Not So Fancy Nancy

Swap score and new projects

I've set a goal with my quilting to break through my seemingly endless thinking loop into action. I've collected loads of fabric and books, many of which carry post-its and bits of paper as testament to my dreaming. I'm still trying to improve my sewing before I do the wall quilts I have in my imagination, so I've started grabbing a palette and saying "Just Sew It!" May not be much of an athlete, but I can apply that attitude to a creative marathon.

The pastel quilt and quiltlet are both almost ready to quilt, but to finish those would be much too linear for my tastes; instead, I cut the Flora quilt over the last few days. The pattern called for over a yard of a lead fabric and I wanted one of these, neither of which I had in the required yardage, so they're co-chairing the lead spot.

I opened the running to any and all fabrics, but as time when on it became an all-Rowan quilt. I give them credit - they do a great job with blending their colorways across designers and over years of collections.

I've been trying to loosen up on my stingy nature with cutting, so I let myself cut some fabrics that I wasn't 100% sure about. These were eventually rejected. Some hung on valiantly until the last minute.

These were the dark horses that overtook them:

I'm sewing these strips today, so a full shot will be coming forthwith. In the meantime, because things really should be grouped in threes for balance, I started pulling fabric for my next project. (I'm choosing to ignore quilt tops already finished in this count.) During September I joined the Scrap Swap and was so lucky to get Corrie in Australia as my partner. We traded a few emails to suss out what we each liked and she answered my wish list with a neat collection of Japanese storybook prints plus other fabrics I can't find here (there's much more under the pile). I had been considering a pattern that uses this type of focal fabric and here's a collection! Corrie sells these fabrics, so pop over to her website Retro Mummy if you're looking for Japanese fabric and craft books.

Knitting is picking up around here now that my hands don't sweat at the sight of yarn. I've got a scarf in Koigu over a foot long and five swatches going. Books and mags are lying around in every room. Trying to get some content on my Ravely page, but I keep getting sucked into the vortex of other people's projects. All you Ravely types know just what I mean.

I've shown my nice little swatch blocks before, so attractively piled in a basket. Pretty, but not practical. I'd put little sticky notes on them with the gauge listed, most of which had fallen off or stuck to the wrong one after too many rifling's through the basket. Took an hour last week to remeasure each swatch and record the gauge and any other info I had on tags. I've already used this several times already to match up gauge to potential pattern, so I'm happy with the effort.

My husband insinuates that my doodlings with reorganizing my yarn and fabric are "make work"; no dear, this is my idea of having work made for me:

Rowan's River: blocked and flowing

A while back I teased with a photo of a wet River. Now for a dry River.

Can't imagine what the neighbors thought yesterday evening if they saw me dancing around this garden alter draped with Kidsilk Spray taking endless photos.

The photo above shows the color the most accurately and you can see the border clearly on the lower left.

These photos I love for the light and the reflection in the orb.

I really like how this wrap looks after blocking and I always love the Kidsilk's airy warm feeling. This is wide enough to use as a wrap, but soft and crushable enough to use as a scarf.

The rose under the tripod isn't very happy in this spot, but I'll have to find something else because I like the glass orb so much!

I am getting some fresh blooms on many of my roses after our hot summer shut them down. Spent yesterday afternoon cleaning up in the garden so we can do some fall planting. This was my favorite colored one in the evening light.

Nothing natural about these colors!

The 10 year old has had purple butter cream frosting on chocolate cake for four years running - the girl likes her traditions! This year she wanted to add coconut and we thought a little more color would keep things festive. It's always called a Hagrid Cake after Harry Potter's less than perfect 11th birthday cake because I always seem to have some sort of mishap or the temp is 90 (no AC at our house) and the frosting is slip sliding off the cake. This time things were going swimmingly until I put the second layer on wrong side down, then lifted it back off again without considering the gluing effect of the middle layer of frosting. Split in two, then roughly glued with more frosting. At that moment I LOVED the sin-covering coconut! Ten 10-year-old girls (and family) wiped out this cake on the first cutting.

Those of you with teen girls will know just how scary it was watching those tweens dance around lip syncing to Disney pop then falling over each other with giggles. The first wave of the incoming teen huricane broke over our house on Saturday and I won't see dry land for another 13 long years.

Clean house = clean mind?

Sorry to disappear like that, but the day I was redesigning this blog we had a death in our family. I've not felt very creative for several weeks and instead spent some quiet, therapeutic time reorganizing my craft room. I've also upped my dog-walking schedule and have lost a few pounds (I'll get that meter back up soon). The kids are now settled into their school routine and life is getting back to normal.

