Rearranging Everything!

Where did September go?  The non-profit organization that I work with had a big international event last week and it took over my life.  Right after that was over, I ended up completely rearranging my sewing studio.  Ack!

Sewing Studio 2.0

The reason for rearranging had nothing to do with sewing.  We were having trouble getting a good wi-fi signal in parts of the house, so we wanted relocate the router, which in turn required moving the furniture.  But BONUS! --  the layout is nicer for my sewing, too!

Now the table is right in front of the south-facing window -- lovely view, and the winter sun will be so nice!  When the table is folded up, it's centered under the window.  Got a new lamp, too, with five lights to point in any direction (nice, since the winter sun will be fleeting).

Of course, Stella loves that sunny window, too! 

Well, this isn't very scenic, but it is practical.  The glass jars hold selvedges and 1" strips of fabric that will some day be a pincushion.  Or something.   The plastic bins need some shelves to sit on.  But we are planning to move in a few months, so that can wait.  For now, the new floor plan finally allows space to put them on the floor and fill them with fabric that was bursting out of the cabinet -- smaller scraps, jelly rolls and charm packs in one bin; fat quarters in another; fabric bought for specific projects in the third.

Who knew that a 40-year old stereo cabinet would come in so handy!  Here are bins with larger scraps on the bottom and yardage on the top.  Plenty of space!  Time to buy more fabric!

And Rearranging Blocks, Too!

Fortunately, the wedding quilt I'm making for my niece is lap-size and has big, easy blocks, so progress over the last couple of days has been quick.  All the 9-1/2" blocks with the green-and-neutral HSTs are done, as are the blue-and-neutral 4-patches.  These just need to be sewn into 9-1/2" 16-patch blocks and then the quilt top can be finished.  But now I'm not sure how I want to arrange the blocks.

  This --> was my original plan.  I didn't want the 16-patches arranged in the usual alternating pattern.  I flipped them around and came up with an arrangement that creates one large and 4 small blue squares in each block.

Playing around with the patches today, though, I wondered if it would look better swapping out the positions of the light and the blue.  The blues are pretty dark.  But there are already the big white squares from the HSTs.



The photo below shows both arrangements.  I'm still leaning toward the blue squares, but I'd love to hear from you about what you think!  Please let me know.





















I have some fun ideas in mind to personalize the quilt top, once it's together.  Hope it's soon!