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Saturday, July 14, 2012

FNSI Results?

 Well I confess I have no sewing to show you. I received 2 quilting books in the mail in the afternoon and all plans of quilting disappeared. One of the books is an oldie but goodie by Harriet Hargrave  called Heirloom Machine Quilting. The second is a new release and although it says it's for longarm quilting, a lot of the information pertains to sewing on domestic machines. There are some fabulous designs in the book. 

Harriet Hargrave is coming to teach a machine quilting class next week! When I first found this out  way back in April, I was hesitant to sign up because it was around the time I had to go on a sudden week long "vacation"  to the hospital. I was quite upset to have to say no to such a fabulous opportunity and the class filled up lickety split. Luck was on my side though! My friend suggested I give the store holding the classes a call just a few days ago. It turns out there had just been a cancellation and a spot opened up. Of course I jumped at the chance!!  I've heard she is a phenomenal teacher, and what better way to learn the ins and outs of machine quilting than from a pro!

Happy Stitching
corina

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

WIP Wednesday


I like the design showing up on the back
 Still more quilting on my gumdrops quilt. I love doing the small stippling, not loving doing the continuous curves. You'd think it would be easy to make gentle curves following the squares, and it's not bad going one way, but I suck at doing it from left to right or vice versa. By the time the quilt is done I hope to have it down pat. If not, the next time I'm marking the curves! I think I'm spending more time on quilting this quilt than I did on piecing it! It's been a lot of fun though.

I will be posting Part 2 of Sewing Room Organization on the weekend. The drawers are almost finished. I've used 25 of the Oil of Olay display boxes so far. I'm glad I took half a cart full!Thanks for all the positive comments on my fat quarter storage/hoarding problem. I guess I'm not alone!

 I am linking up for WIP Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network and also at Freshly Pieced. If you have a moment, drop by and see some of the beautiful works in progress in blogland!

Happy Stitching
corina

Friday, July 6, 2012

Organizing Part 1 - Fat Quarter Storage

 I have a confession to make. I recently went crazy at a fabric sale.There was a very special deal on fat quarters. The average price for good quality Moda/designer fat quarters here is $4.00, give or take a quarter. They rarely go on sale, and if they do it is half price at the very most. However, at this unheard of sale, if you bought over 101 you paid only $1.17 each! So...........what's a girl to do...............insert sheepish grin....insert flush of embarrassment.............I bought.300. Not all at once though. The first time I went I exhibited self control and picked out a bunch for my friend and lots for myself. Second time I went, I bought for specific projects, and told the owner that my twin sister told me about the sale. Third time I went, it was just because I HAVE A SICKNESS CALLED UFQHD (uncontrollable fat quarter hoarding disorder).I told the owner that my 2 sisters had come to the sale and they thought it would be a good idea to come and get some for myself, and that by the way, we were triplets. He just laughed and now thinks I'm nuts! In my fabric hoarding defence, I rationalized that I am committed to make several charity quilts, 2 larger birthday quilts and thought it would be great to give fat quarter bundles as gifts too! Anywhoooo, that's what I'm telling myself :) Problem is, where do I store all these beauties? Say hello to cd storage cabinet from Canadian Tire:
mine are darker
It's 44" tall, 17"wide and the shelves are only 5 1/2" deep. Perfect for fat quarters. Originally I had all my bundles of joy in shallow fabric boxes, stacked one on top the other. When I needed to pull a few for a new quilt I had to drag out all these boxes, then restack and put them back into the bookshelf. Things will be so much easier now. To hold my now overflowing stash of fat quarters I needed 3 of these babies.  Here's what they look like now:
I so love seeing them on display. I do get the occasional guilty/ill flutter of YIKES when I think of how many I have, but that will lessen with each quilt I make!. There will be lots of rearranging the colors over time. Right now some are grouped by color, others by project.

Next time I will post about organizing my sewing drawers using parts of an Oil of Olay display from the grocery store!

Happy Stitching
corina