More Organization Tips

Teresa has posted part 3 of her organization tips.  This time we are dealing with organizing our UFOs.

Yes, I just happen to have one or two  several of those lying around.  For the most part they are semi-organized, but they are NOT where I can get to them easily should the urge to work on one arise… not that I am really thrilled about completing those 2 Stack ‘N Whack single-bed quilts I started to go in the Airstream, which we no longer own.  I could always give them away…

And before you ask, I have NOT made any progress on organizing the office.  My excuse is Easter festivities.  BUT this very week I do plan on spending some time in there and getting rid of some shtuff!

I’m really in need of the next posting… organizing tools and gadgets.  I wish I knew where all of my wonderful gadgets where, and how to find them quickly when needed!  I hope she solves my dilemma.

Happy quilting!

Kat

The Ugly Truth, and a Cure

HAPPY EASTER!!

I hope each of you enjoy your Easter weekend as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And now, on to the topic of this post…

Is your sewing/quilting/fabric storage area neat and tidy?  Can you find what you are looking for in short order? Are you filled with joy (rather than dread) when you walk into your sewing room?   Do you spend way too much time looking for things you know are there, but coming up empty-handed?  (My answers are, no, no, no, and yes.)  I will post no pictures of my room(s) at this point because it is down right EMBARASSING!

I have stumbled across some solutions in a blog by Teresa,  at Fabric Therapy.

Step one: Organizing your stash.

Step two: Taming the scrap piles.

Also coming soon is how to organize your tools.

I must caution you… when you look at this you will think, “I can never do that!”  The good news is, we don’t have to. 

I plan on using her ideas as inspiration and a springboard to organize my stash and sewing things into a system that works for me, using what containers I have on hand right now.  As things progress (and this word means I must set aside TIME to work in there as opposed to just looking  at the mess and sighing loudly) I plan to purchase needed containers to truly organize my stuff. 

I guess I need to take the Flylady.com solution and just dedicate 15 minutes per day to working in my office area.  It is the WORST of the bunch because I have my computer/office, files, fabric storage, book/magazine storage, a sewing machine that I can’t even get to, and then all the “shtuff” (Hi Paula!) that I don’t know where else to put, piled high in there.

I’ve started organizing in the past.  Last fall I started emptying the room (into an adjacent room) so I could “start fresh with an empty space”.  That might work, but only if I could set aside a WEEK to do nothing but work on my organization.  That does not happen in the fall when you are in the machine quilting business!  When it came time to use the wood heater in that room all of those things got stacked back into my office area.

EXCUSES:  We’ve all got them.  Mine are, 1) I’m too busy.  2) I have time to create, but not put things away when done with them. 3) Fun trumps cleaning/organizing ANY time.  Things must change.

So, this spring/summer I will try again.  We will  see how it all falls out, but something must be done.  I think I need a 12-step plan for people that hoard (fabric, sewing/quilting gadgets, and now sock yarn, also).

Step one for me is sorting through and getting rid of some of this “shtuff” that is filling my space.  This includes cast-off furniture we don’t want to get rid of, but have no room for in this house.  Those things will have to be moved or stored somewhere else!  I plan on spending 30 minutes, twice each week working in this area.  I plan on at least once every 2 weeks giving you an update, on progress or lack-of.  That holds me accountable, and I work best with accountability.  Perhaps when I make good progress I will be brave enough to show you before and after pictures… we will see.

But it won’t start today!  I am now heading to the quilting room to get a quilt in the machine, sew the binding on a customer quilt, practice my musical solo for church tomorrow, and do some food preparations for tomorrow’s family Easter celebration.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend because…

HE IS ALIVE!

KAT

I Shaved My Legs For THIS?

Clearly, according to the pictures, I did NOT shave my legs for this photo op, but I did THINK about doing it and then decided I had better things to do with my time today… like writing this post.

These are my 12 in 12 socks for March.  That means I have set a goal of knitting 12 pairs of socks in 12 months.  They were actually started in December, but since this is my first try at knitting cables progress was very slow in the beginning.

