Sister's Choice Quilts

Midnight Moon Week 3 and Massive Sewing Room Tidy

These are my Week 3 blocks for the Midnight Moon sew-along. They are called Hidden Star, made with Fat Quarter Shop's 3" Square in a Square foundation papers, and Pinwheel Geese made with my BlocLoc trim tool. For some reason, I could not find my 1 x 2" Flying Geese ruler and thought I had lost it. So I ordered another one for $22 from Fat Quarter Shop. Then two hours later I found the ruler right where I always keep it. Here's a great customer service story: I talked with Kenna at FQS and told her what I had done and asked if we could edit the order. No problem. She took the ruler I no longer needed off the order and we were good to go. I love Fat Quarter Shop for so many reasons.

The other thing I did yesterday was give my sewing room a massive tidy up. Boy, does it ever feel good to have things put away and the room looking good. Here's a little photo tour. Click on the photos to enlarge them if you like.

My bookcase is just on the left as you enter the room. The storage closet is to the right of the bookcase. 

Straight ahead are the cutting table, the dresser, my ironing station, and my small design wall. 

To the right of the sewing station is the large design wall, and on the right, as you enter the room is my sewing table and new storage unit. That little table in front of the sewing table is where I park my iron when I don't want to keep getting up and going to the sewing station. It was a funny little side table my in-laws had in their house. I covered a piece of plywood with batting and fabric and topped it with a square wool cutting mat, and it has been the greatest little ironing table. I do have a great sewing chair, but I moved it out of the picture.

So everything is sorted out and put away. One of these days I will tackle the nightmare that is in the dresser.  To be honest, the closet needs some work too. 

I felt so productive when I had finished, and more in the mood to sew than ever!

A New Storage Unit

Why is this man in my sewing room? It is my husband, who I finagled into putting together a new storage unit for me. I got the idea on Instagram from @hurricanereesequilty stitches (now that's a handle). It is a toy storage unit from IKEA called Trofast. It cost just less than $100 including the bins. It is meant to be a storage unit for kids' Legos, blocks, or other toys with a gazillion small parts.  I've never bought anything at IKEA, and I tell you, it's a procedure. Anyway, I ordered it, stood in a long line, picked it up, managed to get it in my car by myself, got it home, and persuaded that nice husband of mine to assemble it. 

I am going to use it for storing ongoing current sew-along projects. The unit is about 5 feet tall and has ten storage bins.

I am not finished organizing it, but you see some of my labeled bins. It's pretty great to be able to just pull out one of your current projects and take your next step with it. 

My only disappointment was in the depth of the bins. I wish they were just a bit deeper. I had to get creative with my fabric folding to arrange everything nicely. They do have deeper bins, and I could get a few of those for projects that have a lot of fabric. My Red Sampler project, for instance, did not all fit into one bin, so I had to spill over to a second one.

Anyway, if you are in search of a way to organize your sew-along projects, this could fit the bill. I always have several things going on at once, so this is a great way to keep them front and center.

Hope you all had a great weekend. My dad seemed in fine form. He asked me "Do I seem disabled to you?" I told him "disabled" wasn't really the word I'd use to describe him. To me, he seems more "fragile". His balance is terrible, and a fall could be the end of him. In my mind, I compare him to an egg. If he were to fall, it would be a disaster. His skin is so thin, and prone to bruising. If he cuts himself, he bleeds profusely, even if it's a minor wound. He is the most precious, valuable, delicate thing, and I'd do anything to protect him. So, yes, "fragile" is the word I'd use to describe him, at almost 96 years of age. Not his mind though. My gosh, he is sharp as a tack. What a blessing.

 

Little Stars Topper & Some Organizing

Just in time for the 4th of July!  This little stars table topper was such fun to make.  I don't do paper piecing very often, so a small project like this is what it takes to keep my skill set sharp.  When I first got started I could barely remember which end was supposed to be up, but by the seventh or eighth star, I was up to speed again.

The pattern is by Laurie Simpson and is in the Moda All Stars Mini Marvels book.  I printed the paper pattern right from the book and had no issues with it not being accurate.  The finished blocks came out 3 1/2", every single one of them.

