Why I like my mini bolts...

Why do I like my mini bolts?

I guess I am obsessing on my mini bolts. I just find this so easy to use.

This method keeps my fabric from getting to messy and mashed. When I fold my fabric an put it in plastic boxes and I start pulling for a project I start hurrying and stuffing stuff back in.

And it does allow me to play deal a fabric. Like this:

 Or this

 Or this.....

Then it allows me to put things back into the boxes like this. 

I also can pull my boxes and see at a glance what I have. The piles don't topple. Are not falling off the shelves and the pets can not knock them over. 

This works awesomely for me when I am making small art quilts or any other project I do. Larger pieces than a yard go in my cutting cabinet. I have material ear marked for projects here and then bigger pieces I have to use up when I need to like neutrals and fabric to great to pass up. 

I had a suggestion from a comment to the way I do my fabric bolts from the Quilter Club of America site. They use hair clips/ binding clips to hold their bolts together to prevent wrinkles. I will have to see how the pony tail holders wrinkle my fabric. 

Off to the sewing den... Play day!!!! 

How I store my fabric.... Part one

Storing your fabric.

Risky topic to bare to the world.

Why? If you hubby happens to see your blog he might realize how much you have. Or you might feel embarrassed that your stash is smaller than others. What if someone doesn't like your choices? Or what if????

Does it matter how you store your stash? Not really. But for me I have found that out of sight is out of mind. I just don't remember any more what I have. My kids call one space in my basement the wall o'fabric. A storage area in my laundry room of photocopy boxes with fabrics of different kinds. Fleece, knit, scraps, poly cotton.....

Slowly I am gifting to organizations my stash of unrelated to quilting items. I am teaching my niece to sew. She picks from the stash... Donations needed for orphanage in Africa. My girlfriend picks from the stash.

I thought of trying to sell it online to raise some money for more fabric - quilting fabric. But I am too lazy or somehow it doesn't appeal to have someone reject it. It is my goal to find local places that could use it.

Now my quilting cottons are finding a good home in my "studio" (I have a hard time saying this because it sounds snooty)

Here is a simple tutorial of how I now fold things and store things under a meter.

First I buy some comic book acid free inserts at a comic store.
I cut the inserts in half.

Then I take a piece of fabric.

 (Now I am in the "wash all my fabric before I use it" category. One to make sure of colour fastness. Two for shrinkage. And three to get rid of chemicals. I will add starch back into a piece before cutting)

I then smooth the fabric and start to fold it according to the size of comic board cover. 

I then put the cardboard on the piece and roll it.

Next I put one of these around the bundle. 

When I first used this idea of folding which I grabbed from some blog somewhere, I used a pin to hold it in place. This was unsatisfactory because if I used a pin it could result in a hole over long time storage.

 (Who would have fabric in their stash that they wouldn't use for a long time?) 

So I stole these from my making coffee cup wrap venture. And ...

And I have a neatly wrapped piece of fabric.

Stay tuned for why I like this method so much and how fun it is! (OK I lead a simple life if playing with fabric is my fun hobby...lol)

Have a great day and if you are in the "storm watch zone" from Texas on up to Canada stay safe and stay off the roads.

If you are a person who believes in prayer, Please pray for a family  - friends of my daughter who were involved in a car accident on the weekend and at last I knew their little boy was in critical condition.

Jo

WIP storage

While surfing this morning... a hard thing to do in Canada when it is freezing ice on the driveway and temperature high will be 6 degrees C ... no, blog surfing...

I went to Em's Scrapbag who I follow and from there to www.13woodhouseroad.com/ where Shruti Dandekar has a great blog and giveaways. One of the ways to enter the giveaway is to become a follower.... the other was harder ... to link to a post of how you organize your WIPS.

Now I love to organize. In fact it calms me somewhat. It is my go to activity when I am agitated and feel out of control. So you think that my house would be uber organized. Not so. It seems it has to degrade to a point where it is so bad it has to be done from the bottom up. My sewing room is no exception. And it is weird that  sew less when it it disorganized and it gets disorganized when I am under pressure to get things done. And it seems I get things down under a deadline. Who knows what that means to a psychologist! 

But  I digress... So I did clean up the mess in my room two weekends ago. It looks great now. My friends who viewed it were astonished. I haven't got much sewing done because my beloved Husg # 1 Plus workhorse is a the sewing machine hospital.

Here is how I am storing my WIP's for now.

Not that it has to be this brand. This is what I have in the house. And I store my Dear Jane completed and kits in these

 And small wall hangings and squares made or to be made in these.....