I know… these are really poor pictures, but have you ever tried to take a picture of your own feet?  It’s not easy!  The yarn is “Shimmer” fingerling from KnitPicks.  I love it!  Soft, easy to knit, no splitting, and then there is the “bling” effect with the sparkly fibers…. great stuff!  Click to zoom in, if you wish.

  

The pattern, “Cabley Goodness” socks, a freebie from Ravelry.  I chose this pattern because it only has 2 cables, one on each side.  That was a good way to begin, and now I would feel more confident in attempting something with many cables around the sock.   The directions are for “top down” but I started at the toes and worked up.  That allows me to try it on as I go and be sure it will fit.

 

The color is all wrong in this photo, but you can see the cables better.  The color really is a dark cranberry, not rose.

My knitting methods keep evolving.   I abandoned the traditional heel method for Cat Bordhi’s method of knitting the complete foot/heel, then splitting it open to form the leg of the sock.  I’ve decided I get a much better fit using the traditional method of heel gussets, etc.  (Although I have a very large foot, I also have a very thin heel, which makes fit a challenge.)  I still have some “issues” to work out with this method, but they do fit my heel better.  Just ignore those little “holes” where the heel gusset meets the rest of the sock.  I promise you the second sock did better.

I chose to KEEP Cat’s cast-on method… really neat!  I also still used her bind-off method, a very stretchy bind-off for the top of the cuff.

Pair #3 for this year… CHECK!

Pair #4 is over half-done.  Now, I need to slack off on knitting and get back to quilting.

KAT

It’s Time!

I have threatened to do this in the past, and it just did not work out due to bad weather.  BUT, today’s email from Ami Simms has caused me to make big plans again.  “To do WHAT?”, you might be saying.  Well of course it is time to DYE PANTIES!  You can read all about it HERE.    And here…   http://amisimms.com/april2012.html

As soon as I received the email it made me start thinking again about doing this, and I soon was on-line ordering a procion dye kit.  It should arrive around the middle of next week and then we are good to go!  Now we just need to figure out when we can squeeze in another SIL Quilt Retreat.  I’m ready!

I DON’T plan on hanging ours in a TREE to dry… we will be a little more discreet.  Ours will hang on the front porch, but will hardly be noticeable to those passing by.

WOOHOO!  Now to get a date on the calendar!  Oh… and of course we will get some SEWING done also!

Are you smiling now?  So am I!

KAT

Ah…. Spring!

Yes, today actually feels more like summer with temps in the upper 80s.  BUT, we really have been enjoying our warmer weather.  It is so easy to forget…

…How wonderful fresh-cut grass smells!  I think DH only cut the yard twice last year due to the drought so I really had forgotten how pleasant that smells.

  

… How nice it is to have flowers planted by the front steps.  I now have 2 planters filled with impatiens.  That is about the only flowering thing that will grow in the deep shade at the front of the house.

  

… How much fun it is to go kayaking and fishing!  We kept 37 small bass and probably threw back that many more.  Understand, these are around 10 – 12” long, except for the one big one in the middle that DH caught.  It weighed 2.5 lbs.  But little ones are really the best eating size!

… How lazy a certain dog can be when the weather is hot.  ‘Nuff said!

I hope you are enjoying spring where YOU live, also!

I know… I promised an update on the Farmer’s Wife quilt.  I still just have the 40 blocks I had at the last update.  I have not had time to sew a single block in several weeks, but I am hoping to get a little sewing time this week.  If so, I’ll post some pics. 

Have a blessed week, and I promise to try and post more often.  And thanks for reading, even though I have not been a faithful blogger… I really will try and improve!

KAT

Quilts ‘N Kilts

A report of recent events and accomplishments at SIL quilt retreat and other places…

Debbie’s “Lake House Quilt”.  Also notice the cute fish wall hanging. 

Debbie’s “Hanky Panky” quilt in 30s fabrics.

