Organization – Page 3 – Artquiltmaker Blog

Organization Update

Someone asked a question in a comment this week about organization. This sent me back in time to review my posts on organization, as it is always easier to point someone to a previous blog post than to write the whole thing over and over. Not that you aren’t worth it, of course. 😉

Organization of Fabric Closet: Plastic Bins

I am not sure I ever said, but I store most of my fabric, primarily, by color in plastic bins. Occasionally, I will put a special group of fabric together. For example, I have some silk fabrics in one bin (bottom right). I can’t buy those bins anymore, which is too bad, because I like the flat tops, but in an ideal world I would have some other system where the fabric wasn’t confined like it is in the bins. I am grateful to have the bins, but if I need light blues, there is a lot of manhandling that has to happen before I can get that bin out.

Some fabrics have spilled over to other parts of the closet, so I can’t just look in the orange bin if I want orange fabrics. I also have a drawer system, holds a lot of my dots. Not all, but a lot.

TFQ helped me pick out this as well. I like it and it holds a lot.

One issue I have is non-fabrics and non-patterns. I have pre-cuts waiting for me to make my intended project. I have blocks from the City Sampler project. I also have blocks from the quilt class with Frances. These are still a problem I haven’t resolved. I put them where I can find some space. This isn’t an ideal solution. The pictures in this post from 2008 make me sentimental for the good old days when this closet was clean. At least, I am continually removing fabric I no longer want to use for my own projects and making it into donation quilts or giving it to the guild. I am also paying more attention to fabric I buy so I don’t buy things that will end up in a donation quilt sometime.

One of the posts I wrote talked about organizing projects in project boxes. I have a couple of project boxes like the ones pictured and I don’t use them for projects. I want to use them for projects, but they take up more space than file folders. In my current space, with the current furniture, etc, it isn’t possible. The ones I have I use for patterns, especially bag patterns. And they are full, which means that I have to start churning out bags. HA! We’ll see since I have two bags on my to do list and all of those patterns are bags on my ‘someday’ list.

As I mentioned in another previous post, I still use the hunting and gathering method to make quilts. At the moment I am hunting and gathering for at least the following someday quilts:

FOTY 2015
SpinWheel
Blue Lemonade
Windmill
Pink gradated quilt
Blue gradated quilt
30 Something quilt

'Free', but unstable organization — ‘Free’, but unstable organization

There are other patches as well such as 2.5″ squares (you just never know when you will need some), donation patches, random HSTs and others.

I still use the scone boxes for hunting and gathering, though that trickle of new boxes has slowed. The company changed the cranberry orange scone recipe 🙁 and they just aren’t as good as they used to be. Not bad, but not worth the 360 calorie commitment. The scone boxes are a good size, but they have some issues. The rounded edges don’t poke me, which is not. They also don’t stack very well because of those rounded edges. Also, being disposable, the plastic is pretty thin and tends to break easily. Still since they come into the house filled with something rather than empty, they are economical.

Of course, I probably shouldn’t stack them 8-10 high. Fortunately they don’t open and spew fabric patches everywhere when they do fall. One thing to think about would be not to have so much hunting and gathering going on all at once.

I have a few miscellaneous plastic, former food containers as well. Good ones, for me, come from chocolate covered cherries and spinach.

At some point, I plan to replace these with more stackable and sturdier boxes.

There is a lot of other stuff to organize in my workroom, but it is all badly stored if adequately organized and I don’t want to show you photos. I really want better shelves or something for my books, embellishments, etc. I think I will be able to work better and get more day.

Off to buy a lottery ticket!

Rethinking Scraps

I was reading Pam’s recent Sunday Stash post after listening to her podcast and thinking that perhaps I should rethink my scrap storage. I bought a little drawer system some time ago, which works pretty well.

Still, random sizes of scraps doesn’t work that well except for mosaic piecing. Piles of scraps shoved in a drawer are not fun.

Pam and Bonnie Hunter cut their scraps into certain sizes. Pam has talked about the sizes she uses, which differ from Bonnie’s slightly. Bonnie calls her system the Scrap User’s System, which is a good moniker. I have just never embraced that method, because I never seem to have the right project for some of the sizes. And I don’t want to make projects just because I have certain sizes of patches.

