Settling In, Making It My Own Again

I was going to take photos of the TX Quilt Studio before I packed it up but my digital camera died and I totally spaced about using the camera on my phone, so there is no photos of it. Fine by me since I never felt comfortable in that space. However I always did feel comfortable in my AZ Quilt Studio and even more so since I moved things around a bit to make it more user friendly for my needs since I am not doing longarming for the public anymore. I flipped my Scrap User System and my longarm machine.

 

It gives me more room for my scrap user system the way I originally envisioned it. All strings and strips on one side... 

 

with a new cutting table from IKEA (it's actually an adjustable drafting table) along with my rulers in the middle...

 

and my larger scraps on the other side.

 

My 2 white dressers got damaged in the move back to AZ so I down sized to 1 solid wood dresser for my longarm threads.

 

My yardage is still located under my longarm as it was before.

 

Added another wire shelf for my accuquilt dies and brought back 2 bookcases that were left by the previous owners of the TX house (stores all of my quilt books, patterns, and magazines).

 

In the office part of my studio, where I use to meet with customers, I also changed things up a bit. First the old heavy dark desks are now my DH's office furniture, and I took over the IKEA desks (which I like a lot better). I extended my design wall...because lets face it you never have enough space for larger quilts. This is my main sewing area.  

 

and  my embroidery machine is set up under the window. I moved my shelving to a new wall to frame my computer desk and TV. Yes I decided to add a TV in my my sewing space so I can watch movies, and Netflix while sewing.

 

More shelving to display my threads and nick knacks.

I also raised my curtain rod higher so when I take quilt pics the quilts are more visible. Oh and the rug was bought in TX at Target...loved it because it look like it has buttons in the designs. So this is where I will be spending most of my time...boy it's so good to be back home in AZ!!

Ideas For My Texas Quilt Studio

I hate packing!!! Yup, it's my least favorite thing to do. But I will be packing the house up soon for the move to Texas. The only thing that will help me get through the "moving" process is the fact that I will be able to design my new quilt studio! Thank goodness there is Pintrest where lots of inspiration runs freely. Here are a few ideas that I want to incorporate in my new studio....

 

Love this sign...must have!

 

I have lots of tins that I would like to do this to.

 

I love this wall color, thinking of painting the studio walls this color.

 

Love the concept of an over stuffed slip covered chair and foot stool, IKEA sells this with removable slip covers, so I could take it apart to use a pattern for using my own fabrics/ colors.

 

I like the idea of upper white cabinets over my IKEA desks (will have 2 in the new studio...taking the one that my DH was using as his old desk and the one in my current studio). 

 

Love these jars, would use them on a shelf to hold 2 1/2" charm squares for my scrap user system. 

 

Been wanting to remake my ironing board into a quilters ironing board for a while now.

 

 

Love theses over-sized buttons, to hang on the wall among mini wall quilts.

 Love these IKEA cabinets.

 Never thought about Framing my design wall, but cool look.

 

 Will have space to add a cutting island in the new studio.

  

Guess I will be putting DH to work on this DYI in the near future.

 

Would make a cute accent table next to the comfy chair.

 

Love the look of old spools in jars.

 

and I love the this idea but displaying different pincushions. 

 

This would be an inexpensive way to do a cutting table. 

 

Love these glass upper cabs!

 

Great way to store old buttons!

 

Parson chairs would be a nice comfy look as sewing machine chairs instead of office chairs. Could also coordinate fabrics.

 

Awesome idea to add a power strip under the ironing board.

 

Love this cabinet to store quilts in.

 

Must find a way to keep my current scrap user system in the new space.

 

Good idea to add peg board to back of the closet doors for rulers...

 and notions.

Building a (useable) Fabric Stash Part 3

"Using the Stash You Built!"

Now that you have your stash purchased (or gifted) and organized in easy to handle sizes  I will show you how to get the most out of your usable stash. Also   I will show you where to look on-line to find the patterns that will work with your "Scrap User" system. 

 You can use ANY commercial "pre-cut" pattern out there that requires a Jelly Roll, Fat Quarters, Charms, and Layer Cakes. Because your stash is already broken down into these sizes, all you need to do is decide on your color choices for the quilt project you want to make.

Here are some places that I like to go to find the patterns that I use, whether it is from books, on-line blogs or you tube there is so much out there to inspire you.

