A former work colleague
and friend named Tom loves woodworking the way I love quilting. The challenge of creating a useful piece of
furniture, the joy of working the wood, the precision and craftsmanship
involved – these are parallels that can be found in
quilting. Tom has made several
pieces for me and one for my daughter.
He made a beautiful cherry wood quilt rack as my retirement gift.
 |
| Cherry Wood Quilt Rack |
One of the first pieces he built for me is an ironing table made to my specs. It is kitchen counter height, so I can
comfortably stand and do my block layouts, pinning and ironing. It has drawers and shelves for all my
supplies.
 |
| Ironing Table |
I was getting frustrated
with my sewing machine setup for quilting.
I had to reach up, even after I put a large pillow on the chair. I had no real room for my elbows. Shoulder cramps were the norm. So I asked him to build me a custom sewing
table. My Janome 6600 fits snugly onto a sunken
platform with its sewing bed flush with the table top. Tom finished the heck out of the table surface
so that I will barely need my Supreme Slider. The top has a flip up extension to
support larger quilts. There are 2
drawers for my quilting threads and the shelf that the machine actually sits on
is extended to hold three long trays for quilting tools. It arrived yesterday, so I am going to test
it this morning – but I can already tell how much better this set up is going
to be just by sitting at it. It was dimensioned to fit against a white formica topped kitchen table. It can extend as well.
 |
| My new sewing table extended (the ironing table is in the background). |
|
|
|
 |
| Side view of the new sewing table showing all the nice storage! |
The really cool thing is
he made it from his wood stash (yes, just like us sewing from our fabric
stashes) and it is so sturdy and pretty.
On another note: I ended
up dropping out of the Year of Lovely Finishes group.
One of the main benefits of retirement in my
mind is the lack of deadlines and schedules.
So I felt it silly of me to impose one.
However, I have been finishing projects at a fair clip.
I knitted a bunch of baby clothes as well as
a 2 pairs of socks and a sweater for me (see them on my
Ravelry page )
I finished the quilt I was talking about on
my last blog entry – it even was done for the shower.
 |
| Born To Ride - completed. |
|
Yesterday I finished a kaleidoscope quilt a
la Ricky Tims.
I have one finished top
that I am going to work on next.
All in
all, it’s been a productive several months, which is why the blogging rate has suffered.
 |
| Springburst - 45"by 45" |
 |
| Springburst Quilting Detail |
