Monday - creating order

I knew Monday evening was going to be busy, as we were having a family dinner at my daughter's to celebrate Zoey's actual birthday (Happy 7th birthday, Zoey!).  So I spent my lunch hour at work creating an Excel spreadsheet of what projects I have on the go and started prioritizing them.

It's hard to read here, but if you click on the picture you should be able to see a close-up of the format I've used.

My headings are:

START DATE (if I can remember)

NAME (of project)

TYPE (Quilt, Wallhanging, Bag, etc.)

PRIORITY (see below for explanation how I have prioritized)

FOR (recipient)

FABRICS CHOSEN (this will help find fabrics for other projects if it's stuck in a bag)

CUT (check mark if fully cut out, copyright symbol if in progress, blank if not started)

PIECED (into blocks, same as above)

ASSEMBLED (flimsy assembled, ")

BACKING (assembled, ")

BASTED (")

QUILTED (")

BINDING (")

FINISHED DATE (")

The last column contains a GLOSSARY of symbols and acronyms used, which will probably grow. Currently, it has the following:

© - Ongoing

10/100 - number of blocks completed/total

🗸 - Done !

LA - quilt by Longarmer

BG - Background fabric

SAL - Sew-along

Once I started creating the list, I realized I needed categories. The part of the list you see above is my priority category, in other projects that have to get done (or before I work on other things. The other categories are: 

CHRISTMAS

NO DEADLINE

WISH LIST

Now, how I prioritize.  Years ago, I did a course on Time Management when my employer started us all on the Franklin-Covey day planners. I need to start using that system all over again, it was a life-saver at the time.  We were taught to prioritize by A, B, C and numbering each of the items in those categories. We're supposed to have no more than 3 in A, 5 in B and I've forgotten how many in C.  On my list I have 4 A's,  4 B's and 9 C's. At least I have the same total number in A & B! I can live with these figures for now. 

In Category A are gifts I have promised but failed to deliver - these are my number one priority! All of them are at the quilting stage - pretty much where I fail. A1 is a gift I promised a year ago, which the baby will outgrow soon. It is adapted from Pat Sloan's Winter Solstice challenge last year. I had started the challenge, but quickly realized I was in too deep with other projects so I finished it off as a baby quilt.

I'm still going to finish it and deliver it, because it is perfect for in the car or travelling, but I am also going to follow up with one of my signature I-Spy quilts. 

Apparently, I need to update my photos as I don't even have one of the completed top. I'll update more of the list this week!

I've spent 1 hour putting the list together, and another hour writing the post, so I have overachieved my 15 minute goal on Monday!

Sewing Room Makeover - part one!

Now that I had to move my sewing room upstairs to the spare bedroom, I'm working on making it my "Happy Place" once again!  I even bought a sign for my room!

 

 

(bought at Target Canada closing sale for $2)

 

In my little corner of Canada, the last of the spring flowers are just about done and summer appears to have arrived already!

 

 

(Flowering Crabapple)

 

It is already 22C (72F) in my backyard, and it will get hotter over the next few days! Given that our average summer temperature here on the West Coast is normally around 23 - 25C, it bodes well for a hot summer.

 

The first thing I set up in my sewing room was my Ikea shelves and mason jars filled with buttons.

 

 

Here's the complete wall of shelves:

 

 

The shelf holds a mix of practicality and nostalgia. The tin on the third shelf came from my maternal grandmother's sewing collection, and held her buttons.  The tomato sugar and creamer set was my mom's, which she bought at a garage sale because it reminded her of  the ones her mother had. The little flower box on the right-hand end of the third shelf is one my kids brought me back from Cuba, and is carved from wood. 

 

Just for fun, I also have jars filled with my dog-ears and labeled by year! Sadly, 2014 is only about 1/2 as much, so I'll put them in a smaller jar.  2015 is practically non-existent, so I need to get cracking!

 

I love mason jars for storage because they are inexpensive (sometimes free!) and see-through - very important for me as I am "visual" when comes to being inspired. 

 

I plan on posting more pictures as I get each area just the way I want it!

 

Celtic Solstice, Organizing

 

This is the third Bonnie Hunter mystery I have participated in, and along the way, I have developed a few tricks that I thought I would share.

 

First up, I have a binder specifically for my Bonnie Hunter clues and patterns.

 

Now that I finished Easy Street, I have taken it out of the binder and recycled it (if I need it again, I'll have Bonnie's new book that will be coming out in the spring). 

 

As I print each part, I flag it with a post-it note (I also recycled those!)

 

 

I keep the templates needed for this mystery in a page protectors, and I have the instructions for my leader-ender project front and centre!  This year, I am doing Moth in a Window blocks for 2 quilts for my sons-in-law. (I remove Bonnie's Addicted to Scraps articles from Quiltmaker magazine and put them in this binder for easy reference; I also print any free patterns I want to make in the near future)

 

All of the units for Easy Street finished at 3 1/2", and since I don't have a 3 1/2 square (not even sure if there is one), I put guidelines on one of my 4 1/2 squares to make it easier to square up!  I've been able to put it to good use already for Celtic Solstice.

