Sister's Choice Quilts

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.

 

Spring is in the Air

Look at these buds just bursting open!  I am so excited to feel a hint of spring in the air.  I have an elevated back deck that gives me the feeling I am up in a tree house, and one of the trees that shades it is starting to do some very interesting things.  As I snapped the picture, a little honey bee flew right onto one of the front branches.  It went right to the blossom!  If you enlarge the picture I wonder if you can see it.

Every year at this time, I find myself wishing that I had taken the time to plant some daffodils back in October.  My husband discovered this pot on our side yard, and what a surprise it was!  Evidently the people we bought our house from thought farther ahead than we did! 

Thanks for all the opinions on fabric packaging in response to my post yesterday.  I appreciated them one and all, even if you didn't agree with me.  Even the nice lady (brave soul was she to disagree with me), who told me to let it go, that there are more important things in life than fabric folding.  lol  I love you one and all, truly.  Thank you for reading my blog, thank you for taking the time to comment and thank you for feeling comfortable to express your feelings to me even if they aren't the same as mine.

Many people said they didn't really care how the fabric was packaged as long as it arrived promptly and undamaged.  Lots of you said that packaging was VERY important to you.  Some said they really appreciated nice packaging, but did not want to pay more for it.

So here is my little experiment.  I took my sad little bundles and undid them and put them back in the zip lock bag my own way.   A way that I think is much more aesthetically pleasing.

Before:

After:

Flip it over, and here is the backside:

I used the same zip lock bag they were sent to me in.  And they would have fit even better in the same Priority Mail envelope they were squished into.  (Which I ripped apart in my excitement to get at the fabric).

It took me about 45 seconds to arrange the fabric nicely and slip it into the zip lock bag.  Probably less time than it took someone to tie that pathetic string around the stacks of fabric.  So, no extra time spent in fancy packaging materials.  No extra cost in postage.  Less than a minute to show "I care".

One reader thought I was advocating extra and possibly costly packaging.  Not at all.  You don't need ribbons and tissue and confetti to make a dozen fat quarters look appealing.  Just fold and stack them carefully--that's all you need to do.  No extra materials, no extra cost. 

I am standing firm.  As my old boss used to say, "I'll die on this hill".  I like a decent presentation, whether I pay more for it or not (which I don't think I should have to do).  Taking the time to arrange the fabric prettily shows that someone cares and wants the person on the other end to be pleased with their purchase.  To some, it may be a small thing.  But not to me.

Teeny Tiny Complaint

Now that I have moved away from civilization and live out in the boonies, I find that I purchase most of my fabric online.  I do try to order from brick and mortar stores that also do online business.  One place that I have often bought from is Fatquartershop, who I have praised many times for their customer service, promptness and the attractive way that they package your purchase. 

Fabric prices have gone way up, as I am sure many of you have noticed.  I don't have much of a discretionary income, now that I am not working full time, so whatever money I budget for fabric purchases is very dear to me.  It is so lovely to receive those packages that I have been waiting for with such great anticipation.  It is doubly lovely when the vendor has taken the time to package the fabric with some sort of care and attention.

This is how a recent package from Shabby Fabrics arrived:

Notice how they stacked the fatquarters so a smidgen of each one shows? See how amazing they all look together?  That fabric looks like it is WORTH something.  And they even labeled the collection for me so in the future when I get to use it, I will be reminded of what the group is.  I spent $55 on this fabric, and when it arrived, I was pleased and felt my money had been very well spent.  I felt like I got my money's worth.  Presentation.  Worth it's weight in gold.

I ordered some fabric from another online vendor last week.  And spent $93 on it.  This is how it arrived:

Stacked sloppily and tied with a sad little string.   How completely uncerimonious and joyless.

Deplorable.  I am NOT a happy camper.  That does not look like almost $100 worth of fabric.

I did call the company to express my disappointment, and got an immediate call back from the owner.  She was very gracious, and very concerned with my dissatisfaction, which I appreciated.  Her excuse for the sloppy packaging was that they make every effort to get orders shipped out the same day as the order, that they are a small company, two new girls in shipping, etc etc.  Truly I thought it was fantastic that she responded so promtly and with such sincere concern for my complaint.  I told her I would send her an email with a photo of the Shabby Fabrics package compared to a photo of her company's package.  She immediately emailed me back saying, "I see what you mean". 