Bonnie Hunter Scrap Saver Systems:

strips in sizes of 1.5″, 2″, 2.5″, 3″ and 3.5″. These are strips 12″ or longer.
Patches 1.5″, 2″, 2.5″, 3.5″ squares
bricks in 2″X3.5″ and 2.5″ X 4.5″

Bonnie Hunter writes “*Note* Just for your information, did you know that you could get three 1.5″ strips, three 2″ strips and three 2.5″ strips all from a 1/2 yard of fabric and it would be out of your nagging stash, into your strip bins and ready to be used? If you really want to slice up larger pieces, this is the way to go. Cut a few slices of different sizes and feed them into their bins! You’ll be using those strips in no time.”

Pam’s Scrap System:

2″, 3 1/2″, 5″ and 10″ squares
2 1/2″x WOF strips
random 2 1/4″ strips (since I got rid of strings I will keep 2 1/4″ wide strings to use for scrappy bindings)

As I was cleaning out my magazine pile, I came across the magazine I bought last year and was reminded of Joan Ford’s system. It is a little different and much simpler than Bonnie Hunter’s. I did a pretty thorough review after I bought the magazine. With this system we have the following sizes:

Joan Ford ScrapTherapy / Scrap+1 System:

Squares: 2″, 3.5″ and 5″

Of course, I do cut certain sizes from new yardage and have let that practice bleed over to some scraps as I make them. I don’t usually go to the scrap bin later and do a bunch of cutting, though I do think that would be a good idea. Generally, I cut the following out of new fabric:

1.5″ squares – all colors
2″ blue, purple and green squares
2.5″ squares – all colors
3″x3″ squares – used fabrics (for FOTY)
5.5″x3″ rectangles – new fabric (for FOTY)

I do use the scraps from the actual scrap bin for various things. I sew my scraps using the mosaic piecing method to make journal covers and other small items. I also fill in weird places on the backs of quilts using scraps.

If I make a scrap quilt, I want it come out like Scrapitude in its cheerfulness and fun style. I do NOT use Bonnie Hunter’s method of just grabbing any color and using it. I want my quilts to look good and that means choosing pieces carefully. That is designing.

I do believe in using up my fabric. I have a working collection and not just a collection so the above would make sense for fabrics that I like, but aren’t going to be used for a project.

The other sad part is that my scraps are bugging me and I need to do something about them. Pulling all of these systems together

One Hour Basket #2

I wanted to make some progress on something. I felt like I wasn’t making progress on anything, so I got out my To Do list and looked up what I felt like doing. The first thing I did was make progress on the Pinkalicious Journal Cover.

Once that project was well on its way, I made a second One Hour Basket. I don’t think it took me an hour, even if I subtract the time it took to sew pieces of Soft & Stable together. It didn’t take much longer, though. I was pleased to get something finished.

I had some weird pieces of Soft & table leftover that were on the small and thin side. I decided I had enough to use as stabilizer for this pattern. I sewed them together much like I would sew a piece of Frankenbatting together. I was able to use most of the leftover S&S, which pleased me.

The pattern is free on Craftsy, I think and the directions are fairly good. The weird part is that the pattern uses 3 different seam allowances for this one pattern. I think there is something off as the lining seems a bit baggy when the whole piece is finished. It is fine for my purposes, but if I were going to give it as a gift, I might use a slightly larger seam allowance for the lining. If I make more I’ll have to play around.

I am pleased that I got something done and have something I can cross of my list.

One Hour Basket

I finally made something in which to store the TP! Hooray! Only one, though, so I have another for the other bath off my to do list.

This is not a difficult project and I am glad I made it when I did, which was at the end of a long day of sewing. It was a very satisfying day where I was basically getting stuff done that had been hanging around on my to do list for way too long.

I needed less than a yard of fabric. The partial half yard worked fine for the exterior.

The following are simply some things to know about or to consider:

The pattern used three different seam allowances
I did not have fusible fleece on hand, so I used leftover Soft and Stable

Since I used Soft and Stable I sewed a couple of lines of quilting to attach the fabric to the Soft and Stable. Also, I had to do a Franken-batting job to the Soft and Stable, because I only had small pieces and didn’t want to open my new package. I used a very large zigzag stitch to hold the parts together. Where you see the zigzag in the picture (left) is where I had to sew bits and pieces of the Soft & Stable together.

