Saturday in the Sewing Room and Stash Enhancement

Before we went away in the middle of April our street trees were looking rather lovely in their autumn colours. 

By the time we returned home at the end of the month the weather had definitely turned the corner towards winter. 

Saturday was quite cold and Mick was at work (yes, still going to work), so it was a great opportunity to get my sewing room in some sort of order, so that I could actually do some sewing. 

Oh dear!  What a mess. After declaring that there would only be my current projects in there it had become a dumping ground once again, especially after Scrub Stitchin’ and then heading off again so soon. 

First things first, take everything out that wasn’t in its correct home……

This pile of things that have nothing to do with sewing wasn’t very large, so was easy to dump somewhere else to deal with later……well, actually I did put some of it away. 

These two piles were a little larger and all sewing related. Oh my goodness!

OK, now that all that stuff was out of the room it was time to vacuum, dust and get my sewing machine set up again. 

Doesn’t that look a bit better. 

At this stage I had an urge to do some actual sewing before tackling the big pile of mess. 

I had pulled out Mick’s flanny shirts for winter and this one had a big tear across the bottom of the back section. It had been sitting in the mending pile for, ooh, maybe three years. You can’t rush these things.  It’s only an old work shirt, so any sane person would just chuck it, but, shock horror, I decided to mend it and earn some brownie points. 

There you go. All done, be it very rough, and with a gap where the edges were not going to meet.  Mick was speechless, so he said. (Yes, I know that doesn't sound right.) He was wearing it on Sunday. 

So, how does my sewing room look now?

Not perfect, but it is a working room, not a show room.  There is some washing to put away and the big blue bag that was sitting in front of the couch has a couple of my quilts and cushions in it which still  need to be put away. 

On the shelf under the quilting frame there are my current projects. After a couple of years of finishing things, I seem to have a few on the go at the moment.  Having said that, a couple don’t need much doing to them. I’m not going to have any quilts quilted at the moment, rather hang onto them until I learn how to use Monique.  I’ll have to get a big tub to keep them in, together with their binding and backing ready to go.

The bags on my cutting table have clothes I need to adjust for Mum. The rather lovely sewing basket is one I recently acquired. I’m not sure where I’ll put it or what I will use it for, so it is in the way at present.  

However, all in all, I’m ready to start sewing again. I can’t wait. 

Now, a little about that stash enhancement I mentioned. 

I’ll just show this photo again. See the pile of plastic tubs next to the lounge. Well, the two longer ones at the bottom of the front pile and the three at the back (the blue lidded ones and the one below it) are my new stash enhancement. Let me tell you a story. 

On the Sunday morning before Scrub Stitchin’ I was chatting with my next door neighbour and she asked if I had seen the quilt fabric garage sale on Facebook on Saturday. No, we’d had a quick look for garage sales, but had been helping out at the church fete for most of the day, so hadn’t seen it.  She said it was advertised again that morning, so I straight away hopped in the car to see if anything was left. It was quite close to home. 

When I got there, there were lots of tubs of fabrics being sold by weight at a very reasonable price. It turned out it was a deceased estate destash.  There was hardly any yardage, but mainly fat quarters and small cuts. They were good quality fabrics and mainly civil war reproductions. The greens had been sold the previous day. Apparently there had only been four people turn up on the Saturday and only me on the Sunday morning. I enquired who the deceased lady was and it turned out I knew her. She had been in the same beginner class as me at the Home Patch way back in 2003 and went on to make some beautiful quilts. I had also gone to school with her daughter. Small world. I selected a good quantity of shirtings and low volume fabrics as well as a few others that took my eye and went home. 

I told Mick how good it was and I was seriously thinking of going back and buying some more. Now, get this……he suggested I call “The Chook”, as he calls Chookyblue, and see if she would like some. So I did, and of course she would…..so I went back. 

When I returned, they were just about to close it all down. Photos and phone calls to Chooky happened. How to decide what to buy?  Why don’t we ask how much for the lot?  So we did, and yes, we bought the lot! I think they were happy to clear the decks. They also wanted me to take all her magazines, but there was no room for them. I did take a couple of books. They also threw in a hand quilting hoop on a floor stand for anyone who would like it at Scrub Stitchin’, which was very kind.

So, the ute was piled high with eight tubs of fabric when we headed off to Baradine. Chooky and I wondered how we would divide it, but it ended up being rather simple, as there was a general blend of each colour, so we just did a split down the middle, after each selecting a few fabrics we particularly liked. We still can’t quite believe what a great bargain we got. 

I haven’t had a proper look through my tubs yet, but there will be scope to make some lovely quilts using a wide variety of fabrics. I really don’t need to shop for fabric any time soon. 

Well, that is enough blabber for one day. Hopefully I’ll be back soon with some actual stitching to share.