beginnings of a memorial

(Just laid out so you can see the beginnings. The quarter square triangles are the only parts that are done.)

This is the beginnings of a "Memorial to a Bridesmaid Dress" The dress is the solid green on the outside of the seashell print. The fabric in the center is a really lovely silk I found that's very close to the color of the bridesmaid dress one of my sister in laws wore. The green is the dress I and my other sister in law wore.

To say we weren't exactly happy about the whole thing is somewhat of an understatement. MIL decided to do a 50th anniversary vow renewal with the full gown, tux, bridesmaid, and groomsmen attire for every one. Then she picked not exactly flattering dresses for the three of us. We're not exactly ... how shall we say... spring chicks anymore. And two of us aren't exactly skinny anymore either. There were several other issues involved that we'll just ignore.

I threatened, after it was over, to turn my dress into memorial pillows. The dress got shoved in the closet after we got home and mostly ignored. Then a couple of weeks before I went to the quilt show I bought the newest issue of "Quilter's World." In it is a pattern for a wall hanging called "Summer Shimmer." It is totally perfect for "Memorial to a Bridesmaid Dress"!!

I'm going to have to get that fancy new steam iron out and steam that poly into submission though. It doesn't want to iron into nice creases.

My Secret Garden

It's together!! I love how it turned out. I'll be looking forward to getting it quilted now.

hollyhock block

I love how this block turned out. It's from the "My Secret Garden" quilt. I only work on it when I take my old machine to the lock-ins. I have two more blocks to make and then it'll be ready to put together and add borders! One of the last blocks is an appliqued vine and it has to have a template for placement so I'll get that one ready here at home. The other block is just a pieced block.

quilt show haul

I got a few things when I went to the quilt show in Denver this last weekend. The thread was a fortune all by itself!! The iron is a Euro Steam Evolution. I have all of the fabrics to make the "Bride's maid memorial" wall hangings now. I need to finish the pink/yellow/orange quilt first though.

quilt preview

This quilt is going to be soooooooooo cool. The blocks are just laid together so you can kind of see how it's going to look. These particular blocks may or may not end up together in the finished quilt. I think the most blocks of any fabric combination is 4. Most are either 2 or 3 blocks of one fabric combination.

room improvements

You wouldn't think adding two more pieces of furniture to a small room would give you more space but it did. The dresser in this picture is the ironing center. My big board ironing board fits on top of the dresser but it's too low. The weather hasn't cooperated so we can get the riser built for the top yet. It's tough to cut MDF outside in 30 mph winds. It still has a few things parked on it that I need to find homes for. Oh, and if you look at the bottom left of the dresser in that space you'll see my cat. That's her spot now. At some point in time I'm going to paint this dresser. I think I'll go ahead and look for different drawer pulls. It's Early American style and it's the one style that I really don't like. A paint job and new drawer pulls will make a big difference though.




The blue dresser is going to be the cutting table. It has a piece of plywood on the top now but I think when we have time we're going to go to the big lumber yard and get a piece of counter top for it. The space between the cutting center and the credenza is perfect for bagged batting and "ladies in waiting." The two big red bags have quilts that are waiting for binding. The ruler racks and all the rulers have been moved over on to the credenza in front of the bookcase.

this room is a wreck

This end is where the computer and tv are. The bookcase to the left of the tv did have full size bolts of fabric but I rewound them onto the half size coroplast boards and they're all in the bookcase in my bedroom.

I'm getting some new dressers on monday. One of them is the long, low style and it's going to become the new ironing center. I have a big board that sits on top of the regular board so it'll just sit on top of the new dresser right in front of the window where the ironing board is now. I have plastic over those windows because they're so drafty so I don't need to get to them to open them.



Then we have this end. I'm going to take out that cutting table next to the tall cupboard. I'm going to move that blue metal dresser over where the cutting table is and get a new top made to put over it to turn it into a cutting table. Right now it has fat quarters in it. After I get it moved over to where the cutting table is it'll hold batting in the two big drawers and odds and ends in the skinny top drawer. The other dresser I'm getting on monday will go where the blue one is now and the fat quarters will go in it. I don't know if it's going to be big enough to hold all the stuff that is on top of the blue dresser now. If not the wicker basket organizer will fit in the bookcase next to the tv.

This is a pic looking into the room from the door. This really isn't that big of a room and there's a LOT of stuff in here! And here I am going to add two more pieces of furniture! The cutting table is going to go to storage for now. I know I won't live in this house forever so I may be able to use it in the next sewing room.