I shot pictures of several quilts last weekend at Quilt Festival in Chicago, but I've yet to sort through the photos and match them up with the names. I'll try to post them this weekend. I did, however, shoot some pictures of the fabrics I found for my stash (as if I needed more, right?).

Most of the fabric sold at quilt shows is precut--either fat quarters, half-yards, or bundles of some type. Some shops bring bolts of fabric, but in the past many years, I've been more likely to buy fat quarters than yardage. I'll need to be making some scrappier designs, since fat quarters are great for scrappy designs. And they're gonna be some very colorful scrappy quilts because I have a definite preference for brighter colors. And, of course, farm prints. This isn't everything--some of it wasn't all that interesting--but I thought I'd share some of the fun stuff!

Of course, there's always a little farm fabric that I need to bring home. On the left is a farm panel--it was just too fun to pass up. On the right are some fat quarters, a half-yard, and another very cute farm print from a newer line. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but that's okay.






Feathers are up next. The one on the left was just too interesting in colors to pass up. The one on the right will match the fabrics in the Storm At Sea quilt I'm planning. The blues and purples will be perfect and add a lot of texture to the quilt.

The village print on the right was an interesting find. What I'll do with it--don't know. It would make a cool center for a quilt with several borders (plain and/or pieced) along the edges. I love that it has a New England village field to it. As for the rest of the fabrics, I loved the light lime batik, the dots were a fun color combination, and the ladies are already, I believe, part of the stash I have set aside for the someday decorating of the sewing room.

My Mom uses double-sided, pre-quilted fabric to make a thing called a potato bag--used to microwave baked potatoes to perfection. When I saw the parrot and tropical print, I knew it was the potato-bag fabric for me! The mushy print on the left just called to me, as did the farm-y one on the right. But the parrots....





And finally. There was a booth selling fat quarters for VERY good prices. It was jam packed in there, but people were being very generous by passing things back to others who had their eyes on something. Great source for stash-building, a little bit of everything, and I bought duplicates of the ones I was particularly fond of--like the soft green and pink on at the bottom. I don't know what I'll do with it exactly, but I am looking forward to having the chance.

What I don't have in my hands right now are the baby flannels I bought for me (that I offered to share with Rich's niece) and the fabrics I picked up for my Mom for a special project she's working on. So when I get the flannels back, I'll share them. I won't get all of the others back--I guess I did a pretty good job of choosing fabrics for Mom because she kept several of them. More to come on the display quilts soon!

What a nutty week! I have been working on some mental quilting lately (as opposed to actually quilting or making anything), and it really got my mind running. In my urge to do some spring cleaning, I've decided that this week I have to get finished organizing the sewing room so I can move on to other rooms. But because I'm spoiled, I wanted to be in one room tonight, so I'm working on organizing the bedroom first. Any ideas for organizing my jewelry? I have a pegboard, another that just needs trim, and I bought some picture frames I'm going to fill with velvet and screening, and use for earrings and pins. But if you have other great ideas, post them in the comments please. This place needs to get whipped into shape soon--enough of this mayhem and foolishness, as Niecy Nash on Clean House says. But I took a break and wandered the web a bit. Here's what my pals are up to.

The Artful Crafter
Have you seen Xyron’s Creatopia? Prepare to be amazed by the baby booties going through a Creatopia in the video!


About Family Crafts
Celebrate spring with Sherri and these fun craft projects!

Craftside--A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a fun Steampunk style socket set bracelet, how to repurpose a canvas tote with applique and make faux patches, a peek into some cool art from the book Digital Illustration, a hot water bottle gets Re-Bound and a how to and tips on vampire drawing.

Crafty Princess Diaries
The Crafty Princess has done some house cleaning, at least she's been cleaning up her blog that is.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Where do you find inspiration? Madge wants to know! Share her process from inspiration to design in this inspired post!
 
Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make recycled plastic bunny ears inspired by the techniques in the book Upcycled Accessories

Cathie Filian
Check out Cathie's silk screen projects for Better Homes and Gardens. She has something for everyone.

