Transformations: Ma's Sewing Room Turned into a Guest Room with Sewing Nook

Trnsformations: Holly's Sewing Room into a Guest Room with Sewing Nook

When my mom died in 2020, I couldn't really do anything with her stuff because at that time int he pandemic, we didn't have vaccines, and I didn't want to inadvertently make my dad sick.  So last year, my sister decided that that room should be transformed into a guest room so she'd have a space upstairs to sleep, since my brother has pretty much taken over the basement these days.  She lives in Japan, so of course,she can't do the job. It was up to me ... since I quilt and knew what to do with everything.

So beginning in May of last year (2021), I started going up to my Dad's house once a month to go through all the stuff in my mom's sewing room, with the idea of making enough room to turn it into a guest room.  It was nice to check in on him, and to walk in the woods ... It's a lovely drive through the Menomonee Indian Reservation to get there and back.

Little by little, I waded through a lot of that stuff she had collected through the years. Bringing back carloads of fabric to donate to the Lake Side Quilt Guild for charity quilts.  Giving away boxes of patterns and kits, threads, embroidery designs, and other quilting and sewing items.  12 car loads so far.  I kept a minimum of fabric for myself -- I simply don't have space for much of it at my house--I have my own collections!   I set aside other things for my Dad to take into his favorite charity shop in Antigo -- her clothes, shoes, etc.  not quilting-related items like tins, baskets and knick-knacks.  She had chocolate and candy hidden away in just about every corner and drawer.

There 's still a good share of sewing and quilting items left in the corner of the sewing room.  I moved her sewing machine over by the closet to be the sewing nook, while the other side of the room now has a bed in it.  Yes!  I no longer have to sleep on the couch when I go there. I can shut the door and block out my Dad's westerns and CSI, and the dog's barking.  It's a little piece of heaven in there now!  There is still 1 rack of bins with fabric, and the closet is chock full of stuff still.  There's still a bunch of stuff I should go through (stabilizers, batting, etc.) and cull out, but I've hit a wall for now.  I'll leave that for another day.  My sister might want some of it too, though there's a limit to what she could ever take back to Japan--although she has started taking quilting lessons since my mom died, as her way to commune with her, I guess.

It's been a lot of work to sort and go through things.  My mom was a great shopper! She had just about every gadget for quilting and embroidery imaginable.  Did she need all that stuff?  No - but it kept her off the streets, and out of the casinos, I guess.  It was her money to spend, so how can you blame her?

Crazy Crumb Blocks -- 67 So Far

 

 

Here's a perfect example of a crumb block. 

It's a variation of a crazy quilt block, made with scraps. 

And it truly is scraps because I can tell you all the other quilts these fabrics previously appeared in.

If you are a long-time reader, you might even recognize some of them.

 

Here's a sampling of the 67 in the stack so far ...

SOme of those hourglass and windmill blocks were leftovers from the Farmer's Wife Pandemic Quilt. Gotta use them up somewhere.  Lots of other bits and pieces from that project visible here.

 

Crumb blocks are a little more linear than traditional crazy quilt blocks. I'm mixing it up between the two styles.

 

I am planning to add some kind of long triangles as sashing so they are set kitty-whompus rather than a straight grid.  That's why I laid them out crooked.  

It really gives you a flavor of what colors I like to work with -- the pallette.

 

 

Here's the stack of 67 blocks -- so far.

How many do I need?  How far am I willing to go?

Yet to be determined.  

The scraps are sewn to a foundation square and then trimmed down to size. The foundation fabric is usually the ugliest thing imaginable -- not white -- so that if I miss a spot, the foundation fills in with some color.

 

 

This is the unsorted and overflowing scrap basket behind my sewing machine.  Whenever I feel like sewing, but have no specific project in mind,  I grab a few bits of color to make some of these authentically scrappy crumb blocks.   Usually 2 or 3 at a time.  

 

Even though I have 67 5-inch blocks now, never actually seems to make a dent in this pile!

My lovely black locust tree is in full bloom.    The smell is intoxicating, with those flower clusters like wisteria or grapes. 

Here's a shot from the back yard-- proving that I don't spend all my time at the loom or the sewing machine. 

Warping Paddle from a Spoon

I brought out my warping mill to  run another warp -- This time for the blue/green diamond twill. 

I had enough balls of yarn to use a makeshift warping paddle out of a repurposed spoon from the kitchen. This one had holes in it, but you could use the slotted spoon type just as well.  This must have been a handy tip from one of the weaving groups on FaceBook.  I'm so glad I gave it a try. It cut the warping time by about 1/3!  I had 600 strings to run at 4 yards, and it only took a couple of hours, because I could run 3 or 4 strings at a time, not the usual 2.

In this shot, I am working down the loom.

It worked great!

In this shot, I'm working my way back up with another 4 strands (well -- actually, the same 4 strands in the opposite direction).

The holes in the spoon keep the strings from tangling.   Everything stays in order.

Here are the three warp chains, awaiting their time to be pressed into service as real fabric!

Now I am excited to get weaving again!  But first comes warping which will be a few more weeks.  Even before that, I have to take the last project off the loom and finish it!

This is Mobalatta navy wool yarn for the warp. I'll use a green Faro wool for the weft.  The fabric is intended for a  new seat cushion on my weaving stool.  We'll have to see -- the resulting fabric might be too light for upholstery fabric-- even if the intention is to felt it.  In which case, I also bought some Pearle Cotton which might be more durable?  

 

 

Let me end this post with another bit of blue -- my lovely little Chinese duck tea pot. She has a lovely pour. No drips!