I've mostly been working upstairs lately, and honestly, it probably because I let the sewing areas become a disaster! My disaster likely isn't as bad as some, because I have two fairly large rooms for sewing so it's more spread out, and I didn't have piles on the floor so there's that. Still, it was bad enough that I didn't enjoy working in those rooms, and that's enough!
One of my DIL wants more bowl cozies, and her birthday is today. Obviously she isn't going to get them on time, but hopefully not too late. I have a die for bowl cozies, but I can't even get to my Studio cutter right now. Rather than just tossing everything aside, I decided to actually deal with the mess, and clear off surfaces by taking care of what was out. In my fabric room that means lots of cutting.
I had piles and piles of fabric around for one project or another. I had the fabrics still out for the king sized wedding quilt, but all the blocks are finished, and I've counted them multiple times so I felt OK putting those fabrics away, even if I'm not done assembling it. I had a pile of fabrics I pulled just because I wanted to bust them in quilt backings, so I cut those all into large squares to piece into backings. I had the fabrics I pulled for a quilt, so I cut that quilt out. I had the fabrics I pulled for backgrounds to go with my disappearing rail fence blocks, and I cut those out too. I also processed most of the scraps I've uncovered so far. Oh, I also cut a bunch of 2.5" navy strips to go with a quilt for which I had already started sub-cutting the printed fabrics. So basically it's been lots and lots of cutting. Unfortunately, my Studio cutter is still buried, so I see more cutting in my future. I still haven't cut out DH's scrub tops, but that can wait a bit. What's actually on top of my Studio cutter at this point is two quilt tops, with backing fabrics and batting for at least one of those. I need to piece the backings, and I may just go ahead and do that tomorrow, though basting can wait until after I cut out the bowl cozies.
When you are cutting, do you make good use of corners? (My studio cutter is buried in the corner under the window, you can see part of the flying geese quilt on top of it)
As I cut the 10.5" lengths off, I would move to the end of the table, and move the fabric just enough to sub-cut the other direction from the end. I could then easily pile my cut squares in the opposite corner.
Some of what I was cutting was smaller squares, and by using the corner of the table like this, I could leave the fabric where it was after the vertical cuts, move myself to the end of the table, and then make all the horizontal cuts without moving the fabric. I would just pull the yardage away before doing the crosscuts. I know you can do the same type of things with a rotating mat, but my rotating mat isn't that big, and utilizing the corner of my my cutting table like this works just as well. I really love having a cutting table I can walk around.
I'm not sure if you noticed or not, but you can see I have an ironing board set up in my cutting room. Yeah, that's not supposed to be there, but my ironing station in the sewing room is heaped high with projects, so yes, there's an ironing board in my cutting room temporarily. Am I the only quilter who has four ironing boards??? I have a big board type set up in my sewing room that DH and I made. I have this regular ironing board I use when I need to, sometimes I just use it to support a heavy quilt when quilting. I have another regular ironing board upstairs for when I'm sewing in the living room, and I have a small ironing board that fits on a TV tray for making a sewing/pressing nest when working on blocks like pineapple blocks that need frequent pressing while piecing. Four ironing boards is likely excessive, but you'd be amazed how often they all get used. If we didn't have a multiple story house, I'd easily get rid of one of the regular ironing boards. I'd probably still keep three though!
Tucson got a record setting rainfall for the month of July. We got just over 8" which made it the wettest month ever recorded here. June is our hottest and one of the driest months, so everything is brown around here in June, but all the July rain has really made the desert green. DH and I went on a drive Monday to enjoy the desert in it's new green duds.
^We saw a pronghorn hanging out
^and a pollinator busy at work.
It was a fun drive.
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