I did a few lines of quilting since the pattern calls for fusible fleece and Soft & Stable isn’t fusible, just to keep the fabric attached. I don’t think it was really necessary, but it made me feel better.

The one thing I couldn’t do was add some Vinyl Fuse to the bottom. I like to do this for bags to keep them clean. I only add the VinylFuse if I can also sew all the sides of the Vinyl Fuse into a seam since there is a possibility of the fusible coming away from the fabric. Since this is for use in the bathroom and there is always a possibility of water on the floor, it would have been nice. On the other hand, I can always make a new one if this one gets nasty, especially now that I know how easy it is.

I put this in the tote bag hashtag basket. I am not sure it is really a tote bag, but I don’t have a basket tag and I am not about to make one at this moment. I may make a few more of these, but not tons, so into the ‘tote bag’ hashtag bucket it goes.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with this project. Getting the TPoff the floor has been on my list for an eternity. Finally! Yay!

Tanesha over at CraftyGardenMom website and podcast made one of these. I love the fabrics she chose! Pam at Hip to be a Square podcast made one as well.

Quilt Display

We live in a house called a Doelger House. It is split level and very open plan. That means we have a railing in the hall that is open to our living room. After I ran out of space in the Fabric Closet, where I hang quilts, I started draping them over this railing.

Basically the photo shows one area of my house and how we display quilts.

Recently we had dinner guests and they wanted a quilt show. We pulled quilts off of the chairs, couch and rail in our living room and held up many, many quilts.It was really fun to see some quilts I hadn’t pulled out in a long time. It is also always interesting to hear the reaction of people who really don’t sew or make quilts.

My friend, also a law librarian, commented on how different the quilts were and what a lot of creativity was involved. My thought was “if I was allowed to use this creativity to solve problems at work, my library and information services would be way more awesome than they are.” I don’t know where that popped from but it was kind of a revelation. Lesson? Show your quilts to non-quiltmakers!

As you have seen on this block I make a lot of quilts. I do give some away, but a lot of them just pile up around the house. They get used as nap quilts or TV watching quilts, but mostly they just pile up.

Some of you may think that is a big waste, but making the quilts really keeps me sane and able to live with people.

I actually have at least two quilts that I need to send off as gifts; I just need to spend a little time wrapping and packaging and writing notes. I just haven’t done it yet.

The Rag Man

In various books I have read, especially set in Edwardian England, a Rag Man has been mentioned. This person, presumably not always a man, came around and collected scraps of cloth, clothes to worn to use any more, bits of fabric too small for quilts, etc. That is all I know and I have to say that I have longed for a way to get rid of fabric (not quilt fabric!), items made of fabric that are no good for the various charities that take clothes and linens. I just hate tossing them and thinking of this perfectly good fabric, once cleaned and shredded and reused for …what? Something no doubt — ending up in a landfill. Sadly, no such person is forthcoming.

I was thinking of my mythical Rag Man last Friday when I tried to cram some recently washed socks into an overflowing sock drawer. I thought of him again two minutes later when I tried to do the same with some undergarments. That was it. I took everything out of the drawers, both sock and undergarments, one at a time, and sorted the good from the bad, then reorganized the drawers.

In the process, I found some handkerchiefs with the brown spots that come from fabric touching wood. I decided that I would line the couple of drawers I was cleaning out.

As an aside, I like a clean and tidy house, but I am much happier when someone else lines the drawers and cupboards. As I moved to this house when the Young Man was six months old, and I was more concerned about keeping the tiny being alive than lining the drawers, the drawers of my dresser were never lined.

My mind raced around the house for Contac paper or some other type of drawer liner. Nothing came to mind until my mind’s eye rested on the ironing board where I had pressed but not yet cut up a half yard of one of the Mod Century background prints. When I thought of fabric I thought “yes, something warm, but fresh and light.”

Pretty soon, I was cutting a rectangle of the fabric for my underwear drawer and glue sticking it directly to the wood of the drawer. Probably not the ‘right’ way to do it, but since the interior designer had the day off, I went ahead. The sock drawer was next and a giant pile of singles and knee socks went out. I put some more of the Mod Century print down to line the drawer, put the revitalized socks back in an order that surely only makes sense to me and felt very pleased with myself.

