Storage Ideas

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas. 

Henry Ford

Vicki Welsh has been having a Real Studio Tour this month.  This week's feature was on storage ideas.  I am jumping in on the last day of the link up because I've had a few other things to blog about this week. I have a large studio, my entire unfinished basement that has no ceiling and half of it has a bare concrete floor.  I have a whole lot of stuff to store since I am a longarm quilter and once owned a quilt shop.  Storage solutions for me is a big issue.  I have recently been rearranging my largest storage closet and the sewing studio.  I'm not done yet because I had to stop and focus on some Christmas projects for a while.  I thought I would share a few storage solutions I have found useful.

I found this great wire basket on a trip and
I've been using it to hold some of my magazines.

This 3 gallon glass jar has a handle and
I use it for ribbon. Keeps the dust away.

Notebooks on a Magazine Rack

I use notebooks to hold projects from magazines and the internet. I also use them for design ideas and to keep directions for quilts I've made. I have a few full of quilting designs too.  Their numbers have outgrown my bookcase storage and some have found a home in this magazine rack.

Batting storage is always a problem for longarm quilters.

 When the local JoAnn was closing their old store earlier this year I was able to pick up 3 large rolling storage bins for just $10 each.  I've also added a few different kinds of batting to my collection.  One reason for rearranging my closet was to make room for one of the bins.

This one is in the longarm studio.

This one is full of pillowforms and packaged battings.

Moses basket full of larger cuts of batting.

One of the things I've done this year is to label all the larger cuts of leftover batting that I have.  I pin the size to the batting and hold the roll together with a large rubber band. I've entered the sizes and type on a clipboard so I can quickly tell if I have a piece that is large enough for smaller projects.  This is working out great since I can quickly see if I have something the right size.

Back in the closet there are:

Large bins of fabric sorted by type.

More bins and a basket of fleece.

In the sewing studio you can find this:

These need to go back into the closet.

Pegboard Wall holds stencils and templates

 In the middle is my shortarm quilting machine which I need to sell since I don't use it anymore.  It is used as a long landing area for fabric and projects that need to be put away.

Back in the closet I have a lot of zippers hanging along with a lot of thread.  You can see some of it HERE.

Zippers are sorted on shower curtain rings

Bags hold crochet hooks and knitting needles

One shelf still needs some work 

More bins and fabric being sorted

This 3 drawer unit is for 2 1/2" squares

I recycle meat trays to hold projects

Since we moved here in 2000 we've gone through 2 refrigerators.  I saved the bins.  The one above holds practice squares for free motion quilting.  The one below hold scraps.

I know I am blessed with a lot of space in my studio now.  I have done with a lot less in my lifetime.  The closet that is full of bins in larger than most people have for their studios and much larger than what I had to use at times.  My husband has never minded me having space for sewing.  I made clothes for myself and my children for many years.  It is NOT all neat and tidy.  Never is, I usually have multiple projects underway and more in the planning or finishing stages.  There are always some personal projects, blog projects and charity projects going.  It keeps me from getting bored ; -)

There is more to my studio.  There will be another post in this series in the next week.  I also have some other posts on my studio HERE and HERE.

Real Good Ideas

Never hesitate to steal a good idea. 

Al Neuharth

I have been trying to find the time to get this post done.  I had got a little behind in keeping up with things in blogland during Thanksgiving and last week so I was caught off guard with a few things.  There was a couple of things I really wanted to do like the Giveaway in my last post (check it out if you missed it) and joining up with Vicki Welsh over at Field Trips in Fiber for her Real Studio Tour.  It has several parts.

This week we were asked to share something in our sewing room that we use that is NOT a regular sewing item, a non-traditional tool.  I didn't have to look far to find a few that fit the description and came up with a few to share.  

Paper Towel and Book Rack

I have this paper towel and book rack hanging in my longarm studio. I am always in need of paper towels to wipe up extra oil from the bobbins or to clean up the longarm tracks.  I use the top book section to hold stencils and design books and other things that I like to have in arm's reach.  I recently added on in my sewing studio too.

Now is the perfect time of year to accumulate a few of the following items too.  If you have a large collection of cutting templates or patterns and books that come with specific tools to use with them sometimes it can be a challenge to keep them all together.  I have been using the vinyl zippered bags that sheets, pillowcases and other items come in to hold them together for years.  Since most of you will be doing some shopping for gifts in the next few weeks take some time to consider the packaging you see things in.  You can buy someone a nice gift, remove it from the package and wrap it nicely.  You then will get to use the package for holding your tools.  Stickers will usually come off with a little Goo Gone.

