This has been an unusual week. There were days that I didn’t go into the sewing room. Other days I was there only fifteen or twenty minutes. Most of the week was trying to sew two rows on the Pandemic Round Robin quilt. I finally finished last month’s two rows last night. Just in time to start this month’s two rows.

The last two rows were triangles and squares. This month I will add diamonds and piano keys.

The quilt was leaning towards Christmas colors. The yellow and tan squares are taking it down a different path. No matter where it goes, the quilting will bring it all together.

May’s mini 3D illusion quilt is finished. These little quilts are so much fun. They finish up fast, but don’t do much as stash busters.

I have a picture of what I want to make for a mini 3D illusion in June. Maybe by then, I can be back into the sewing room. I can hope for some rainy days.

Spring is here and I’ve been outside trying to get the gardens in order. The perennials are doing very well. The weeds are doing better. It’s a struggle to remove them. I will finish by Memorial Day, which is the time to add seeds and annual plants. I’ll plant a few vegetables, The peas and squash are in the ground. Lettuce will be planted today, Then more weeding, mulching, etc. The dead spots on the lawn have been reseeded.

I’m still working on the 21 day sewing room declutter. One of the days was furniture. Originally my sewing room was my dining room table. Then I had a small table where the sewing machine could stay out. Now, my sewing room furniture is anything that works. It was time to have a real sewing table. I researched sewing tables and found the perfect one. It is here in five boxes. My son in law and daughter are going to put it together for me. In the meantime, I’ll “declutter” everything in the area where it is going. Eventually, I’ll have a neat sewing room with everything in it’s place.

Dear Jane is almost ready for me to start the 12th row. I work on her on Tuesday mornings when I go to a friend’s home. I had organized row 11 in thirteen baggies. In each baggie was the pattern, fabric and batting. Then, I pieced the block, putting it back into it’s baggie. All handwork (applique, quilting, sewing the binding down) was done at my friend’s house. This is not a speedy way to finish the quilt, but as long as I have my Tuesday morning visits, It will eventually be finished,

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The definition of perseverance, is sticking to a plan, dedication, determination, endurance, tenacity. Also, patience, diligence, purpose, stubbornness, steady persistence in a course of action. All of these came into play in the past week and one half. One of the days of the 21 day sewing room declutter is bins. While I was looking at what Karen said in her blog about processing the bins, I noticed that there were two blogs that proceeded the list of 21 days. I watched them and found out that I was supposed to set my timer for 15 minutes and work only that amount of time. It might take several 15 minute periods. That makes much more sense. I could check my bins in that time frame.

One bin was full of precuts. That sounded like a bin that would be quick and easy to organize. I had watched several You Tube videos that said the best way to organize your scraps was to make precuts and not put leftover fabric back into the drawers. It sounded like a good idea at the time. I had used the 2 1/2″ pieces as beginners and enders so some were sewn into two patches. Many more were not.

First, I would sew the single patches into two patches and then sew the two patches into four patches. How long could that take? I started to sew and sew and sew some more. The more I sewed, the more determined I was to completely empty the bin. I ignored the 15 minute periods. Two patches became four patches. The four patches became 16 patches. Pinterest gave me several settings and I started to sew the quilt tops.

Perseverance #1 44″ x 44″ It has 372 squares plus leftover white muslin.

Perseverance #2 38″ x 52″ It has 240 squares plus a leftover orange print fabric. It is bordered with leftover orange fabric that I won at the Maine Pine tree Quilters quilt show in 2019.

Perseverance #3 53″ x 68″ It has 516 squares plus some unusual white fabric that showed up in my stash. I didn’t buy it and don’t know where it came from. Probably from one of the sewing rooms that I helped clean out.

Perseverance #4 36″ x 52″ It has 384 squares and a red border that was in my stash.

Perseverance #5 48″ x 52″ It has 288 squares and left over white muslin.

There are 1,800 2 1/2″ squares in these five quilts. When the quilt tops were all together I had 22 squares leftover. They are with the Mile A Minute fabric. The bin is empty. I used all of the definitions of perseverance to accomplish the tops. The left over scraps will never be cut into 2 1/2″ squares again. They will go back into the drawers.
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I will make fun quilts only for the next week and then go back to perseverance to quilt the tops. I want them to move on and not be UFOs.

The 21 Day sewing room declutter is about half done. I think that I should do rotary cutters and mats next. That might take only 15 minutes.

Have a great day and happy quilting.