Monday, April 18, 2011

Design Wall Monday

Here's what's on my design wall. With my Tin Lizzie due to arrive in a week or so, I am inspired to get some tops done. These are Wonky Churn Dash blocks I won in last year's April Block Lotto. 48 blocks and I decided to not make two 24 block layouts. I'm thinking scrappy floral setting triangle for the on point layout, as the blocks are alternated between floral and plain backgrounds.
The blocks are square and all the same size. The picture is a bit angled to get it all in as my room is only 6.5 ft wide. But that is where my big wallspace is so larger tops have to be laid out on that wall. The end wall of the room will only hold a 48" top on the flannel, so I use it for smaller quilts. Easy to step back and get a good look at for moving blocks around and taking nice square pictures!. My ideal sewing room would have a 8" wide design wall with plenty of room to step back and still look straight on at the wall.
These blocks are the leftovers after setting up the on point layout. I'm considering sashing possibilities as these will only finish at 9" block size. I tried a strip of red I had laying on the table and it might be a good choice, followed by a bit of a floral border.

On another note, we have chicks. Post office called today at 6:30 to say come pick up your box.
Baby chicks are awfully cute. The ones above are the Red Star and the Black Australorps.

And these are The Golden Polish Crested and a Dominique.
We got 51 in all. 15 Red Star females, 16 Black Australorp straight run, 7 Golden Polish Crested straight run, and 3 Dominique pullets (these are supposed to make good broody hens, so maybe we can hatch our own rather than buy chicks next year).

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Stash Management?

So, when Mom moved I was given title to her mobile home which sits on our property, just across the driveway from my house It is now my guest house. However Mom still uses part as she doesn't have room for all of her fabric stash in her new house, since Dad insists that she confine the quilting/sewing stuff to her sewing room (the master bedroom of the house) and her bedroom. SO My guest house came complete with a queen size bed, living room furniture and a fabric stash, which both Mom and I will use. Boxes of stash were/are occupying 2 bedrooms and part the living room. My plan is to get it all organized into one bedroom, the Stash room, with maybe a bit in the bunkroom closet. Towards that end, we purchased 40 feet of wire shelving and started sorting fabric. Each piece of fabric was refolded around a 6.5 inch ruler to have them uniform width for stacking. Pieces smaller than 1/2 yard or things with odd shapes such as recycled clothing are in boxes awaiting the set up a scrap stash user's system. Way too many boxes of scraps, but paring a stash down can be a painful slow process. Once we started sorting I realized Mom had moved almost all of some colors of fabric, and her room in Sulphur was crowded. So I suggested she move all yardage back here, and periodically come and chose what she needs for a month or so's worth of sewing. She came yesterday with her car full of boxes. We folded and sorted all afternoon. I woke up early this morning and got through another 2 boxes. Now there are only about 3 1/2 boxes of yardage left to sort....and some to move out of the bunkroom closet....and the box of her doted fabrics......and the flannels....and....
But it really is looking like we will fit everything in once we put up some more shelves. And it will be visible for easy selection and use. The Stash room will have a cutting table in it as well, and probably an ironing board too. Here are pictures of the project:Here is where we sort by color. On the end of the shelves are some larger pieces for backing that will probably end up in the closet.This shelf unit holds the multi-color florals (bottom 2 shelves), and stripes as well as some plaids, "country" prints and fruit prints. The paper boxes stacked next to these shelves are full of solid color fabric which i will also, sort fold and shelve in it's own area.

These 3 boxes are left to sort, so yes, I will have some yellows and oranges to work with but may need to buy some if needed for a particular project.
These two picture show what is presently in the "bunkroom" closet. Definite progress as it was packed full before Mom moved.

This shows one side of the Stash room closet. Top shelf is large pieces for backings, next 2 shelves are things yet to be refolded and sorted. How many striped blues do we need?! I don't know what is in those bottom boxes....
This is the other side of the Stashroom closet. Those 2 boxes on the lower shelf are "southwestern" prints. The other 2 shelves have some sorted smaller pieces of fabric. Eventually I would like to see all FQ-1/2yd pieces folded and sorted by color in clear, shallow, covered bins.
Of course I probably ought to move my yardage over here too and do like Mom is going to and just bring enough for a current project of two into my sewing room....

I need to start selling quilts in an Etsy store or other online store site. I could call my business Mom's Scrappy Stash Quilts.

Monday, April 11, 2011

A New (Ad)Venture

Saturday ordered a Tin Lizzie 18" on a Falcon (wooden) frame. I should be able to pick it up in about 2 weeks. Now I need to get busy getting ready for the machine. Space needs clearing and quilt tops for practicing on need readying. I decided if I was ever going to get a long arm I needed to lower my expectations a bit and not get the biggest and best to start off. And I did not want to have payments that would require me to make money with the machine. Although I do want to go into business, I don't want to be pressured by money issues to take on more than I can really handle. I can afford the payments on what I bought without income from quilting. If I can make an income, I will pay it off sooner and I will upgrade to a better machine when I have saved up enough to pay cash. Let the adventure begin!

What's on my design wall this Monday

Here's what's on my design walls this Monday. The blocks on the left are for the Block Lotto this month. On the right are the stack blocks I won in the February Lotto. I still need to rearrange a few then I will add a 2" white border. Finished quilt will be bound with a scrappy brights binding...or maybe a bright stripe... See my next post for some fun news!