Whether anything will change on their end I can't say.  Maybe it will.  I think my voice was heard.  I will probably order from them again mainly because the owner was so genuine in her distress that I was unhappy.  I am convinced she would bend over backwards to address the issue and try to make me stay on as her customer.  However, if I have $50 to spend on fabric, and Shabby Fabrics or Fatquartershop carries the same thing, I would be inclined to go with them because it is way more fun to open their packages.

Am I unreasonable?

 

 

 

Granny Squares

Have to say I am having a blast making these adorable blocks.  I love the construction technique, which makes an otherwise extremely tedious process super simple and easy.  Can you even imagine cutting out teensy pieces to make the setting triangles?  Me either, which is why I haven't made this block up 'til now.

The fabric is the other part of this that I am loving.   I can never get too much pink and red!  My favorites are the alphabet print and the strawberry print.  I was going to go with twelve blocks, but I don't think I am going to be able to stop with that.  Maybe 16 or even 20 would be better....

Dana at Old Red Barn is starting a quilt along for these granny square blocks.  It begins March 1, and you might want to join in.  Looks like everyone wants to make one of these quilts.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend.  I know for many of you, it isn't even over yet!

Well, That Didn't Last Long.

My little funk was certainly short lived.  Good thing too. 

Yesterday while the baby was sleeping and Grandpa was enjoying his newspaper, I brought my portable sewing machine into the kitchen.  Sometimes, you just have to make sewing happen.  I did have to make a trip down to the studio for some fabric I purchased recently.  You see, I had seen something while blog hopping, and just had to give it a go.

Jolene's quilt

Rachel at Stitched in Color is hosting Scrap Attack and encouraging everyone to use up those scraps we all have in abundance.  She asked Jolene at Blue Elephant Stitches to show how she makes her terrific Granny Squares blocks, as they are a wonderful way to use up little scraps of fabric.  Check out Jolene's  fun tutorial on how to make the blocks on her blog.

Rachel's blog is one of the most inspirational I have looked at in some time.  If your inspiration is lagging, as was mine, please make a point to visit her site Stitched in Color.  She is completely awesome.  Her most recent post is actually on the subject of inspiration-- how TOO MUCH of it can be overwhelming!

Since my scraps are packed up at the moment, I was forced to use new fabric (aw, poor me, I know).  This is what I chose to work with.  Since when have you seen such yummyness and didn't eat it?

This is PamkittyMorning's collection from Lakehouse.  I got mine online at Shabby Fabrics, but it is available in some shops in my state, such as Prairie Queens in San Jose.  I met the Shabby Fabrics girls at Road to California, and thought they were just outstanding in terms of customer service, friendliness and expertise.  And talk about knowing their niche.  Wow.

So, I got cracking and made four blocks, which I am completely in love with.  Believe me, as soon as I can get at my scraps, I will be making a scrappy version of this quilt as well.

If you haven't made this block before, the construction is really simple.  Basically, you just sew rows of 2 1/2" squares together and then trim the block down to a 9 inch square.

Thank you Pam, Rachel and Jolene for blasting me out of my funk.

 

When Inspiration Fails, Start a New Project

Thanks for all the pep talks yesterday!  Determined to shake my fit of blahs, I ventured out to the local yarn shop for a pick-me-up.  Of course I saw something fun that I wanted to try!  Sometimes retail therapy is just what the doctor ordered.

The shop had a new assortment of novelty yarns and had them made up into fun scarves.  The one that appealed to me the most was so different.  To make the scarf, you needed circular needles, which I had never used.  Besides that, the yarn itself was akin to knitting with netting.

You end up with a frothy loopy scarf that knits up super fast.  Once you get the knack of knitting the weird yarn.  The yarn is Triana by Katia.  One skein will make up a scarf and was $14.99 at the shop where I bought it.

I got this far just knitting during the commercials during American Idol last night!

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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