Thursday, July 30, 2009

More Storage



I purchased these 3 drawer units to organize my growing piles scraps, they are sorted by color and need 1 more unit.
Notice the large stack of blue yardage on the left, for someone who says she's not into blue, its the largest pile of fabric.

I picked up this unit at staples, it fits nicely under the cutting table. I will use the large bottom draw to toss scraps into while cutting then when its full I can sort them into the larger drawers under the fabric shelves.
This area still needs some work. Now onto pattern, book & magazine organization!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Captain and his Pilot


I made some progress in the sewing room. 4 bags of scraps went to the guild for the quilt show scrap table, and a large box of FQ's & patterns for the guild penny table. The I vacuumed and washed the floor, repositioned the cutting table and set up my SewEzi table.

Turning the cutting table made the room flow better. Of course my biggest problem is flat surfaces which I can not help pile stuff on. That's why my husband is the captain and I'm the pilot. When my husband gets annoyed with all my piles I it pick them up and pil-ot them in another room, then a pil-ot them to another spot.
I set up my SewEzi table instead of sewing on the high counter top. The SewEzi was a great investment, its easy to set up and transport.








I put my big board close to my sewing table, not exactly the desirable sewing triangle but its working out better than the old layout. Next project is to find a storage for the plastic project boxes.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Quilt Shows
The Seabreeze Quilt Guild had their bi-annual Quilt Show last weekend. As usual I gave away most of the quilts I made last year, but managed to put 3 quilts in the show.



This quilt was a kit from Moda using the Hello Betty fabric line. I made this for a shop sample for Little Lamb Quilt Shop. I really wanted to use my Wonder Cut Ruler to make the half square triangles but the patterned called for Triangles on a Roll. I'm so in love with the Wonder Cut Ruler. It makes half square triangles fast and accurate.>

This was another Moda shop sample, Pampered Pooch. I think the dog bone border is such a hoot. Cecile of Meandering Stitches in Barrington NH did the quilting. She quilted in dog bones and bow wow wow, ruff ruff. She does most of the quilting for the shop now and does a great job.

My first embellished quilt. This was a guild challenge, blue & green batiks were the challenge fabrics and I could only add 4 additional fabrics. I was so frustrated because I wanted to add more than 4 fabrics. Finally after a week of whining I came up with the embellishments. The comb is needle felted with red roving and has small red beads running along the outside. The scarf also is beaded because it was getting to matchy, matchy. The wing & tail have blue & green feathers. I blended blue & green roving and used it to needle felt the feathers to the quilt. The sneakers have thin blue/teak leather strips for laces, I great find in the scrapbooking department at JoAnn's. And yes, that is real cracked corn that my husband sprayed with a coat of poly, then I glued them down with tacky glue.


Saturday, February 21, 2009

UFO's

Oh, how I miss my digital camera...this cellphone camera isn't cutting it. I decided to take pics of my UFO's, hoping this will get me motivated to complete a few.



I have a request for a brown & blue baby quilt. I'm having a hard time with putting those colors into a baby quilt. I hate working on quilts when I'm not in love with the fabrics. Poor boy will be in kindergarten by the time I get finished with it. I've settled on this for the pattern & layout...I think


I started cutting out a Turning Twenty Again with different racing them fabric. The nights can get really cold camping at the September race at Loundon



I decided if you can't find your favorite drivers fabric, make it yourself


I scanned "hero" cards we picked up at the track and used Printed Treasures to make my own fabric squares. The pic of Robby & Tony's shoving match is my favorite.









Sunday, February 15, 2009

I Need a Director!

When my son has to clean his room it can be overwhelming and often doesn't know where to start, I help by playing the role of "director". First, I tell him to pick up all the clothes, second pick up toys, etc...after awhile I don't say anything and he continues along. I finally got the motivation to clean my sewing/quilt room and now I was the one who desperately needed a director!
Janet-Lee Santeusanio , the Queen of Machine Quilters & co-found of the Machine Quilters Expo suggested I take before and after pictures. When I downloaded the pictures I was horrified at the state of my room.


My feeble attempts at organization


This didn't work at all, too small of a space, too many patterns.

Notice how everything leans to the right, the post serves as a bookend.


I cleaned off the top shelf which used to have squares in bins sorted by size. I keep saying I'm going to make a scrap quilt but eventually gave up that fantasy and gave the squares to my guild's queen of scrap quilts. So far she's brought in 3 full size quilts made with my scraps that she gave to teenagers living in a group home. The next shelf holds my pieces of 1+yards, mostly sorted by color. I fold the yardage using my 6.5 x 24.5 in rule, a method the book Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space, the Happy Zombie has a nice picture tutorial on her blog. The shelves with bins hold FQ's & half yard cuts sorted by color.

I'm off to search the internet for some organizational inspiration. Stay tuned....



Sunday, February 01, 2009



Noodle-roni





Saturday I went to a "Noodle" all day sew with a lovely group of quilters in Newburyport, Ma. The theme was noodles, worms or jelly rolls everyone working on their favorite 2.5" strip pattern. I played with a couple of designs on EQ6 but found gem on quilting.about.com. It's called Bricks & Cobblestones by swap hostess Colene aka Robicole2. I used the polka dot fabric medley's that I got at Christmas from my sister-in-law Sue. I pre-cut the pieces on a snowday from school and chain pieced them. A block unit is made of 2 cobblestones (6.5" x6.5") & 1 brick (6.5"x12.5"). The layout combinations are endless! What an awesome pattern to use up scraps that you just can't throw out.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

To the Person or Persons who stole my shop samples & consignment wall hanging....


I HOPE YOU GET A RASH!!!!


Beware to the Sea Hag, who stole my Moose Wall Hanging, the girls at The Shops at Calef's Corners remember you!


Considering para's don't get paid for snow days and the days I missed at the shop because of snow this was the last thing I needed. These are my missing items;


This is Folk Art Moose Penny Rug pattern by Heartsong Primitive


This is a Charm Party Tote by Quiltsillustrated, a great easy tote to make in an afternoon.


This pattern is Moose Crossing by Prairie Grove Peddler.