Improvements At The Strawberry Patch

I received an early (1 month +) birthday present yesterday, compliments of my super-talented husband!  Here it is, mounted on the wall in the studio; a solid oak, hand crafted cabinet.  I've wanted one for years, but the one that he made for me is even better than what I thought I wanted. Originally I had a floor-standing cabinet in  mind, he improved on my idea by making it a much slimmer profile (only 4.5" off the wall) and hanging it so that I didn't lose the electrical outlet underneath or have one more thing standing on the floor collecting dust beneath it where the vacuum won't reach.  In case you haven't guessed what this custom cabinet was built to contain...

...yep, cones of longarm thread; releasing them from an over-crowded drawer where they were all jumbled up together! 

Now, at a glance, I know exactly what I have on hand; and even have plenty of room to expand inventory.

Luckily, we had four of these cabinet door pulls leftover from the original cabinetry that he made; aren't they just perfect for The Strawberry Patch?

As if the cabinet improvement wasn't enough... we re-did the design wall on Saturday. After 13 years on the wall the outer fabric surface had pulled away from the backing and was stretched out and sagging badly. We took it all down, peeled the fabric off and restretched, remounted and rehung the new, improved, face-lifted design wall back into position.

Life is Good!

What's Taking Up Space?

What's taking up space on your design wall and your cutting table?

I can't remember when I began this series of house blocks, but it's been a long, long time ago. Why, when I have two thirds of them done, do they languish, undone, in a box in the closet? You don't need to answer, the question is rhetorical... and universal, I dare add.  I still LOVE the pattern and, subscribing to the "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy have decided to bring them, front and center, into the light of day! Ask me about these in the future... hold me accountable; I can take it! I have an attraction to blocks-of-the-month, much to my own detriment.  The bottom two pieced blocks on the design wall this morning were my first run-throughs (pun* intended) with the Accuquilt die cutter, I believe they both have a date in the Orphan Block box. What's up on your  wall this month? Here it seems to be nothing but an endless parade of UFO boxes: pull one out and one there goes another back in!

In the meantime, my cutting table is piled high with these:

Hundreds of machine embroidered signature/album blocks for a Centennial Quilt project destined for a local church. Serendipity: realizing that I have the exact right size die for mass-cutting these triangles! 

Thanks, Santa! What's taking up space on your cutting table these days?

Life is Good!