Done and done

Three things to be happy about:
(1) cool mornings
(2) swag bags
(3) finishing up!

I should have called this post "Done and almost  done" because scrap wrangling is an ongoing job!

They finished up the renovations in my sewing room on Thursday, I think it looks good as new.  They inserted 6" anchor bolts into the brick at both ends of the room to steady up the wall, so I shouldn't have any more shifting problems.

Unless we have another earthquake???  God forbid!

I did my part with the scraps though; it went from this:

to this:

to this!

At 14" square, these little bins I'm using are a great size -  get them in sets of 4 at Costco for somewhere around $20, not bad at all!   I'd like to have filled an entire bin with strips, but I did what I did, right?  I cut a lot of 2" strips so I'll have even more variety for my "x and +" blocks, along with some 2-1/2" and 3-1/2" strips for the other bins.  All the noogies went into the trash.

I still have to sort and fold before I move all the other stuff back into the sewing room and I can't sew til it's done, so I see more purging in my immediate future!  I'm not willing to just toss it back under the cutting table since it's all pulled out.

That's it for now, have a great day, sew forth and sew on...

Progress

A thing to be happy about:
(1) getting started

The contractors got started on my sewing room Tuesday, and they should finish up soon.

This is Will, he takes pictures of every job he does while it's in progress.

I took a few shots, I think some of his were more detailed than mine.

While they were working upstairs, I was downstairs working on taming my scraps!  I had intended to sort and fold yardage but I didn't want to haul those bins and partial bins downstairs.

Bags and boxes of scraps were easier and more portable.

This is the problem that has to be repaired in my sewing room:

That vertical crack between the brick and drywall has to be fixed before it gets worse.  If I stood just right and squinted, I could actually see daylight through that crack!

Measuring, opening the wall...

They had to open it up to make sure of what was going on.  

Meanwhile, I was busy pressing...

and cutting large scraps into usable sizes!

That's progress!  Sew forth and sew on til later...

No-sew days

Three things to be happy about:
(1) fireworks
(2) holidays
(3) relaxation

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th - as for me, I'm looking forward to the end of the fireworks!  Fireworks are illegal in Maryland and Virginia, so every year for about 1-1/2 weeks after the holiday, the good people haul them to the District and have it, starting at around 9:30 p.m. until around 2 a.m., sheesh!

For the last few days I've been moving some things from my sewing room because I need to have some repair work done on the wall in there.

As I've mentioned before, I live in a row house that was built in the mid-forties; I believe in Philly and Baltimore they're called "brownstones," but in the District they're referred to as "row houses."  Same thing.

All the houses, at least the ones on my block, were built with porches at the rear of the first and second floors that the owners converted into liveable space.  In fact, when I bought my home there was still an ice box installed between the kitchen and the back porch, I destroyed it trying to take it out though.

My sewing room is in that converted space on the second floor, and now it needs a vertical crack repaired where the two walls meet.  The job is supposed to take three days so I'll be out of commission for about a week or so.

Is that a mess or what?  My cutting table is in the way, which means clearing out the things beneath it so I can fold it down.

I've been trying to sort and straighten as I pull those boxes and bags out to make it easier when I put it all back, a job in itself!

Thread, tracing paper, usable pieces of fusible web, scraps (of course!), coloring books, marking pens, patterns that I drew up, ribbon, rulers ... lots of stuff under that cutting table!

Then there's the stuff at the other  end of the room...

Sew forth and sew on til later!

Independence Day

Happy July 4th everyone!