Quick, take a photo!

Before the perfection disappears.
(Warning! This is a photo-heavy post.)

It took 40 days and 40 nights...well, more like 3 days and 3 nights, but still.

Before:

After:


Before:

After:


Before:

After:


Each WIP has its own box. Thanks Jodi! (UFOs are combined in other boxes until I feel like working on them.) I have 10 actual WIPs.  Ones I'm working on. My new unwritten rule is that I can't start a new project until I finish one. So, no more than 10 at a time.  Doable, right?

Scraps are in their own boxes too. By color.


I didn't get a before photo of the closet but, trust me, it was just as bad as the rest. As in, the doors couldn't close!

To the left is stationery and stuff. On the floor to the right is my new baby.
And then there's fabric organization.

It doesn't look like a lot but, using the method I did, you can stuff a LOT of fabric in a box!

Blue & Aqua


Red & Pink


Purple, Yellow, Green


The rest


I'm SO excited about all this! I feel like I can now move mountains.

(Edited to add: I used these tips to organize the fabric.)

It's gonna get worse...

...before it gets better.

Slow progress


If you're following the Facebook Page, you've already seen this, but here's a little hint as to the identity of the new "person" in the sewing room:

Organize - Step 1a

I don't make New Year's resolutions. I think you can make a "right now" resolution any time you want.

That being said, the office/sewing room has become a space I cannot function in any more.
Cluttered with all kinds of stuff I don't use on a regular basis.

Art supplies
scrapbook supplies
old software
old computer cables
books that don't inspire me
recipes I'll never try
etc.

Not to mention assorted piles of fabric and unfinished projects.

To ensure a productive year, I HAVE to tackle this.

Step 1.
The shelving - before


Stay tuned for the "after".

(Yesterday someone new arrived in the sewing room. I will reveal her soon.)

2010 Completed Projects

Rather pathetic, but here they are:

1. Perfectly Pink Runner
2. Fall Inspired Mini Quilt
3. Spice Market Quilt
4. Pinwheel Party Quilt
5. Soul Mates Mini Quilt

Happy New Year!

I only finished 5 measly little projects in 2010. Five!
This year I'm doing better. Yes, I am. I said this last year too and I did even worse than in 2009. Crossing my fingers for 2011.

This morning I started Project #1.
I've been collecting 30's fabrics for the new fabric clubs and BOM in the store and itching to use them for something.

Aren't they pretty?

Last minute Santa Hat tree topper

This year Christmas is a little befuddled in our house.  I won't bore you with the details.

Anyway, we didn't have a tree.  And I was OK with that, I thought.

Yesterday afternoon the Christmas Spirit visited Mrs. Scrooge and I decided we needed a tree after all.  Where would Santa put the gifts if we didn't?

A mad rush to the nearest craft store ensued.  The good thing is about being a procrastinator is that you get REALLY good deals on trees.
The down side is that decorations are in short supply.

Since our cute new little 4 ft tree is too small for our giant tree topper, I had a problem.

I internet surfed a little looking for quick tree toppers to make but had no luck.  I really didn't want an angel made out of paper plates.

On some decorating web site  - can't remember which one - I saw a Santa hat topper. C-U-T-E!
But no time to order one, I'm afraid.

My brain sprang into action.
I know we had a couple of old hats somewhere.

Here's what I did:
1. Measured how tall I'd need the topper to be.
2. Cut the hat to size - chopped off the bottom.
3. Trimmed off the white trim and reattached it to the new smaller hat.
4. I had to reinforce the top of the tree a little, since artificial trees have really flimsy tops.  I just stuck two wooden skewers in there.
5. I also had to wrap the top bit in ribbon to allow the hat to slide down and not get stuck on the pine needles.
6. I stuffed some of the fabric remnants into the hat to help the pom-pom stay up because it was flopping over.

I'm happy!

Fabric Overload!

I took this photo of all the overflow this morning. These are mostly 30's reproduction fabric, which has grown that collection significantly.

Since then 33 more bolts of fabric have arrived and I'm expecting 24 more today.
It's like Christmas!
Ive been waiting a long time for these.
It's Hideaway by Lauren + Jessie Jung for Moda.
Won't this make a lovely, lovely Spring quilt?
So many ideas, so little time...

A Glimpse

Of something in the works

Those weather people!

The forecast

Reality

 

No complaints here.

Flying Geese Tutorial

Oops, I was going to post this tomorrow but my scheduling went a litte wrong.
So here it is...