1) Bonnie K. Hunter http://quiltville.blogspot.com/ 

this is the link to her blog, you can read all about her here, in short she is an author, a quilt teacher, and a great reference for all things scrappy! She also has videos where you can sew along with her while she works on her own projects in her own basement studio while she takes and answers questions that people send her via e-mail (to view these videos just click on her "Quilt Cam" tab at the top of her blog to find all of the links of her previous recorded quilt cam videos. Each video runs anywhere from 60 min- 90 min.

She also has a "Free Pattern" tab where she has detailed quilt patterns that she designed that she shares with the world. She also has her books for sale as well (all are signed by her when bought directly from her). I have all of her books and the great thing about her books is that about 90% of all the patterns in her books I want to make! All of her books are very user friendly and work perfect with the "Scrap User" system because this is the lady that I based my own system on.

Bonnie has such a large following that there is a Facebook page called Quiltville Open Studio

this is a great place to discover, share and get to know others that like Bonnie Hunter and her quilt patterns. She even posts/comments there as well.

2) Judy Martin http://www.judymartin.com 

Judy Martin is a legend, and has been around the quilt world for decades. All of her books are very user friendly and work perfect with the "Scrap User" system.

3) Moda Bake Shop  http://www.modabakeshop.com/category/quilt 

Moda is a textile company that revolutionized (in my opinion) the pre-cuts. They were the first company to offer complete collections in precut sizes. At the above site they offer A LOT of free patterns to use the precuts sizes they offer (which, just so happens to be the sizes that work with a good portion of the "scrap user" system!!

4) Kim Brackett http://magnoliabayquilts.blogspot.com/  She is the queen of "Jelly Rolls" or 2 1/2" strips! she has several quilt books available that in my opinion is a must have for any serious scrap quilter out there. Just like Bonnie K Hunter, I like about 90% of all her patterns in here books. A very good investment.

5) Brenda Henning http://www.bearpawproductions.com/ Brenda is known for her books that shows you how to uses Hoffman's Bali Pops (which are the batik 2 1/2" precuts). You can also use these patterns with any 2 1/2" strips. The books are called "Strip Therapy" and at the time of when this post was written she had 12 of them. 

6) Pat Speth  http://patspeth.com/index.html 

It was this lady that started me on my journey over a decade ago on the scrap quilt train. One of the first quilt books I ever bought was "Nickel Quilts" it is a book that shows you how to use your 5" squares (also called Charm Squares). I was new to quilting and made a few quilts. Left over scraps started accumulating from the quilts and I wanted to make good use of every thing and not throw the bits and pieces left over out with the trash. So I went to my local quilt store and stumbled across "Nickel Quilts" and knew that was what I was going to do with my left over scraps...cut them down into 5" squares until I had enough to make one of the quilts in the book. Little did I know at the time that this was the first seed of my quilt stash.

7) Missouri Star Quilt Co. http://quiltingtutorials.com/?_ga=1.74976214.530814437.1439505031 

This place is so much more than just a quilt shop. Jenny Doan (the face of Missouri Star Quilt Co.) is also a you tube quilt teacher sensation! Each week she posts a new you tube videos on how to use the precuts that are so popular (but again since it's the same sizes as your scrap user system = more awesome ideas to use up your stash)! 

8) My Pinterest Page https://www.pinterest.com/geckoquilts/

Yes I have a pinterest page :) and yes it's quit large, lots of Quilty Inspiration and lots of other things that caught my eye over the years...but it's mostly my on-line quilt scrapbook.

Well that's about it for my "building a usable stash" series. I hope it helps you to be more productive as well as being creative in your quilting!

Building a (useable) Fabric Stash Part 2

So it's been a while since my last post, I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting for part 2 of this blog post so here it is...

 "Feeding the Stash Without Breaking the Bank" 
In the past decade I have seen the price of fabric double and in some cases even triple in price. When I first started building my stash, my husband would ask me why buy if you aren't planning on using it right now or before you have a project in mind for it. My answer has always been, because one day I won't be able to afford to buy fabric but I will still be able to quilt using my stash. Over the years he has come to terms with the whole stash concept especially since the price of fabric has gone up so much in price. So am I at that point where I can not afford to buy any more "new" fabric to feed my stash? Well if I was to buy all my fabric full price at the going rate I would have to say YES. However that would be the end of this post and it's not ;) After all the above states feeding the stash WITHOUT breaking the bank, and this is how I do it.