 

Mary Anne’s “Convergence” quilt.

Jenn’s latest finished quilt, a gift for some friends and their newborn daughter.

The quilting pattern is “Butterfly Beauty”.

 

  

He kilted up, went golfing  (for the first time in his life), and had fun.  The St. Paddy’s Day Golf Scramble organized by one of his friends was a great day for him.  I would have loved to have hidden in the bushes and spied on this hilarity!  I see another kilt (a “sport” kilt) in my future, perhaps one of camouflaged fabric?

Those are just some of the latest events here at the farm.  Never a dull moment around here!

KAT

Warning: Engage Brain Before Sewing!

As if you needed more proof that I can do ridiculous things, I offer you the following…

1.  At SIL quilt retreat I spent 6 hours working on ONE 6” block.  I decided to use “quick” techniques I have learned rather than using weirdly shaped templates for this block.  It took me FIVE tries to figure out that a).  I was sewing the quick corners to the WRONG SIDE of the diamond and, b) the template given was NOT the wrong size.  Because we have found several errors in the size of a few templates I quickly assumed they had made a mistake in printing this one.  How humbling to realize they were RIGHT, and my LOGIC was WRONG…  and it just took me 6 hours to figure that out!

2.  Several days ago I was quilting on a customer quilt.  The rows were offset, which means I had to be very careful when realigning for the next stitching row.  I did the first 3 rows.  I rolled the quilt.  I realigned.  I continued until I finished the quilt.  It looked great from the front.  Turned to the back to check for loose thread or any other problem and found… I had aligned to the WRONG ROW on that first realignment, which caused the spacing to be twice as large as it should be between those 2 rows. 

I can now say with certainty that what it takes the longarm 11.7 minutes to stitch out will take about 10 hours to remove.  I had to rip out those first three rows, then re-mount the quilt in the machine and complete it.  Thankfully the re-stitching was uneventful and the quilt looks very nice.

3. (And my final piece of evidence…) Today I was constructing a backing for this small quilt. 

I had a piece of fabric 43” x 108”.  I was going to split the fabric in half and re-sew going the other way so it would measure about 84” x 53”.   This would be plenty large enough for the 43” x 52” baby quilt.  I cut the fabric.  I sewed the fabric.  I was mounting it into the quilting machine when I realized that… I sewed it back together the same way I took it apart!  It is now 43” x 107”.  Let’s try this again….  the quilt is now done, but I am still shaking my head that I would make such a silly mistake.

So, for all of you out there who sometimes do silly things, don’t feel bad.  Even PROFESSIONAL quilters make goofy mistakes.  I hope this is the end of my goofy streak.  Engage brain, engage brain, engage…

That will be my mantra the next time I sit to sew or step up to the longarm!!

Be blessed today!  Retreat pictures will be included in the next post!

KAT

I’m Back!

It was loads of fun (the SIL Quilt Retreat)!  You will NOT see any pictures right now because…

What happens at SIL Retreat STAYS at retreat!  Not really… the reason you will not see pictures is because the rechargeable batteries I charged up and placed in my camera did not hold the charge, so my camera was DOA when I needed it.  So sorry!

BUT, one SIL is going to email me pics she took.  In addition, sometime (in the next day or 2) I will lay out all TWENTY of the new Farmer’s Wife blocks I completed and take a picture of them.  Yes!  20 more!!  That means I now have 40 six-inch blocks, which sounds impressive until you remember that this quilt requires 112 blocks.  Almost 1/3 of the way done… in 2 months.  I’m way ahead of my old schedule which would get this done in one year.  My new goal is to have all blocks made and ready to put together by the time my guild goes to our Texas quilt retreat in mid-July.

My two SILs also got lots done, so I’ll share that, also, when I get a chance.

Now, I am off to Scrap Therapy group.  Gee, I wish I had some “quilty” things to do in my daily life.  HAHA!

Have a wonderful day, and be BLESSED!

KAT