A normal, low key country craft sale.

 Gail and I may be "pros" at sales but these ladies were obviously well experienced, and probably more experienced with this type of sale than either of us. The big winners were the bake sale participants, which included a gentleman working in the kitchen, making fresh bread and buns as well as "cinnamon knots".  Cinnamon Knots were dough, drenched in a bit of oil and then dredged in cinnamon sugar, before being twisted in a knot before baking in the oven for 20 minutes.  He brought out a batch regularly, and they were gone almost immediately.

There were people through fairly regularly, but they were often people who came to see a specific vendor, likely a relative.  I sold more than I expected but less that I would have liked.

I took a picture of my booth, just before the sale started.  After taking the picture I realized how awful those fabrics hanging down the front looked, and very quickly tucked them in.

After packing up, we headed home in the rain.  The same rain as was pouring down all day.  We stopped at the pizza store and bought supper, then spent the rest of the evening watching my regular Saturday night shows.

Two steps forward, and one step back

 Yesterday was devoted to re-assembling the scrap quilt that DH has been ripping for me for the last three days.  With the de-assembling, many small seams split a bit and needed to be re-sewn.  But, to my dismay, there were a couple of areas where the original surface had not been properly sewn, and there was a hole.  This required that the inner colourful square, had to be ripped further, mended, and re-assembled.  I'm so glad we found these areas before the quilting was done, but also embarrassed that I made that error in the first place. Could this have happened because of an age-related diminishment in judgement?  Or, more likely, was I just working too quickly in trying to get the job done.  Maybe a bit of both.

Today I will be packing up items for the sale tomorrow, while also doing the wash, and having a coffee meeting at 3:30.  Fortunately, we will be able to set up for the sale between 6 and 8 this evening, even if that means an extra trip out to the sale site, about a 40 minute drive.

Still busy

 My poor Dear Husband has been working on taking apart the quilt I mentioned in the last post, for the past 3 days and evenings.  At the same time, I've been working on a large drawer full of scraps that had been partially stitched together.  They were in several different colour schemes, and the only way I could make them the least bit presentable was to simply ( ha ha it was definitely not simple!) stitch them into long narrow strips, working with scraps of the same width in each long strip.  At the same time, I was tryin to recover the long narrow pieced strips from the piece my husband was working on. Here's a picture of what was accomplished this afternoon. The longer strips are about 40" long.

Back in the saddle again

 There've been no posts this week, but I have got a bit done every day.  The small quilt top that I wrote about last week has been finished, but when I hung it on the design wall for this picture, I noticed a huge problem that will have to be addressed.  This may mean taking the thing half apart, but I know it must be done.  There is a 2" border around the outside edge that appears rippled.  This will have to be taken off and sewn back on more carefully.  Unfortunately,  I have a hunch the problem goes back to the inner white border.  There's a good chance the smaller coloured squares may not come off in one piece.

                                       

A second small top has also been stitched together.  Both of these small tops will be quilted later, as there is no deadline on donation quilts.

The past couple of day's work resulted in 96 sale tags cut, ties cut and attached, and a small pin attached to the tie.  This is part of the preparation for the craft sale which is next Saturday--April30th.  Today I started sorting and pricing all the things I plan to take to the sale.  I'm half done and have used 5 new tags.  ( insert bad words of your choice)   I can't even say that I'll keep them for next time, because, I'm very much hoping there won't be a next time.  But it did give me a chance to clean out my "tag" tin, and the pins are recoverable. although that still leaves me with the problem of what to do with 300 small gold pins.

                          

Sorry--

 Circumstances today meant that I didn't get into the studio, and so made no progress at all on the "Purge" challenge. I hope to get back at it tomorrow.

Yesterday---

 Yesterday the sashing, between the 91/2" squares, was started.  This meant my first experience with the big laundry basket of scraps.  I knew most of those were long strips, and I had decided that the sashing would be best in white.  This wasn't my first choice, but after seeing the pieces against the white background of the design wall, I knew that white was the right choice.  The colours seemed to come to life against the white.

