As clean as it gets

My longarm group, Kansas Longarm Quilters, had a quilt room tour recently and because they were having trouble finding victims hosts for the tour, I volunteered.  It seemed like a good idea until it came time to clean my studio.  I'm busy quilting so allowed  just one day to clean it up and this is it -  as clean as it gets.


When Peter and I bought our house in Sedgwick we realized we would need to build a separate building to have room for a longarm machine.  We originally planned to renovate the old garage (build in the 1920's) as a studio but soon discovered it was too decrepit, infested with termites and had an old well inside.  We ended up taking it down and building a 24 x 26 foot building behind the house.  It seemed huge at the time but now is crammed full of stuff.

 

 

 

 

The entrance facing the house, with Mrs. Meatloaf on the wall.

 

 

 

 

Part of my thread stash.

 

 

 

More thread in all the shelves and cabinets along the wall.  Do you like the repairs on my chair cushion?  That's my quilt It's Turtles All the Way Down on the back wall.

 

 

 

 

 

A view of my stash with my first wholecloth Indian Summer on the wall.  Just not enough time to straighten my fabric shelves.  I need a couple more days to do that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Design wall and cutting table.  I can roll the table out of the way and use the design wall for photographing quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Another view of my Innova longarm with (ahem) more messy storage underneath.  I'll clean that up better someday - really!  On the wall is an old guild challenge quilt, The Cat's Tea Party.

 

 

 

 

 

Ribbons! And photography lights.

 

 

 

 

It's nice to have it cleaned up for a day or two.  As soon as I get back to work it will return to normal!

A peach pilgrimage and cabbage farts

Betty and I made our annual pilgrimage to the peach orchard and found the most beautiful peaches we have ever seen and tasted.

This is what Betty is smiling about:

 

 

 

We always enjoy our trip to the orchard.  We go first thing in the morning so it is cool and quiet with just the birds for company.  Tasting is free, of course.

Plus we come home with treasures.

I made a short road trip with Nancy and Tammy to Strong City, Kansas.  It's a tiny town in the Flint Hills with a wonderful restaurant called Ad Astra.  They are known for using locally produced food and I had heard good things about it.  We had an excellent lunch which we snarfed down before I took this picture.

 

 

 

Nancy ordered fried brussel sprouts and I can't believe I liked them after a lifetime of being brussel sprout-phobic.  They weren't battered, just fried until crispy on the outside  - yum!  I tried making them at home but only succeeded in making the house smell like cabbage farts. 

It was a beautiful day and the trip there was  a pretty one as we drove through the Flint Hills.  I love the round hay bales. 
 

We stopped in Cottonwood Falls and saw the Chase County Courthouse which has to be about the cutest courthouse I have ever seen.  It is the oldest operating courthouse in Kansas and was built in 1873.  A little Kansas history for you.

 

 

 

 

When I went to our little Sedgwick Sewing group last week I was the first to arrive and found Virginia waiting on her front porch with her goose.  She dresses that goose up in a different outfit for each season and holiday.  It has a bigger wardrobe than I do.

 

 

 

No quilt pictures this post - I'm still working on Gail's quilt.  I'll try to find pictures of a few quilts to  include in my next post.