Organization is key.

I don’t know about you but I spend more time searching for things in my studio than actually quilting. It can be so annoying when alls you want to do is sew or quilt. I have avoided sewing and quilting because my studio is such a disaster.

Here take a look and you will see what I am talking about.

See… Can you relate? I am determined to clean up and organize the room so I WANT to go into it and work. So, I started on my thread! This is how I use to store my thread.

Needless to say it really didn’t work and since my room is small… the floor space is very valuable so I utilized the door.

not done yet… but it is a great start. I got this at the Container Store.

Here is the list of items I used…

Elfa 77 3/4″ mount

Elfa Utility Residential Overdoor Hooks White Set of 2

Elfa Utility Narrow Medium Mesh Basket White

These baskets fit Aurifil thread spools perfectly! They have other sizes so you can measure your spools or cones and get the ones that work for you. I have no affiliation with Container store.. just a happy customer.

Stay tuned for more studio organization!

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

Stash or No stash

No people I am not speaking of “stash” as in the green three-leaf clover that is not legal in the state of Pennsylvania.  I am referring to a large stash of “fabric”. I am curious to hear if my peers  have a large fabric stash.  I often meander into a fabric shop and encounter an abounding amount of fabrics that I am drawn to, but refrain from purchasing.  Of course my refusal to buy in quantity has me later kicking myself when it becomes evident that one of those “passed over” materials would have been the soul mate for a specific project.  To make matters even worse when I take the time to venture back to the shop and invest in the cloth, it quickly becomes apparent that it has been confiscated by a wiser customer.  I find myself slowly exiting the store feeling totally deflated.  I believe I suffer from FCS (fabric commitment syndrome).  Standing amidst all those beautiful patterns, and colors, gives me cold feet.  I can’t seem to allow myself to be devoted to more than one piece of material.  I suppose my relationship with fabric has me being a monogamous quilter.

I only browse for fabric when I have an upcoming project and it’s time to redeem the precise cloth for the design that is whirling around in my mind.  Since I don’t accumulate fabric, I have but a very small stash to draw upon.  This lack of resources often leads to a little bit of design challenges.  Obstacles aren’t necessarily a bad thing but not possessing the quantity of fabric required for a design most definitely is!

When Hula Hibiscus was being constructed, thanks to Ronda K Scott, the challenge presented was to produce this piece from our “stash” alone.  WHAT??? I about fell on the floor.  I don’t even know if you can consider my collection a “stash” as it’s so pitiful!

No I wasn’t lying, it is very small, tiny, minuscule.  So lets turn this topic away from me and out to the public.  Do you have a large stash, or are you like me and need to find the closest FCS program?

Lisa

Eye Candy Monday!

The response you all had to my Under the Needle Newsletter was amazing.  I love getting all the emails about how my little picture inspired you!  What I loved even more was the pictures some of you sent.  So here are a few…

Here is Angie Bess’s quilt.  She was giving the ProPebbles a try out.  Look great, Angie!  Keep it up!

 

Up next was Rachel Atienza!  A beautiful miniature whole cloth… looks like its my favorite fabric too…. Radiance by Robert Kauffman.  Love the straight line fill!

 

One more for today…. Elizabeth Witchel!  I see one of my favorite rulers in this pic.  of the ProLine!!  Elizabeth made a great barter with a woodworker.  She made him this beautiful quilt and he is making her a thread cabinet.  Elizabeth…. make sure you send me a picture of the thread cabinet.  Would love to post it as a follow up.  I know I love to see how every one stores their thread…

 

So since we are on the topic of tread storage…. how do you all store your thread?  Any good before and after pictures you would like to share with us? Of even just pictures of how you store your thread… I could always use a little inspiration in this department.  So please send me pictures of your thread storage!

Quilt on, My Friends!

Lisa

 

something most quilters don’t think about…..

Pin maintenance! Check out the blog post I wrote for We All Sew. We All Sew

Organization Monday….

Kids are off school which always puts me behind the eight ball.  Today is organization day.  Last week after getting home from Birds of a Feather I felt very disorganized.  There have been a lot of great things happening but I felt as though I wasn’t staying on top of everything very well.  So I told myself.. Monday is the day to get organized..

My first task is done… that was to create a tickler file to help me remember all I need to remember when I need to remember it.  LOL  Debby Brown is the master organizer and my hero… check out her blog here.  If it weren’t for Debby, I’d be swimming in an office of disorganization.  Not to mention, she is a pretty fantastic quilter and friend.  🙂

Next is to tackle the inbox.  I thought I had been doing a pretty good job of having it empty every night…. (hanging my head in shame) but I was delusional.  At any given time I have between 50- 100 emails hanging around waiting for something, even if it is just to delete them.  Wish me luck on keeping up with that one.

I did get my new planner last week as well.  Check it out here…. Passion Planner.  I have been using my calendar in Mac for a while, so I am not sure how transitioning will go or if I will use both in some capacity.  It will probably be the latter.

So I am off now in hopes of conquering my disorganized office in order to maybe sometime in the very near future start quilting my appliqué quilt.

Quilt on, My Friends!

Lisa

Right Stashing!!!

Have you heard of Right Sizing?  I was Right Stashing!  January is a time for organization and my stash was not spared.  Here is the before picture…

Before Right Stashing

 

Those little tubs you see are scraps sorted by color… or they are suppose to be.   I cleared the cabinet got some trash bags and went to work.

Progress in Right Stashing

I filled 5 trash bags of fabric that I no longer wanted… How did I choose you ask?  It needed to speak to me immediately… if it did not, it went in the bag.   Once the shelves were cleared, I started to sort what was left… here are my solids… I love a good background fabric to show off the quilting.

Right Stashed Backgrounds

 

Here is the final reveal….

Final reveal

 

Now I am ready to go buy some new fabric!  I don’t know about you but there is something so inspiring about new fabric…. Can’t wait to go!  If I’m lucky it will be this weekend.

February is almost here….. every Friday in February I will be sharing a feather tutorial.  The plan is to show it drawing, stitch it out on the longarm and then stitch it out on the domestic…. oh, the domestic… wish me luck and join me for February’s Feather Fridays!!

Quilt on, My Friends!

Lisa