Looking for the Magic

While the majority of you are probably hustling with last minute holiday preparations, I finished what little I'd decided to do and went back to work on my half-square triangle quilt top. That required setting up the second banquet table as I needed more width on which to rest the top while I pinned the borders. However, I did not put the table on the bed risers yet - I kind of liked the stepped version for this part. As anticipated, I am liking the versatility of the two worktables rather than just one big one. However, I may have created yet another problem for myself: these tables are too thick for the clamps I use when layering quilts for basting. Suggestions anyone?

As for the quilt, isn't it beautiful? As much as I admire scrap quilts, especially the antique ones of which I own a few, I myself have made surprisingly few true scrap quilts. Must be that part of me demanding order and control. At any rate, I am very pleased with the way the many fabrics work together in this simple design. And if you think the borders are not the same size, your eyes do not deceive you. I should have figured a row or two more of the triangles to make this quilt come out a little closer to a conventional size. Instead, I just made the top and bottom borders 2 inches wider, which is not an unheard of solution in the antique quilt world. I'm still pondering the quilting.

As I was pressing the final seams, I suddenly remembered I hadn't thought much about backing fabric, and oh dear, I still have not fully unpacked the studio. My brain has not been the best at retrieving information lately but still, I started a mental search of my inventory of larger lengths of suitable fabric. Of course, I could always go with muslin, but I'm not altogether sure I even have that much muslin around. I do have a small stack of reproduction fabrics that had made it onto a shelf; I casually flipped through them for ideas. Not sure what exactly jogged this memory but suddenly I was pretty sure of a perfect solution and where to find it. I'd bought lots of yardage of a particular line that was the basis of St Hilary's Star, including a pink one that might go along with the pink in the piecing. I got that print in several colorways and you can see two of them laid out on the table in the forefront of the picture. Either would work well - I just have to decide which one to go with.

And in the process of finding them, I found my longer lengths of batiks, neatly stacked in the top of the large bin of totally unrelated fabrics and ufo's. That's them on the ironing board. I'd been wondering where I'd packed them and this might have been the last place I would have looked.

I guess this is where the "looking for magic" part comes in. I've been resisting both organizing as I unpack the studio as well as working in what's set up. I think it partly overwhelms and depresses me at the same time - still so much stuff and I have no clear plan of organization yet. I think I'm waiting for Tinkerbell or Cinderella's helpers to magically put everything in place for me. What I am discovering is that until I actually start working in the space, I won't find those solutions that will turn this into an efficient workspace. I had the same issues with the kitchen, but once I started really cooking in it, I could take a cue from where I automatically reached for something, and try out other configurations until I hit upon solutions that worked. Yesterday's session helped me see that one storage unit may need to be moved and that where I'd temporarily parked my basket of cutters and marking tools was in exactly the right spot. Guess I have to make my own magic.