But. while there was more than enough white in the laundry basket, it was in a variety of widths, and all needed pressing before it could be cut.  This meant that most of my studio time involved pressing and cutting, but the piecing is started and should be easily finished today.

Piecing Scraps

 The smaller scraps are done!  Yay!  Glad to see the end of that process.  I had seen the "twosie/foursie technique on the internet, and had wanted to try it.  Now can say "Been there, done that".  But with a tremendous amount of work today, I squeezed 9-91/2" squares out of the pile.  Some of them went together quickly and some didn't.  The last two took an hour and  a half.  All of the seams have been trimmed to 1/4", and pressed open so as to minimize bulk.

This is the next pile to deal with.  Most of the pieces have already been stitched to another piece, but much more attention has gone into matching colours, patterns etc., and the result is two, maybe three colour ways that are in progress.

This bin is the third pile that I have separated out.  I have to admit that I just haven't figured out how to approach it.  In the past I would have simply cut it all into like-shaped pieces, but my arthritic wrists just won't tolerate that any more.  The fourth pile is a laundry basket filled to overflowing with long narrow strips of fabric.  I have a pretty good idea how that will be approached.  So this third basket may just be put aside pending further thought.

Regardless of how I deal with these piles, they have to disappear somehow as part of the overall "purge".

Guess I should'a taken some pictures

 I promise for tomorrow.  My "onesie-twosie" strategy has now reached the "eightsie-sixteensie" stage which is really just a stupid way to talk about it.  But this stage is giving me about 7 pieces big enough to cut a 91/2" square out of, so that's good news.  I would have liked to get 9 squares, but this is not to be, although I could maybe get 8, with  a little fudging.

Unfortunately, after getting to that point, and speaking to a friend for over an hour today, I crashed, and am still feeling a little rocky.  So this message will be short, and really just to let you know that I'm still on track.

Finally sewing on the machine

Yes, I felt I needed some stitching time, and pulled out the smallest bin of scraps and started stitching them together using a "Onesie/Twosie/Foursie method.  ( Don't ask) Worked on this for about and hour and a half, and almost feel as though I might have bitten off more than I can chew, but will persevere.  I'll get the first pile done before even thinking of moving onto the second pile ( of four), as each of the piles on the table will require a slightly different sewing method for putting them together.  Thank Goodness, I have a concrete idea of how each of these could be finished into a charity quilt.  I'm also thinking of dealing with the scraps to create tops before even considering the quilting.

Hopefully some pictures tomorrow.

a couple of decisions made

 DH and I spent some time in the studio today.  We got my old Pfaff out, set it up, and tried it out.  It works just fine.  I think the reason it was skipping stitches when I tried it a couple of years ago, was because I had threaded the machine incorrectly.  Could I sell it?  Yes, but I wouldn't get much for it because of its age and because the lid of the equipment  box is broken.  It's been decided to keep it as a spare, as we've been doing for the past 17 years.  

It can be easily stored in the rolling cabinet I use for the Janome whenever it has to leave home.

We went through the hangings found yesterday, ( was it yesterday or the day before?  Who knows?)  All but one of them have been cut up and thrown in the bin.  My 5 gallon bin was full, and dumped in a large black plastic bag, as I type.  The hanging that has been kept will be hung in the studio over the tv, and the one current hanging there may be moved, although it might be a candidate for binning as well.

And then there was a discussion and maybe a revelation about how much scrap fabric we have and how it's to be used.  I don't feel that I've had a creative thought since I was sick in March of 2020 (Covid? who knows?)  Right now I would be quite happy to work on donation quilts.  Using scraps for these could be a spur to creativity.

That thought has resulted in a revision of the challenge.  The UFO list will now be the major part of activity.  I have both unfinished projects and 2 bins of scraps dedicated to making donation quilts.  Those two bins will be given a degree of priority.

