The Things You Find ... !!

... when you start cleaning and packing to move! :0) Just over a week til we bid farewell to our cosy cottage and move into our dream house, so you can imagine that it's approaching "Panic Stations" here at the Meares' Madhouse. We're walking that fine line between needing to pack 'stuff' ready to move and not being ABLE to pack 'stuff' cos we're still using it! It's doing my poor ol' head in, I tell you! :0)

So ... this week I decided to tackle my sewing room cupboards ... GROAN!! While quite a lot of my sewing and craft supplies are stored in plastic tubs as a matter of course, which will be easy to load into the moving van, there is still quite a LOT of 'stuff' stored in my shabby chic cupboard ...

I took a deep breath and dived in. WOW! Who's been stashing fabric, layer cakes, charm squares, wadding and all sorts of interesting things in my sewing cupboard while I wasn't looking?! Tee! Hee! Hee! I discovered all sorts of goodies ... along with quite a few WISPs ... OOPS! :0) And right at the back of the cupboard, I found a 'blast from the past' ... the second quilt I ever made ... er ... STARTED to make! BLUSH!

I started making making this tartan butterfly quilt about ... hmmm ... 15 years ago ... EEP! It was supposed to be for one of two single beds we had in our guest room at the time, the other quilt featured tartan fabrics and gingerbread men. It DID get finished and after years of gracing the back of our lounge chair, it is now our picnic rug that lives in the car.

This one showed off tartan butterflies and quilted Celtic knots. Alas ... as you can see ... I never got around to finishing it. You see, I'm predominantly self-taught ... though I've picked up some handy tips from more experienced quilting friends over the years. So when I was making this quilt, I made a few simple mistakes that led to it being discarded in the "Too Hard" basket.

1) I didn't quite do a good enough job of keeping the backing fabric smooth and flat when I basted it, so when I started to quilt it, lots of pesky wrinkles and bumps, that I didn't know how to get rid of, appeared on the back.

2) I was on a very limited budget and used poly wadding that was inexpensive, but quite 'floofy' (technical term there! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and this compounded the wrinkles-in-the-backing problems.

3) When we moved last time, I lost the Celtic knot design I was tracing onto the tartan squares to quilt ... DOH!!

So ... this quilt is now hidden in the back of the sewing cupboard like a crazy great-aunt is hidden in the attic in movies. :0) I'm not quite sure what to with it ... do I make a stab at re-drawing the Celtic knot, fix the backing wrinkles and keep quilting, or do I undo the lot and save up my play money, replace the floofy wadding with better quality wadding and get the Fabulous Fiona to work her quilting magic on it? Still thinking ... so for now ... it's been packed! :0) Any suggestions??

To take a break from our packing (BLECH!!) last weekend, my Beloved Geek Boy and I toodled off to a couple of second-hand shops in search of a couple of pieces of furniture that we'll need once we've moved into the new house. Not a lot of success was had there, but I DID find a sweet, vintage treasure to rescue for the princely sum of $5 ...

This linen and lace ... er ... ITEM!! OK ... giggle at me if you will (and let's face it, I giggle at myself quite frequently!!) but I don't actually know what this would have been used for originally. The lace is hand made and very delicate and fragile ... you can see a couple of places where it's coming away form the edge of the linen ... and it is only around three sides of the linen. I'm not sure whether it would have been used as a cloth for the top of a chest of drawers or similar that sat against a wall, or whether it would have been a valance for a half tester bed canopy. One of life's mysteries ... does anyone have any ideas? Here's a closer look at the delicate lace ...

Isn't it lovely! It has a few 'ugly spots' on it, so I'll reattach the lace where it's come adrift and soak it in some whitener. I'm sure I can find a spot for it in the new house ... whatever it was originally used for. :0)

So ... that's what's been happening here at the Meares' madhouse ... amidst the manic packing and planning! Speaking of "amidst manic packing and planning" ... thank you to all the OPAMers who emailed me and my GORGEOUS partner-in-crime Sweet Peg with your end of month finish tallies. 310 finishes for July!! Well done everyone!! Now, knowing that our life is topsy-turvy at the moment, my Sweet partner-in-crime has taken over the prize draw for the next couple of months ... THANK YOU SWEET PEG!! You are a gem!! :0) And my Sweet friend has posted the July winners on her blog this morning, so pop on over to see if you're one of the lucky ones. If you emailed your finishes to me ... I'm still working my way through answering emails for the last couple of weeks ... I do like to reply to you all, but I hope you'll understand if I'm a bit slack. I shall try my best to catch up with you all. :0)

Well, now that I've caught you up on our doings for the week, I think it's time for me to play Polly and enjoy a cup of tea ... before I head off to Friday night Sit And Sew. I'll be taking my cotton crochet blankie to work on ... not much thinking involved, so perfect to relax with while we chat! :0) I hope you've all had a great week and that your weekend includes sewing your projects rather than packing them ... SIGH!!! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!
KRIS