Pillowcase and Sheet Packaging

One really nice thing about these bags is that they are clear and you can see what is inside them easily.  I don't bother to label them because of this.

New Pattern and Templates with Sharp Corners

Templates are usually sold in Zip Lock types of bags.  The problem is that even the heavier gauge bags will get holes poked in them by the sharp corners of some templates.  If you carry them around much or they get shoved around with other things the bags will get holes in them.  Some of them don't close well or easily either.

Three sets of templates and patterns
stored neatly together.

Sometimes you can find a really nice package that has a handle like this one.  My sweet husband gave me a nice pair of slippers in this one a few years ago.  Since it is so well made I use it to hold my entire collection of Strips and Curves Rulers and I can hang it without fear of the weight tearing through the bag.

This one I really like too because the zipper opens it out flat.  I use it to keep my Quilting Fabric Calculator and the Instruction Manual together.  I have to refer to it when I want to do some figuring on quilts so I don't get mixed up.

Of course you can make your own bags if you want to, just buy heavy gauge vinyl and a zipper.  My question is why go to the bother when they can be had for 'free'?  You can also add a hanging strap if you wish to the 'free' ones.  Just use some grograin ribbon and reinforce the stitching.  Adding a scrap of ribbon or fabric on the inside where you will do the stitching is a good idea to keep it from tearing through the vinyl.  Lengthen you stitch length a bit too.  Too many small tight stitches will just tear the vinyl.

So that's some of my non-traditional tools in my sewing room that help me stay a little better organized.  What do you think?

Cause and Effect

Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all. 

Norman Vincent Peale

Well, are you ready to see my new toy work horse?  I've spent a lot of time in the studio taking turns at running the longarm and cleaning and organizing.  All the effort is now starting to show up.  I have one large quilt off the longarm and another ready to quilt.  The sewing machine area of the studio is clean and in better order than it has been for a long time.  It's still not a showcase because I use a lot of recycled items for new purposes but it is very functional.

I really love the bright LED lights on the new machine!  They can be this bright or dimmed.
There is 11.25" of room between the needle and the side of the machine.  Even with the longarm there are still some things I like to quilt with the walking foot.  I haven't tried the snazzy one that came with the machine yet but it is adjustable.

Here are my three sergers.  I didn't have a machine on this table before.  I haven't used the two on the left in over ten years so I took them out, cleaned them up and ran them a little. They are working fine but the one on the left needs some adjustment made to the cutting blade.  I haven't figured it out yet but I will.  I'm thinking of putting one in the longarm room since I frequently serge the edges of the quilts before I load them.  Then I'm thinking of setting the other two up for different stitches so they will be ready to use for different things. I usually serge the edges of new fabrics before I wash them.  A three thread stitch works fine for that.  Four thread stitching is what is used for garment construction although I've used it for more pillowcases than clothes in the last few years.

I moved the Janome 6600 to the desk I had been using for the serger.  I managed to fill up the rolling cart on the right with projects that were in the area.  I'd love to get some of these finished soon.  Several of them are leader and ender projects and several others were 'discovered' in the cabinet over the desk.  I cleared out the right side of it to hold embroidery supplies so they would be handy.

I also hung up a paper towel holder that I had bought last year.  I had a hard time deciding where to put it.  I always keep paper towels handy in the sewing and longarm rooms.  I use them for cleaning and many other things.

I found a home under the desk for the rolling case that the machine will travel in, if I take it anywhere.  The plastic drawers had been where the rolling cart is now.  The big thick book to the right of the machine is the instruction manual.  I'm only about 40 pages into it so far which got the bobbing wound and the machine threaded.  The automatic needle threader is so cool!

This desk was a Goodwill find for $25 a few years ago.  It is formica covered particle board and weights a ton!!  The men in the family had more than a few choice words to say while moving it.  After living with it for a while I decided the gray was depressing and bland so I grabbed the colorful letters and have fun 'writing' messages to myself.  I am in touch with my inner child as you can see.  Hee-hee!!  I added the mirrored circles to reflect some light in the dark overhang too.

The four sewing machine cabinet drawers I found antiquing in the mountains and they had been sitting on the floor collecting dust for over a year.  I cleaned them up and put them to use holding some of my decorative threads.

The Quilting Lines sign once hung at the entrance to my quilt shop.  The shelves to the left hold a few projects but most of the recycled meat containers hold scraps sorted by color. The brown bag on the left holds the embroidery unit for the machine.