My weekend was quite productive.  I recovered a new pressing board for my ironing station, as the previous one had warped very badly over the two or three years I have been using it. You should have seen my husband and I scrabbling around on the floor with the staple gun trying to cover the new board with batting and a fabric covering.  Neither one of us does so well on the floor anymore.  My husband found out that after his double knee surgeries, he can no longer kneel.

I just put the new board on top of the old one.  Hopefully the new one won't warp.  I will use my thick wool pressing mat as often as possible and maybe that will help.

Can you see how badly the bottom board warped?  It was like ironing in a valley.

I also reorganized my book shelves and pattern storage system.  My patterns are in the five white bins on the top shelf.  I need to go through them and toss the ones I know I will never use.  I also went through my books and discovered a duplicate of a good one, so I will do a give away at some point this week.  I eliminated a couple piles of books which made room for six project boxes on one of the shelves.  

What a good feeling to get a ton of crap stuff off the floor and stored away in the closet and on the shelves.  It is a pleasure to go in my sewing room and just sit in my chair and look around the room at my accomplishment.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Everything is a Total Mess

We are topsy turvy here.  I think I have been avoiding my sewing room for two reasons:  1) It needs a massive de-clutter/de-stash and 2) the world's most difficult, confusing and frustrating quilt has been on my design wall for months.

So this weekend, I tackled the clutter.  

I filled bins with fabric that is leftover from past projects or that I just don't have a use for right now.  I have storage out in my garage that I will transfer it all to next week.

The stash cupboard is much more manageable, and contains things I actually would like to use in the foreseeable future.

Best of all, I got all the larger pieces folded and wrapped on cardboard and put away nicely.

Things are shaping up, and with Eva away at camp all next week I will have uninterrupted time to finish sorting it all out.  

More on the world's most confusing quilt in my next post.

Thanks for all your encouraging advice regarding my recent unhappy dental experience.  I did get up my nerve and called the practice and told the hygienist that after the appointment I felt shamed and pressured to immediately schedule the pricey add on treatment they were recommending.  I didn't hold back.  However, she was so embarrassed and afraid she was going to get in trouble that I don't think she really heard all that I said to her.  She just kept saying "Sorry, so sorry" and not really listening to me.  So, next time, don't tell me 20 times that I have a terrible build up of tartar and how long it's been since my last treatment, and how I should floss better.  And let's see how this appointment goes before you pin me down to an expensive add on treatment that I haven't had a chance to research.  I really had no issue with the dentist's behavior.  He was pretty laid back when he spoke to me.  No shaming, no pressure.  But at the end of the day, this is his practice, and I believe his staff are conducting themselves the way he instructs them to.  I am exploring other options.

New Ironing Station

I have a new ironing station!  I shamelessly copied an Instagram photo Thelma (Cupcakes 'n' Daisies) shared last week.  I dragged my husband to Lowes and we easily found what we needed to create this ironing board and storage shelf.  The entire project took less than a couple of hours to complete, believe it or not.

We got a four tier chrome shelving unit.  They come five tiered, but due to my space constraints, I wanted the 14" shelf depth rather than the deeper shelves offered in the five tiered unit.  The cost for the shelving unit was about $50.  The unit is 37.5" wide, 14" deep and 53" tall when assembled.

 

Obviously you do not want to iron on a surface that is 53" high, unless you are a giant, so some customization of the legs has to be made to make the unit shorter.  My husband used a hacksaw to saw the metal legs down to a height of 37".  He said it was easy, and I took his word for it.

For the top, we needed a board.  We could have used particle board, thick plywood etc, but we found an already cut hardwood board at Lowes.  The one we chose cost around $15. There were various sizes to choose from and we selected one that measured 16" x 48".  It was 3/4" thick, which is important.  You don't want a flimsy board.  The fact that this board was the right size and already cut was a big plus.

While my husband assembled and customized the shelving unit, I covered the board with two layers of quilt batting and a length of fabric.  We used a heavy duty staple gun to turn the edges under and staple the batting and fabric all around the underside of the board.

The finished height of the ironing station is 38" once the board is resting on the top.  We did not secure the board to the shelving unit, as it seems to stay perfectly in place.  I think the two inches of batting and fabric on each underside keeps it from moving.  The board does not slide around, it sits nice and flat and is a wonderfully firm surface for pressing.  