A poor night and another putter-y day

Oh, I'm so confused!  Yes, considering how much purging I'm involved in, and how much I'm dreading dealing with the bead cupboard, today I went out and bought beads.  This meant that those that I bought had to be stored, and this meant that I had to start getting ready to purge my bead collection.  I admit that I don't really know what's in the cupboard, although I have a rough idea. So today I started consolidating various beads into container stacks of like colours.  I need to know what's there before deciding on how  to approach the purging.

Here is the top half of the cupboard.  This is where all the seed beads and a few of the larger beads are stored.

The bottom half of the cupboard contains specialty beads, and various large beading tools

There are two shelves dedicated to towers of seed beads, most of which are size 10 or 11.  I prefer that like colours are kept in the same tower, but things have been confused over time.

This lower shelf contains a few towers but also quite a collection of tubes of beads.  Over the past few years I've opted to purchase a better class of glass seed beads.  I rarely use the older glass beads as I know I can't count on them being reasonably the same size.  While the less perfect beads may have their use, especially if I'm trying to colour match.  These tubed beads will not be discarded.  The towers behind them will be considered for purging.

This top shelf contains mainly smaller Mill Hill beads that accumulated during my embroidery days.  I don't have a lot of them, in each container, and will not be able to use most of them as they are just too small for my elderly eyes.

Finally, here is my collection of various "bead soups".  Whenever I finish a project, and have only a few leftover beads, those beads become part of one of my various colours of  "bead, soups".  These are a recent development in my beading world, and invaluable in my more recent work.  I don't care what size or shape a left over bead is, as long as it matches one of  my selected colours.

I started another bead soup today.  Prior to destroying older work, DH will pick off the beads for me.  There have been a lot of beads  redeemed this way lately, and many of them are not really worth the effort of trying to sort them out.  So as many as possible were sorted, but quite a few ended up in this mish-mash of various coloured seed beads and fancy sequins.  I have a hunch this soup is going to grow over the next while.

But the older sewing machine didn't get dealt with today.  Maybe tomorrow.

Missed a day, putt-ery day

 Yes, I missed a day yesterday, for the first time since this challenge started.  Today, DH showed up and we went through the storeroom together to see what might have been missed.  One item was the older Pfaff sewing machine that I have in the storeroom.  Tomorrow I'll set it up and see how well it runs, and then maybe offer it at a fire sale price. We also found some heavy duty interfacing--about half a bolt.  It had been bought to create kits for a class I had been asked to teach, but was cancelled due to limited registration.  I have no idea what I might do with that!  Then we came across a very large, flat box that contained several smaller, older wall hangings.  Well, the best place for those is in a garbage bag. DH settled down to recover what beads were on them, while I started to cut the rest up.  There was one that I found pulled me in two directions.  It took about an hour of consideration before I admitted to myself that I really didn't want to let it go.  I didn't.

I also spent time today, going through a large box that I thought contained a bit of silk roving.  Oh My!  There was so much more.  Silk paper leaves, dyed cocoons and more silk thread.  That all has also stayed for the time being.

The next step may be to deal with all of the UFO's that have piled up so far.  This will give me a bit of a break from the constant purging, and may help reduce the amount of fabric that will have to be disposed of, once I start on my commercial and hand dyed stashes--or not.  Ar-g-g-g-gh!

Carrying on--regardless

 The weather decided that I wouldn't be going out to my craft group , in the country, so most of the day has been dedicated to work in the studio/storeroom.  Today I tackled thread.  OMG!  Is there ever a lot of thread!  So today was about hand stitching thread.  I went through three large boxes and two compartmented containers.  

During this "purge" I have given away a lot of "stuff", but there are a few things for which I would prefer to be compensated.  I plan to put them all in a separate document which will be sent to a few people who are aware that this is planned, but here is an idea of how I figure to work this out.

Below are two containers of Kreinik metallic stitching threads.  One contains gold and silver, and even a bit of copper thread.  That one also contains a few reels of traditional silk couching thread for use with the metal threads.  I will be asking $150.00 for each of them.

Below there is a collection of metal threads used in traditional metal thread embroidery.  Some of them are actually gold or silver wrapped around a cotton core.  There is also a large piece of gold kidskin. Some of these have been imported, over time.  I would like $200 for the entire collection.