Then the baggies go into clear shoe boxes and I put a easily removed office label on them to identify what is in it. IE small projects  or tablerunner Peter and Kristen. to quickly identify what it is. 

I also love these Scrapbooking project boxes (bought easily on sale at a craft or sewing store) to store finished 12" blocks or fabric for a special project. Again I use a label for easy identification. * Note: use the labels that are marked for easy or removal because if not you will be scraping it off when you actually finish a project or bringing out the Goo be Gone.  

I also use pant hangers as in Emily's guest post at Shruti's when I am actively working on a piece or a set of blocks.

Now to create a spread sheet to easily mark my WIP's and projects for 2011. When I am done I will share.

I have to get ready now to go to lunch with some friends who kindly invited me to lunch and a fabric shop!

What kind of writer am I like....

I have a friend Madame Samm Sew I Quilt who  is a very talented creative person. She is now managing TWO blogs... the one above and has taken over at Stash Manicure Stash Manicure she is amazing at finding things. On her site today she had a challenge to find out what author you are like. I am apparently like

I write like

Cory Doctorow

Now I didn't even know who this is... and I read a lot! So I went to Amazon to find out who he is and he (or could be a she) writes science fiction for teens. 

What  a hoot since we are science fiction geeks. Star trek, Stat Gate, Dr. Who etc.  

It used to bother me that my family was a bit odd. Now I embrace it! We laugh a lot here. We are a family that laughs about been geeks. 

That is why I chose sewinggeek for my blog. We love information! It is very fitting that my writing style is like Cory Doctorow. Maybe I will have to read one of his books. 

I can't for the life of my see that my friend Samm writes like Stephen King. She is not gory, or horror filled but actually  very sweet and lovey. Well maybe I can't or shouldn't base my identity on a internet quiz test. lol 

Check out Samm's site to find out what you write like. stash manicure

Play Day Postponed...

With a play day cancelled  postponed until next week... I am taking stock and regrouping.
The fact is that I run on deadlines and procrastinate the rest of the time. Either that or I take on to many deadlines or have to many hobbies. lol
So last night I went into my lair and started to straighten up from the mess that I had created before Christmas.
Since I spent most of my holidays with a virus (two weeks and holding...) I really didn't get stuff done and away. Just do what is needed and go back to bed...
I had a great time last night... not with my Quilty friends (although I did miss that too!) but I had a date with my stuff - Dr. Who and Magnum P.I. I can't listen to anything intellectual or that I have to pay attention to when I am in my room because often my mind drifts. So books on tape do not work because I lose where I am in the story.
So back to the basement I will go until I get the job done.
From this exercise I have learned...

1. When I create - I create a mess but I can not start in a mess. 
2. I like organizing and a set up that worked several years ago needs to be changed for my new interests. 
3. I need some clear space. Clear the table top!

Some of the things I want to work on this year. 

Blogging- How to do it in my free time to make it meaningful but not take to much time. 

My art quilting. Learn new techniques and apply them. Develop myself as an artist. 

Cut out the negative. Do not live in others emotional dynamics. (Complicated) 

Become a healthier me. 

I have some plans on this. 

Working on some mind mapping. I used this a lot with my son back when he was having difficulties expressing himself.   

This stuff is just for me. This blog is for me. This is not about numbers or following but will be more of a visual diary... 

Welcome to 2011.

Manic Monday's....

Every Monday I seem to get the Bangles Song "Just another Manic Monday" stuck in my head.

Well from now on Manic Mondays will be what I wish to accomplish in the week.

Sewing Wise:

• Dandelion bring the world together... Attach items and do the quilting.
• Dragon Flies.... Finish colouring the dragonflies and attach items and quilt them
• Random leaves. Compile design.
• Drop of DS2 quilt and Turtle rampage off to get basted. (No more killing my back to baste for me!)
• Gather my sewing stuff to take to Vermont so I don't forget anything.

Work:
Get caught up!!!!

Home:

• Dinner on the table each night by 5:45 so everyone can go to their perspective things!!! (This does not happen if I do not plan ahead and leave it until later in the day)
• Walk 3 days at least!
• Buy an new Dehumidifier for basement.
• Clean out my sweater shelf.

To often I try to leave things until I can do it all.. like clean the whole bedroom top to bottom or work on a piece until it is done.

Well no more it is to tiring with my fibro to tackle things this way and too exhausting. So I will finally do things in bits and pieces.

Next Monday we will see how I did.

PS I got this list idea from another blogger  and I will put a link to her blog here after I am done because I can't remember it off the top.

From Rosmary Makhan's Book More Biblical Blocks - a quilt in progress for our bed

Picture time:

Wow. I am insprired...