Now I am a big believer in supporting the local brick and mortar quilt shops in my area however what I am not is a big believer of the ever growing prices that is being charged for the new fabric lines in these quilt shops. I understand that the costs of running a brick and mortar quilt shop has also gone through the roof due to the economy, but if the average person's wages doesn't keep up in their wages than well something has to give. Do you give up the joy of quilting and give into a joyous existence of just handing your hard earn money over to others just to survive. I am not willing to give up that easily. Where there's a will there's a way....

You can still support your brick and mortar shops just not in the same way you've done in the past. Instead of going to the new fabric lines, walk past them and go straight to the sales area of the shops. All stores have them and you can find some great deals there. Some shops have a percentage off the newer stuff if it's towards the end of the bolt and you buy enough to finish off the bolt. There are also "scrap bags" available, which are bits and pieces of fabrics that were left over from the shop making up quilt kits.

OK so now that you have helped to support the local shops your biggest stash feeding will come from the convenience of your own home via the internet! Yes you can get the BEST deals on line, and the following is just some of the places you can go to get them (my go to places)... 

1) Whittles http://www.whittlesfabrics.com/shop/
This place is great, most of there everyday prices range from $5.00 a yard to $7.50 a yard!!!
2) Fabric Shack http://www.fabricshack.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi
They have a spot called sale-abration where they have fabric on sale for as little as $3.98 a yard to $6.98 a yard!!!
3) Connecting Threads  http://www.connectingthreads.com/fabrics/quilting_fabrics.html   
They have fabric as little as $3.56 a yard on up and they also sell individual fat quarters of all of the fabrics. 
4) Web Fabrics  http://www.webfabrics.net/index.html 
Even though this place doesn't have the great go to sale prices of the above
they do have 2 other important reasons why this is one of my go to on-line fabric places. They have complete lines of the open stock blenders, such as Moda marbles, Kona cottons, among others. Plus they allow you to buy individual fat quarters of ALL of their fabrics (great for feeding the stash and getting a wide variety of fabrics without breaking the bank).
5) The Stitching Post http://www.stitchingpostquilts.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi 
The great thing about this place is that they have a lot of the retired fabrics from the previous years fabric lines. But they also have sale sections if you just scroll down to the bottom of the page. They also sell their remnants at reduce prices as well.
 6) The Missouri Star Quilt Co. https://www.missouriquiltco.com 
This place is awesome! If you are on their e-mail list you can take advantage of their "Daily Deals" huge discounts off the newest precuts!!!

I'm sure a lot of you are thinking... Why shop online, the shipping costs would be so high that I might as well by local because the shipping would end up raising the costs to the brick and mortar shops. But this is where you are WRONG! Yes, wrong for one if you shop out state on-line you do not have sales tax and all of these places that I have listed offer the "if it fits, it ships" rate of the USPS but some will also go even further than that...some online stores will give you a low flat rate shipping if you spend over a certain amount in the transaction. Another thing is all of the above will allow you to purchase as little as 1/2 yard  (except for the ones listed that will sell the fat quarters), a lot of on-line shops that I have been to may have great prices but they say you have to buy a minimum of a yard per each fabric, which to me isn't much of a savings when you are stash building, because the key (at least for the way I quilt...scrappy) is VARIETY. Stay tuned for part 3 of this series which will outline the many different patterns/ designs that will get the most out of your stash.  

Building a (useable) Fabric Stash Part 1

If you ask most quilters if they have a fabric stash, the answer is yes. However if you ask the same quilters how often do they actually use their stashes when making quilts the answer is seldom. I have found by asking fellow quilters that they LOVE to purchase fabric, they get excited over the possibilities, the fabrics that just had to come home with them had (at the time that they bought them). However once the fabric comes home it usually gets "STASHED" and forgotten. Then the next time they venture out to the quilt shops they will just have to have something else that catches their eye and this cycle keeps repeating itself over and over until you try to set foot in your sewing area to actually work on something and well you can't find any horizontal surface let alone much floor space to move around so you get frustrated and walk away closing the door behind you. Or you tell your spouse that you are going out to the quilt shop to pick up some things and they ask..."why not just use what you already have?" Does any of this sound familiar? If so, then keep on reading :0)

 

