More Love

Yesterday's post was so long, I held these pictures back.  I meant to take pictures of these little quilts in the daylight in a more artistic setting, but I forgot.  Oh, well.  You still get the idea.

This is another quilt for AAQI.  I named it Tree of Love and has random hearts appliqued around a tree.  Appliqueing is another first for me.

This AAQI quilt is named Stars and Stripes and is made with honey bun strips and some left over fat quarters.  If I continue to make quilts for the AAQI, which I'd like to, I will need to get a little more creative with the naming.  I also had trouble completing the Artist's Statement portion of the registration in a way that sounded creative and artistic.

Here is another Before picture.  This is a corner of my office closet.

This is the After I cleaned it off, but Before I put the fabric back on the shelves.

How do you sort your fabric?  There are so many ways.  Do you arrange your jelly rolls, charm squares, layer cakes, fat quarters, etc. of a particular line together?  Do you sort your fabric into colors?  What about the quantity?  If you sort by color, do you then separate by amount?  For example, do you have separate areas for scraps, strips, stash, fat quarters, yardage?  Then there is the definition of scraps.  How big does a piece of fabric have to be in order to save?  Mind boggling!

This section of the closet shows my Christmas fabric.  I pretty much stopped there.  I would like to hear how you organize your fabric.

Have an amazing day!!!

AAQI completions and Makeover update

I've made a little progress on my office/studio makeover, and I have a few before and after pictures to show you.  Y'all offered some valuable suggestions which I truly appreciate.

Here is the before picture of the wall behind my sewing machine.  My design wall was partially hidden by the door which had to be completely shut in order to see the entire wall.  Next to the design wall is my bulletin board which I like to call my idea board.

A great suggestion was made to rearrange so that the design wall was more visible.  I relocated my Idea Board to this wall and hung vertically rather than horizontally.  I forgot to take a picture, but I also bought an additional design wall (I'm lazy and use the Fons & Porter portable design wall.) and hung it next to my existing one.  Now I have one HUGE design wall.

Under the Idea Board is Max's bed.  This area is off to the side right when you walk in which has been great for Max.  He has already figured out where his spot is.  Is anyone familiar with Longaberger ?  Well, in the '90's, I was part of a neighborhood cult that was addicted to Longaberger!!!  Baskets was suggested by quite a few of you for organizing.  Little do you know that coming up with baskets is not going to be a problem!  This basket holds some WIPS and sits on a pretty Longaberger wrought iron table.

My personal assistant helped label the baskets.  She came up with the design all by herself.  Do you recognize these Longaberger baskets?  Man, am I having flashbacks!?!

This one cracks me up!  Don't you love the way she labeled this basket for my Orphan Blocks?

I'm sure you remember the clutter of this Before picture.  I moved most of this into the closet.

The smaller six cubbies hold sewing and quilting supplies.  There is a cubby for my Bernina sewing feet, tool kit, manual, etc; another Longaberger basket holding rotary cutters and blades; a basket for embroidery needles in a cubby with DMC and Cosmo floss; extra binding strips; miscellaneous supplies; and quilting gloves (that I never use), marking pencils and tape for marking quilt lines.

The shelves above hold Amy Butler LOVE fabric and Moda L'Amour fabric next to a picture of my LOVEly daughter AKA personal assistant .... who, by the way, said I needed to put pictures of her brothers on the shelve above her picture  ... which I did .... just need to take a picture of the pictures.

Speaking of LOVE, I made my first AAQI donation quilt!! I'm so excited.  I made three different Priority donation quilts over the weekend.  This one shows my first attempt at free piecing letters AND stippling.  Edited to add:  I've joined Liberated Quilters and the Liberated Quilting Group Challenge for making and donating quilts for AAQI.

Have an amazing day!!!!!

Sew & Tell Friday #12

It's the first Sew and Tell Friday of 2010!!!  Yeah!!  I can't wait to see all the creative goodness that has been going on.  Click on the button if you want to see as well.

I couldn't show you this Christmas present before, because Max is a frequent reader of my blog!  Ha!  Obviously that's not the reason.  It's because I didn't complete it until now.  I really think Max likes his new dog bed!

Do you remember my waverunner quilt top?  Can you see that it is finally quilted?  I used a variegated thread and just quilted straight lines. { I got the idea from Joanna over at Applique Today.  Thanks Joanna!}  Did you guess where the quilt top is now?