As I said back in August, a new name seems good. That first attempt was unwieldy. I landed on this one after thinking about a natural nickname for Nancy that has never quite stuck to me. There's even a children's book series my youngest likes called Fancy Nancy, but in reality, I'm not fancy. Never have been. There was a time where every single item of clothing I owned was black except for some white blouses for summer. I was never a Goth girl, but rather more of a "Hey, this won't show dirt!" kind of woman. I rarely iron. I have expanded my wardrobe over the years, but there's still loads of black. I've added brown as a basic too - gettin' crazy in my old age. Now the advantage is that black and brown make great backdrops for colorful knitting. Even lace doesn't look too fancy on me since I don't wear makeup and I have wash-n-go curly hair. My bigger challenge is not looking like a cross between Stevie Nicks circa 1975 and Professor Trelawny. A few weeks ago I put on my "dress" sandals with a 1.5" heel (i.e., not birks) and tinted lip gloss and my youngest said "Wow Mommy, you're so dressed up!" Enough said.

I've always been amused by the clean house = clean mind attitude. While I certainly have a reverential moment of silence every other Thursday when every floor and bathroom in the house is clean at the same time (it's only a moment, because the kids come home 10 minutes later), I'm not really bothered by messiness. Dirt and dust are inanimate, so once they've settled somewhere I figure they'll still be there the next time I look for them. I really miss my floor at the old house because that tile pattern could hide dust bunnies the size of Texas. But this floor is the same color as the dog, so there are advantages.

Yes, I pick my home decor like I pick my clothes - low maintenance and dirt-hiding abilities are critical. Anyway, all this defense for messiness aside, there is something to be said for having a cleared work space and organized tools and materials. So maybe rather than clean, I'll go with a clear. I don't really care to be too clean-minded (go where you please with that one), but I like the idea of clear-headed. With that attitude I rearranged my craft space.

I started nine years ago as a stamper. Added scrapbooking a few years later, then knitting and, finally quilting and sewing. Each of these interests brings STUFF. Lots of stuff. The biggest challenge has been figuring out which things can be tucked away knowing I'll know right where to look when I need them, and which things must stay in front of my eyes if I ever dream of using them. Also there's "How often do I use this?" followed by the "Would I use it more often if I could reach it easily?"

All the classic rules of organization apply - like with like and a place for everything. Oh, and I had virtually no budget. Enter IKEA and Target, those cathedrals of modern design to which so many of us make pilgrimages when faced with the soul searching question "How do I do this cheaply with a modicum of style?" As my budget was about $100 this was more about adding really useful details as opposed to new furniture.

The IKEA shopping list:

* Rail system with baskets and hooks.
IKEA has three or four systems that will force you to stand there for 20 minutes comparing and contrasting. I choose this one because of the baskets and cups, since having the paint and stamping supplies at my desk were at the top of my list. There's also a shelf system we use in the laundry room that I really like.

* Magnet board

* Round spice containers with magnet on back
First found the white and black versions on sale at Target, but they're lightweights compared to the IKEA ones (priced about the same) which have lock-down tops and much stronger magnets.

* Magnet hooks (sold next to the boards)

* Magnet clips and decorative magnets (these were from Target I think)

* Magnetized knife rail (super strong!)

* Wall-mounted magazine rack (yet to be mounted)

* Magazine boxes (I already had these, but love them)

These items allowed me to bring most of the things I wanted to be able to see and reach easily to my desk area without taking up desk top space.

Target:

* Small white 3-drawer box
Mine is old, but as must of us know, Target is the place for plastic storage!

* Michael Graves cloth-covered closet boxes (the insides are flexible but strong plastic).
Not sure what Graves had in mind, but these are perfect for folded fabric. I'll show you more as I finish folding my fabric. I've got three sizes to fit different shelves.

I love that folded fabric shows you more of the color and pattern at a glance, but I was having trouble with the stacks just loose on the shelves. Things would get wonky and pulling one out of the middle led to avalanches. In these boxes adding or removing from the middle is a breeze and I can easily take an entire collection to the dinning room where I plan quilts. LOVE LOVE LOVE these boxes!

That expanding letter file in the center of my desk has been in my closet for a while. Found it on the damaged table at the office supply store. You other scrappers know one of the biggest challenges is keeping your flat embellishments in some kind of order. Not sure this is the best, but I already had it, so that works for me.

There is a quilt for my youngest daughter in the works, but I haven't had a chance to sew the blocks together. Here's the layout. The one on the table is a carry-around quilt.

I always have helpers:

I will finish with a mouth watering photo. Sorry, none to share. This was the last serving of delicious homemade Texas jelly. Thanks so much Julia! And you didn't know it, but your cute little crafty buttons already had friends here. The artist gave me these to match my girls.