A few changes

Tuesday I did a little in the studio: straightened up the fabric so I could put away three containers of fabrics that I separated out some time ago. Generally one container of solids goes into the camper when we are traveling--you just never know when you need something that can coordinate with the rest of the quilt. A big container with a variety of solids can really help out in a pinch. 

A second container holds stripes and plaids that I first pulled out to create a kit of, yes, stripes and plaids. Since I was working on that over the weekend, I decided to haul the container along. And it's good that I did because I needed another row to make the quilt a bigger size, which I decided as I was sewing the pieces together. Right now it's 72 by 80, but that could change.

The final container holds word fabric that I've been collecting since word fabric came out. Just a piece here and there, occasionally a few fat quarters, maybe a yard. Now, there's enough word fabric to make several word quilts. I made one top while at retreat. It takes much longer to piece a top improvisationally than to mindlessly sew 8" squares. 

Of course, no matter whether you're working in improv or working with easy one-patch blocks, you have to stop talking and sew. Yeah, there's a reason I didn't get as many tops completed as last year when I was a newbie. Maybe I was a little uncomfortable and possibly less opinionated. But that was not the case this year. In fact, I may have had a little too much fun. What do you think? Are you a little more introverted when you're around people you don't know?

Quilting teaches me.... Frugality

Some people seem to feel that quilting without a purpose is a waste of time, material, and talent. So what? So what if I go into the sewing room, sew a bunch of blocks and then end up hiding them in the closet? So. What? 

That's what I thought. So what? I could spend the same amount of time doing anything else--playing on the computer, window shopping, making cookies. They all "waste" in a sense if the end result uses resources (gas, electricity, time, etc.) and there is little or nothing gained. Except! There's that entertainment value and (maybe) a sense of accomplishment. Quilting, even with no purpose or completion, does the same.

Truthfully, the entertainment value is rather high if you consider all of the expenses. I'd rather not. I'd rather focus on the good things. The quilts, the clothing, the home accessories. Those kinds of things and many more have come out of my studio. And in almost every case there was little or no waste. Here's why: I use every tiny scrap of every thing. No kidding. The scraps of fabric, well, that's a given. 


But I use the scraps of thread. When that spool goes in the trash, it is completely, utterly, empty. And I don't waste pieces in the middle. Indeed, Richard has commented on how frugal I am with thread. The same with needles. So long as the machine and needle are doing their jobs, why change? I don't throw out a pot after cooking X number of meals. Why some folks change the needle after every project is well beyond my comprehension. 

What else do I save? Hmm, I rotary cutter blades, pins of any kind, needles, scissors (don't you dare use my scissors!) and any other tool in the making of a quilt. I take very good care of them all. And for the disaster that my sewing room seems to be, I'm fairly well capable of finding most of those tools. It may take a moment or even a hot minute, but it's there somewhere. 

I'm super crazy about saving paper. That's from teaching in a poor school where paper is like gold. Zippers, buttons, string, any form of embellishment, they are gold! So I use the front and backs of paper, recycle all the others and call myself a frugal girl. If a wasteful family member says I'm a hoarder, well, maybe that person should begin watching his/her "carbon footprint." Mine seems to be rather small, if only the wasteful ones follow my wishes when I'm gone.

Marley's "Girl Pillow," made from playing with scraps

Quilting teaches me...

Perseverance

Charity

Simplicity

Patience

Why

Authenticity

Courage

Contentment

Frugality

Finish

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: pegboards

Since last week's organization ideas were so popular, I thought I'd add a few more. This one is all about pegboards. Here's hoping your craft studio finds a peg board or two.

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: studio organization

While beautiful and fun, these organization ideas won't break the bank!

Any kind of furniture with drawers: dressers, file cabinets, desks. If it has drawers, it will make a great piece to add to your space.

Furniture with shelves can hold a multitude of items: fabric, books and mags, baskets and boxes, tools. If you find a bookshelf, snap it up, paint it and voila! fabulous storage.

Don't forget cubbies!

Who doesn't love rolling storage? Or storage for rolls?

Fold, wrap, roll and fold

The last week I've been working in the studio doing a little cleaning and a lot of folding. I started with shelves that looked like this...

 and this...

and this!

However, I've been looking at ways that other quilters organize their fabrics and decided that it's time to take some action. So now they are beginning to look more like this...

And check this out!

Honestly, it's not quite as beautiful as it appears. Well, it looks great, but everything is much too crowded. In fact, an attempt to handle anything means contortions of mind and body to keep stacks of fabric in place rather than on the floor. One wrong move and I'm back to folding the same pieces, again or maybe again two or three times.