Busy fall. Every weekend filled with commitments. Care giving - kids, parents, friends. 25th wedding celebration. Porcupines under the cottage. Computer crashes galore. etc.

But some of the commitments are coming to a close.

Here is some of what I have been up to.
Art Quilts - I made four. This is my Mr. Gecko. The gecko was hand painted. The quilting does not show up well. I have to learn how to take better pictures. But the whole thing was machine quilted on my home machine. The tiles are made by my friend a Raku Potter - Lisa Skog.
I love this foray into the art quilt world.
Here are the other three pieces made for a September show.

All of these should be rotated to the right orientation but I am having problems with my arthritis  in my hands and I guess I am to lazy to care right now.

I sold the piece with the oriental tiles. And there was some interest in a show at a local gallery.

Friday afternoon and Saturday are mine to play. ( I do have a commitment for part of the day ) I cleared the surfaces in the "Room of Gloom and Dispare" aka. my sewing room so I can work.

I have my new computer up and running. In goes my videos, teaching lectures or podcasts.

Also I won a draw from Stash Manicure for 21 fat quarters from Riley Blakes Hooty Hoot. Now I wonder what
I will make with that?????

On another note here is another fun picture. 25 years ago I was married.

and Saturday night my friends made my DD try on my dress.



I

I think my daughter is worried that 1. I once had a skinny waist too and 2. I will make her wear this dress.

Don't worry DD I won't make you wear it. I pressure future grandchildren instead.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Weekend...

For us in Canada it was this weekend. For numerous years it has been spent by our family at a cottage on Lake Muskoka here in Ontario. Our little cottage in the woods is the place where our whole family relaxes. We have "cottage time" where things happen at a slower pace. We get up later, we eat later, we nap, we play games, and we laugh more than usual.

My kids are always allowed to invite a friend. Sometimes that means one extra and sometimes more.

My parents usually come so we get my mom's wonderful cooking and we get a "relaxed" version of my dad. He is very funny when he is relaxed.

This year it was nine of us. My family five+ one great niece + two grandparents + my son's one friend. And of course the ever faithful family black lab.

Sometimes it is a cold weekend where we huddle inside with the fireplace on and others like this weekend it was sunny and quite warm for October.

My DD took umpteen pictures with my new camera. Every year the same views but different colours on the trees.

This year was year of the orange leaves. Some years they are brilliant red.

What does this have to do with quilting? Well sometimes in your life you like one colour more than another. Or you have to work in a different colour palate than you are use to. Sometimes you have to work from your stash and sometimes you just have to buy.

I have a mom that is very practical. In her life she has had to be thrifty.  She is very generous in spirit but there is definite parameters. She likes to sew, likes to quilt but loves to cook, bake and can. She has a hard time buying fabric with out a purpose. She actually thinks it is wasteful and is critical of "those" people who just make quilt after quilt with no purpose accept to make another one. She thinks she has allot of fabric. But I know it is contained in one or two boxes.

I on the other hand have many more boxes of quilt fabric- maybe 8 Sterilite boxes of under a meter including fat quarters and a cupboard shelf of larger pieces or ones put aside for a project. (Please do not look at the other wall in the laundry room with the other fabric types.) I think I spend way to much on fabric and must admit when I see others "wall o'fabric" (as my kids call it) I get thinking critically of others.

My ever practical daughter now comes into play. "Mom - Why do you quilt?"
Me: "Because I love it. It makes me happy. I get to create something. "
DD: "Then just do that."

So that's what I will do. Quilt, create and enjoy the gift I have been given.

And by the way if you see my mom don't tell her how much fabric I have, what she doesn't know can't hurt her and we will all stay happy!

The endless circle...aka cleaning the sewing room, making a mess....

I had been busy sorting and cleaning my room. It did get somewhat cleaned up and then disaster struck again. I am a closet neat freak. I can live with mess only so long before it throws my anxiety meter over the brink. But I also am a pack rat and love to collect. My inner muse is constantly at war with itself.

Disaster came with a few very happy sewing sessions with my DD. She wanted to finish up some projects before she heads back to school for fall semester. She is a doll!  She completed one quilt top sewn and sandwiched, and two lovely purses. All this while working fulltime! She has "got bit" with the sewing bug. Yeah someone to play with!

When she was little (and her brothers too!) we did crafted almost everyday. There always were supplies available. The neighbour kids came over and crafted too! (messy but fun) The kids always played where I sewed in our family room. Now I have a room of my own off the family room. I can see them through the glass doors. They venture in to tell me how their day went or if they have a life crisis or to find out what is for dinner. Now it is completely satisfying to have her join me for a day of play.