Thelma suggested I make it into a bed for Max, and Max is so glad she did!!!  The cute little girl behind Max actually did some of the quilting.  Max's bed is actually the first step in my office-to-studio makeover.  Max seems lost when he comes into my sewing room because he doesn't have a spot to hang out.  The wood floors are so cold, but Max likes to be where I am.  I am hoping this will solve the problem.  {Actually, I think that is the reason Ally helped me quilt Max's bed.  On her own, she read yesterday's blog post and said she wanted to help me with my "studio".  How sweet is that?}

In case you missed it yesterday, here is my small color wheel embroidery quilt that I made under the instruction of Amy.  I really like the way Amy quilted hers with circles around the main color wheel.  Since I didn't want to be a complete copy cat, I had to come up with something different.  I quilted around the inside and outside of the color wheel, but then quilted straight lines out from the individual color spokes.

I used the same variegated thread to machine stitch the binding that I used on the waverunner quilt.  I decided not to donate this to AAQI.  As I mentioned yesterday, I am not happy with the binding strips which is one of the reasons I went ahead and stitched the binding by machine rather than hand.

The back is some Alexander Henry fabric from my stash.  It is from the same line as the binding fabric originally used in the Angel Tree quilt.  I think if Amy agrees, I may make another color wheel for AAQI.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and had an awesome New Year!!!

Have an amazing weekend!!!!!  {

I'm hoping to do some de-cluttering in my office.}

Resolution: Makeover

You would think with most of all the Christmas gifts completed and all the wonderful, glorious, potential, possible quilt projects awaiting, the creative juices would be flowing.  Well, they are not ... for me, anyway.

For months I have wanted to do a mini quilt, and for weeks I have thought about the AAQI mini quilts I would make and donate.  The above picture shows my pitiful attempts.  There is the selvage four block mini that looked OK until I started quilting it.  I can blame that on a sewing machine malfunction.  Then there was an attempt at a circle quilt  and a batik landscape.  They are not cooperating.

Oh, and I almost forgot this brilliant reversible block.  The pink side doesn't look too bad.  You can see I quilted around in a block...white in the middle, then pink around that.  So, on the pink side you see the white block.

On the white side, you see the pink quilting more.  Not as cool as I thought.  Plus, the pencil marks did not come out like they are supposed to.  UGH!  Back to the drawing board.

I was excited to finally quilt and bind my small embroidery color wheel project.  It was going pretty well, I thought, until I noticed that I cut the striped fabric for the binding strips the wrong way.  There was a limited amount of this fabric left in my stash and now it is gone.  I may just leave it as is.  If I decide it doesn't look too bad, I may donate it to AAQI.

So, here is where the makeover comes in.   I have decided my sewing area is part of the problem.  It needs a makeover!!! It is a mess which means I can't concentrate, focus, and let the creativity flow.  I mean, the problem can't be with me, can it?! (Don't answer that.  It's a rhetorical question.)  OK... I have to warn you...the following pictures are not pretty.

This makeover will take awhile, and I plan to do it in my own sweet time.  The first thing that needs to be done is change the name from Office to Studio.  It's a mental thing, I know, but I think it will help.  Don't you?

You see, in a formal life I was a CPA.  If you look closely up top, you'll see my credentials ;-)))

So my space has always been designed and revolved around that occupation.  Even though I haven't practiced in years, my office still looks like...well...an office.  Can you see the shelves for tax books; the cubbies for paper clips, envelopes, staplers, rubber bands, etc.; the file drawers for client files and tax returns; the spot for the printer, copier, scanner, computer?

Then there is my closet...actually, it isn't as bad as this picture makes it look.  It is a rather large closet, but shaped strangely so it is hard to get pictures.  There are lots of shelves.  Unfortunately, those shelves are all filled...with boxes of photos, scrapbook supplies, rubber stamping supplies, jewelry making supplies, quilting fabric, quilting supplies, more books, papers, envelopes...you get the idea.

Here is my machine.  Believe it or not this is the AFTER picture.  You should have seen the little sewing table I was using before.  I have a design wall tucked in the left corner, and a bulletin board to post ideas I get my from wonderful bloggy (is that a word?) friends.

Here is my ironing and cutting area.  This is one of those folding, rolling tables which I love, but it never gets folded or rolled away, so it takes up a lot of space.

Whew!  Sorry that took so long.  If you are still with me, what are your suggestions for turning this into a Studio from an Office?  I think I have a nice space to work with.  It isn't a dream studio, but I can live with that.

I would like to better organize the areas I have into quilting/fabric, embroidery, paper crafts, scrapbooking, etc.  At the moment, my fabric is sort of shoved on shelves as I purchase it rather than by color or fabric line.

