Tag: Organization

Quilt Assistant Needed

Janome 9000
Janome 9000

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.

Cotton Patch, Lafayette, Calif
Cotton Patch, Lafayette, Calif

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.

New Pieces Outside
New Pieces Outside

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.

New Pieces Classroom
New Pieces Classroom

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
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.

Scrap Organization
Scrap Organization

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.

Apartment Therapy Color Wheel
Apartment Therapy Color Wheel

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.

Tupperware Freezer Mates
Tupperware Freezer Mates

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

Black & Decker Classic Steam Iron
Black & Decker Classic Steam Iron

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.

Living Solutions Iron
Living Solutions Iron

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.

Translucent Office Storage Boxes
Translucent Office Storage Boxes

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.

Clear Project Boxes
Clear Project Boxes

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.

Patch boxes
Patch boxes

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

Clean Cutting Table
Clean 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.

End of the Week Cutting Table
End of the Week Cutting Table

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.

Finished and Hung Board
Finished and Hung Board

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.

Evolving Board
Evolving Board

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.

Update on Margaret’s Hope Chest

Some weeks ago, I mentioned a group in Michigan called Margaret’s Hope Chest. They decided to help another organization by collecting quilts to add to the Christmas baskets of toys and books destined for homeless children. These children are all associated with the Grand Rapids School District in some way.

I would go and look at the counter on their blog periodically to see if they were going to make their goal. I have to admit that I was distressed to see that they were not receiving as many quilts as they needed. I took a look at their blog the other day to get an update and am pleased to report that they MET and EXCEEDED their goal!!!! Hooray!

Margaret’s Hope Chest had a goal of collecting 400 quilts for the children. They received 500. I am so thrilled!

Thanks to all of you, dear readers, who contributed to this effort. I know some of you did.

Somehow this project tugged at my heartstrings. I have been thinking about charity quilts lately and whether to have a goal of making some in 2010. I made one for someone affected by Hurricane Katrina called Slash Stars. I haven’t ever done much other charity quilting. Definitely something to think about.

Organization

It is very hard for me to accomplish anything if I am not organized. The first thing I do on any project is organize the pieces. I get a lot done, I think, because I am organized. It drives a lot of people close to me insane.

The fabric closet in my workroom had dropped off the organization list sometime in the last century. I have been flinging things into it randomly for some time. There was no space for me to get into to do anything. I knew I had to take everything out [EVERYTHING!!] and start over. There was no possible way I could face such an endeavor alone. TFQ mentioned it last year when she was here for PIQF. It had gotten so bad between times that this trip she convinced me it was time. I also asked her to help me clean it out.

I threw out, recycled, and organized, for Goodwill and Freecycle, a ton of stuff. It felt good. I have been on that binge for awhile in other parts of the house, but this was a major quilt/fabric related effort.

Sadly (or perhaps not), I didn’t take before pictures. I think that is, at least, partially a good thing. I do have the after pictures.

Closet Right Side: Quilts are on pants hangers and hung in the corner. File cabinet was moved closer to the door so I can file paperwork easier. Fabric bins that I use a lot were brought down, so I don’t have to crawl up to get at my fabric quite as much. We didn’t do much with the fabric bins, but have gone through them together in the past. I have also been going through them recently as I work through the bag project. I will go through them again in the future, I am sure.

Closet Left Side: The new drawer thingy is full of dots. Closest to the left side of the photo is a continuing part of the project. I have to get some crates to replace the bankers boxes for ‘current’ fabric. In the middle on that upper shelf is a weird bin (the style of the bin is weird) full of projects in process. They are organized, so I can find them, which is a good thing, because I would like to move through some of the projects that have been lingering. I also went through a lot of of my projects that were going nowhere and got rid of them. No point in keeping something that never even made it to my UFO list. A number of them were block exchanges from the early 1990s. Lots of teal went to people I hope will make great quilts for others.

We really needed one more day to get the project completely finished. We didn’t have it, so TFQ sent me to the Container Store with a list of items to buy. Above are the containers I bought to fill with stuff. The clear plastic garbage can is full of rulers now and I want to get another. After I filled it up, and amazingly all of my rulers fit, I decided that I didn’t like the rulers with instructions and packaging in the same container as the regular rulers. The other frosted garbage can was a ruler possibility, but the shape is wrong. I may actually replace one of my garbage cans around he house with it. I am definitely going to get another one of the clear plastic ones.

PS. I surpassed 450 posts yesterday. Thanks for reading!

Documenting Your Quilts

This site describes quilt software that allows you to document your quilts on your quilt and then print the materials out for a notebook.

clipped from www.quiltminder.com

The Quilt Minder is here!!

Quilt Block12    As all quilters are aware, quilt documentation is of utmost importance not only for our future generations of quilt makers, but for present day “filing” of your work.

  blog it

Reorganization of Strip Project – Housecleaning

You may remember the post from February 18 where I talked about the perils of strip piecing. My librarian side took over this weekend and I created a new system for organizing and using my strips for the pineapple project.

The above shows my neatly organized strips. I have divided them into color piles, as you can see. The idea is that I will start from the left and select one strip/fabric for each color I need in the pineapple block. When I am done with that color, I will put the strip on the bottom. I will move across the range of piles selecting one from each pile until I need to start from the left again. For the backgrounds, I will just take 4 at a time and put them on the bottom when I am done. We’ll see how it works.

My other challenge today was in the fabric closet.

I came home after a meeting to a fabric avalanche. It is not quite all picked up, but will be soon. I wonder if the fabric goddess is telling me something.

Google/Blogger notified me that I am using 65 MB of my 1024 MB. I guess I will have to include fewer photos, make them smaller or find somewhere else to store photos. The latter is ideal as I think all 7 of my faithful readers enjoy the photos.