  
I'm working on that, too. Richard added another shelf and I'm moving some fabrics. All of my modern and specialty fabrics will go above the desk where I can see them, and that will open up a bit of space. I'm also considering moving the solids. Then there's this idea...

See how I have two sets of rolled fabric in the pink section? That, I hope, is the ticket. One row of large rolls in the back of the shelf with another row of shorter, smaller rolls in front. Not everything will be rolled. Smaller pieces are folded like fat quarters and stacked. The very small pieces will go into the scrap bins that may (or not) also go on the shelves. So much depends on the amount of space I'll have after everything is rolled and folded and stacked. I don't know that this is the best system, but for now it looks pretty!

Scratch that list!

I love lists. Well, I love scratching things off a "To Do" list, anyway. My list for this week was getting rather long. In fact, I was forgetting some of the items that needed to be added to the list. 

You know how it goes: you have something in the back of your mind, you need the something now, but it's not happening. I do that pretty often. It's my main reason for having a list. 
   
In fact without a list, I will do 100 other things--none of them important or necessary. That ADD will get me every time. Some time ago I found this To Do app for my phone. I really like that I can use it in several ways. Mostly I use it to help me stay focused. 

In the screen shot above, there are actually two lists. On the left side is the list I looked at this morning. On the right side is the list tonight. I managed to strike off four items today. Yay!

Of course there are times when electronics just won't cut it. Those are the times for "old school" apps: pencil and paper. When I work on a quilt, I write notes and pin them to the quilt block(s) or strips. I'm not very neat but that doesn't matter. What matters is that I have paper and pencil/marker/pen close at hand and use them. 

I find that keeping a notepad near my worktable doesn't work: I lose it. Instead, I just tear off pieces from any paper that is handy. I recycle, sure, but mostly it's fast and easy. Those scraps in the picture above are the actual notes that I wrote and pinned to the last quilt I made.

The first item on my To Do list for today is to make Leta's bunting. It's for a tea party shower that she is helping with. I agreed to make the bunting and have put it off waiting for her to get back to me. Well, no more. It worried me that I'd forget completely. So today was THE DAY. And here it is.

A couple of the items that I crossed off I can't show you. Just believe that I ordered my medicine. :) Oh and I really did log on and change my password. Easy, quick, done!

And this is the last that I accomplished today. Two members of our guild donated this lovely quilt to be sold (or raffled) to raise money for future projects. My job as president, was to pick up the quilt,  add a hanging sleeve to the back, and display it in the local museum. Hopefully the extra traffic that they get during an annual Easter festival will bring in a buyer. 

 I managed to get the sleeve stitched on yesterday and brought it to the museum today. Luckily, the lady who works at the museum is very accommodating and helped me in hanging it.

Since I've played with Google photos for an hour now, trying unsuccessfully, to create an animation for tonight's post, I'm going to call it a night. Here's hoping your day was at least as productive.

Name tag and Studio Pics

I made a quick name tag to wear at our monthly guild meetings. I've escaped having to do that for several years because I was rarely able to attend. 

Now that I can attend every month and am president, I need to set a good example. Am I right? Besides there's a $1 fine every time I show up without a name tag. That was also okay but, let's face it, the fines will begin to add up now.

I've joined several sewing/quilting groups on Facebook recently. One of them is all about craft rooms. People share their rooms, spaces, closets, wherever they craft. They also discuss ideas and ask questions. Chatting is nonstop. 

I have been enjoying reading these group discussions and have participated in several. Finally I decided it was time to take a few pictures of the studio and share them. 

Then it occurred to me that I had a rough sketch of the floor-plan from when we last worked on it and found it among the many jpeg files I have saved. It may give you an idea of where things are and how I have set up my little work-space. 

Sewing table

Having cleaned up a bit, I thought I'd share them with you, also. The cleaning is far from complete, but maybe it's not so bad that I need to be embarrassed. My daughters-in-law noticed the difference, so there's some progress, anyway.

Accuquilt Studio cutter

Fabric and notions

Ahh, the mess that I'm working on.

 Areas are now well-defined so that each table, shelf, etc. has its job to do. No more of this playing around and thinking, "Well, I can do this here." Or, "If I put this here, I'll remember to come back to it." And, "Maybe I can do two things in this place." I'm finally resolved to keeping things in the area where they belong. 

Thread storage

Innova long-arm machine

I really like this set up and hope I can maintain it until it becomes a habit. There are, surely, some more things to do: figure out what to do with all that extra fabric, give away some of the books that are hanging out under the long-arm, and arrange those odd things that I'm not sure what to do with. All in time, I suppose. 

Next week I'll tell you how I have solved some of the storage problems that come with having lots of stuff.