Colorful Quilt and Cabinet

A dentist appointment, line dancing class, yoga, stitchery group, modern quilt group, a new Bible study, dinner with new friends... and in the blink of an eye an entire week rushed by! Such is life in The Villages, AKA "Disney World for adults."

I'm so glad to have a first floor sewing room that's next to our living area. (How did I get by for 20-plus years sewing in the basement?) Now, in brief snatches of time, I can sew a seam or few to make progress on my projects. 

In a previous post, you saw one of the beach cabanas I've been sewing. Here's a look at the beach scene I've put together. My Iowa friends' names are hand-embroidered - meant to look like sand-writing - in front of the cabana sewn with their fabric. The sand fabric and the individual beach items are cut from fabric in the "It's a Shore Thing" collection by Dear Stella. The sky is one of my own hand-dyed pieces. I hope my buds like what I did with the fat quarters they gave me, because I sure like this piece. It reminds me of them and what a great time we would have sharing a day like this in Florida. Quilting is to come soon.

32" W X 34" H

The final piece of furniture for my sewing room arrived and was assembled last week. This white, 71"-tall by 31"-wide by 14"-deep, six-door storage cabinet came from Home Decorators.

After my hubby spent 3-1/2 hours assembling it, with a little help from me, I was excited to move my fabrics from wire racks onto the shelves. Imagine my dismay when I realized the fabric stacks were folded too deep! The fabric hung over the edges so the cabinet doors wouldn't shut.

Argh! Several hours of last week's busy days were spent refolding, to shorten every piece of fabric.

Now it looks like this, and I love it! Two more Martha Stewart canvas bins from Home Depot are on top to utilize as much space as possible. 

Retallying, the final cost of putting together my new sewing room was $1,284. I'm pretty pleased with myself for keeping the costs to a minimum. For me, that means more money to spend on fabric... though I don't have much room to spare in that cabinet!

A bit more of the sewing I've been doing is this, my first foray into machine-sewn hexagons. They will become a table runner/dresser scarf for the guest room. Of course, I'm lovin' the colors.

The most exciting news is that a group of quilters (about 12 of us) are starting a new chapter of The Modern Quilt Guild! We'll be the Central Florida Modern Quilt Guild and will meet outside of The Villages so as to allow younger (less than 55 year-olds) quilters and wanna-be quilters join us. Our first open-to-the-public meeting is Thursday evening, November 15 at 6:30 p.m. at Sharky's Vac 'n Sew in Wildwood. We plan to show modern quilts in a presentation called "The Modern Quilt Guild: Quilting for a New Generation." Now we're looking for people who will design our chapter logo, and set up a web presence for us. Then, depending on the response to our November meeting, we'll begin meeting monthly in 2013, choosing officers, establishing dues, and adopting by-laws (Thanks to the Des Moines MQG, we have great by-laws to model.) Of course, anyone in the vicinity is welcome to come! Linda