Since the Holiday project I'm working on contains flying geese units I thought I'd put together a super quick and easy tutorial.
This took me about 15 minutes to write, so please excuse the crudeness...

First of all, to calculate the size of your fabric pieces:
"Real" flying geese units are always twice as wide as they are tall.

Let's say we're making 4" x 2" finished flying geese.
We're going to add 0.5" to the dimensions as we would when making any other quilt block.

Cut:
One rectangle 4.5" x 2.5"
Two squares 2.5" x 2.5"

Lay a square right side down on the rectangle and stitch corner to corner as below.

Trim the seam to 1/4".

Press toward the triangle.

Lay the remaining square right side down onto the flying geese unit and sew corner to corner.

Once again, trim the seam allowance to 1/4".

Press toward the triangle.

Woohoo! You have a flying geese unit for your quilt.

(The fabrics used here are: Fizz Dots - Lime and Shine - Sun.)

I've added a PDF version of this flying geese tutorial over here.

Still here

Working on something Holiday-ish.

Assembly and Decisions

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Today is assembly day for the BOM quilt top.
My biggest headache right now is choosing the right fabric for the inner border.
What do you think about this one?

Sew Scrap Along Winner

The Sew Scraps Along has sadly ended.

I did make a couple of scrap blocks.

And got a whole lot of inspiration.

Thanks to Jodi I now have my scrap projects all organized and ready to go when I'm bored or not in the mood for the project at hand.

Anyhow, with the end of the Scraps Along, I drew the winner of my box of scraps.

And the winner is.....

Deserae!

Congratulations!

BTW, it's a snow day over here.  That's Seattle for you. Two inches of snow means a snow day. When we lived in Utah you practically had to be snowed in before they would declare a snow day.

I'm not complaining though.

Lots of sewing time!

Appliqué Day!

Yes, machine appliqué. Gasp!

Notice...

...anything different?

Win-ners!!!

Before we get to the winners, a little glimpse of my BOM quilt progress.

OK, now winners.

The winners of the two "What a Hoot" fat quarters are:

Tiffaney & Quilt Monkey Kathy

The winners of the two "Picnic" fat quarters are:

Robin & my neighbor, Miss TLC Stitches, Trisha

I will email each of you for your addresses, but you're welcome to just email me too, since I'm always a day late and a dollar short these days.

On the Wall

To save my sanity, today is not Win-some Wednesday.  I have to catch up first.

I constructed a make-shift design wall yesterday.  I truly need to figure out a more permanent solution.  Ideas anyone?

Anyhow.  All the blocks are made and up on the wall.  I took this photo at 7am, so it's a little dark.

The blank spaces will be filled in by applique blocks and the teenie me's go in the border.
Like it?

Remember me?

And mini-me?

Now meet teenie-me.

(Excuse the photo quality.  It's a typical Seattle day and I don't think there will be enough light for photos again until maybe May 2011...)

BTW, I'm planning a HUGE Win-some Wednesday giveaway announcement for Thursday.

Things have been hectic and I'm trying to catch up.
You can still put your name in the hat for the latest one until midnight tonight.

Win-some Wednesday

I will announce the winners of last week's previous WW tomorrow.

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things after Houston.

today's fabric

Picnic from American Jane's Happy Campers collection

I'm working on a 30's collection for the store in preparation for a "Retro Jane" BOM, based on Brenda Papadakis's Dear Jane pattern. Like my Baby Jane and the Rainbow Jane BOM.

(If you're interested in joining in (it'll probably start in January or February), send me an email and I'll let you know when I've got it together.)

If you just want to win a fat quarter, leave a comment.  That's it.

Win-some Wednesday

In absentia.  The wonders of pre-scheduled posting.

What a Hoot "Owl Toss"

Just leave a comment and I will draw two names next Wednesday.

(Don't forget the big Festival Frenzy sale going on right now.)

See ya later!

I'm off to Houston this morning!

I've decided not to take my laptop.

It will leave too little room for the fruits of my retail therapy.

I'll share everything when I get back.

I'm going to try to post to Facebook from my phone, so if you "like" twiddletails (see the sidebar), you may be able to get live-ish updates.

I'll announce last week's Wild Wednesday winners when I get back too.  (Only comments left before midnight PDT tonight will count.)

*****EVERYTHING in the store is an extra 20% off until Sunday.  Now is the time to build your stash!

Gotta go now.  I have two hours before the cab comes and I'm really not done packing.

What shoes should I take...