Looking from a new perspective...

If you have read my recent blog updates, you're aware I've been boo-hooing over not spending time at the sewing machine for the purpose of quilting.  I have projects with deadlines.  I NEED to get over this blockage.

I was having a conversation with a quilting friend.  My frustration must have been very apparent.  My friend Judy gently reminded me that my family life has been quite busy lately.  My daughter is a senior in a residential highschool.  Just that alone has taken a lot of my energies.  And Judy also reminded me that I do a lot of other crafts, like tatting and knitting, not just qulting.  

At the time, I heard my friend's words but they didn't sink in until I was putting the last stitches into the latest sewing item - a bed skirt for my Sweetling's dorm room.  She and her roommate decided to set up their beds bunkbed style and my Sweetling claimed the top bunk.   

I often help her carry her laundry and some groceries up to her room when dropping her off each week.

Their room has a homey feel with a feminine touch. Soft cream colored shear draperies hang in the window. They are dotted with small pale pink rose buds.  A small dorm-sized fridge tucked in one corner and a futon set along the back wall with a couple of decor pillows.  One of which, my Sweetling made last year. She drew a simple design and embroidered herself 🤗.

 I love those itty bitty flowers!

The painted cinder institutional walls are covered with photographs and posters.  It's quite evident these girls have incredible interests and big dreams for their future.

As I put down the grocery items I've carried up for her, my  eyes quickly scan her dorm room.  I try not to be obvious about observing their living space.

  The girls keep the room neat.  Except for maybe homework and a few items, everything is in its place.

  I'm especially impressed when I see the top bunk.  It's a reflection of my Sweetling's personality.   The carefully chosen duvet has been smoothed flat.  The top sheet perfectly folded over the duvet.  The pillows are propped just so. And bedding neatly tucked under the mattress.   Everything is looking so sweet..
.... Then my sensibilities are assaulted.  The hard violent contrast of the metal frame under my Sweetling's beautifully maintained sleeping area is just too much for me to handle.

Now, mind you, she hasn't said anything about this bothering her!  Not even when I mention a bed skirt would cover it up nicely.  She half-heartedly agrees when I offer to make one.
Knowing her the way I do, I HAD to make the bed skirt for her. Her only request was that it be white.
I immediately bought 10 yards of white perma-press muslin.  I know it's not going to take that much yardage but I can use 40% off coupon and what quilter can't use some more muslin in her stash??? (😉 That's always my thinking when buying fabric, "more will be a good addition to my stash.")
I pretty much immediately got to working on this project.  It took about a week from start to finish, getting measurements and figuring out my plan.
Ok, finally, we come to the real point of this blog update!!...
The perimeter of the frame is 240 inches.
I figured that the ruffle should be at a 1.75:1 ratio for a perfect gather to her eye. 

That equals to 420 inches of ungathered ruffles!
The sewing adds up like this:
420" of hem,
420" (times 2) of gathering lines,
240" attaching ruffle to the base,
240" zig zag over the raw edge to prevent fraying,
240" of top stitching...

That = 1,980" of stitching!!
Ok ok, turns out it's far less than the mile I was sure I had reached by the time I clipped the last stitching thread.  But believe me, when you're making ruffles, yards seem like miles!! It's a total fact, lol 😉.
 But that's when Judy's words sunk in.  I have to see everything I do.  Progress looks incredible different from a new perspective... Sometimes it takes "miles" of ruffles and a good friend to see it more clearly. 😄

Now.  THAT makes a total difference.
(Thanks for the before and after pics, Sweets. Love you!!)

My whimsy heart.

I know I just updated a couple days ago, but I'm excited to be stitching again!

I love my tiny stitches 😊.

I left my needle in to help show the size of the stitches.

A perfect 1/4" seam allowance isn't necessary because the stitching line is marked exactly where the stitches go.

Although, after marking my lines, I do usually trim a 1/4" allowance with a rotary cutter and ruler.  Having a consistent seam allowance helps to line up the pieces.

All that said, I gotta tell you a memory:

 I used to go to a hand piecing group many years ago.  There were 4 or 5 of us regularly there.  We all marked the seam allowance like I did in the pictures above, except one lady.  I don't remember her name, I wish I could.  

She never marked her fabric at all!  She cut the pieces accurately with the 1/4" seam allowance and then proceeded straight to stitching.  I asked how she was sure she was stitching on the 1/4".

She shrugged and handed me the piece she had just finished stitching together and confidently said, "measure it."

😄 I really did have my doubts. So I grabbed my ruler and measured her work... and a few more pieces she had already put together....

All were perfect 1/4" seams!! ...without the time to mark them!

I was super impressed.

I wanted to be a stitcher like that! 

I do want to say, even though I don't remember her name, I can still see her face, and she has a special stitcher's place in my heart!

That was over twenty years ago!

I never managed to develop that skill. ...as you see I'm still marking my pieces...  

 At the time, I was still struggling to keep the front and back seam lines matched up. I often had to reload stitches onto the needle because the bottom fabric would migrate.  It was very frustrating.

Continuing with the marking method is probably due to the certainty of exact seams... (K, that really translates to ~ my personal sense of stitching perfection... I'm "ok" with that!) 

... I am proud of my stitching.  Heres the top side.  😊.   I think the stitches are nearly invisible.  I know this piecing is going to hold up over time.  Add quilting and good maintenance care, this quilt has great potential to be around for a long, long time!

(And happily, I can report that at least I don't have migrating fabric issues anymore 🤗.)

I use the same needles for piecing that I use for quilting.  Some might feel they're a little too short.  But for me it works. I can load about 1.5 inches of fabric before drawing the thread through.  Because all my needles are the same, I don't have to go searching through my box for the right size.

And look at those "y" seams 🤗.

Ahh yes, this is just what my whimsy piecing heart needed.

Small progress is still progress.

I think this is going to be just a short blog update.

I'm not sure how much to share.  I'm a bit at odds with myself, a bit discontented, a bit lackadaisical.  The time spent in my sewing room hasn't produced the usual joy in a while.

But sitting in the evenings with idle hands isn't an option for me. I took a corner in the living room and set up shop. 

It became a perfect opportunity to work on the piles of scraps that are beginning to over take my sewing room. I blogged about how I organize scraps a while ago,  "scrap system or brink of insanity", so I won't go into great detail here.

It's slow work. I concentrated on marking pieces for my elongated hexagon quilt I started in March while at the Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge.  The scraps have to be at least 3.5" wide and 5.5" long.  Most of my scraps are smaller but this cutting session produced 30 elongated hexagons.  I was pleased.

Next sizes were 2.5" squares. 

And I've added sizes 2.5" x 1.5" and 1.5"x 2" rectangles... I'm not sure why except that I couldn't bear throwing that precious half inch of fabric away.  (*Sigh* this may be a sickness, but I don't think it's hurting anyone. 😋)

Of course, if 1.5" squares could be squeezed out, those were trimmed as well.

And smallest pieces are the 1" squares that are intended for the tiny star points I also mentioned in my scrap system.

After a couple days of cutting and trimming I had several piles that made me feel some accomplishment:

 30 elongated hexagons

 100+  2.5" squares

100+  1.5" squares

1.5"x2.5"

1.5"x2"

And 1" squares

Small progress is still progress!

That was a couple weeks ago. I still haven't felt very compelled to sit at the sewing machine too long.  And since I have new elongated hexagons ready, I've started adding them to my piece...

And THIS is what I love most.

Sweet and simple. 

Needle and thread.

Piece by piece.

One tiny stitch at a time,
 I am sewing my contentment back together.
Small progress is still progress.