The top of the desk holds some of my collectibles and antiques.  I'll have to share them another day.

Another cool feature on the new machine is the laser positioning guide.  You can use it to line up the sewing line or move it around to line up with the edge of your fabric.  There is also a laser point at the needle for lining up embroidery. 

To prove how many hours I've put into my quilting and organizing I tell you what I listened to while I was working.  Inheritance by Christopher Paolini  is the fourth book in the Inheritance Cycke that started with Eragon.  The audio book was 24 discs long.  If you are a J.R.R. Tolkien fan you will enjoy this series.  The series got deeper and more complex as it went along.  Nothing like a good story with dragons and elves.

That's what I've been up to.  I have a few shots of the quilting I did but I'll share those in another post.

Creating Order

For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned. 

Unknown

Sometimes I just have to be stern with myself in order to get things done.  I have been working on several things and I really need to get them finished so that I can do a number of other projects.  One of the things has been getting a large quilt entirely free motion quilted and I will be taking it off the machine this afternoon.  Yeah!!!  Next I need to get it bound and a sleeve added for hanging added.  It's not mine but I have to get it finished so I can get some others quilted.

The other thing I have been working on is re-configuring my sewing studio.  Since I was adding an embroidery machine things had to be shifted and moved.  In order to do that MANY things had to be put away, moved and sorted.  Then there was that cleaning thing that had to happen too.  Progress has been made and today I will turn on my new machine for the first time AFTER the quilt is off the long arm.  I made myself a reward system so that I would GET IT DONE.

There are NO before pictures (that would be showing you my dark side, just imagine the biggest mess you've ever had in your sewing space). I will take some after pictures and share them soon.  I can't wait to learn how to use my new machine.  I need to find time to take a class or two for sure which will mean driving to the other side of Atlanta and take the whole day to get there and back.

My life hasn't been all work and no play.  We attended my grandson's Christening.  He wore the gown I made for my youngest son 27 years ago.  Would you like to see a post about it?

I've been reading my way through The Mortal Instruments series.  I've finished the first four and am about to start the fifth.  If you are a Twilight fan you would enjoy these.  I had not heard of them until the first movie City of Bones came out this summer. I put them on hold at the library and have been going through them like candy.  I am a fast reader but I usually don't do it during the afternoon.  That's my studio time.

Now to share a little eye candy.  I bought a little thread at the quilt show last month.  Most of it is YLI which I love to use.

How do you make yourself finish projects that you have been procrastinating about?  Do you have a reward method or are you just able to finish them as they come to the top of your 'to do' list?  What's your secret for getting things done?

Linking with:  Really Random Thursday

Back to School

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops.

Henry Adams

Crayola Twistable Crayons  What Fun!!

School starts earlier now than it used to.  The county next to ours started back the last week of July.  Our county started the first week of August.  Do you remember what you learned in school?  Some things are only retained with frequent repetition - like math and foreign languages.  Quilting requires some use of math.  I have recently proven to myself my inability to retain some math facts.  I will not admit to bore you with the details but in my defense it has been 40 years since I was in high school.  Suffice it to say that I will double check my figures with a calculator and my formulas with a good reference book more frequently.  Of course I did check the formula with my accountant husband and he agreed with me but he doesn't do geometry regularly like I do with quilting so we were both wrong.  And to think... we met in Geometry Class.

Now in my studio I have several good quilting math fact books that I use.  I also have a quilting calculator that will figure out yardage and other things.  I was delighted yesterday when I was lost on Pinterest and happened to find a FREE DOWNLOADABLE chart for quilters.  You can get it too!

This chart is from the Landauer Corp. Com they publish craft books including quilting books.  If you click this link it will take you to the page where you can view the chart or download a PDF version when you scroll down the page.  You do not have to enter anything into the shopping cart but if you do it is listed as FREE.  A big THANK YOU to them for providing this to quilters!  Now that I have a reference chart in my computer maybe I can stop sounding like an idiot provide intelligent answers and advice without having to go down to my studio for my reference books.

Back to the subject of school.  Having raised four children the smell and sight of school supplies makes me nostalgic.  Seriously, am I the only one who loves to wander through the office /school supplies section at this time of year?  I thought I would share with you some of the fun and useful tools you can grab for your sewing  room now for very little money.  That means you'll have more to spend on fabric right?

First for this month's find.  What do you think of this pile of zippers?  Love the colors!!!

