Quilt Central, Open for Business!

I’m headed to the Lake tomorrow (Sunday) and will be there all week. I’m looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, since my last post, I’ve been chipping away at the basement, also known as “Quilt Central.” It is almost there. Thank God!

The “before” shots look like my unpacking was being done by a group of hyperactive monkeys. I got most of the fabric unpacked and into the new bookcases a few weeks ago, then was opening a bunch of boxes in a semi-panic trying to find two quilts that were basted but not quilted.

It got down to the point where I only had about two “Q” boxes left to unpack, and I still hadn’t found the quilts. Then, duh, I remembered the stack of Rubbermaid tubs over behind the furnace. Guess what. That’s where they were. Of course.

At that point, I had made a pretty sizeable mess. When I went on the Wednesday field trip with my mom, I knew I needed some shelving for under the cutting table. I had measured under there, but didn’t want to go too nuts. I’ll probably get another four-drawer cart next time I’m at Target, but I like how the area wound up. Here’s the “before” shot

In this shot, my Koala cabinet is under the mass of boxes you can see back by the furnace.

And the after wide-shot:


You can see my cabinet has been moved to the wall on the far-right. The key to open the damn thing is still on my dresser upstairs. Most of what is on top of that now will live inside of it, including my stash of Thangles and other things that were living in the cabinet pre-move. On the left, peeking from behind the furnace, is my Big Board, which I love. My ironing board sports a Miracle Cover, which is fantastic as well. Honestly, those were two of my best recent purchases, and I totally recommend them both.

Here’s a close-up of my cutting area.


You can see the two rolling carts under the table, which is on risers to give it a good ergonomic height for yours truly. There will eventually be a third cart where the stack-o-batting currently is. I’ll figure out where that trash can will live for real as well.

Here’s a full view of the scariness before the last push to put things away. The Santa in the front lives on the front porch for the holidays. If I remember correctly, my grandfather made him. I know my sis-in-law was in charge of getting him refurbished a few years ago. Thanks, Erin!


As of tonight, I’m pretty much done with the basement. Here’s the area in front of the futon



And here’s a view of the area next to the stairs (I was standing in front of those MEGA heavy trunks of the Hubsters crap when I took the before shot)


On the far left are two trunks of shit that is very, VERY heavy. I have no idea what is in them, since they aren’t mine. On top of the trunks is stuff that is going to the Lake with me tomorrow (lots of quilting goodness). Then there’s my street banner from 1996, when I worked at Minnesota* and we hosted the NCAA DI Wrestling and Men’s Basketball Regional in the same weekend. It’s signed by most of my wrestlers. It’s the first time in nine years I’ve been able to display this banner, which makes me HAPPY.

The bench is going to live somewhere else, we just aren’t sure yet. It’s easy to move, though, so I’m not too worried about it. The crate is full of fabric packs of various and assorted types. Blue and gold striped bags is full of lots of really random stuff. The cardboard box in the very right-hand corner of the frame is the pieces of some wire cubbyholes and a bunch of posters. That stuff needs a real home too. *sigh*

X-boxes are in the corner of the room. Gotta deal with those at some point.

Last thing I did before putting the finishing touches on the basement tonight was to do the majority of my homework for Tuesday’s Pineapple class. Cutting!


Tah-dah!

Two other things I’d like to cover before I close, since it has been a few days since my last post.

I-35W Bridge Collapse
As mentioned above (*), I spent a year living in the Twin Cities and working at “The U,” known to most people as the University of Minnesota. Of all the places I have worked (Pitt, Penguins, Florida, Akron, UCLA), it is the #1 place I would go back to. I adored living in Minnesota (yes, even during the winter!!), and I know I crossed that bridge a few dozen times, since it connects campus to the Metrodome. My thoughts have been with all of my friends in the Twin Cities and of the Twin Cities in general. The area will get through this, and my thoughts are certainly with the families of the missing and the victims of this tragic, catastrophic collapse.

Harry Potter
I finished Deathly Hallows on Thursday night. It was an amazing book, and I would just like to give J.K. Rowling a hug to say thank-you for a great series and a final book that was everything I could have expected and hoped for. I will certainly be reading it again.

I hope to show a bunch of quilty FO's during my stay at VBP. I'm also bringing a few too many knitting projects. If there's bad weather, I'm all set! :)