Busy, Busy and Upcoming Quilt Show & Iron Recall

Wow, it's been almost a month since I last posted.  I've been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY in that month!

I participated in a Sewing Machine Cover exchange with my Treadle On group. This is the cover I made.

front

back with pockets to hold manuals, etc, including an extra pocket to hold scissors

I was the hostess, and one of the participants made 2 covers and told me to pick one for myself as a hostess gift.  Well, the inside of one had signature blocks from a group of treadlers she is in.  I met all the women that made those blocks back when I attended the 2013 River Rat TOGA, so I chose that cover.

kitties in a sewing room, lots of pockets to hold things

cute kitty button

signature blocks of ladies I've met in the past

And this is the cover I got in the exchange.

inside of cover

Hubby's dresser is breaking down.  We decided to take our son's old dresser out of my sewing room so hubby can use it instead.  Well, that left a gaping hole in my sewing room that needed to be filled.  I went to IKEA and bought 2 different Billy bookcases, one large, and one only 15 inches wide to use in the corner, since otherwise that area is wasted space. I had to take down my cutting table (with project boxes underneath) and my ironing board (also with lots of stuff underneath) so that I could move the dresser out and put the bookcases up.  Lots of work, but, now I have more room for fabric and patterns.  The photos show the bookcases BEFORE I put the cutting table and ironing board back.

empty

starting to fill these up

After the bookcases were put up, I spent 3 days going thru patterns that I've printed out, and/or purchased and organized them into categories (Sewing Themed, Quilts of Valor, Table Runners & Placemats, Children's quilts/projects, etc.).  I found patterns that I've been looking for.  Woohoo!  Now I can find all of my patterns easily.  The patterns took up 2 full shelves, and I can get to them easily now.

My friend, Marilyn died August 10th.  Marilyn had been quilting for over 40 years.  Three of us had been picked by Marilyn to take care of her stash before she died.  We spent 5 days, along with almost a dozen other ladies, going thru Marilyn's stash and sorting it for a giveaway (yes, she had that much stash).  On Labor Day, one of the ladies and I used some of the larger pieces of cottons to cut out 150 pillowcases for refugee's on the east coast (a friend had contacted Marilyn's hubby with this request).  Well, the Marilyn's Great Stash Giveaway was last weekend.  Her garage was FILLED with her stash.  When we set up, things were spread out from the garage all the way down to the sidewalk on either side (and middle) of her driveway.  There was kits & projects, rulers, threads, patterns, bags of scraps, batting, interfacing, notions, cabinets, etc. Everyone was asked to use as much of what they got for charity quilts (Marilyn's passion).

boxes of scraps, batting, etc. al the way down the driveway

one side of the garage

other side, with tables along the back (too dark to see them)

20 minutes BEFORE the giveaway was supposed to start

Everything was given away, with donations to Hospice Foundation of America and the Kendall County Meals on Wheels gladly accepted.

By the end of the first day, we'd reduced the stash down to this.

end of first day

end of first day

By the end of the second day, we'd whittled down about 90% of her stash, with most of the remaining fabrics, notions & threads going to the Home Ec. classes at 2 local schools.

boxes under tables are empty, almost all was gone

We raised $1074 for Hospice and $420 for Meals on Wheels (total of $1494).  Marilyn's family was overwhelmed and very grateful for all the help to take care of her stash.  

We all need to plan for what will happen to our stash (and other things) when we are gone.  Our families don't really know what to do with our stash.  Make plans!  

September is my little quilt guild, Wego Quiltin's Annual Tea.  This year was the 20th Anniversary of the guild.  At the first Tea, we had a Crazy Hat contest, and we had another one this year.  I designed a fun hat and won 2 categories (Most Useful and Most Original).  If there had been a 'musical' category, I would have won that, too, since 2 of the treadles on my hat were musical;)

front of hat

back of hat

Saturday afternoon hubby started replacing our old kitchen sink (20 years old and chipped).  As he was ready to put the new sink in the empty hole, I noticed that a corner of the sink was cracked (hairline crack).  We turned the sink over and discovered that 3 of the 4 corners had hairline cracks all the way thru the sink.  What the heck???  That sink was well packed with large foam pieces over each corner.  Hubby took the sink back on Sunday afternoon, but since it had been ordered (not in stock) it had to be ordered again.  The new sink is supposed to arrive on Thursday (we'll see).  Till then, we don't have a kitchen sink or dishwasher.  Since the bathtubs are upstairs, they are too far away to wash dishes in, and the powder room sink it small.  Paper plates and eating out for us until we get a new sink (grilled hot dogs last night, only had to wash the tongs to turn the hot dogs).

where my kitchen sink should be

Do you have a Steamfast or Brookstone Travel Steam Iron?  There has been a recall on some of them.  Info at this link.  Mine isn't being recalled, thank goodness.

And finally, (yea, long post), I will have a booth showing off 17 of my vintage sewing machines at the Faithful Circle Quilt Show this weekend. If you will be in the Chicago area this weekend, please come.  The quilt show will be at the Thomas Jefferson Junior High, 7200 Janes Avenue, Woodridge, IL on Saturday and Sunday, September 23-24, 2023.  (IKEA is just down the road from the quilt show, along with a great quilt shop about 2-3 miles away, too).  This is always a great quilt show (not one of my quilt guilds).