To celebrate that, I picked up my new annual iron!  The T-Fal I got last year worked great for its year of service, so I replaced it with another one (slightly different model) at Walmart.  

I am super excited with this new ironing station, and kept going upstairs to look at it all evening.  I am thrilled not just with the improved ironing surface, but those three shelves are fabulous for storage.

 

Scrap Policy

Katie, a nice reader of this blog, contacted me over the weekend, and raised such an interesting question about scraps.  We'd love to know your "Scrap Policy" and hope you will take the time to comment and share what types of scraps you bother to save.  There are so many amazing quilts that can be made with scraps and I am curious as to what the ideal size is for saving.  Do you bother with tiny pieces?  Or do they end up in the trash bin?  How small is too small? 

I wanted to rummage around in the sewing room a bit and see what sort of scraps I had thought to save from leftover projects, and discovered a zip lock bag packed full of colorful Civil War scrap squares, most around two inches square.  There are a lot of them, and I must have thought I could use them for something. I sure haven't, but now that I see them, the wheels are turning in my brain.

Typically, I personally do not tend to save super small scraps.  If I have a leftover scrap that is 5 or 6 inches square (charm square size), I will keep it if it is a fabric I love.  Otherwise, meh, I will probably toss it.  Bigger scraps, definitely.  I save those in bins according to color.  These range in size from fat quarters, fat eighths, ten inch squares, whatever could be incorporated into a project when I need a certain shade.  For instance, I have been extremely happy on more than one occasion when I have been looking for just the right shade of red and found it in one of my red scrap bins.  Blues and greens are even trickier to match and can be worth saving.

I have color coordinated bins of fabric in my closets, and loads more in tubs in the garage.  The fabrics are folded and easy to access in bins labeled according to fabric theme and color.  I feel that I am an artist, and those fabric scraps are my palette.

I know some folks cut their leftover fabric into strips to use in Log Cabin or other strip style quilts.  Have you ever done that?  It seems like it would take too much time for me, but then I guess you would be all good to go with your strips ready if you made a lot of strip style projects.  I must have done it at least once though.  Look, I found a bag of 1 1/2 inch purple strips I had cut for something.

Speaking of extreme scrap saving, I knew a woman who saved even the tiny dog ear snippets from half square triangles.  I think she may have used them to stuff dog beds or something, but never the less, she never threw them away!  I also remember a gal I used to sew with who saved all her folded corner clippings to make tiny little half square triangle squares!  She would use them to make inner borders of half square triangle squares on some of her quilts.

You should take a rummage around your sewing room and see what hidden scrap treasures you might find.  I discovered an entire basket of scrappy two inch half square triangle squares.  What?  There must be close to a hundred of them.  Evidently I thought those small scraps were worth saving!  I think I need to come up with some projects and use these scraps up, don't you agree?

So, what's in your scrap basket?  Do share!

Come On, Admit It

Let's be honest.  Is your ironing board cover disgusting?  I doubt it is as revolting a sight as mine, but I bet it  shows some signs of wear and tear.  Three years ago I made myself a new ironing board cover.  I used a tutorial by Sew Much Good, which was excellent, and had a new cover fairly painlessly in just a couple of hours.

It was about two years overdue, but I made myself a new one yesterday, using this fast and easy tutorial.  I really couldn't stand looking at that sad, stained cover for one more minute.

The first step is to cut a two yard long by 20 inches wide piece of fabric.  The great thing about this is that you and a friend could buy a two yard length of fabric, cut it in half lengthwise and each get a new ironing board cover out of it.  Or make one for now and one for later, or one for you and one for a gift.  Seriously?  My friend Lisa gave me a cute ironing board cover once, and I think it was one of the best presents I ever received.  I was thrilled.

So let me show you the process:

I flipped the ironing board on top of the wrong side of the fabric and traced around it about three inches out from the edge of the board.  I used a combination of pins, tailors chalk and a ruler.

Then I cut on my drawn line all around the piece of fabric.

The next step is to make a mile of bias tape.  Why is it I can never just do that without checking a reference book for the right technique?  I am always afraid I am doing something wrong.  After pressing the  bias tape in half, the next step is to attach it to the cover with some 1/4" wide elastic.

