WOW Still Sweating Storybags

What's on my work table???

The good news is I have a fully functioning work table for the messy stuff.  The peg board was a brilliant idea and I'm still arranging it for optimum use.  It is wonderful to empty messy drawers and get things up where I can easily grab things.

Now the drier side has the sweaty stuff!  All the fabric is cut for the story bags and  the sides stitched where the drawstring openings are.  The board leaning against the bookcase will be put behind the sewing machine as soon as the Rooster fine tunes the leg set up.

I have 25 story bags to complete.  They are approximately two feet square and are for a kids summer program so that explains the rush for the 'ya done good' presents.

I'm using the edge foot for the folded edge that the drawstring goes through.  That works slick and much faster than gnashing my teeth as I wobble along the edge.  It is pedal to the metal and Nina luvs it!

Then down the side and across the bottom. I did finish the beginning seams around the drawstring opening so it looks nice.  I know!  Hindsight makes me wonder why I couldn't have just sewn the casing last and left the ends open but I just followed the bag they gave me.

I wonder if Mod Podge would finish the ends of the cord?  I do have some help.  The kids and their parents are living in a camper as their house is being remodeled.  Their mum fried her sciatic nerve birthing their sister and things are 'interesting' just now so I have the grand kiddies.

Jenn comes today and we'll use her day care training to make some 'art' with the grand kiddies.  If we have any spare time we'll thread the cording through the casings.

In the mean time I have help!  I am delighted that she is sew interested.

Then her brother came to see what we girls were up to.   He is probably liking all the shiny moving parts best!  He says things like why and how,and what for!  I got no time for twenty questions.  sheesh!

I need to quit working the help sew hard.  OYE!  The wrinkles!

I am linking to the Canuck version of "what's on your worktable Wednesday."  I wonder if anyone else has as much help as I do.  LOL

And I call that the end of the story and their bags!

What in the world...

My work table had half the playroom on it this morning as I reorganize my workspace.  Monday I had switched around the 3 shelving units and had some difficulty getting the box over the larger shelving unit back in place. The Rooster did his magic and in it went!  Yesterday I cut grass and broke into a new area only to come to an abrupt halt.  I did finish but I'm scalping grass badly.  "It only needs a little adjustment, heh, heh!", has turned into needing an whole new blade.  vbsigh  :(

I managed to shuffle stuff all about in order to do Creativity 101 with my gal.  The room must be giving off good vibes as she worked for 2 hours on her scrapbook.  :)  We had some tea and then quickly painted a page in her magazine/art book so she can add a stencil next week.

Gosh, a new month and I have lots that still needs doing.

Hopefully I'll have some more polished photos of the playroom/studio tomorrow.

wow - What a lot of stuff on the worktable

I am still stitching. I should probably just bite the bullet, put my head and my foot pedal down and get these done.  But I do have such a lot of other options to play with.  I've been beading, gathering things for an altered book, sketching some design possibilities,  collecting 'useless' thread ideas and vbsigh, mending.

I am looking forward to opening up some of these patterned stitches and letting them break loose from their parameters but that'll be for next Wednesday.

I was experiencing some piling up of stitches sometimes.  Nina wasn't talking but I suspect that I should be using this foot which has a better groove for those stitches.  I've just been using the regular foot.

Stitch number 659 is not accurate.  The filled diamonds in the large diamond are not aligned.  There is a balance function that corrects this but I'm not taking the time to do that.

I am also taking note that some patterns would be wonderful with thicker thread and/or bobbin work!
I am also noticing that not all black markers are created equal.  LOL  Actually the thicker nib works better than the fine one on the fabric.

I did get a fair bit done and that was due to the piles of snow that are covering everything.  My errand has been postponed and I'm quite happy to stay home and sew, sew, SEW!

The bonus to all this is that my quality control is improving.  I'm starting to pay attention to spacing and the beginning and endings.  And improvement is not something to be shunned, even with an overflowing worktable!    Wonderful Wednesday!!!

Analyzing

I have been analyzing my quilt and my work area. There is always room for improvement.

I remember this top. It was a pattern that has a cut, sew, recut and turn all about and resew. Not doing those any more!!! It is well nigh impossible to control what goes where. So I spend the time saved ripping! I'm very happy putting patches in place and then walking back and forth to sew and keep things as best I can where they should be. But the most frustrating thing is the chopping off of corners. I can clip off points rather easily without actually doing them on purpose. :(

Then there are all the bias edges which if you look at the edge of the first picture of the quilt are significant. So significant I decided to remove some excess surgically. It would have been easier before I basted but I figured the grief of the puckers would be more than the discomfort of the operation. Aghhh!

Then I did my primary quick basting around the perimeter to see how flat it would be. Not too bad. I always use straight pins on the edge because I always do the edge first and it is quick and easy with relatively no loss of blood! ;^)

I also shifted my sewing cabinet to the side for better positioning. Nina's bed is flush with the cutting table. Then I dragged up the leaf on the table to get some more level surface on my left. My cutting mat makes for better sliding. I'll be getting the Rooster to help come up with a more permanent and larger work area sometime in the future.

I did end up putting my stool under the quilt that hung down as I feed the quilt. I think the ideal is a large square work surface with a cut out on the corner for standing. That would be just about perfect.

But that might take a bit more analyzing and I need to just quilt right now!