  So, I've been keeping an eye out for a few pink prints, and I pulled some pinks and browns/neutrals from my stash, and here we have:

...the start of something pretty!

I am using this tutorial from Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation.  It's her Easy Peasy Chevron pattern, and I like that sound of every single bit of that!!  Yesterday I was able to get all of my fabric pulled, decide on an order and get 9 inch squares cut from each fabric.  Kelly's tutorial involves making 4 HST's at a time from 9 inch squares.  I haven't done HST's this way before, but I love the idea!

It was a very tight squeeze getting enough 9 inch squares from some of my fabrics.  My "stash" includes really old and really random pieces that have come from garment sewing, doll making and other odds and ends so there were some pretty weird pieces.  In fact, both of my neutrals ran short, so I am mixing and matching a bit.  I'm not sure I'll like the effect, but this is supposed to be a stash buster, not a stash filler (I did buy new pinks, but only fat quarters so they are pretty much used up...) and it's a charity quilt.  We'll see how it turns out!  

I am really hopeful that I will be able to finish the top by Friday.  Because that will be August 1, and I have a DOOZY of an August to-do list!  

I am off to carve out thirty minutes of sewing time before the piano teacher gets here and before I have to start dinner...  Hopefully I will be able to post progress pictures soon!  (HEY!  The piano teacher is running late!  I think dinner will be late, too!  More time to sew!)

Happy Sewing!