We have a lot of house projects to do. There is a long out of date list somewhere that is overwhelming to me every time I come across it. I have decided that one drawer is good. One shelf makes progress. Getting rid of three blouses that have not been worn since 2004 creates space and lightness and that is all good. I don’t have to clean out the entire closet at a go. Incremental or iterative progress is good.

The funny thing is that with this mini-success, I am eying the closet hungrily and can feel the clothes in there quivering in fear. I am also looking at fabric in a new way. 😉

My Next Big Idea

I spent a happy hour last week in my workroom after dinner trying to get a handle on the un-ironed fabric that is causing havoc in my workroom. I feel like I have been ironing fabric forever. I know that is why many of you don’t pre-wash your fabric. Trust me, if it weren’t for the smell of burning chemicals when I press, I’d be right there with you. Still, I found a couple of pillowcase bodies that I had cut who knows when. I cut a couple of pieces of Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets dark green for the cuffs and pinned together a couple of pieces of fabric that will be pillowcases soon.

Yes, I am using up some precious Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets. Frankly, I have enough fabric and my fabric is currently overwhelming me, so it is a good use. Also, that green went really well with the taco and burrito fabric I had previously cut for the body of the pillowcase.

The above two paragraphs are a precursor to my post-Star Sampler idea. I don’t know if it will work, but I am going to try to work through some small projects and patterns for bags, etc. Of course, there are quilts on the 26 Projects list that I want/need to finish, so I will work on those. Also, I have bought a number of pieces of fabric for specific small craft items such as pillowcases. I want to get those sewn and out the door. I also have patterns and some fabric for other projects such as bags. I want to make another Petrillo bag. I need more journal covers. I am thinking that I am going to take some time and work on these types of projects. I am going to try, at least.

I may sneak some leaders and enders for charity quilts in, but that is my idea.

The Organization of Hunting and Gathering

Sometime ago I wrote a generic post about organization in my workroom. My workroom is somewhat organized considering it isn’t large enough and I don’t have enough bookcases. 90% of the time I can find what I need and I am less and less surprised by things I come upon serendipitously.

One of the major things I do is, what I call, hunting and gathering. I prefer to make quilts, usually, that use a lot of fabrics. I think many different aquas will be more interesting than just one. This means that many projects, I need to cut a lot of patches from a wide variety of fabrics. It doesn’t work for me to decide to start such a project, open up a fabric bin and start cutting. I can’t stand that long, I get bored and the whole situation results in me hating the project or just stopping about halfway through. Also, if I use that strategy, I get tend to have too many of one color and not enough of others. None of this is good for my stress level and definitely not they way I want my quiltmaking to be.

Also, I don’t know of a way to really randomize this type of fabric selection. Cutting from fabrics I buy new or pull out to use seems like as good a way as any. Also, as an added bonus, I use fabrics that I like right now immediately.

Another problem I had was that I would take fabrics out of bins and NOTHING would be cut from them. Not one square or anything. Shameful! This problem was alleviated by the Fabric of the Year project, which TFQ thought up and I ran with. You can read about the beginnings of that project for me in a post from 2008. Doing this kind of started the solution to my Hunting and Gathering.

As I got use to cutting one shape, the Fabric of the Year shape, out of new fabrics, it became easier to cut more than one shape. I thought it was a good idea and it became easier to use this new system to make progress on projects I was not yet ready to start sewing. Pretty soon I was up to the number of pieces I am cutting now. The other thing is that the fabrics became less precious. I started not to save them for a better project. I also knew, which I have talked about in terms of the FOTY projects, that I knew which fabrics were going to work for other projects so I could go and buy more before it was 3 years later and too late to go and buy more.

In addition to the above I also cut 2.5″x4.5″ pink rectangles, 2″ red squares and 2″ aqua or turquoise squares.

The idea is that after I identify a project I want to make that requires a ton of cutting, I figure out what kind of cutting I need to do (coordinated fabrics or scrappy fabrics as well as size). Either can work with my system. Then I put the shape and color on my list. I keep the list near my cutting table so when I have a new piece of fabric (after washing and ironing) I know exactly what to cut. By now I have a sense of how much fabric these shapes will need (now approximately 5″x18″) and I know by the size of the hole in the fabric whether I am finished.

