My favourite room in the house is my covered porch. It’s a living room, dining room, library and laundry room and solarium all rolled up into one special space. Today it’s the laundry room.
I don’t have a clothes line yet. For now, I use a laundry rack. And I dry the sheets and towels over the railing. They benefit from a bit of solar bleaching, too.
It smells really nice, sitting out here surrounded by the smell of fresh laundry drying in the sun. And it feels kind of cozy and secret, the way the sun filters through the cotton.
Sitting here on the porch swing watching the laundry dry reminds me of being a little girl. I loved walking between the lines of damp laundry on the line, my hands trailing along the lines of cool drying sheets…a secret hide-away.
Misty certainly isn’t complaining.
Do you have childhood memories of laundry drying on the line?
Today is one of those honest, old-fashioned lazy days. The kind we always wish we could have. The kind we imagine we used to have, back in the good old days, whenever those were. Of course, we can’t actually remember any specific lazy Sundays. But they must have existed, right? Because we remember them.
Maybe they don’t happen very often. Maybe that’s why they’re so special. Like today.
Outside my window the snow is falling and everything is covered in drifting white. The wind is ringing the chimes outside the front door. I have a cup of tea at my elbow and Mr. C is snoozing reading on the couch while our fur babies enjoy a group snuggle in front of the fire.
Today I did not get up with any particular agenda in mind. I may spend some time with my latest hand quilting project. This little quilt is so sweet. I’m quilting white-on-white because I want the quilt to look embossed when finished.
If you’re interested in quilting by hand, I’m using 40 weight YLI quilting thread in “natural” and John James size 10 hand quilting needles. I’m also quilting it directly in my hands instead of using a hoop or a frame. I’m also using a product called Thimble Pads on my pushing finger: little sticky leather dots. I love them.
I’m really enjoying quilting directly in my hands this way. I don’t know if I’ll go back to using a hoop after this. My stitches are a bit coarser, but they’ll improve with practice.
Other news: my critiques are all in from my little critique group. I will probably spend some time looking at them. Or maybe not.Maybe I’ll save those for tomorrow, because I know that once I open them I’m going to want to get busy with edits. I won’t be able to help myself. And that sounds like work. Not worthy for such a deliciously lazy day.
Later on my friend Cynde is coming over and we’re going to eat some of the apple cake that I made yesterday (recipe here), drink tea and watch a Craftsy class together.
Oh dear. I’m sorry I disturbed you, Sam!
Today I’m linking in with Slow Stitching Sunday over at Kathy’s Quilts, and at Lily’s Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet. And that’s all the work I’m going to do.
I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday as much as I am enjoying mine. Are you being lazy, too?
My name is Samson J Collins and I did a Very Bad Thing.
Do you remember the beautifultwisted tea time quilt that my friend Gully’s mom Dee made for my mom a couple of years ago?
Well, I was snoozing in the sun the other day when I heard an awful sound! It came from my mom! It sounded like Arrrgghhh!! and then I heard her say, “Oh, Sam, what have you done?” I jumped right up and ran to investigate.
Oh. That.
Um…well… obviously I must have had something to do with that little incident. I wish I could remember! Maybe I was left unsupervised during a thunder storm? That quilt helped me get through a rough time!”
I am very sorry.
I know! I’ll make amends by helping my mom out in the sewing room!
Yesterday I held down the quilt sandwich so Mom could baste it.
Just when I thought I was done, my Mom laid out a second, larger top to baste that very same day! I had to recruit Misty to help. This was too much quilt for one little dog to hold down all by myself!
And then I supervised that darned Spooky for the rest of the day.
I even swallowed my pride and held this little table runner up so Mom could take a picture.
Even though it was beneath my dignity. Making amends can be so…embarrassing!
I’ve written so many blog posts in my mind over the last several weeks. Sadly, none of them have made the (sometimes torturous) journey from my head to my fingertips and onto the keyboard.
So while I’m sorting it all out, and just to let you know that I’m still here, I’ll post a little update from the sewing room.
I finally finished The Friendship Garden quilt!
