What alpacas discuss when no one is around.

"Of course I told him to take just a little off the top and tidy up the sides."

 "Do you think he was listening?" "He told me I was beyond hope and needed a $40.00 conditioning treatment."

"Honey, I don't think a conditioning treatment will work at this point."

"Stuff and nonsense.  Inner beauty is what you must strive for.  Remember serene, calm, poised.  It's all in how you hold your head dears."

"Girls, girls, come check this out."

"Here comes that crazy broad, filling up her truck again."  "I wonder where she gets her hair done, it looks worse than yours Elsy."

Conclusion:  Shoveling 6 truck loads of manure in windy weather is not for the faint of heart and bound to create a bad hair day, but isn't that why they invented hats?

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

"Sometimes, you have to break a lot of eggs . . .

to make an omelet."

The last of the reds and the half bin of yellows were washed and dried today.  Spreading them out helps alleviate wrinkles, if only a little.

Empty spots will be reorganized soon.

 Two stacks of blues.  Have one more blue bin to go.

 Two bins of browns will be done to go along with this stack.

 We're more than half way done yellows.

You'll notice that each stack is folded to match the measurements of the shelf.

 See, I told you we're making progress.

The cabinet opposite is almost done too.  I'd say at least 300 hours of work this winter, probably more.  Mass quantities of starching/trimming were going on simultaneously.

Soon this space will be full of bins of cut pieces. Then we can really go into production.  Prepped pieces make speed sewing much simpler.

Toting my fabric around in bins has been a tradition for the last 28 years.  With cabinets, I can finally see what color range is available, making it much easier to choose what works best.  Shopping the stash just got a whole lot simpler.

Let's hope I'll have enough energy to tackle UFOs once I find the floor again, LOL.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

In the blink of an eye,

We went from this

 to this,

 with a little of this.

The tulips are a long-awaited treat don't you think?

I've yet to decide on where they'll go in the yard, so buckets work for the moment.

The only thing going on in the sewing room is ironing.  Not very exciting, but quite necessary.  We've been busy filling up the cabinets with tidy fabric stacks.  No time for sewing.

Yard work awaits and leaf burning has commenced.  So much for exciting adventures in the country.
Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

Putting stripes in your star. Pun intended.

Using striped fabric can be tricky, so I played around with some old prints and came up with a solution.

You'll notice the vertical stripes do not match.

Then the answer must be to make them horizontal, right?

 To do that, I took a 4" x 11" piece, well starched and folded in half.

After trimming the short edge to verify it was even, I placed the squared off tip of the ruler on the left hand top side.  And cut out 2 pieces.

 Reversing the ruler, I cut 2 more.

By taking each TOP piece and then each BOTTOM piece, I set up 2 separate star points.  Mirror image.

When choosing each color for one star block, it's best to begin with the stripe first.  Then work the other colors around it.

For those prints with subtle one-way designs, it's up to you if you want them to match vertically or horizontally.  By cutting out 2 sets of that print, you can make it work either way.

Happy March ya'll!

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .

It was pretty while it lasted,

 but rain came in last night and it's all gone now.

 I'm sure the birds are happier.

 The snow gave me a good excuse to stay inside and sew.

As well as trim up a LOT of fabric.

So I think instead of 12 blocks, I'll be doing 20.  And we'll take it from there.

Until then, keep stitchin' . . .