The bonus result of this cutting is that fabrics became less precious to me. There are many fewer fabrics that are free from any kind of cutting. I make progress on projects that require a lot of cutting and I get to see new fabrics appear in projects I was making immediately.

One of the great things about cutting pieces from new fabrics is that it is a great warm-up. Sometimes when I need to get started, pressing fabric and cutting new pieces from new fabrics is a good way to get started. If I have 10 minutes, I can cut, feel like I made progress and got a little stress relief in.

Finished: Sewing Machine Cozy

I have been thinking (and, perhaps, also talking about) making a cover for my sewing machine for a long time. Last Friday was the day! I took one extra day off work and made the long weekend really long. I got a ton done and was able to rest a bit. I didn’t feel so exhausted when I went back to work.

I buy some large pieces of fabric if I think I will make a bag from the fabric. I don’t like piecing together bits and pieces to make a bag. The Philip Jacobs Japanese Chrysanthemum print I used was one such piece. I was going to make a bag, but I really like it and thought I wouldn’t mind looking at it all the time as a sewing machine cover.

I used a pattern from Strawberry Patches. I had a hard time understanding the pattern, so I also printed the post where she talked about making the cozy and showed pictures. The pattern is fine; my brain just didn’t understand how to make the thing without pictures. I do appreciate people posting tutorials like this, which is part of the reason I post tutorials, too. Have you see the AQ Tutorials? Someday I’ll optimize them for printing.

The pattern provides measurements for some Bernina machines, but also tells the maker how to measure your own machine, which is what I did. The one thing I should have done is compared the measurements for the lining and the outside. The author suggests that you do those measurements separately, but I think they need to be similar in size. Mine were similar, but not exactly the same and I found the outside was larger once I was ready to sew the lining to the outside. I put some tucks in it, which I wouldn’t do for a gift, but I consider it a lesson for the future.

I am not sure why the author had pockets on the pattern, but I put them in. The Michael Miller turquoise dot makes me happy. Now I can keep the dust off my machine.

Quilt Assistant Needed

Last weekend, I accidentally hit the foot pedal after I had put on the quarter inch foot and before I had changed the stitch setting from zigzag back to straight stitch. The needle hit the metal foot and the machine (Janome 9000, 15+ years old) didn’t sound right after that. It didn’t sound terrible, but I just didn’t like the way it sounded.

The machine is long overdue for service, so Friday I ran a whole bunch of quilt errands plus got my glasses adjusted, which has been on my list for 9 months at least.

First stop was the Cotton Patch, which is where I leave my machine for service. It was probably the farthest location from my house (around the City, across a bridge, up and over a hill). My idea was to make a big round circle ending up back at home.

I spent quite a bit of time talking with the lady at the shop about the machine. She wasn’t the repair person, so she was taking lots of notes. She asked good questions. Yes, I looked at the new and used machines, but that dream is for another day.

I consoled myself about leaving my machine by looking at fabric. I saw the Mail Sack pattern by Pink Chalk Studios made up. There are a few details on it that I might want to alter and use on my own perfect bag, so I bought a copy. After buying a few pieces of fabric in Pennsylvania, I was surprised and saddened to find that every fabric I looked at in the Cotton Patch was $10.95 or $11.95. It is really expensive to live in my area and this is one of the examples. Last year, I saw fabrics at those prices while On my July trip down to Long Beach and was shocked. Now, I guess those prices are normal. Sigh.

Next stop was the University Eye Center. I have been going there for years and always feel well taken care of. My sunglasses are now not falling off my face if I incline my chin slightly and the screw has been replaced in my work glasses, so I don’t have to worry about being armless all of a sudden. 😉 I can tell you that it felt GREAT to cross that To Do off my list.

Then it was on to the New Pieces quilt shop. They moved to their new location 3 years ago and I am embarrassed to say that Friday was the first day I had been to the new shop. I love Sharona, the owner. She was introduced to me by someone I used to know. We used to sit in EBHQ workshops and talk about our sewing machines, because we were often the only Janome users (back before the 6600) in the class. She has been trying to get me over to the shop for ages and I just don’t make it across the bridge that often. Friday was the perfect opportunity since I was doing the big circle anyway. I am so pleased that I went to her shop. Sharona exudes joy and the shop reflects that. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. People were laughing and everyone was chatting. I observed, however, that the business of quiltmaking was going on under the laughter and the fun – notes were being taken, fabric was being cut and fat quarters were being wrapped.