A good friend has been encouraging me to explore art quilting. So I have jumped right in and have been playing. They will be for sale at a local art festival as a collaboration with my friends raku tiles on them. Just a few pieces. It has been fun but is a bit scary. I have to take the opinion that it is for fun and be prepared not to sell any but to enjoy the process. Pictures to come....

Jo

A fun week...

It has been a fun week. Not that I don't usually try to have fun but with the cooler weather it is easier for me to be in a cheerful mood.

Fun things I did this week and in no special order.

• Had lunch at my mom's and dads.
• Went to a water park with my dear friend, her daughter and my daughter and just played and laughed.
• Cooking class on Asian food. Yum!
• Craft night with the girls where I got inspired. Was given advice and support with  the designs for my new art quilts. My dear friend is encouraging me and we are collaborating to create them. She designed raku tiles and I am incorporating them into my art quilts. Quite a venture.
• Went to Port Dover fabric shopping. Beautiful drive and time spent with a good friend and my lovely daughter.
• Was given some beautiful gerbra flowers by my youngest son.

And tomorrow I get to play with my sewing and go to a B-que.
Sunday is church followed by going to see my DD at work interpreting history at a local Fort based around the time period of 1812.

Can't wait to get started creating ....

My thought for today.....some times you just have to forget the chores and have some fun.

What Happened... Not a Storm....

No a hurricane did not hit our small town.

Frustration did. Not being able to find what I was looking for in the room of "Gloom and Dispare"

So I decide it was time to find out what books and magazines I had. File all the papers I have saved and put them in the kids file boxes.

We wanted to have a list of the books we own and I had purchased a hand held scanner for cataloguing our church library books.

 

This is a great gadget. It scans the barcode and then it searches Library data bases to find all the information.  

So I researched where we could make a library listing.

I came up and decided to use

It allows you to add your books to a data base. From there you can print out lists of your collection. You can  chat with other people who own the same books as you do. I don't plan on doing this. But what I want to do is be able to print out a list so I do not buy doubles.You can print off a list of what a author you are following to take shopping. Imagine going to a big quilt show and not remembering what you own or what you want. You can mark books that you would like to own.

The first 200 books are free and then you need to pay $10 for a year or $25 for a life time memberships. We had to up grade to a membership after I entered some of our fiction so we could take lists to the used bookstore on our vacation. Now most of my quilting books are entered.

I hope to have this project done in a few days.

On the quilting side. I did a bit of quilting at the cottage. I got around 12 "9" blocks to give to a member of my monthly quilt group for a hospice she volunteers at. I am trying to give to others as I know how much it meant to my dear friend who sadly received one when she was in a local hospice.

I also finished my "Paul's Turtle Party" this weekend and almost have my great nieces quillow.

I am trying to move out the items that I have been working on for years.

My thought for a day: Organising your stuff is an ongoing process just like your life. I need to learn to accept that the changes are just God's way of getting our attention and helping us reorganize.

Whats up ?

Life has been busy. Sew what else is new.

Work has been busier ... good for my boss not so nice for me.

My kids have been sick and even though they are adults they have needed me.

It has been hot Hot Hotter here in the Niagara region. The strawberries have come and gone and raspberries and cherries are here.

I have been sewing on my Turtle party, dear Jane and Keena's Quillow. Progress is made but nothing done.

I did make my blocks for Anyway Quilter's my monthly sewing bee group. We are making them for a hospice that one of our memebers volenteers for. I love this group. Madame Samm our fearless leader is such a breath of fresh air and is becoming a valued friend. I am so glad that she came up with this idea. We meet at a historical train station in a town nearby for a Friday evening and all day Saturday. Sadly I can only go on Friday night this month because I am off on a Mission trip with kids from our church. There will be 100 kids and leaders in Washington DC

Quilting Arts....

I am an info junkie....
I have decided I do not have to do anything with that info - just enjoy it.

I was given a couple of Art Quilt  books for Christmas from one of  my Craft Night group members. (There are officially three members who meet every other Thursday as schedules permit with my daughter as affiliate member when she is home from school.) From these books I have leaped into picking up a few used copies of Quilting Arts Magazine. From there to signing up to an online subscription. Will I ever do all these things. Probably not. But what inspiration and a whole lot more reading content than some other magazines.
Quilting Arts is a beautiful magazine from Interweave Press. They also have alot of content on line and YouTube.
http://www.quiltingarts.com/
They also have some neat e-books you can down load for free.


Sew many techniques Sew little time.

Just for Today..... I have decided it is better to make quilting the focus of my mid life crisis than getting rid of my messy family. In the long run it will be cheaper......