Does any of these pics look like what you have in your sewing area? This is what would build up around my sewing room after I bought fabric, was gifted fabric scraps or what was left after I made a quilt. All of this fabric is just as good as what you bring home from the quilt shops....just in odd sizes and shapes. Believe it or not, but there are a lot of people out there that don't ever use this stuff in future projects. When asked why, they will tell you that it's too much trouble to weed through this stuff in order to find what they need and use. What do they do with it then? Well some will just let it pile up, some will throw it out, some will put this in pillow cases, sew up the ends and donate the scraps as pet beds at the shelters! If you ask me...that would be some very expensive pet beds considering what the cost of fabric is these days. In the US fabric bought new off the bolt averages anywhere from $8.00- $14.00 a yd depending on where you buy it. Some places will offer the occasional sale here or there but when they do...it's usually on stuff you don't want or doesn't excite your creativity.    

Over the years I have blogged about how I store my stash, it works for me and it lets me use everything with out very much waste (and by waste I mean those dog ears that get snipped off the quilt unit). What I am about to show you in the following pics did not happen over night, it has been building over the past several years and the more I stick to it the more efficient it ends up being.  For detailed blog posts on the scrap user system I use, and what sizes I keep click Here,  and Here.

 

 

 

 

 

 And these containers hold my crumbs. One for neutrals and one for colors. I use these for paper piecing small block units. 

About once a year I will have enough left over scraps from quilt projects done that year in which I will need to cut the scraps into my "go to" user friendly sizes described in the above past blog posts. To help the process be a little less chaotic I will divide up the freshly cut down strips and pieces and place them into "holding" bags. When all the scraps have been cut down I will sort them into their proper sizes then sort by the 12 color families, then place them in their containers until they get used up. And for those that are wondering...yes I do use my stash. Stay tuned for part 2 of "Building a (useable) Fabric Stash"

Sweet Treats, Sweet Deals!

Last week I had a few days to do some "stash management" going through the tubs and fine tuning the stash and cycling the old to the smaller bins so it will be used up quicker. 

 This required me to go through the 12 large tubs of fabric that I keep under my long arm machine, pull out the fabric by color and sort them into groups of scraps/pieces smaller than a fat quarter and anything fat quarter size or larger.

 

This is the pile of fabrics smaller than a fat quarter and will be cut into...

 

 

my scrap user system sizes (strings, 1 1/2", 2", 2 1/2", 3 1/2", 5" sq).

 

The larger pieces (1/2" cuts) got cut into fat quarter sizes and the remaining yardage got put back in the tubs under the long arm. You might be wondering why go to all of the trouble....well I have found it is much easier and quicker to "shop your stash" if you are able to see it quickly. It also gave me a better idea of what color families of fabric I was lacking and was in need of adding to. Which brings me to the 2nd half of this post.

This week I celebrated a birthday and I wanted to "round out" my fabric stash color families instead of receiving the regular birthday gifts. Originally I was planning on going to my local quilt store to do the birthday fabric stashing but for some reason I decided to look at some of my favorite online fabric stores to see if there were any specials being offered. Fabric Shack  just added a HUGE amount of fabrics to the sale-abration section of their site fabrics as low as $2.98 per yard and up (minimum amount per cut is 1/2 yard pieces). But don't forget to look in the main fabric section of their site also because there are A LOT of fabrics that are on sale ($4.99-$7.99 per yard with the smallest of cuts being 1/4 yd cuts).

 

 

I was able to get 42 yards of quilt shop quality fabric for only $195.00 plus another $8.00 for shipping! if I would have gone to my local quilt shop for these I would have paid anywhere from $419.00-$503.00 based on the current fabric prices of $9.99-$11.99 per yard.

 

Here is another pic of my new fabrics out of the plastic...per the postage on the box it cost $43.00 to ship but I only paid $8.00 priority mail because I spent over a certain amount in the transaction! As you can see from the pic I was lacking a lot of grey and black on white fabrics from my stash ;0) the three larger cuts of fabric (black, red & orange) is for Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush quilt I want to make in the future. Also you can get some more sweet deals at the following online quilt stores Whittle's Fabrics, and Connecting Threads

  

and speaking of sweet deals....my daughter Rachel bought me some of my favorite jelly belly flavors for my b-day!

 

Of course dear hubby couldn't be out done by our daughter so he bought me some more jelly bellies!