A Rabbit Trail

It appears I followed a rabbit trail.  And not Alice's White Rabbit but the Black Rabbit from Watership Down!  Maybe I shoulda followed the Yellow Brick Road!

It began when I wanted to quilt the Paris quilt.  It took a while to find the toile fabric that I knew I had. It was lurking behind the design wall which needed shifting to the side.  Then I needed a place to baste everything together.  Moving Nina closer to the design wall placed her smack in the middle of my big table.  What to do???

Enter the Rabbit!  I could switch fabric rack/design wall and the big table.  This would put Nina back in a corner and still near the design wall!   But only one bakers rack has wheels so I uploaded all the fabric on the table to accomplish the switch. Easy!  I pushed and shoved and repositioned.  Drat, my Dearie wants to know when we are going to bed.  I just started! And it is not so easy to put the fabric stacks back!  :/  Well, this needs thinking as now my desk area is cramped!

New day:  I could switch the Ikea  desk and that old chest.  Pant pant!  Still crowded.  Do I really need this chest?  More stuff on the table and chest is 'donated' to hubby's shop.  He is underwhelmed with gratitude.  Old Singer will be gifted to youngest Grand daughter and all their bits and bobs of novelty fabric.  I might as well send 2 years worth of leftover art supplies and their finished art projects at the same time.  Bonus- I got the shelves under the counter all cleaned up.

I realized I needed access to my fabric and a sturdier design wall.  There is wall space for both now!  I need to get my Handy Hubby to saw about an inch off the tops of the styrafoam so they wedge nicely from floor to ceiling.   The third one can slide a bit beside the desk.

If I switched the art table and the wooden counter that would open up the space better.  Whoa!  That was work and now I am the one who is looking for my bed partner.  Things are okay but not ideal.  Maybe inspiration will strike in the morning.

No fresh ideas so lets put stuff where stuff belongs.  The avalanched stacks on the cutting table are being avoided.  Good thing the weather has turned cold and rainy.

Afternoon coffee break.  Aha, so nice to sit down.  Inspiration struck!  Wish it had struck before I had set up my stuff!  Another unfinished coffee break as I head back down to the playroom.

 Switched desk material over to the 'temporary' thing a ma jiggy table (fidget table?) in the art corner.  It is actually quite comfortable to work on.  It folds up and I was just storing it as it is for occasional workshops. 

Then I  made the desk a rug hooking/handwork station!  It was bothering me that I had messy paint in my sewing area as I am kinda klutzy!  This will be just fine!

                                                      YES!!!!  This feels right!

 Time to face the fabric!  Frances on her blog had just rearranged her fabric stash and used foam core to make equal sized fabric piles.  Foam core is over in the art supplies and a mathematically minded hubby did the math.  Nice but every piece needs ironing and folding.  awk!
I opened up the fabric and ironed it.  The selvedges are on the edges. I placed the foam core on the cut end and folded the fabric.  I just about finished before I realized the best way to do this. Then I use the narrower part to fold the already folded length.  This really compresses the fabric and makes it a uniform size.  I can see there was lots of bulk and wasted space in the previous stacks.

  I had just wanted to have a clear table to baste my quilt.  VBSigh  The mess was daunting!   So I decided to divide and conquer.  A temporary folding table will hold the small stuff.  I will deal with the bigger pieces (1/2 yard and more) first.  Whoo hoo.  I got table top showing.  I also got surprises as I found ole favourites,  some  'I don't remember buying this'  fabrics and some unwashed pieces that had snuck in.  I prewash as the sizing bothers my hands.  I also emptied containers of dress scraps into a bag for a fellow quilter who makes dog beds as I now realize I am not that kind of mixed media crafter.  I did save the silk bits.  ah!  Breathing room!

Its enough to drive an inspired quilter to drink.  Coffee, that is!  But I did need to send my errand boy out to buy more 'essential ingredient' for my substitute for Best Press - Quilter's Moonshine.  Just something I learned form my new All Thumbs Quilt buddies!  :) 

The old desk corner is now my personal corner.  I  store some of my extra books and memorabilia but also my garment sewing stash and paraphernalia.  I have been snagging a few pieces of quilt yardage for that shelf!

We are edging closer to our first frost free day when the yard  work really begins.   With all the major components in place I can deal with the fat quarters on the folding table in the evening.  Everything seems to be fitting nicely in the great scheme of things.  Next is to give everything a tweak and a good vacuuming.   Then back to Paris!!!  lol

Hopefully I won't see any rabbits as I venture into the landscape!

If you have been reading, Thank you.  I will joyfully answer any comments and I am definitely open to suggestions!