I really liked the shop. It is so much larger than the old space and there was so much fabric! I walked in and felt like I was seeing mile long aisles of fabric. I also loved the classroom. It was painted RED, a similar color to my dining room.

One thing I noticed is that Sharona had fabrics had been around the block for awhile. She had the new fabrics, of course, but it was nice to see some favorites that are, mostly, no longer available.

New Pieces has some interesting classes. They have a kind of Skillbuilder block of the month and this group of classes are all about curves. For this Block of the Month, customers supply their own fabric. Another current BOM is their Asian BOM. The fabric for this project is included.

We had a bit of a chat and laughed quite a bit before I had to get back in the car and head to my next errand. I will definitely be back. If you are in the area, it is definitely worth a side trip.

Next was a visit to Colleen to pick up the Kona Challenge and to drop off Stars for San Bruno #2 and Pavers. She was surprised that I had more for her. People think I am on some kind of mission this year to finish quilts, but really I am just sewing really fast and efficiently.

Finally, my friend La lives near Colleen so I we had a nice coffee break and caught up a bit. We never have enough time, but take what we can get. I used the Innocent Crush Flea Market Bag and think that I like that bag.

Spring Cleaning

Push finally came to shove in my workroom this weekend and gave up actual sewing in order to organize and tidy up. It was funny that I was listening to the Creative Mojo episode that included a discussion with Carolyn Woods, the author of
Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter: An Illustrated Guide to the Space of Your Dreams. The library doesn’t have that book, but I have suggested that they order it.

I filed things. I threw things out. I made files for quilt projects that are still in the cogitating stage. I worked through my “I have to do this on the Internet” list. One thing I did do, since I knew I wouldn’t be sewing was to allow myself to press and cut fabric when I needed a break. I cut some hexagons out and put together some pillowcases and that was good. I still have a bit to do on the room, but when push comes to shove on Tuesday night, I won’t pile everything up neatly, hoping it won’t topple over, as I stress out once again.

Rainbow Cart Double - 16 x 10.8 x 26.5 inches

Some time ago I mentioned ordering a cart to organize my scraps. I did actually order it, DH helped me put it together and I took all of my scraps out of the overflowing basket and sorted them by color into the drawers of the cart.

So far it has proved to be a boon to my mosaic quiltmaking. I am working on a journal cover made from scraps and I save so much time by just opening the drawer of the color I want and pulling out a piece. I don’t have to rummage through an overflowing basket. I am not depressed by my scraps anymore. I am so thrilled with this new system.

What I wasn’t thrilled about was the temporary location. I hadn’t made the time to put the cart into the place I intended it to live. It had been floating around my sewing room. I liked it in the middle of the room because it was convenient for grabbing scraps. I didn’t like it in the middle of the room, because I kept tripping over it. It also became a dumping ground and was generally not attractive in the middle of the room.

Today I cleaned out the corner, which was to be the new home of the scrap organization system, and relocated it. I thought it might be inconvenient, but it isn’t. I am really happy.

The rest of the room is still a bit of a mess. You know that old adage “it looks worse before it looks better.” I have to clean up the fabric I have been throwing on the floor and reorganize everything else that got displaced, but I am really happy with the day’s work.

Odds and Ends Wednesday

WOW! I have been lackidasical about almost everything lately and was shocked to see how many comments I have and haven’t read! WOW! Thanks everyone! Keep them coming.

Media

Mark Lipinski’s Fabric Trends Magazine: the latest issue has a cool website. I tried to buy the new issue, but only could find the previous edition from before Mark started working on it. I’ll have to go back and look again in the near future.

Mark also has a new radio show on Toginet called Creative Mojo with Mark Lipinski. It is on iTunes. Mark seems to be working hard on getting his name and cute mug out there! Call 877-864-4869 to call into the show. Eric Anderson answers the phone from Dallas.

I listened to the first episode on iTunes and thought the discussion with Tula Pink about her fabric designs being ripped off via Walmart was interesting, because of the social networking aspect.

