Sister's Choice Quilts

Thriller, Filler, Spiller

Have you heard the planting adage "Thiller, Filler, Spiller"?  That is a handy way to remember that when you plant a container, it is good to have a central, taller, flashy plant (your "Thriller"), surrounded by some smaller plants that will fill up the open space, and perhaps add some interesting foliage (your "Filler), and cap things off with something that will have a cascading effect over the sides of the container (the "Spiller").

When I was at my local plant nursery out here in the middle of nowhere, the woman who was helping me select some plants clearly thought I was a nut case when I babbled my Thriller, Filler, Spiller credo.  The little nursery is actually pretty good, particularly if you go there on the days that that plants are delivered from the wholesaler.   And obviously the staff is fairly tolerant of ditzy locals.  I had fun shopping for some plants and even managed to get my containers planted before I came down with this wretched virus that is tormenting me this week.

A little sewing is going on, very little.  A zippy bag with some yo yo embellishment.

Spring Clothes Shopping

Sorry for the lack of quilty posts this week.  I pretty much have accomplished a lot of nothin'.  However, I did get a litte Spring clothes shopping in over the past week, and feel as if I have added a breath of fresh air into my jeans/black sweater winter wardrobe.  So, to celebrate that, my post today is on a different topic than usual.

I am hearing everywhere I go that brighter colors are all the thing for Spring and Summer 2012, which is a good thing for everyone's state of mind.  Bright colors are cheerful, don't you know?  Plus, brighter colors are supposed to indicate an upturn in the economy, which I know all of us will cheer on.  Think you can't wear bright colors?  Just wear them away from your face, you can get away with it!  Carry a bright purse or tie a bright scarf around your bag.  Wear colorful sandals.  You can do it!

I tried to get a picture of these cute bright pink pants, but as you see, someone is horning into the act.  He just has to lay claim to everything new that enters this house.

Here's a better picture of my bright pink skinny jeans and light weight black sweater with the polka dot flounce on the front. Can't seem to get away from those black sweaters, but this one is a little different from anything else I own.  Black ballet flats and I am good to go.

Pants are from Nordstrom and sweater from White House/Black Market.

And how adorable is this little turquoise skirt?  Also from Nordstrom.  I can see it with a black or white tee shirt and this cute little neck scarf.  I love this.  Such a nice alternative from jeans or shorts for a warm climate.

How pretty is this little sweater?  It is from JJill.  In the past, that store used to have one of a kind items such as this embellished sweater, and over the past couple of years seemed to have become much more generic in their styles.  So glad to see they are getting back to more unique and feminine items.

So, I'm ready for Spring, how about you?  Have you added anything new to your wardrobe this season?  Any cravings?

Looks Like Easter is Coming

I'm really late this year (or is Easter early?), but I finally got out my Easter decorations.  The little vignette above is on my entry hall table.  The decorated wooden eggs I have had for ages and have no idea now where they came from.  They had a little decorated wagon that they sat in, but I tossed it when we moved, thinking it was too cutesy. 

The birdhouse is one that my son made (or bought-I'm not sure--maybe he can leave a comment and tell us about it).  He left it behind when he moved to Ireland, and I spied it out in the garage and snagged it.  No birds have ever used it so far.  See the clever roof?

It is an old Michigan license plate in the decade of my son's birth.  I know he will want this back sometime, but for now, the yellow looked great with my yellow and aqua eggs and my yellow china bunny, so I'm gonna use it!

Nothing like multi-purposing a quilt and using it as a table cover!  This is my favorite spring time quilt.  And my first attempt at hand applique.

This little fellow will guard the rest of the wooden egg collection.

I put some other Eastery/Springy things on my kitchen shelf, which looks kind of sparse after the Christmas and January efforts.  For now, sparse is ok.

I wanted to share a couple of other things with you that you may be interested in.  Today, Candace at Squash House Quilts is having a stash sale you might want to take a look at.  When I last checked she had some lovely fabrics and some very nice kits. 