 

Pardon the photo angle, it looks like it doesn't line up but it does. 

 

 

I used  Glow-Line Tape bought at my favourite Local Quilt Shop, Hamels Fabrics to mark the block.  I also use this easily-removed tape to mark guidelines on my sewing machines as well as my rulers. I have also marked my 6 x 12" ruler at the 2 1/2" line (from the opposite side, that gives me a 3 1/2" measurement. It has saved me from a lot of mistakes.

 

Next up, on Monday morning, I'll share some cutting tips and my progress with Step One.

 

Thanks for visiting,

 

Terri in BC

 

 



Pulling for Celtic Solstice!

Since it's only 4 days until Bonnie releases her first clue for this year's mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice, I figured it was about time I pulled my fabrics.  This is the third year I done her mystery and love the stress relief it brings me over this busy time of year.  I also suffer from SADS (Seasonal Affective Depression Syndrome), so having something to look forward to gets me through the dark days of winter north of the 49th parallel.

 

 

I joined a group on Facebook of fellow mystery quilters that grew so quickly they had to close the membership after it reached over 2,000 members.  There has been a lot of discussion of what to pull so I thought I would share my thought processes here.  If you came here from the group, welcome!  I hope you enjoy it and maybe learn something.

 

Before I talk about my selections, I'll show how I organize my fabrics. I have followed Bonnie's Scrap-User system for about 3 years now, and the top row of my bins collects my strips as I cut them, plus strings and selvedges.

 

 

The second shelf of bins holds fat quarters and fat eighths, sorted by colour (under the shelves are my bins of zippers, bias tape and misc. notions).  PS: I hacked my ironing board/shelves out of an IKEA shelf - you can read more here.

 

 

Off to my right, I have started organizing my yardage on comic book cardboards (this is anything that is full width-of-fabric (WOF) over about 1/3 of a yard.

 

Finally, when I have time (or I'm looking for specific colours of strips like I was tonight!) I sort the strips I have cut into these drawers:

 

 

I cut my scraps into strips of 1 1/2", 2" 2 1/2" and 5" (which I can cut down if Bonnie calls for 3 1/2" or other size strips).  Each bin holds a specific colour from top to bottom: Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aquas and Teals, Blues, Purples, Light Neutrals (including whites and creams) and Dark Neutrals (including brown, gray and black).  Ideally each drawer looks like this:

 

 

(with leftover HSTs from other projects), but in reality most look like this:

 

 

These are the neutrals I'll be using for Celtic Solstice ( I may pull out the darker cream ones).

 

So far, I have only gone through the drawers and bins of precut strips:

 

Blues

 

 

Greens

 

 

Oranges and Yellows

 

 

I may need to pick up some more bright yellows, but I'll wait until I've seen the clues to do that.  I surprised myself with the number of oranges I had.

 

And here are all the colours together (the oranges decided to hide) :

 

 

Next up, I'll start digging into my fat quarters and fat eighths, but again, I do that as I review the clues and look for more variety. 

 

Is it bad that I want to skip my work Christmas party Friday night so I can sew instead?  I probably won't be able to it until Sunday, but I'll be thinking about it all weekend. 

 

Have a great week,

 

Terri in BC

Looks can be deceiving

I like to pretend that I have my supplies under control and organized.

 

As I come across scraps of lace and ribbon, I drop them in this biscotti jar.  My latest project had me rooting around for more than what was in here:

 

 

I remembered I had a box of ribbons, eyelet and lace from the days when my girls were little and I was sewing little girl and doll clothes.

 

Found it! It's the size of a large shoebox or small apple box.

 

 

Some of these were hand-me-downs from my mom's sewing room, which reminded - where did that tote go?

 

 

Some of these trims go back to the 1970's for sure, and I suspect the '60s are represented as well.

 

Here's a sneak peak at the project that got me hunting:

 

 

 

 

 I also have a smaller tote filled with bias tape, zippers, seam bindings, buttons and more.  My sister, her daughters, my daughter that sews, and my girlfriend and her daughter all come to me first before heading to the store.  I'm going to have to get them to start raiding this bin as well.  Either that or open an Etsy shop!

 

One of my other hobbies is genealogy, and last night I found information that one of my maternal great-great grandmothers was also a seamstress in addition to being a homemaker. That extends my sewing heritage back to 5 generations, 6 if you include my daughter and my nieces.

 

It's no wonder I have hoard all this, when it goes so far back in my blood!

 

 

Sunday Stash Report 2013, Week 4 - Oops, I did it again!

