Getting into the Swing of Things

Last year after we moved I really seemed to be at all sixes and sevens as far as quilting goes. I think I just had too many other things going on and that was the easiest thing to push to the side. Now that the business of Christmas is out of the way I feel like I can take the time to get my self back into some sort of rhythm.

Strange as it may seem the catalyst for the change seemed to be finally getting around to filing a whole pile of paperwork that had been waiting since we moved. My sewing room also partly serves as an office space and that's where the filing baskets and filing cabinet live. It had been niggling away at me as I hadn't felt as though I was properly organised since we moved and I felt a bit like I was blowing in the breeze. Now that I've filed all the paid bills etc I feel like I've got my system working again and I feel better for it. Clearly I like my space organised - not tidy just organised. I'm happiest when I know where things are and I think that hasn't really helped me over the last few months.

Seeing as this month's UFO was whatever I wanted it to be I chose to spend some more time emptying out my scrap basked and sorting it all out. That way I start the year with an empty basket on the cutting table too. Do you like my new scrap basket? I was using the smaller blue one in the background but it fills up too quickly! This was a basket we received as part of a Christmas hamper and I decided it was perfect for scraps.

For a while I've wanted to have some sort of leader/ender project now that I can leave everything out when I sew and while I was going through my scraps I found my project. I have lots of little triangular pieces which were cut offs from something so I've decided to pair them up and sew them into HST's to be used in some sort of project down the track.

I have also been watching a blog for a while called So Scrappy where Angela hosts a Rainbow Scrap Challenge each year. Each month she allocates a different colour and the idea is to make a scrappy block of your choosing using that month's colour. I've been making crumb blocks here and there over the last few years (I'm up to 14 I think) usually when I go on a sewing weekend so I thought that might also be a good project each month on top of my allocated UFO.

It is especially serendipitous as January's colour is blue and I happen to have the largest collection of blue scraps (its no coincidence that blue is also the only colour of fabric I have which has a whole drawer to itself but that's another story!).

For some reason have only made two blue crumb blocks so far so that is this month's project. If you're interested in knowing more about the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2016 the information is here.

After all that I feel like I've got my plan for the year organised and that makes my heart happy! Now I think I'm finally ready to get some sewing done this month.

Another new addition to my sewing room was this lovely pale blue tin with a coppery print which had three tubes of hand cream in it -a rather large tin for that purpose but who am I to argue?

After tidying up my scraps I found one of my boxes was too full so I moved the 5" charms and 2.5" squares into the new tin. They snuggle up together quite nicely don't you think?

One other project I want to finish, or at least finish the flimsy part of is this set of black and white placemats. I only have three left to finish and it won't take long to do. I think then I'll make it a quilting project for my next sewing weekend in March.

I also managed to remember to take a photo of the blue set I finished while I was on holidays after Christmas. I really like these!

I couldn't resist sharing a couple of photos of Christmas Day at our house. Justin, our new golden retriever, thought Christmas was the best thing ever and had a ball helping unwrap presents and spreading the paper all over the family room.

I just love this photo of Justin and Livvie together on the day. Amazing the focussed attention you can get when you have a man holding a treat next to you!

Thanks for visiting, now its time to get sewing!