Also, today is the fourth day of the Traditional Fat Quarter Quilts blog hop.  Today Sherri at A Quilting Life is posting on her project from the book.  She does beautiful work, so this project of hers is bound to be stunning.

Be sure to check back with me tomorrow for my project from the book!  I will be doing a give away as well, so don't miss out!

Making Progress

I really am making progress with organizing the quilting studio.  Look!  I got a quilt hung!  We had some decorative drapery rods from a previous house we lived in and we repurposed one of them as a quilt hanger.  The space between the tall cabinets is not terribly wide (48"), so hanging an unfolded quilt probably will not be an option, since I typically make bed sized quilts.  I rather like the look of this quilt against the pale green walls.

As you can see by the glimpse of the cardboard carton at the lower left of the photo, I still have many a mile to go before all is stowed away.

This is the little corner of the room I was working on yesterday.  I had intended this to be my reading nook.  The original idea was not to have sharp objects hanging over my head, but the peg board just didn't work on the other side of the cutting table wall.  It is probably terrible fung shui.  Guess I could put the scissors and rotary cutters elsewhere for a better vibe.

The other thing is, I wanted to paint that darn peg board to match the walls before it got hung up, but I didn't catch my husband in time.  Darn.  He promises me that he will paint it, but now that it is up, I have my doubts that will happen.  I need to take note of how I have things hung, and one fine day I will just take everything off it and paint it myself!

Today while the baby naps, maybe I will sort out those books into some sort of order.  I pretty much just stuck them on the shelves willy nilly (does anyone say that anymore?) just to get the boxes emptied out.

Have any of you had this issue with your husbands?  You think the place to hang something on the wall is SO obvious, but to them, it is anything but.   I have a wall clock that he hung randomly on the wall months ago, without asking me.  Of course it was placed all wrong.  So, I told him it had to be moved.  He was very unhappy about the wasted hole in the wall, and having to do the job twice.  I explained that I wanted the clock hung over the dresser, not in the middle, but centered over the drawers on the right.  I thought it was obvious what I was trying to describe.

Three inches over to the right is what I had in mind.  The bottom of the clock should line up with the drawer pulls on the right.  Well, he is not moving that clock for the third time, so I guess I will have to push the dresser over so the clock lines up right.  And then the electrical outlet will be exposed....

Happy first Monday in March everyone.

 

Someone Remind Me

Someone please remind me.

Never. Buy. Any. More. Civil. War. Reproduction. Fabrics. Ever. Again.

A friend recently cautioned me that whatever I do, not to think of the money I spent on all this fabric and all these kits.  Ok.  I'll try.

HOLEY MOLEY!

Yes, it is just like Christmas, just like a number of you said it would be.  I open these boxes one after another and am just shocked at the amount of fabric I own. 

I feel very fortunate to have been in a position to afford all this loveliness.  Now that I am no longer in such a position, I am warning myself that I had jolly well come up for some uses for it.  Seriously, I could go the rest of my life just sewing up quilts using Civil War Reproduction fabrics and not get to the end of it.  It is rather appalling in a way.  I am going to have to start making quilts for homeless cats or some other disenfranchised group to make up for my excess.

Oh, but just look at that fabric in the first photograph.  Remember how I was carrying on about attractive presentation in some previous posts?  See, that's what I mean.  That yummy spread of fabric, those adorable little pinked edges?  I could almost persuade myself to buy that collection again.  But no, no, someone please remind me....

It Looks Like We Need Hazmat

No, not really.  No hazardous materials here.  Just quilts, fabric and more fabric.

Look, I have really reduced the number of boxes!  Lots of unpacking going on here.  And lots of evaluating.  Do I really need to keep this if it doesn't make my heart sing?  I think there will be some purging going on in the next few weeks.  Stand by.