Mark also talked with Dr. Eric Maisel. I started to read one of his books and just couldn’t get through it. I think he had good things to say, but I couldn’t read them. I think, perhaps, Maisel’s other book, Coaching the Artist Within, might be better. One thing that intrigued me was his mention of a purpose statement. He briefly talked about a multi-step process he coaches artists through to create a purpose statement. Hhhmmm. Remember my Purpose Journal? It is time to get that baby out and a purpose statement might be an interesting reason to really start on it.

I also listened to the second episode. I liked the section with Mary Beth Maziarz, but thought that he went on a bit too long about being a hoarder with his professional organizing guest, Amara Wylie.

I am marginally interested in the Urban Homegoods Swap. Not in actually doing it, but getting ideas from it. A La Mode blog has a post with a number of the projects. They are a great source of inspiration and filled with clever ideas.

From Eye Candy section of the Media Department comes this gorgeous blog post that is a series of wedding photos. Don’t know the bride or the groom; I know the person who made the quilts that covered the hay bales guests sat on during the service. I also like the idea of giving preserves as a wedding favor.

Year of the Quilt!

From the City Quilter (NYC) Newsletter comes this excitement: “AMERICAN MUSEUM OF FOLK ART BIG quilting things are in store for us in what the AMFA is calling the “Year of the Quilt”, starting with the opening on October 5th of an exhibition of 35 quilts which will take up 3 floors at the Museum’s main 53rd Street location. This exhibition runs through April 24, after which “Part 2” will open on May 10. SUPER STARS is a parallel exhibit taking place at the Museum’s Lincoln Square branch that explores the role of stars in quilts. This opens Nov. 16 and runs till Sept 25! So mark your calendars, this is the year to see quilts in New York City!”
If you are in or around or near NYC, get thee to the shows, because I want to hear about them!

Learning

Have you heard of Unclasses.org? No? Me neither until a few days ago. It looks like people can create online classes there. There are a number of sewing classes posted.

I saw this color wheel on Apartment Therapy. You know what? I want a large framed version of it to hang in my workroom. I think it is so cool, especially with the colored pencil like texture. I also really like the huge variety of different colors.

Just Do It!

We hear that catch phrase all the time. Nike might have trademarked it, but it is everywhere. I recently read a blog post by Michael Nobbs who draws. He wrote about microworking and I love his theories on how microworking helps our creativity, especially in our busy lives. Michael Nobbs draws and draws my attention to other artists who use drawing as their medium. He put me on to Nina Johanssen from Sweden, who did a great coffee sketch last year that I love. Michael is right. A litte work all the time goes a long way.

You can also help your creativity by being organized. I saw these great Freezer Mate storage containers from Tupperware when I was cruising their site. They are great for going to class kits and for organizing small things. I can also see them put to use for small projects you are taking to class, squares or other bits of fabric designated for a certain project or a multitude of thread. Perhaps they would be good for beads? I don’t know since I haven’t actually tried one out. I have a pink Tupperware box from the dark ages that I use for my class kit and it is great, because the lid never falls off. You can purchase them and help the preschool of my friend’s children by using this link. It’s 23½-cup capacity and $49.50 price tag are significant.

Tutorials

Have you see this interesting tote bag? It is called a Bagsket and Foofangel has a tutorial for making it. I first saw it on Linda M. Poole’s FB page, but she didnt’ have the link. I poked around and then someone found it, so I took a look. Linda made it with her Seahorse fabric collection and the bag is really cute.

I put up a page of tutorials that I have written. Check out the AQ tutorials page. It is under the AQ Info page.

Supplies

My iron died. I don’t think it is completely dead, but it was dead enough so I couldn’t

use it, which meant I couldn’t piece. I bought a new iron – a Black & Decker Classic Steam iron. I had been thinking of buying one and this was the perfect opportunity. It was a little over my normal iron budget ($20 or less), but I went for it.

UGH! I sincerely dislike this iron. There are a lot of good things about it. It has great heft. Wonderful steam. The bad part is that the thing does not glide over the fabric. Of course it doesn’t! The sole plate is not Teflon. UGH! I really didn’t like it, but felt like I was stuck with it until it died. I had already opened it and used it.