You carefully position the elastic on the inside fold of the bias tape and sew the raw edge of the bias tape all around the cover, being careful not to catch the elastic in your stitching.  (Check out the tutorial, the author's photos and instructions are way better than mine).

Fiddle around with the elastic until it is just right, and secure it with some stitches.  Now place your new ironing board cover on your board and fiddle a bit more until it is even and taut all around.

And there you go.  Now I just need to promise myself to do this every year instead of every three. So, how about it?  Want a new ironing board cover in a couple of hours?  Check out that tutorial and make yourself one!

And while you are here, notice in the background that all my Steampunk blocks are done!  Now I am appliquéing the center circles in place.   Lattices are next.  Ugh.  I hate making lattices.

 

Where I Work Now

 

I have shared with you in the past the great sewing studio I had in my former house.  The house itself wasn't so great by any means, but my husband sweetened the pot by promising me he would put in a perfect sewing studio in an outbuilding to the house.  And he did.  I had amazing built in storage cupboards, hard wood floors, lots of natural light, and tons of room to spread out.  Then we moved.  I was so happy to get a different house, as the old one didn't suit me whatsoever, except for the studio.  The photo above is of my storage cupboards in my previous studio. Yeah, I know.  Man, I miss those things.

So now I have the best house ever,  but my sewing area is an extra bedroom on the second floor.  That's ok, really.  Better than a space on the dining room table, right?  As much as I appreciate the fact that I have a designated room of my own in which to create, I do miss the storage and the space that my former studio provided.  

You may remember the special table I had customized to accomodate two sewing machines.  I had hoped my daughter might sit across from me at this table and sew with me, or that I might invite a friend to join me in a day or so of stitching.  We had an oak table that we had two cut outs made in, for two sewing stations.  Underneath the cutout, there is a platform for the machines to sit on, and to make the sewing surface flush with the table tops, I had acrylic inserts made to fit my machine cut outs.  The photo below is of my previous studio with the table with two sewing stations.

You can see how I had two cutouts made in the table for two sewing machines.  It turned out that I did have a student that I mentored for a year, and did indeed have a use for two sewing stations.  But after that arrangement ended, and we moved, I no longer really needed a table with cut outs for two machines.

Last weekend I rearranged my sewing room in the "new" house, and pushed it up against a wall instead of having it project out into the middle of the room.  The photo below is of my first arrangement in the new sewing room.  My back was to the design wall, the table took up all the floor space in the room, and I never had enough room to really pull my chair out as far as I wanted.

What a difference  getting that table out of the middle of the room made!  After the luxury of space in the studio, I had been feeling so crowded and claustrophobic in the smaller room, with this gigantic table taking up so much space.  Moving it up against a wall made such an improvement.  

Here is a little tour around the room now.  Now the sewing table is up against the long wall.  It is  SO much better to be able to have access to the design wall, rather than having it blocked by the table as it was previously.  Seriously, how could I think having my design wall behind me was a good idea?  Now that the table is against the wall, I  just covered up the hole for the second machine with a cutting mat and some trays of sewing supplies. 

 Here is a little look around the room as it is now.

The view from behind my sewing table.  Window behind me with lots of bright light coming in.  Lots of light at the cutting table.  The dresser holds notions and layer cakes and charm packs.  Woohoo, and take a look at the floor space in the middle of the room.

The view from where I sit, outside the door to the room into the landing outside.  The closet on the right has built in shelves that hold my fabric bundles and mini bolts of fabric.  Large plastic bins of color coded fabric reside out in the garage on metal shelving, which isn't so convenient, but that's life.  That is where most of my "stash" resides, and after all these years, I find I can often "shop at home".

The sewing table and design wall.  Love my two design walls.  I have one that is 72" x 72", and a smaller one, above my ironing board.  Natural light from the window behind me is good, and the new lighting fixture/ceiling fan my husband put in recently provide extra illumination.  My pegboard of rulers is above the table for easy reach.

It seems to be working.  But I sure do miss all those storage cupboards!

 

 

 

 

 

My Ironing Board

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your ironing board?  Good grief, I never had such a struggle.  It is surprisingly difficult to make those things look good.  You have to get way back to get the whole thing in the photo and then all sorts of other ugly things you don't particularly want to share sneak into the picture.