I have taken a different approach to my fabric/stash organizing.  This is clearly a work in progress, but some things are becoming apparent.  I tend to be loyal to certain designers, and have found that many of their collections work really well with their past and future groups.  Hence, I have decided to group a lot of my fabrics by designer in plastic bins that will pull off the shelves in an easy manner, similar to a drawer.  My biggest bins were for Fig Tree and French General.  Interesting.  French General fabrics go so well with my established decor, and I find I can incorporate quilts made from those fabrics so easily into my decorating.  Fig Tree fabrics appeal to me greatly, but they don't really work with my decorating style, which is less whimsical and more formal.  Interesting that I keep buying them and have such a vast selection.  Obviously this is something my therapist and I need to work on.

Other designers were pretty well represented as well.

Obviously I have a bit of a Civil War Reproduction  habit.

These shelves are so great.  It is terrific to have room for my stash and my current projects all in one place!  Here is Farmer's Wife, just waiting for me to get back to her.

Now here's a tip for you all.  This little PTouch label machine, made by Brother, is THE most useful tool I have at my disposal (except for maybe my box cutter).  It is truly indispensible for quickly and attractively making labels for all these bins of fabric.  Love my label machine.  If you don't have one, it may be something you want to consider.

I am a work in progress, but things are moving along!

Oh My.

My husband trundled all the boxes from where they have been stored in the garage, down to the studio.  The small boxes contain mainly fabric, the medium size boxes are full of project boxes, UFO's, flimsies and supplies.  The large boxes are full of folded quilts.

My job is to unpack these things and find places for all the contents. 

My asthma unfortunately has chosen this week to play up, so I am moving very slowly, and having to sit down often to rest and get my breath.  In the picture below, you can see my asthma inhaler peeking out from behind the sewing machine on the table.  I don't dare have it be too far away.

As far as unpacking, my strategy is pretty much to get the stuff out of the boxes and randomly stick it on a shelf.  Once I get it all out, I can have a good look at what all I own and start organizing it properly.  When I unpacked and organized my kitchen last summer, that is what I did and it was a good method for me.  I just unpacked a box and let the contents sit on the counter while I unpacked some more.  Eventually the counters were full of all the stuff that needed to go in the kitchen cabinets and it was so easy for me to get a visual of what there was, how much space it would take up and where it would be most conveniently located.

We got the knobs and drawer pulls on the doors and drawers, and I am liking the way it looks.  My husband told me he thought it was "plain".  He was drawn to the fancy schmancy knobs that were two tone metal or had a design of some kind.  Me, not so much.  I wanted the hardware to be dark to go with the counter top and also to be a nice contrast with the white of the cabinetry.  There is going to be plenty else going on in this room, so simple hardware seemed the right choice.

Several readers asked where I got the cabinets.  It turns out that Lowes has a custom kitchen cabinet department.  We picked out a style we liked, which was called Devon, and the sales associate at Lowes, who was very experienced and professional, drew up a computer drawing of what the room would look like with the product we liked.  It cost a lot more than buying in-stock cabinets, but I am very pleased to have a good quality grade of cabinetry.  What I need are super well made and strong shelves, to hold all the heavy fabric.  These seem to be up to that task.  The in-stock cabinets were clearly an inferior product, with thin wobbly shelves.  Once the order was placed, it took about three weeks to get delivery of the cabinets.  My husband and Handyman Bill installed them with little trouble.  Having Lowes install them would have added a lot to the total cost, do we chose the DIY method.  Bill has done this a million times, so he got the job done in no time.

Now that they are in, I am so wishing I had gone with drawers instead of shelving for these two lower cabinets.  Ack.  That would have been such a better idea.  No matter, Handyman Bill can put sliding drawer units inside the cabinets, but I will sacrifice a bit of space.

The counter top is not granite, it is a pre-fab granite-look-alike counter that Lowes sells that is exactly 48" wide, which is what these two cabinets measure.  You just pick one out, bring it home and plop it on top of the cabinet units.  Something called "scrim" has to go along the two sides to cover the teensy gap between the counter and the cabinet walls.  My husband really wanted me to go with granite, but I kept thinking "why?".  It is just a sewing room for heaven's sake, granite is a lot more expensive, and I would probably have to wait two months before a piece was found, cut to size and installed.  Fergitaboutit.

