Pillow Frenzy

It started at our Christmas celebration when one of my daughters wanted a quilt for her bed.  She's bought a "fixer upper" and work is progressing nicely but she painted the walls in her bedroom a dark gray and now needs some color.  She didn't ask me to make her a quilt - just share one I already had.  We looked through the stacks of quilts (don't judge) and she chose one I bought several years ago at a junk store for $30.  It was old and a bit ragged on the edges but a beautiful star pattern and made from reds and teals.  Then, of course, she needed some throw pillows to set it off.  We went through my fabric stash (don't judge) and she chose three fabrics we thought might work.  Well, you know pillows take so little time that I ended up making three.

While I was rummaging around in the sewing room I came across a pumpkin I had embroidered this fall so I just made a quick pillow with it while I was there.

I love the border fabric on this one, though it doesn't show up well in this picture.  It's spider webs with little orange spiders on it.  :)

Abut that same time I finished a wool hand applique piece I'd been working on so I just stayed with my pillow theme and this is what I ended up with.

This pattern was in a recent Primitive Projects magazine.  I think it will be put up and given to someone for Christmas next year.  I love the addition of the gingham.

I had another wool piece I'd finished weeks ago and, you guessed it, another daughter who needed a pillow for her new house.  Yes, two daughters, two new/old houses.  And my son is remodeling his.  Good grief.  Since this daughter loves chickens this is the one she's getting.

I keep a basket on my sewing machine filled with things that need to be finished.  So I continued with my chicken theme, but not my pillow theme, and made this rooster market bag.  I think I'll send it to a friend who loves chickens.

I made several market bags for Christmas presents this year - my girls use them for absolutely everything - and so I'm now completely out of the fusible I use for interfacing.  That means I need to make a trip to the fabric shop.  I'm trying to stay out of fabric shops - honestly - but sometimes that's not possible.

My problem is not really not that I have too much fabric.  It's that I have too many UFOs.  My January resolution has to be UFOs.  I'm going to write it on the bathroom mirror, and tape it on a piece of paper to the front of the television.  Maybe I'll make up a song about finishing UFOs.  I was horrified last week when I rearranged and cleaned and sorted in my sewing room at the number of UFOs and unstarted kits I have.

See those four dark baskets?  Kits not yet started and UFOs.  Seriously.  On the floor are 3 tubbies of wool fabric and two sets of drawers of thread and things I don't use often.  There are a couple of shelves of layer cakes and jelly rolls and fat quarter bundles and flannel fabric and on the top are pillow forms.  I just bought most of those because they were on sale this week.  Honest.

I keep fat quarters in the old gym baskets, sorted by colors.  I don't have an ironing board but use this ironing station, which works better for me.

This is fuzzy but on that far shelf I keep jars, and jars, of buttons.  And also patterns I want to use soon.  After I finish the UFOs.  Patterns I've already made or want to make way in the future are in the file cabinet.

One of the problems I have in my sewing room is there is never enough light.  I think I might have to consider having these cataracts removed soon.  :)  To solve that I've added what my dad would call "chicken lights" in a couple of places to help until I figure out something else.  I just moved my fabric to these shelves last week when they got displaced in the closet by the UFO baskets.  See how I subtly reminded myself to finish those UFOs?

This is where I actually sit and sew.  The bins have all sizes of pieces I've cut from scraps of fabric - 5", 2 1/2", 3" squares, different sized triangles, etc.  It's too much.  Really.  That basket on the left...that's the stuff I'm working on right now.  Except for that snowman on top, which is finished.  Yea!  I have no idea this turned into a tour of my sewing room except here we are.

And now I must go.  I need to work on UFOs.  :)