In the Mood

Yes, I've been in the mood. In the mood to purge, that is! Maybe it is the arrival of spring, maybe it is the mountains of stuff that seem to just grow around here. Maybe I've become "thisclose" to being a hoarder!! Anyway, I've decided this is the year I become lean and mean..around the house at least. Not that I couldn't stand purging those extra pounds I've been lugging around. But I digress.
I decided to start with the attic. I need to clean out the sewing room so the attic- where all extra things go to linger in an unused life- seemed the best place to start. I started with the extra books, patterns and staples that were stored there. I went through the boxes of excess fabrics, I looked at all those block of the month kits being stored instead of worked on. Decisions have to be made. So I picked a logical place to start, and dove in. By mid-afternoon I had filled 3 garbage bags with junk, filled several large boxes of things that can go to the Trash and Treasure sale our church has yearly. I pulled out extra books, or those I knew I'd not go back to - quilting or other wise. Then I found an plastic envelope and looked inside. Quilt blocks! Nice quilt blocks. Swap blocks- Bulls Eye- primitive in nature. OLD!
I was actually glad I looked in the envelope. I could have just tossed it without looking. It was mangled and old (yes, I've already made that point- old!!). The decision was to toss the mangled plastic envelope, and bring the blocks to the sewing room. The next day (Sunday) was a self-declared sewing day. I measured up the blocks and found few that were the same size. From those that were near "perfect" I determined that they should have been 8" blocks. I could square them up to 7.5" and only lost two in the entire pile (they were only 7" to start!). I'll get those on the back in the end. Squared up, laid block to block on the floor, rearranged somewhat and then sewn together. All in just a few hours time. Not bad to get this in the end:



it is basically basted- I think I've decided to do a baptist fan on it- in big stitch. I don't use a hoop when doing a more primitive stitch, and I think this is a perfect project for that sort of loose interpretation of quilting. I'd love to start this weekend, but alas- I will have to wait. I won't share a photo of my foolishness, but for those of you who may have ever slammed a finger in a car door you know what mine looks like. For those of you who aren't so clumsy (distracted, that is!) let me just say it "ain't pretty"!! I'm at day three, and at least the throbbing has stopped for the most part! The swelling is going down but the beauty of the black/purple/red combo will linger quite a bit longer I believe. Oh well, can't do much more than wait for the swelling to go down a bit more and then try to fit a thimble on it and get to work!
Until then I'm sure I can get myself into some other trouble. Spring is really here this weekend. Maybe some garden clean up will be good.