Easy Street is causing me to break my resolve not to add to my stash this year!  I ran out of blacks-on-white so I had to make a quick run to my favourite store yesterday.  I couldn't go Thursday to support my LQS, but I certainly made up for it yesterday!  (Please pardon the lighting in all my photos, it's another rainy day here on the Wet (West) Coast of BC, Canada - also be warned, I tend to ramble and this post is more so than usual!)

 

Added this week: 6.75 metres

Added Year to Date: 25 metres

3/4 metre were blacks-on-white, the 2 metres of Bella Snow is for next-up project using Mama Said Sew and the rest - well, just because ;o).  There are 2 metres of the black and white check which may become sashings or a binding, and a bunch of fat 1/8ths to add to the stash.

Hamels has these wonderful baskets full of fat 1/8th's and I was having trouble finding any blacks-on-white. They even let me go through their hidden closet of stash as well - there were bags and bins full just waiting for room in the baskets on the floor! (When I figure out how to get the picture off my phone, I'll share it.) I've come to the conclusion that there must be lots of Easy Street quilts being made here in the Fraser Valley, because there wasn't one to be found.  I ended up with 2 Fat Quarters and a piece of yardage.

 

But I did find all these other great pieces while I was digging.  There is a method to my madness when I buy fat 1/8ths and I usually don't buy more than 10 at a time - at 99c each, I'm getting 1.25 metres for just $9.90 - a bargain in Canada where prices can be as high as $16/metre.  A fat 1/8th in Canada is also 5" tall (whoops, my math was off - it's 10"x22"), so I can get 8 charm squares out of one piece or strip it down a la Bonnie Hunter-style.  I've included more on how I sorted these ones at the bottom of this post (just so I don't bore you!)

 

I also had a finish this week!  My Gramma quilt top is finished:

 

Used since last report: 4.5 metres

Used Year to Date: 5.25 metres

Net Used/Added for 2013: 19.75 metres

 

I bought this as a kit the same year my grandson was due; since he is now 4, I figured I better get it done as part of the Year to Get it Done.  The kit was purchased at Tangled Threads in Lynden, WA, another shop I consider local to me as it is only about 40 minutes away from my home.  It was packaged with a blah black background, so the owner let me choose a different fabric - I choose these wonderful splotches in primary colours.  It also came with a soft print in a light green for the arrows - which no longer went with those primaries - but I liked it so I left it in the kit to be added to the stash later. 

 

I bought a charm pack of Moda Marbles in brights and left the whole thing until this past summer, when I raided the charm pack to add blocks to my Tetris quilt.  Alex picked the aqua Minkee from my stash for the backing, and wants a yellow binding - and Gramma, can you put a hammer and a sword on it? Not sure how to accomplish that - on the label probably - even though this quilt isn't specifically for him (it's for the spare room that the grandkids use).

 

 

The sayings have positive affirmations and are hand-printed by Block Party Studios - they have lots of options available, including some for quilters!  Tangled Threads carries a wide variety, but BPS has so many more online (no affiliation, just thought I would share the link now, instead of when I get the inevitable questions).

 

 

I continued piecing Easy Street blocks as leaders and enders.  I need a total of 300 4-patches to make mine king-size, and I got them all done! Now on to 32 of each more block, and I can finish that quilt up!

 

 

The kit was generous - I had a full 1/2 yard left, plus some smaller pieces and triangles for the scrappy bins.

 

BTW - do you ever do this?

 

 

I think I need a haircut when I start tying my hair back with selvedges!

 

Now, on to my Fat 1/8ths purchases:

 

I tend to buy for one of the following reasons:

- it will find into a current project

- it will fit into a planned project

- it is from a new/current line that I might buy more of (cuz I'm getting it at a much cheaper price, up to 1/2 off the regular price)

- it fills a colour gap in my stash (a fat 1/8th is the smallest size I put in my colour bins)

- or just because I like it!

 

Today's purchases were:

 

1 fat quarter and 1 fat 1/8th - put away with my Hexie Madness project, which is still stalled.  Made from all '30s-style prints (and a few real ones from my grandmother's stash).  Every flower is different, no centre/ring combination is the same.  I am currently at about 80 of 270 flowers needed.

 

1 fat 1/8th added to my tribute-to-Mom quilt.

 

2 fat 1/8ths added to my coordinates (ignoring the one Christmas fabric moved to the above project)

 

Hamels sells scrap bags of coordinated prints - it works out to about $5.33/metre and can include current lines, like Vintage Modern and Blitzen!  By adding to these bags when I find bits in the fat 1/8ths bin, I've been able to gather enough to make lap-size or baby-size quilts.  Which I should probably do soon again, as I am now up to 2 overflowing shoeboxes full.

 

The black wordy print got put away with the rest of my Word Play fabrics - I have enough now to make a lap/twin quilt - I just have to decide on the accent colour.

 

And the rest, well let's be honest - it doesn't all get put away at once (as you can see from my piles-to-file on top of my bins of colour!

 

Have a great weekend!  I'm off to Easy Street for now!