Spring Cleaning

Greetings from chilly Wisconsin, USA!  We had our early taste of summer in March but now it is March in April, a bit confusing.  Because it's cold and windy and I cannot find anything anymore ever at all in my sewing room, Oliver and I have been spring cleaning for a few days with about a week left to get to the floor in every corner, in every nook.  He claimed his spot on some old jeans destined for donation while he worried over what was happening.  Soon he realized this was big fun indeed.

It has been a journey through layers of "stuff" collected and saved or merely squished into spaces over the past 18 years.  My quilting life and career unfolded before me as we dug and sorted, saved and tossed, organized and even had a few tears shed. 

Old letters, old photos were wonderful to find, some of my childhood ones thought to be lost were found.  Photos from quilt events, stellar moments all brought back as each one was unearthed.  Cards and notes from students over the years are treasures to be kept.

I found some old wood robin eggs and an antique bowl, so put them out for Easter and let Oliver roll them around on the hardwood floors.  They make a satisfactory rumbling noise, for a little while at least, and then new things are there for him to discover.

Samples of quilting, notebooks of ideas and sketches, blank notebooks, old books and magazines, and so much that I had that I have no idea why I didn't throw out right away.  There was that light for my rotary cutter and probably 20 or more mechanical pencils.  I guess items from teacher gift bags were hard to throw away as these were "perfectly good things" and who knows, might be needed some day.  Ha. 

I hope to finish up this week, and then take a vacation to the quilt show at Paducah next week and relax and enjoy the quilts, the town, seeing old friends. 

Thanks to everyone for the fabulous comments on my "Blossom's Journey" quilt to be auctioned at the live auction Thursday p.m. in the food tent by the Expo Center at Paducah to benefit the National Quilt Museum.  It has arrived at the museum, ready for the show and auction.  Please stop by and see it beforehand at the Expo Center. 

Below, some of the quilt challenge fabrics, all by Moda except for the gold/green solid and that's a Caryl Byer Fallert gradations from Benartex that I added to the mix.  The soft plaid is very thin, almost handkerchief weight, and next to it the stripe is a coarse home dec cotton, so it was just a tad challenging to have it all work out in the piecing.  But the contrast makes it interesting and visually a delight.  My piecing was simple and easy but some of the other quilters used these fabrics in complex designs, a true challenge.

See you soon, and meanwhile, keep quilting!  Your work gets better every day....

Diane