Machines are not my forte’. I can operate them, but I usually eschew knowing how they work. One day I was driving down the street and heard a clunk. When I stopped, I looked under the car and there was a piece hanging off of the exhaust system. Not in my plans for the day. I drove to my mechanic with my car making such a loud noise that I couldn’t hear the radio and had to endure the local homeless man, who hangs by the Methodist Church, pointing at me as I drove by (turnabout is fair play, I guess). My mechanic couldn’t fix it, but he wired the piece to the car and sent me to his colleague. I went. They said they could fix it and I should come back in half an hour. I was in a neighborhood full of fast food places, a computer repair shop, a notary/check casher/mortgage broker, a bank and a small Walgreen’s. Off I went to Walgreen’s. It doesn’t take a half an hour to peruse Walgreen’s, so I sloooowwwwllly walked up and down each aisle, carefully looking at each item. Finally, I came to a small housewares section.

Yes, I needed lightbulbs. Yes I needed an 18 foot extension cord in white and WOOHOO they had two irons. I looked at the two carefully and decided on the less featured filled Living Solutions model. I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and like it. It glides over the fabric, was less than $10, has steam and not auto shutoff. The lack of auto shutoff is a double edged sword. I need to make sure I unplug it EVERY time. It isn’t a GREAT iron, but it does the job.

Anyone need a classic steam iron? 😉

Organization Ideas

When TFQ comes to visit for two days, I get at least 5 blog posts out of it! Her visit, coupled with the organizational segment on QNN TV, made me think about organization ideas for my fabric closet, my projects and my workroom in general.

First, I keep all of the flat bits of a project in a file folder. As soon as I start a project (or a class), I start a file folder for it. This is great if everything is flat, but doesn’t work so well for yards of fabric.

TFQ mentioned project boxes. Project boxes are boxes you use to keep all of the bits and pieces of a project together. This concept came up while we searching for fabric for Sorbet. I heard it mentioned somewhere else or I read it somewhere recently and now it is on my mind. I need some project boxes and a place to put them. I have a couple of them, but they just happened by default. One is a box I threw the Pineapple strips into after the strip avalanche. Voila! A project box!

The above boxes are from the Container Store. I have 2-3 of them and they work pretty well for project boxes as long as not a lot of yardage is involved.

The other is a box in which I kept all of the fabric for the Tarts for the years it took me to finish that piece. They look similar to the boxes above. These are also similar to the boxes in which I keep my fabric. The problem with using the box for a project box is that I may get mixed up if I don’t have them labeled properly and redistribute the fabric. Now I have all the fabric for Sorbet in the box where the Tarts fabric used to be.

Not all boxes for Projects need to be purchased.

I sometimes purchase scones for breakfast. The variety I purchase comes in the plastic boxes (on the right). I found that they are great for collecting squares and triangles and other smallish patches. The box on the left is from lettuce that some one brought over for dinner. That particular box is a good size for the FOTY diamonds. As an added bonus, they are not too nasty after the food has been removed and I am not adding them to our local landfill.

TFQ and I talked about ziploc bags, which are great, but are very slidey, especially if you get too many of something in them. They also don’t stack well.

My quiltmaker SIL uses banker’s boxes for her fabric. I prefer to use something clear I can see through, but I have made some temporary shelving out of banker’s boxes (repurposed from when we moved), so there are a number of uses for those as well.

What do you use to organize your workroom or studio? How do you organize your projects?

Cutting Table

I have a small cutting table. Part of my cutting mat isn’t even on the table! From this cutting table comes all the tote bags and quilts that I make. It isn’t ideal, but it is what I have and it works for me most of the time.

Above is what happens to my cutting table by the end of the week. I do try and craft every day but a lot of times I end up pressing fabric, or knitting or engaging in other hand work. Sometimes nothing fiber related happens on particular days.

I don’t have much horizontal space in my workroom and the debris of the week just ends up on the one mostly clean horizontal space. I end up tidying that space on Friday or the weekend and that has become part of the ritual of starting to sew on the weekend.

I am currently dreaming of redoing my workroom (which doubles as a guest room) with paint, new shelving, a Murphy bed, lots of drawers. The Board I made last week is part of it – perhaps the start of it. It is a small start, but a person has to start somewhere.

I cleaned some stuff off the big desk and started to fill up the Board. So far there are only photos. Now I can enjoy them. I hope to put some inspiration photos and other things on it. I am allowing it evolve organically.