Clean Up On Aisle One

Do you ever go into your sewing room, see an awful mess, and just decide not to see it?  After all, you only have a little time to quilt.  Who wants to spend that time folding stuff, sorting stuff, and hauling stuff to the basement?  I came in here to sew.  Right?

Eventually it does get to be too much, even for me.   These are the before pictures.
Before I folded, and sorted, and hauled stuff to the basement.  Before I dusted and rearranged items on my shelves.  Before I vacuumed.
Warning--the next photo is dirty and disgusting.

This is the dirt I dumped out from the vacuum cleaner.  I filled the whole canister with just the sewing room dirt.

Ah, the after pictures.  I had to take a couple of pictures right away, before I mess it up again.  It's always a huge challenge to vacuum under the treadle pedal, since I can't move the treadle by myself.  I used the vacuum hose and even scooped out lint and fabric trimmings with my fingers.  Remind me not to trim dog ears at the treadle!

Look, Ma, no piles of stuff to trip over!
I feel a little better now.

Here's my finish this week--a doll quilt, shown here on an antique doll bed.

If it looks weird, there's a good reason.  The quilt is made from pieces of an 1870s quilt top.  The original quilt must have been a 9 patch set with off white sashing and double pink cornerstones.  The pieces were rolled up in a bundle of fabric I bought at a flea market.  They weren't blocks, just pieces, and many of the pieces looked like they had been chewed (mice?  Eww!)  I wish I had taken a picture of them.  Anyway, I cut the ragged edges off and assembled them together.  There really wasn't a way to match up squares, blocks, etc.  The border is from my stash of 1900s fabrics.

I just couldn't give up on these wonderful madder browns.

So I made a whole quilt this week!  It's about the size of a hand towel, but hey, it's finished!

I'm still making progress on my vintage scrap bag quilts.

After I finished all the rail fence blocks, I had to take them down to the living room to lay them out.

Then I started making rows, sewing a 2 in. x 5 in. red solid piece in between each block.

Here are the first two rows, set together with a long red sashing.

Close up.  I'm going to put a red border around the outside.  I'm on row #8 of 12 total.

In other news, the Pyramids quilt is finally in one piece!  All the sections are quilted, and the last seam is sewn on the back.  As soon as I get the rows next to the last seam quilted, I can start on the borders.

You'd think I'd be done piecing from the vintage scrap bag, but this antique quilt top gave me an idea.  Look at all those little scraps!

Here's what it looks like on the back.  Each diamond is crazy-pieced on a cloth foundation.

What if I did that--with 6 pointed stars?  I cut the cloth foundation diamonds from feed sacks, using my Accuquilt cutter.  It was kind of fun sewing the pieces onto the foundation.

I pressed the seams open, to avoid some of the bulk.
Now I have to decide.  Do I really want to do this?  And if I do, what color should I set the stars with?  White?  Light blue?  Green?  Orange?  Just not pink, I'm not a big fan of pink.
Oh, boy, here I go again.

One more finish today.  I cut the last of the rhubarb from my little garden, and made a rhubarb pie.  (Good thing I took this picture, it's half gone already, thanks to my husband, my grandson, and me.)

What are YOU working on?  I hope it gives you joy.

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts
and with Myra at Busy Hands Quilts.