How do you organize your sewing area?  I would love to hear about your space and benefit from your suggestions and experience.  Thank you in advance.

Have an amazing day!!!  I hope to have something to share with you for tomorrow's Sew and Tell Friday!

Wonderful Wednesday!

Even though I am back in Florida, it feels colder here than in Montana!

During one of our last afternoons in Big Sky, this caught my eye while driving into Bozeman.  The moon is so beautiful above the clouds with the snow and the mountains!

I only had my little point and shoot camera with me, but I made my husband pull over so I could take a few pictures.

Note to self:  always have SLR camera on hand.

I just couldn't get the perfect picture.

I kept trying!

I was still trying as the car is driving away!

Have an amazing day!!!

Montana Quilts

While in Montana, I snapped some photos of quilts I had previously made that now live in Big Sky.

This is the first quilt I made for my husband.  It seems very Montana-ish to me, so last October it was relocated up North.  There is no label, so I can't remember exactly when it was made.  We'll just say circa 2006.  It is posing on my favorite birthday gift....an antique old ski lift chair.

Here is another picture of it hanging off the deck.  It would have been nice if the weather had cooperated so you could see the Spanish Peaks better in the background.  The pattern is Granny Squares and has some lovely flannels....especially the backing....which I didn't take a picture of.

This cowgirl quilt was made for my daughter.  Another quilt without a label or name.  It was made this past summer.  The  pattern and fabrics are Laura Heine's of Fiber Works.  I had bought one of her cowboy boot patterns several years ago.  I discovered she has a quilt store in Billings, and I now try to visit it in the summer.  Amazing store!!!!  Good thing for my checkbook it is several hours away from Big Sky.....and a long way from Orlando!

Our very soft puppy dog Penelope loves this quilt.  Can you see the fabrics better in this picture?  I love the barb wire and brands!

Another AAQI quilt purchased as a Christmas gift.  This one is for my oldest to take to his new place.  Love the blue guitar!

This AAQI quilt I get to keep since it didn't arrive in time to give as a Christmas present.  I love it!

I have registered to participate in donating priority challenge quilts to AAQI.  I invite you to do the same.  For more  information, you can click on my sidebar link or sign up for the Liberated Challenge  with the Liberated Quilters.

Now, I just need to come up with some creative ideas of my own and get started.

Have an amazing day!!!

Glad to be back

I should warn you .... I am a bit rusty.  I haven't blogged since last year!  December 22nd to be exact.  I have really missed quilting, blogging about quilting, and keeping up with my blogging friends.  So good to be back!

I guess I am a sewing and blogging junkie.  What else can explain the withdrawals I have been experiencing for the last ten plus days?  I have done no sewing nor blogging in over two weeks.

Instead of quilting, I sat by the fire reading any and all quilt books, magazines and patterns I could get my hands on.  On a quick trip into Bozeman, I stopped by Main Street Quilting and quickly grabbed about eight quilt books and three patterns (I was allowed five minutes) while the family grabbed coffee at Wild Joe's Organic Coffee House.  Our trip to Target for cold medicine did not go to waste.  I grabbed all of the six quilt magazines.  We did not have internet, as usual, for the first couple of days in Montana.  By the time it was up and working, I was already way behind on my blog reading.  I made the decision to go cold turkey and stay away from all quilt blogs.

I have been feeling really left out of the blogging world....wondering what inspiring creative projects were going on without me.  I did cheat and peek every once in a while by checking Google Reader on my iPhone, but that only made it worse.  I could see what others were doing....envy their productivity...but not comment from my phone.....sigh...

...enough of the pity party.  I do have a sewing machine in Montana.  It just didn't see any action this trip.  Instead of sewing....

....when I wasn't sitting by the fire, I was following this cutie pie down the mountain.  She's easy to keep track of in her cotton candy blue jacket and pink pants.  She is my skiing buddy and hot chocolate break partner, especially when.....

....we both like the signs with green circles...or better yet...signs that indicate hot chocolate is close by.  Actually, she is a much better skier than I.  She is sweet to hang with me.  When she could be....

....on blue and black runs.  For example, with the boys when they decide to do tree runs.  I leave that to them and my husband. That is WAY out of my comfort zone, as is....

....grilling in the snow is out of my comfort zone. When in Montana, my husband or middlest does the cooking grilling.  How great is that?!  But the greatest ....

...is spending Christmas and New Year with my husband and ALL three kids!!!!!

I hope your holidays were excellent...well spent with family and friends.  I missed you.

I promise to have quilt pictures tomorrow.  Have an amazing day!!!!