All that’s left is sewing on the label.
Goodness, I didn’t know if I would ever finish this quilt! It just kept demanding more and more. It was ridiculous! I’m only going to give you a brief glimpse here. This quilt has an interesting story but it hasn’t had it’s photo shoot yet. And you know me…a quilt isn’t truly finished until it’s had its picture properly taken, lol! So sorry…you’ll just have to wait for it.
Last September I started taking a class at my local quilt shop (Threads & Paper in Salmon Arm). The class is called A Quilter’s Garden. It is a beginners machine applique class. Let me stress beginners! It’s perfect for me. Exactly what I need, considering that I am still learning how to use my new sewing machine with all its various stitches and features.
Each block introduces a different skill, such as couching, and sewing on buttons with the button foot. Sadly, I cannot seem to master the button foot. Consequently, I’ve been sewing on all the buttons by hand. sigh.
And the couching. Well okay. I admit that my first try at couching was a complete and absolute bust. In fact, I was so nervous to try it that I didn’t even try! that’s how much of a bust it was! Instead, I decided to totally redesign the block. Completely. This block (below) isn’t even close to the pattern that we were given. But I love it!
Did you notice the sweet little diamond buttons eyes? They make me so happy!
Of course, I like to do things my own way, so haven’t exactly been following the patterns. I’ve kind of carried on doing my own thing..
For instance, there aren’t any birds in any of the original patterns. None! Now, I don’t know why, but I really wanted some birds in there! This quilt just begs for birds, don’t you think?
They’re so tweet!
And yes, I finally did attempt the couching (above). 🙂
I keep thinking of great bloggy things that I want to write about, and then I go off and do something else (like mow the lawn or hang out the laundry) and my ideas fly away like birds. Scattershot.
So instead I’ll catch you up on my sewing life.
I signed up to take a block of the month class at my LQS (that stands for local quilt shop for all you non-quilters who wonder what the heck I’m talking about.) It’s a applique class that will teach me all the cool things that I can do with my sewing machine beyond simply sewing. This is my first block. I added the bird and his tail is going to extend over into the sashing, which is why it looks unfinished. I HAVE to add my own creative mark, right? Right! It’s machine applique. I’ve never done machine applique before and I am still sitting on the fence with it. It looks very…manufactured (to me, anyway.) It’s a very different look from needle-turn-by-hand. I’m linking this new project up to the NewFO Challenge over at Cat Patches. The object of the challenge is to start a NewFO (new fabric object) every month, which can then become a UFO (unfinished fabric object), which is something I have no problem accomplishing, lol!
And I also started a project from a book, which makes me eligible to link up with the Let’s Book It party over at Vrooman’s Quilts. The object here is to make a project from a book that you actually already own. What a concept! I have an entire shelf (okay, two shelves) of quilt books full of things that I want to make someday. So I have started an applique project from a book that I’ve had for years, called My Whimsical Quilt Garden by Becky Goldsmith Linda Jenkins. It uses needle-turn applique. Here is my first block, which is NOT finished yet.
PLUS, I made the Ring Toss quilt (blogged here) from my Project Linus book. So I am doubly eligible for the Let’s Book It party!
AND, my Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt is featured this week as part of the Tuesday Archives over at Val’s Quilting Studio! It’s really cool to see my quilt featured on someone else’s website! Go check it out!
And on the dress front…
I am still working toward my goal of sewing a dress out of real fabric (as opposed to a bed sheet).
I don’t have a clothes line yet. For now, I use a laundry rack. And I dry the sheets and towels over the railing. They benefit from a bit of solar bleaching, too.
It smells really nice, sitting out here surrounded by the smell of fresh laundry drying in the sun. And it feels kind of cozy and secret, the way the sun filters through the cotton.
Sitting here on the porch swing watching the laundry dry reminds me of being a little girl. I loved walking between the lines of damp laundry on the line, my hands trailing along the lines of cool drying sheets…a secret hide-away.
Misty certainly isn’t complaining.
And I also started a project from a book, which makes me eligible to link up with the 
