Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Fresh Start

I cleaned my studio before I went away. What a Blessing!!!!  To come home and have a nice clean space to mess up! The possibilities are endless!  Not that I need to start any new quilts, but I have loads of ideas...

Question:
How does this happen?
I spent all of last year getting my UFO TOPS done and now I am back to a stack of aprox. 25, that need to be quilted. This of course does not include the 8 that are sent out to long armers! ( and the 10 I have in progress)sigh.

Sheesh! Like rabbits I tell ya!

It's FREEZING outside today.... 30 degrees. We've had 50-60 degree weather for weeks... and today? 30. The heat is on, and I boiled up some ginger for tea. I was going crazy on the cruise, because I forgot to take my ginger along. I drink fresh ginger tea all day, every day...  One day they had sushi on the boat, and a bunch of pickled ginger, and off to the side I saw a tiny bowl of chopped up fresh ginger... I dumped it all on my plate so I could have a cup of ginger tea.  Shhhhh, don't tell anyone!
I usually make Ginger Syrup in the summer to make Ginger Lime-ade,  but decided to make a big batch today, so I can get my ginger craving fulfilled...

Ginger Syrup: one cup water, one cup Sugar, One arm of ginger chopped up.  bring to a BOIL,  turn off and let steep for 30 minutes...  add a few TBS to hot water for tea...

Or if I don't have syrup, I add fresh ginger to my tea cup, pour hot water over it and add a squeeze of agave...  YUM!!!


PLAY...
Coming home to play in my shirting fabrics to make BLOCK 7 of the Blogger's BOM is such a nice way to mess up my CLEAN STUDIO!


I'm inspired by this first block to make a whole new quilt!  (OK, Now I see how that RABBIT thing applies here) The colors on this first one, is not something I would have ever set about making, But now, having SEEN the colors together through play, I'm all over it!


I'm still trying to keep up and make two of each block... They are looking so good together!! I could very easily be distracted and make more and more blocks, all day long...


Make sure to add you pics to the flickr group!
I can't wait to have this one in my UFO pile!!!  It won't be in that pile for long. 
It needs to be on my bed!

How big is your UFO pile today??


21 comments:

  1. Oh to have a clean studio! What's your recipe for ginger syrup? I love ginger!!!!

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  2. Nothing feels better than a clean studio to start something new in! And ginger tea--ginger syrup? Where have I been and how do you do this? It sounds wonderful!

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  3. My UFO pile contains at least 15 to 20 quilts - the oldest UFO is approximately 30 years (I swear I am going to finish it!) and the newest is 3 days old. Love what you are doing with the plaids! So much color and fun!

    I have a couple of questions - your studio seems very open, how to you keep the sun from fading your fabrics? Question 2 - how do you make your ginger tea and how do you make the syrup and the Lime-ade? I am a real tea drinker and love to taste other forms of teas that don't come out of a box from the grocery store.

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  4. Thanks for the deets on how to make ginger syrup. I know what I'm grabbing from the store on my way home tonight! I LOVE Ginger beer and, as it's chilly here, again, tea sounds lovely.

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  5. I have 8 tops in various stages -- at least three waiting to be quilted and the rest still in progress. I've finished a whole bunch since Christmas, but it never ends when there's fun fabric and new ideas to play with. I know why you have so many -- you're so darn fast! (and I mean that in the nicest way.)

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  6. Love your plaids....it is becoming a Naked Farmer's Wife quilt. (He is naked 'cuz she stole sll of his shirts to make a quilt!)

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  7. The shirting plaids are wonderful, as is the clean studio. I keep meaning to clean mine out, but always get side tracked by some project that gets unearthed that I really want to work on. I have six tops that need quilting, and at least that many other projects at some stage of completion. I am headed for DC on Thursday morning, and plan on doing some hand quilting on the plane. I may even get one finished during my 10 hour traveling day, with layover. It is smallish. Have fun playing in the clean studio.

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  8. Oh gosh I don't even want to know how many UFO's I have! I just keep trying new things and I'm sure I have quilters ADD. So many ideas, so little tine. Haha. I should go sew. Ox

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  9. I started quilting only 3 months ago and I have been reading all theses sites and seeing people talk about their stacks of quilt tops unfinished and wondered how could you ever get a stack of them little alone even 2 waiting to get finished then this week came along. Waiting for the wife to have a baby and more time to spare then I should I now have 4 yes 4 in a pile. Hum I am worried what that pile could look like in a year from now. Oh well tonight I will go home and start working on #5.

    http//richardquilts.blogspot.com
    http://trackmyshows.com

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  10. I love your plaids and can't wait to see it all done.
    I also would like a little more info on your ginger tea. You show it in a canning jar, do you can the ginger syrup? How much syrup do you use to make tea?

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  11. the recipe is on the post.... check up there.. ;-)

    I store everything in canning jars... makes stuff last longer...
    ;-)

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  12. I'm envious of your big cutting table! No idea what my UFO tally is at the moment as I've been afraid to count for some time now.

    Somehow, in spite of vows to make this "the year of finishes", my "RFQ" (ready for quilting) pile increased by one over the weekend, instead of decreasing.

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  13. lol my pile of tops is at about 18 for now :) and with the 10 on the go - who knows where it will lead! Love ginger tea :) Must try the syrup - thanks for the recipe :) x

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  14. Hope you had a fun day. I've never had ginger tea, I'll have to try it.

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  15. The rabbit thing..... I understand.. The clean studio
    Thing, I do not......

    glen

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  16. thanks for the recipe for the tea - how do you do the ginger lime-ade?
    Karen

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  17. Oh my. I have been a little obsessed with ginger recently. I an going to have to try this tea! Thank you! Though I'm trying a "low sugar intake" thing right now -as I am slightly addicted and that may not be the best thing. :P also...I trends to clean before I go away, too. Its really great. Or I use family coming as an excuse to clean...clean is a great feeling but doesn't happen very often when you have so many quilts going at once! I am a newby and have for quilts going right now...and that is plenty to keep the goose a little disastrous! Good luck!

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  18. I'd rather not discuss my UFO pile, thank you very much, but YOURS is sure impressive!

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  19. In answer to your final question - HUGE! Everything from bits to blocks to sets of blocks to tops ready for quilting. I love your plaids! Churn Dash is my second favorite block, maybe moving up to #1 if I'm not careful. They look great in the plaids you chose. I can see how that could multiply into a lot of blocks!

    Yeah, blame it on the rabbits!

    dezertsuz at gmail
    desertskyquilts.livejournal.com

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  20. how DO those quilt tops reproduce??? and NOW I know what all that ginger was for!! I wondered ALL WEEK!!!!

    And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Happy BIRTHDAY... Happy BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    TO YOU!

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