I found an awesome tutorial on how to make an ironing board cover.  Eva over at Sew Much Good (is that not the best blog name ever?) made one, and has featured the clearest instructions on how you can make one too.  It took no time at all, and I am so pleased with how I transformed my grody looking ironing board into something much nicer.  I highly recommend that you check it out. The best thing is, with two yards of fabric, you can make TWO ironing board covers, one for you and one for your best friend!

Here is one photo, not the best, but it is what it is.  I was moving this darn ironing board all over the room trying to get good lighting.  Excuse the mess of wires under the sewing table.  I still have not figured out how to deal with them.

The cover has a simple casing with 1/4 inch elastic passed through it to make it fit nice and snug.  One great feature is how simple it is going to be to get it off and on again if I want to wash it.  Honestly, this was so darn easy to make, and I did not need to even leave my house to buy anything.  The fabric was left over from a quilt I made years ago and the elastic was on hand in a drawer of sewing notions.  That's all you need.  You know you have two yards of fabric and a package of elastic somewhere, don't you?  Go on, find them, check out Eva's tutorial, and make a cute new ironing board cover!

 

 

 

Welcome to the Studio

It has been a long time coming, but my quilting studio is up and running.  I am so grateful to my husband, son in law, and Handyman Bill for making this dream come true.  For so many years, I did my sewing on the dining room table, in the guest room, and in my last house, in a very nice dedicated "sewing room".  I realize how fortunate I am to have this lovely large space to pursue my passion, and won't forget to be appreciative, ever.

Things are not 100% finished.  We still need air conditioning, some trim, window coverings, and a few other minor details.  This post is very photo heavy, but I hope you enjoy seeing some of the things we did.

We went from a former woodshop, and a very nice one at that (photos from one year ago):

Inside the door to the left, and back wall.  Notice the funky cupboards, bare light bulbs and concrete floor.

Back wall and right wall.  Even though the hobby wasn't mine, when I first saw this space,  I could feel the creative vibe humming!

Right wall and entrance.  More funky cupboards.

To this:

Inside the door to the left.  Design wall is up, but needs some trim.  Dresser for all my various sewing supplies.  IPod dock for music or audio books while I sew.

Left wall and part of back wall.  Sewing station for two!  Sara's chair still needs to be ordered.  She's been using a kitchen chair in the meantime.  In a photo below, I will show close ups of my new sewing table, a former dining room table. Ironing table will be set up under the window.

Back wall with storage cabinetry.  Marvelous cabinetry courtesy of Lowes.  You can see a glimpse of the hardwood flooring my husband installed.  I love my quilts on top, and hanging in the center.  Believe me, those cabinets are pretty full of stash and supplies already!

Right wall with cutting table.

Right wall with reading corner and rocking chair.  Sharp objects have been removed from overhead.

Here are some details.

I did get my Sister's Choice barn art hung, and a larger one is on order for the outside of the building.

Here is a close up of the cut out Bill made in the dining table to fit my Bernina.  He used my acrylic insert from my old sewing table as his pattern.  He dropped a little platform for the machine to sit on, at the correct height.  When the template is put over the cut out, the sewing surface is smooth and uniform.  I had him leave me 12 inches of space to the right, which is about 8 more than I had on my previous sewing table.  He did the same procedure in the opposing corner, so I have space for Sara (or a friend) to come sew with me.  We still need to sand the edges and apply a bit of stain so it looks more finished.  (And yes, my friend Thelma did make the cupcake personalized mug rug for me!)

This fun little holder came from Hobby Lobby.  I have a friend who uses hers to hold her rulers, but I am using mine to hold some patterns I hope to use in the near future.  It also works fine to hold a magazine or book while you are reading the cutting instructions as you work.

Cabinets are 90% organized.  I used plastic tubs from Target and organized my fabrics by designer, but also have things arranged by color or type (such as "Black and White" or "Civil War").  Larger cuts of fabric are folded and stacked on shallow shelves.  UFOs are in smaller project boxes (and yes, I do have a shocking number of them).  That super messy looking bin is full of tote bags that are going to go in a covered container out in the garage. 

If you are designing a sewing space, don't forget to leave room for some treasured momentos and toys.

Goofy photos.

And a sunny spot for the dog.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!