SCORE!!!

Brand new sewing machine, check.

Thrift store sewing table, check.

Thrift store sewing chair with removable cushion and built in storage, check.

Pins, needles, threads, small pointy scissors, big fabric-cutting scissors, check.

See through quilting ruler, check.

Scissors sharpener, check.

Seam ripper, check.

Ironing board, check.

Ironing board cover and straps to keep it tight, check.

Iron found at last in unexpected box, check.

Ten-year-old stash of beloved but perplexing fat quarters, check.

Inspiration courtesy Lisa's Dorky Homemade Quilts, check.

Documentarian with camera, check.

Enough sleep, che-----er, um, wait *sheepish look* scratch that one.

My beloved fat quarters, all lined up on the ironing board. I never knew what to DO with them before, but now I know my instincts were certainly right when I bought them! You know I loved them if I carried them around for ten years, lol...

The first strip!!! I sewed it together until I thought it was WAYYY longer than I needed... okay, first lesson learned: it is NEVER longer than you need. *grin* But it did make into the nicest piece of fabric! I will have to post that pic after my documentarian gets home from work and uploads the rest of the evening's pics. *grin* Note optional Self-Installing Cat Accessory in lower right-hand corner. Installation momentarily successful. Program hastily aborted upon return of determined quilter.

Baby quilter, all flushed with excitement! Poor Gryph, we spent the entire day getting my sewing table and moving things around in the apartment to get everything set up. We did manage to unpack several boxes along the way, so we are that much closer to having our "working home."

I had spent lots of time (once I knew we were going to move) thinking about how to arrange the new place and what would make it the right kind of home for us. You know I love the idea of a beautiful home, full of art, light, open space, serenity.... and I can never seem to get it right. Not ever. So I thought about it... why would I, a talented and resourceful intelligent person, not be able to live in a beautiful uncluttered space?

The answer really surprised me. I'm not meant to live in House Beautiful, yanno? I am a maker... I am always making something or other, whether in the kitchen or in the rest of the house. What I value in this life--as shown by the things which consistently show up in my life, year after year, the things I replace first whenever I lose them--what I value the most in this life is the ability to make things. I buy art and craft supplies year after year, consistently.

Here's another thing that speaks to my not living in House Beautiful: I value animal companions much more than fancy furnishings. Between us, Gryph and I have four cats and a doglet. This in itself leads to clutter (and fur! yikers!).

So in my thinking and planning for our new home, I realized that what we need is not House Beautiful, but an old-fashioned Working Home, yanno, like peasants had in the middle ages. I can't hang herbs to dry from the rafters--we live on the ground floor, no rafters *grin*--but I can make certain that we build crafting space into the general plan. That's why the dining room became Our Craft Room, and why the living room contains not a couch, but a computer and sewing machine. It's actually set up almost like an office; the computer desk sits at an angle so it faces the front door and shields the bedroom and my sewing area, both. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea (lol! NO one else's cuppa!), but yanno... it works for us. The bedroom is for sleeping and the rest of the house (apartment) is for working. We even got a new printer so that we can make greeting cards.

It's funny how at home I feel in this home that is set up so differently from anywhere I have ever lived before. Now if we can just get bookshelves and get the rest of these boxes unpacked, we'll be good to go... but in the meantime, my dears, I have the second set of strips pieced and they are calling me to be made into fabric now!