Cabinetry

My cabinetry is in!  I don't have much time to post today, but wanted to share a picture of my entire wall of storage in the studio.  I have four tall 36 inch wide cabinets and two shorter 24 inch wide cabinets.  Do you think that will be enough space for all my project boxes and fabric?  lol

Here is a look inside at the shelving configuration.  This week I am going to be busy unpacking boxes and figuring out where everything will go.

You must excuse me, I have to go put knobs on those cabinet doors!

Handyman Bill is Coming Back!

Can you guess why Handyman Bill might be coming back?

Look what got delivered yesterday!!  The cabinets for my quilting studio!  Excited much?

I will keep you posted on the progress of installing them and getting the studio organized.  I could be unpacking things next week!

Meanwhile, I have been working on a few non-quilting projects this week.

Isn't this "yarn" fun?  It is ribbon like, and when knitted forms rows of ruffles.   The ends are wider for about five inches or so, where you knit every other opening in the ribbon.  Then you switch to knitting every opening for a narrower look through the body of the scarf.  It goes pretty fast, and only one skein is required for a scarf.  The yarn is called Ripples. 

Added later by popular request:  this is the website for the shop where I bought this yarn- http://maisieblu.bigcartel.com/product/fun-ripple-yarns

To make the scarf, use number 9 needles, cast on eight stitches, knit about five inches by going in every other loop, then switch to kniting every loop to make it narrower.  When you get near the other end, switch back to knitting every other loop for the last five inches.  Alternately, cast on seven stitches and just knit the whole thing by going in every loop.

I haven't forgotten about Birdie Stitches.  I sit in the livingroom and stitch while Baby E bounces in her bouncy chair.  I have to admit I get distracted watching her.  Does that baby ever love to bounce!

Have a super weekend everyone.

 

Inspiration, Where Have You Gone?

I have felt more or less paralyzed with ennui the past couple of days.  After seeing that the house is tidied, the dishes done, Grandpa fed, and Ozzie walked, I find myself feeling at loose ends and terribly tired.  Maybe it is the let down of having my son and his fiance return to Ireland.  I don't know.  All I can say is that nothing seems very exciting or worth doing.  Yesterday I mentioned heavy napping--that is still going on!  Hoping I am not sick, and that this will pass.

One thing that will help me perk up big time is the arrival of the cabinetry for my quilting studio.  Yes, the cabinets have been ordered!  I got a message that they will be shipped on Feb. 16th.  So, after maybe a week of travel time, and a week to arrange for their installation,  I could be out there in the studio unpacking my boxes of fabric and quilting supplies.

Can you believe I packed up my passion last June?  June.  And it is still boxed up.  Oh, I have rummaged a bit, and dug out some essentials, but for the most part, all my quilt related belongings (and the majority of my quilts) have been taped up in boxes, stacked in neat rows in my garage.  For eight months.  Most of a year.  No wonder I am losing my mind.

I wandered down to the studio yesterday afternoon in hopes I would get that "feeling".  You know, that feeling you get when you fondle your fabric, glance through some favorite quilting books, dream of future projects.  It didn't happen.  It made me realize how visual I am, and how so much of my inspiration comes from looking through my quilting magazines and special books.  "Oh, yes!",  I think, "I have always meant to make that pattern!  Mustn't forget that one".  I am craving a good browse through my Kim Diehl books.  And the dictionary of quilt blocks by Judy Hopkins, with her measurements to make them in all sorts of different sizes.  I miss sitting in my sewing room, quilt book in hand, stacks of fabric and bundles in plain view.  "Oh, my gosh, how great would this pattern look with the new Blackbird Designs collection!"  "I really must join this applique block of the month program".  "How cute would that bag pattern be made up in that Fig Tree (Kate Spain, Bonnie and Camille, Sweetwater, etc, etc) group!"

That just hasn't been happening and I miss it so much.  For the first time in my life I feel disconnected from my quilting.  I know I will get the feeling back, especially once my space is sorted out.  But right now I sure do have the blahs!

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