Deb's Sewing Room

4 weeks ago I had back surgery.  Since then I have been “taking it easy” and conjuring up many projects.  It is making me anxious as I want to get busy, but just don’t have the energy to make all the ideas come to fruition!  But, I have accomplished a few.  One of the bad parts of having to sit around idle is that I have had more time to sit and order things online!  I put in an order for aprons and can wraps.  I attempted to order some cafe koozies too, but found them to be very hard to find.  I can find all kinds of neoprene koozies, but I like the insulated fabric koozies and had found them last year at Bag Works.  This was very frustrating, so I resorted to making my own.  I am very pleased with the outcome!  Please watch for a Deb’s Sewing Room Etsy store coming soon!

I am making more aprons for our school greenhouse!  These are so fun to make.

City School Greenhouse Apron

Red, White, & Black Quilt

I just finished the quilt top! I really like this quilt.

I have had a difficult time deciding on a quilt pattern and fabric for my next quilt. I make some blocks from a pattern that my daughter had used a few times with great success. I was not satisfied with the outcome of my attempts. I tried one using some fat quarters I had laying about. They were all in shades of purple. I wasn’t terribly unhappy with the outcome, but the shades were not contrasting enough to have the effect that I wanted in the block, and since I did not have enough of those particular fat quarters to complete a quilt I decided to try something different. So, taking the same pattern, I tried some other fabric I had. I wanted to use 3 colors, but the fabric I used for the 2nd block were not coordinating enough, so that one was out! I guess I am just plain too picky. But, I have always wanted to make a red, white and black quilt, so my quest began for fabric for a quilt using those colors. I went to a quilt shop to look for fabric, but leaving my husband in the car waiting for me always makes it difficult to shop for fabric. I did find 2 fabrics that caught my eye. One was black with white flowers and the other was white with a smattering of red and black flowers. I looked and looked, but could not find a 3rd fabric that would go with those two, so I gave up for that day. I still had not decided what pattern I would use, but was determined to go home and find a 2 fabric quilt pattern. Well, I still could not decide on a pattern, so thought perhaps just a solid red would work. I had a little bit of red fabric and it looked ok with the other fabric and of course a rail fence patter always looks great! So, off to the quilt shop again (a different one this time) I went the next day. I looked and looked, found one fabric that caught my eye, but I didn’t think the texture was what I was looking for and of course the red fabrics were not the “right” shade of red…there seem to be so many shades of red that it seemed I should be able to match it, but couldn’t. So, I found a fabric that would work and was waiting to get it cut when I looked up and low and behold there was a quilt block using the first fabric that I had been drawn to and I really liked that fabric. So, I decided to get that fabric since it would not go to waste as I would find something to make out of it. Well, here is a sneak peak at what I have created with the 3 fabrics.

Apron for City School Greenhouse

We are in our last 24 days of school for students, 31 days of work for me. Why do schools try to pack everything into the last 2 months? After dealing with middle school students with spring fever, I get pretty exhausted by the end of the week, so really look forward to weekends! My weekends are reserved for my embroidery and quilting! That is my relaxation. This week I finished a quilt, designed an apron for our greenhouse teacher, created a label for a co-worker who is making a banner for the high school drama department. All these things keep me going! Now I have my next quilt planned, so will begin cutting fabrics this weekend. It is one that I will make out of my current stash of fabric, so hopefully it will turn out as imagined in my mind!

Quilt May 2010