Organizing the Hand Work Bag

I know it's usually Adhoc. Improv. time of the month, but life has been hectic with a capitol H. We watched our granddaughter for a couple days, there's been family come into town to swoon over the new niece, we have a couple older uncles who are in failing health, a visiting sibling has been needing some hand holding, someone skipped out on their church cleaning duties, and all the other bits and bobs that make life such a fascinating experience to deal with as well.

Off On a Tangent prep

Improv. has been shuttled to the back burner for now. It's just that simple. Tho I did take it out and give the current progress a quick perusal and a promise of more love in the future. It seems that for the time being, I've been grabbing hand work or settling in for some hand quilting 'therapy' time. I've been craving that quiet time. Wrapping it around me and taking deep breaths. And you know what? Slowing down with something, anything! almost always makes for a few peaceful and serene moments, even in the midst of a 'storm'.

Patchwork Triangles border prep

Now my husband tells me that we need to take a quick jaunt down to Oregon to visit some other family member who time seems to be running out. Ahh... the joys of being part of a large family--on both of our parts! So many highs and lows. Instead of the grab and go method I've been making do with in regards to the hand work, I decided today to put off the packing/getting ready to go and better organize my hand work bag. Not sure how many days we'll be gone so we are literally talking about sanity here...

Melon Patch spears getting absolutely nothing done to them...

Right? Okay, don't answer that! For the most part it was just a matter of making sure ALL the parts and pieces were safely tucked into ziploc bags, organized per project and arranged nicely inside the traveling bag. Did I pack the appropriate color of thread? Check! Extra needles? Check! Snips & scissors? Check! Small ziploc for throw-away end pieces of thread? Check! Pin cushion with little applique pins? Check!

Dried Flowers moving right along....

One of my latest 'squirrel's found its way into the bag as well. Such a surprise. I've been calling this one 'Dried Flowers' just because it has such a dull but sweet, washed out sort of look. The circles are all pieces that have been cut out from behind other applique through the years and now I just stacked them up together. Very little trimming as I love the rustic look. My thinking is they will make very nice looking flowers if I can figure out how to add on another something that will have a pieced and/or perhaps even appliqued stem and leaf section. Decisions, decisions....

Dried Flowers fabric stacks and possible additions to quilt

Maybe I'll add the leftover basket blocks too? Whatever. The layout is still a ways off!  It's been a deliciously 'quiet' project to stitch on and one I have been soaking up! Something has been niggling in the back of my brain though when I have been working on these blocks. Maybe it's too quiet? Perhaps it might prefer a little spark of color? And so today I caved {just like I did when I bought those berry strudels yesterday} and dug around for some salmon/orange colored fabrics to add one more smaller circle on top. Hhmmm... We might be on to something here!

A little progress with the spiky blocks...

I also finished cutting out the spikes for these primitive looking New York Beauty blocks--all going to be sewn on with applique stitching. When I get the 'spikes' sewn on, then I will free cut some gold arcs to cover up the stitching at the edge of the quarter circle. These cream pieces are all cut-offs from an old project that I just couldn't bear to throw away and I've been making up this current block as I go along. Love the colors but am a little antsy about how they will look when they're done. Might need to trim the spikes to different widths to incorporate a little more imperfection.

Fabric Swatches 'cuz we always need more fabric...

And because I was definitely lollygagging and putting off that getting-ready-to-leave-town business, I went ahead and looked through all my current stacks of fabric resting on the counters or hiding away and marinating in little totes. Ouch! There are 12 stacks of fabric in total!! Wowsers, that's a lot for me. Some have been simmering for almost two years and so really, they need to have decisions made, be moving forward, or be dumped back into the stash totes pronto. No time for that today, but I did get little swatches of need-to-match {or blend} fabric ready for the chance/opportunity of wandering into an out of town quilt store. Wouldn't that be fun? Love, love doing that and my husband is a sweetheart to stop if we ever have a spare moment.

Now I'd better go finish up the laundry and check on the ripe peaches that need to be cut up and frozen before leaving town. I'm pretty sure nobody else will take care of them while we're gone! Thankfully there's not a lot of them as someone {not naming any names}, has been making peach smoothies lately.... Oh my, was I looking forward to a quiet weekend! Oh well. I'm sure we'll get one soon enough whether we plan it or not...