Good morning and Happy Thursday from sunny Naples, Florida! 🌞. I’m in limbo right now, moved out of our old house in Charlotte, North Carolina, but we don’t close on our new house here in Naples, Florida until next Tuesday the 20th. My entire fabric stash, all of my rotary cutting tools and rulers, and all of my current works in progress are packed up in boxes that have not yet been delivered, but I do have access to my AccuQuilt GO! fabric cutter and all of my dies, my Bernina 475QE and my vintage 1935 Singer Featherweight 221 sewing machines, my travel iron, Best Press, and a tabletop ironing mat, and a bolt of Moda Bella Solid fabric in Off White. These items traveled to Florida with me in my car so I have them in our temporary housing situation. My husband is abandoning me for a couple of days for a business trip to Ft. Lauderdale, so I decided to self-medicate my moving jitters with a quick fabric shopping trip to my new LQS/Bernina & Baby Lock dealer, Flash Sew & Quilt.
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| New Tilda Precuts for Scrappy Celebration Quilt (Maybe) |
I know, I know — if there’s one thing a quilter becomes acutely aware of when packing for a household move, it’s how much more fabric she already owns than she could ever reasonably use within her lifetime… But medical science is making advances every day, and the cost of fabric keeps going up, so I’m rationalizing that I am wisely buying fabric while it’s still affordable, before global warming makes the planet too hot to grow cotton anymore, and I need to buy enough of it in case scientists cure everything and I am still here quilting away in my 200s. Ahem.
In all seriousness, though, I was judicious with my purchases. I bought precuts because they will be easier to manage with my GO! cutter on a kitchen table than yardage, and I didn’t want to buy enough for a whole new quilt, just enough to give me something to cut up and sew back together again for stress relief over the next couple of weeks until I get my hands on the rest of my stash. I bought a fat quarter bundle of Tilda Solids and several fat eighth bundles of the newer Tilda print collections that I don’t already own, knowing that I have bundles and scraps of older Tilda prints (leftover from my Halo quilt) that will coordinate with the new stuff. I also bought myself a pair of fabric scissors (the purple handled micro serrated Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Scissors) so I can rough-cut my Bella Solid Off White yardage and my fat quarters before running them through the die cutter, and I bought some pins and a spool of neutral Aurifil 50/2 cotton thread because I’m pretty sure both of my travel machines are current threaded with the dark navy I was using for my Deco quilt. (Side note: TOTAL BUMMER that I packed my Deco Quilt and my FrankenWhiggish Rose projects in boxes and loaded them into the moving pod, because either of those projects would have been ideal to work on right now).
The quilt you see on my iPad in the photo above is Scrappy Celebrations by Lissa Alexander for American Patchwork & Quilting, and it was a quilt along project in 2023. I haven’t purchased the pattern and don’t intend to — I like the idea of mixing up a variety of 9-patch and 4-patch blocks but I’m not interested in making the exact quilt, and I definitely don’t need any instructions for such simple blocks. I’m sure the pattern instructions call for rotary cutting and strip piecing anyway, which I won’t be doing since I don’t have any of those tools available right now.
You know what else I don’t have access to right now? My computer! I’m writing this post on my iPad right now and it’s really annoying. I am missing my big desktop monitor where I can do photo editing and have multiple windows open for adding links etc. And by the way, my email subscription service is still paused (need to work some kinks out with that) so that’s why this post wasn’t delivered to your in-box even if you’ve subscribed to receive my blog posts that way. Honestly I don’t know when I’m going to have time to deal with that, so please check here on the blog from time to time for new posts. Thanks for understanding.
I hope you’re all sewing and quilting up a storm wherever you are today! I’ll be linking up today’s post with the following linky parties:
MONDAY
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
TUESDAY
To-Do Tuesday at Quilt Schmilt
WEDNESDAY
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
THURSDAY
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
FRIDAY
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre
Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty
TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday
SUNDAY
Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué
Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
moving is such a bother isn't it. It will take awhile to unpack and get organized - I do feel for you. But keep on smiling at that fabric and the new quilt you will create
ReplyDeleteBeing without our toys while moving is very difficult. When I moved almost 3 years ago, it took a while to get my sewing space set up because I needed cabinets, a wall and doors. I'm glad you have a little something to keep the jitters away. Happy Sewing!
ReplyDeleteI love the new fabrics you've purchased, they're beautiful! I understand about buying more fabrics but it's so pretty! Enjoy your stitching while your husband is gone, and of course, LOTS of happy stitching!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes with the transitions and moving. Buying fabric to cut up and sew back together seems like an excellent choice!
ReplyDeleteI am hopeful that the advances you talk about enable us to sew forever and maybe without getting any more creaky! I feel your pain as I await delivery of fabric. I hate writing on my ipad. I can do it, but you are right. I don't even like answering email, eventhough I have a keyboard!
ReplyDeleteGlad you are there safely and sewing. It is a balm for the soul. Enjoy your project days. PS this came to my mail...mysterious?
Your post has just established a new rule for me. No more moving!! LOL. When I moved last time I wasn't quilting again, so moving my knitting was easy. And we only moved 3 hours away, not half the length of the US. My prayers are with you at this time. LOL! Enjoy Naples, we visited there ages ago and I am sure it is even lovelier now.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to have some sewing items with you, and I agree with buying fabric: it's very important to know the neighborhood and the quilt shops around ;)) Have fun with this new project, sounds fun.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, and good luck with the moving!
So good to hear from you!!! You've fabric, a way to cut, press and stitch. . all good to keep your finger in the creating with fabric realm. Little by little you will get back into the swing of stitching in your new environment!
ReplyDeleteWhat a happy surprise! I didn't think to see you again for at least a few weeks if not a month. Moving is always chaotic and stressful, so it's wonderful to see you with new fabric and a quilt plan even if that's not what you end up doing. It's all good, and all fun! Hope you are able to settle in soon and that you find lots of new friends in Florida! https://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions/2024/02/14/wednesday-wait-loss-367
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