These are more recent metal threads, mainly Accentuate, which is no longer manufactured.  It works very well in the machine as well as for hand work.  I will want $50.00 for the lot.

These are more decorative metal threads often used in canvas work. Again, I think $50.00 would be reasonable for the lot.

I mentioned yesterday, or was it Monday, that I purged my #8, and a few #5 perle cotton.  When I started both of these jars were crammed full.  You can see what's left.

And here is another lot of decorative threads used mainly in counted thread and canvas work, and again $50.00 seems reasonable for the lot.

So that is the progress today.  There is much more than I show above that will be heading for the thrift store.  My DH has chosen the MCC thrift store at Chambers and Watt as a good place for all the stuff, and they made us welcome.

Was I ever on a roll today

Was downstairs by 11:00, took a short break at 12:30 for a quick lunch and to start the bread machine,  back at work by 1:10, worked  until 3:00, and took a break until 3:50, and then downstairs again until 5:45.  Started in the storeroom and worked my way through two rolling cabinets, two wooden shelving units and two metal shelving units.  A full load went out to the car for the thrift store, and there is about 1/2 of another load ready to go out.  One and a half very full garbage bags out to the bin, and the small, in-house, recycling bin has been emptied twice.  There's still a good lot of work left.

What was most surprising was how freeing I felt both during and after the day's work.  This feeling is what convinces me that this job needed doing.  I can't believe that I've been able to stick to it this long.

What was I thinking!?

Over the past while, every time I have reason to go into the store room, I fiddle with some small thing, in anticipation of the purge getting started in there. The coffee cuffs are finished and I'm pleased with them.  When putting them with the older cuffs I noticed something behind the cuffs, on the shelf.  It was 5 or 6 small tree ornaments.  I had found the instructions for these on the internet years go.  The instructions were challenging and I spent some time, and had the pleasure of, making them, and then set them up for sale.  They even went to one sale where none of them sold.  They were certainly not to my usual standard, and I realized it very quickly.  I didn't realize they were still hanging around.  I had my DH save the expensive buttons I had put on them, and the rest is in the bin.

Not sure what is next.  I think that  a couple of new projects have made their way into the UFO "to do" list.  That shouldn't be happening, and I'll have to check it out.  Following that. I start on the store room.

Another short day

 A difficult night left me feeling pretty useless, but three of the cuffs are fully finished, so that makes 3/7 done and the rest almost done.  Hopefully those will be finished  today.

Short work day

 Headed for the sewing machine store first thing Saturday.  It took some convincing, but the lady finally agreed that there was something wrong with the foot, and said she would look into having it replaced. She also pointed out that the proper use for the foot was echo quilting, and that it was never intended for FM zig-zag.  Personally I don't see how that's a problem, but that's just me, I guess.

Once home I got the embellishment done on all 7 coffee cuffs, and started stitching the first one into shape, but a welcome phone call put an end to progress for the day.

Searching out the right threads for embellishment on the 3 different colours of cuff, gave me a good chance to look at my embellishment thread stash.  This also meant heading into the storeroom, a place I had vowed not to look at until all the "to do's" from the studio itself were resolved.  During my phone call ( gotta love speakerphone) I took the opportunity to take a look for things that I could include in this craft sale.  I have much more than I had thought, and more than enough to fill a table.  So I won't be sharing a table as I had first thought.  But it would sure help the purging, if I could sell most of it.  I also found out that I won't have to worry about provincial sales tax, as I certainly won't be making more than $10,000, in sales.

A better day

 I spent some time figuring out how to accomplish what needed doing without the special foot for my  machine.  Got a good start on things but the method I used is much more labour intensive.  There'll be no profit on this batch of cuffs, but maybe they will create a general increase in sales that will make it a bit more worthwhile overall.  The fact that I've had to buy nothing in the way of supplies and will be using old supplies, could be considered a bonus, and feed nicely into the overall goal of reducing "stash".