Retirement is fun! After getting over the fear of lost income (making a mistake) a person can relax and start doing all the things they couldn't get to while working 12 to 16 hours a day 7 days a week. For years.
Yes, I'm still quilting. Just not for sooo many hours a week. This is the current quilt on the machine. It's difficult. I'm using two battings, one is cotton and one is fluffy poly. I haven't done a two batting quilt in quite a while. There is also a LOT of stitch in the ditch around the applique. Because of the two battings I have to go extra slowly to give the needle time to flex properly.
On really nice sunny days there is a certain time of day when I'm forced to stop working on the machine. The sun shines right in the area and it blinds me. It's also not good for the quilt. Sunlight can fade it. So I cover the quilt with some scrap batting and go do something else for an hour or so.
Over the last few days I've spent my down time either moving stuff back where it belongs or doing things I haven't done in years. Like making these from t-shirt left overs. (I put a tutorial on my other blog.)
I wasn't happy just making one so I made more.
There was a time (before quilting) when I made all our clothes. I often asked friends and family to give me the stuff they planned to give to the thrift store so I could make my kids clothes. I would scour places where I could find different types of fabrics. There was a store that sold shirt factory scraps for ten cents a pound. An upholstery shop would give me old samples. My kids never could figure out where all the different fabrics came from. They only knew that Mom made one of a kind.... custom made.... clothes for them. Not once did they ever think of their clothes as "home made" because I told them how some people paid a lot of money to get custom fitted clothes.
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I'm going to enjoy my retirement even more now that there is renewed interest in my sewing skills from my kids. Even my daughter is interested again. She says she missed the clothes I made for her. She didn't ask for any because I was too busy doing quilts. YES, I'm going to enjoy my retirement very much!
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Ok, time for me to get into the studio. I still enjoy the quilting too.
1 comment:
Morning. With all your quilting expertise can you tell me if there is something other than the Silicone sheet to help with free motion quilting on a home machine that doesn't cost $25.00. There is a spray also that is suppose to help. Do you know which would be better???
Thanks for your help. I love reading your blog. MJ
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