Cool Colors in Zippers

Maybe you can guess from the label but they become this pretty little thing!

Zipit Pencil Pouch

I know they make these in all sizes.  I saw a tote bag somewhere.  I found this treasure at the grocery store.

Now this next little goodie I've seen all over the place for a few years now.  Usually priced at $1.

Sliding Drawer Pencil Case

I've snapped up a few of these a couple of times.  They come in bright colors and are fairly rigid.  I'm using them for different pencil collections to travel with my journals and sketch books.  I also think they would be great to use like this:

Safety Travel for Rotary Cutters

There's nothing like reaching into a bag during class and hitting the sharp end of a rotary cutter.  Ouch!

They sell some more ridged fatter ones at quilt shops but this does the job for less $$.

Last time I was teaching a beginners class I grabbed a stack of these to use for Christmas gifts.  They were on the marked down school supplies aisle and they come in fun colors.  I know many quilters are making bags of all sizes but I got these for less than what a zipper would cost and I didn't have to spend any time making them.  The sides are see through too.  

There is a Pocket in the Lid Too!

See the pencil case easily would fit inside.  Scissors and seam rippers would not poke through the vinyl sides, bobbins and needle packs would not sink to the bottom of your tote bags.  Lots of uses for these 

don't you think?

Now this little treasure was a real splurge as I already have a couple of nice desktop tape dispensers.

Lime Green Tape Dispenser

But I did not have a cute little stubby lime green one.  It wasn't expensive, it is weighted and I found it at the grocery store on the office supply aisle.

Well students, quilt class is in session soon.  Are you ready with your supplies?  Do you have a cool idea for using them?  Share it in the comments, include a link to your post about it if you have a blog.

My Studio

Things are seldom what they seem.

Sir William S. Gilbert

Moda Bake Shop has been have a Link Party for showing off your studio and stash.  I'm coming late to the party but sneaking in before the deadline.  I hear there are some prizes to be awarded too.

Here are a few shots of a few corners of my domain.  My studio inhabits the entire basement of our home.  It is three large rooms and two large closets and an under the stairs closet.  I have a lot of sewing and quilting stuff and I fill the space.  I put in my years sewing in much smaller spaces but after closing my quilt shop I had a good bit of inventory to place.  When two of my children moved out within a month I was able to claim the space and finally unpack things.  I also have a shortarm quilting machine and a longarm quilting machine.  The shortarm is for sale I haven't used it in about 8 years.  The longarm can be seen here.   

Janome 6600

This is my Janome 6600.  I do all my piecing on it unless I'm traveling then I use my Elna Quilter's Dream.  The Janome resides next to my serger.  I mostly use it to finish the edges of fabric before washing and to stitch the edges of quilt tops after they finished to keep them from fraying and seams from coming loose.  I wrote about it in this post.

Elna Serger

Here is my serger corner.  I keep tools within reach, a CD player for my Books on Tape that keep me company, extra thread and the drawer unit on the right also holds some tools and instruction booklets.

My Work Station

Here you can see how I can easily swivel my chair for each machine.  The corner shelf unit holds boxes of extra sewing machine and serger feet and accessories.  The top shelf has a large jar of bindings and a nice quilter doll to keep me company.

Tools on Pegboard Wall

At the opposite end of this room is a sheet of pegboard that holds templates, stencils and a variety of other tools.  You can see the end of the shortarm at the bottom of the picture.  The hot water heater is located to the right of the picture.  The two opposing walls each contain a design wall and they can be seen in a few other posts.

Boxes of Projects

The large closet behind this room holds most of my fabric stash.  Here is two shelf units full of projects all in various stages of completion.

Some of My Fabric Collection

There are many large totes of fabric in the closet as well as fabric on shelves.  Here is a neater section.

Pulling Fabric for a Project Disrupts the Order

This is what happens when I start looking for something.  Those red ones are 50 gallon tubs.  There are six that size, some of them are blue.  Two of them are full of Christmas prints, one is full of fabric for clothing and three are full of large cuts for backings.  There are a few others that are color designated. 

I have a post with pictures of the thread stored in this closet here.  My cutting table and ironing board is located in the main room, sorry no pictures of that.  It is due for a major clean up and put away session.  There is a picture of the end of the cutting table here. 

Well that the tour for today.  Hope you liked it!  I haven't been blogging for long and would be really pleased if you decided to be a follower or just leave a comment.  I'm going to be participating in four blog hops in the next couple of months I hope you will stop by again! 

May all your piecing be peaceful!