Mixed Media Artist
See how you can achieve the look of a hand-tinted print with Photoshop!

Here's to the start of a productive weekend! In addition to doing a little museum touring in my own town, I hope to get some more work done in the sewing room. And maybe get a few other projects finished or at least started. Meanwhile, a few links to get your weekend started!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shows off some jewelry she and her husband made for a local charity auction, perfect for animal lovers!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make Egg Cup pincushions inspired by a wonderful project in I "Heart" Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale

The Artful Crafter
Take a spin with Eileen and Shaaron on the Craft-N-Spin crafting turntable.

Craftside--A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a post about working with grids in mixed media, a ribbon embellished quilt from The Quilt Bible, 3rd Edition, tips on outlining a photo and a bunch of journal pages from 1000 Artist Journals.

About Family Crafts
Sherri shares some suggestions to help you celebrate National Craft Month.

Beading Arts
Cyndi is running a contest on Beading Arts, and the prize is an absolutely free advertisement!

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's altered a pair of old white tennis shoes and gave them a whole new look....they were pretty wild but she's toned them down with some spray webbing. She's even worn them out and about and received some great compliments on them!

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Ever wondered what it takes to get a craft book published? Join Madge in this first installment in her How To Write and Publish a Craft Book series

It's slightly incorrect to say this is a "before" picture of the other part of the sewing room. This is actually a "between" photo. Earlier on Sunday, this area didn't have all of this stuff in it. It had a pile of fabric in it that needed to be put away. But once I did that, I started pulling things off of the shelf in the corner to go through it, paring it down, organizing what was there, and generally getting a grip on it. I also went through the items in the lavender-white dresser in the left foreground of the photo. Most of the drawers used to have jewelry making supplies in them, but I pulled them out and haven't gotten them filed back in. But the bottom drawer has all of the smocking supplies and patterns in it.

Those blue in-boxes in the middle of the floor were filled with miscellaneous papers and paper-sized packages that needed to be sorted through. I'd like to get through the stuff on that four-shelf unit and possibly eliminate the need for it entirely. The more I can narrow down what I have in that room, the more spacious the room will be and the easier it will be to work in there. I'll share more photos as I make more progress, but I thought I should let you know that it is coming along.

An update on the reorganizing project. Though the sewing room is a wreck, the bedroom is looking better. I had to run out this morning to get a few things to finish organizing the closet and I still have to install those. I should clarify--the bedroom isn't actually LOOKING better--it's looking quite messy, but at least the right furniture's in there now and I've cleaned out some of the clothing that I don't need.

The sewing room, well, it's not looking quite as good. But a lot of the stuff that needs to be in there is in there, so that's good. Now it's just a matter of getting that room pulled together. Some thought needs to go into where everything goes. Suggestions welcome!

So it's the last week of the year, and if you remember correctly, last year I tackled cleaning out and organizing the sewing room to make room for the quilting machine. You may also remember that the quilting machine didn't get much action this year, a fact that I'd like to remedy in 2010. So I bit the bullet and did what I thought I ought to do when I first moved into this flat--I'm putting my sleeping quarters in the front, smaller bedroom and moving the sewing and quilting and craft room into the back, larger bedroom. Seriously, how much floor space does one need for sleeping and dressing? (And if those of you with master suites with walk-in closets and sitting areas could just keep that answer to yourself and not chime in with your square footage, I'd be much beholden.)

Monday didn't see much action, as I was driving home from Illinois and stopping along the way to pick up things I needed and check out an after-Christmas sale or two. So Tuesday was my first day of really working on this project. I'm proud to say that I got the sewing room emptied out, the bed and two dressers moved in, and a bunch of the sewing room stuff into the sewing room. Unfortunately, things are still crazy, with a lot of sewing room stuff still in the living room and dining room, in addition to the room they're supposed to be in. But I was able to sleep in my bed last night, so that's something anyway. Turns out, head pointing east works for me. The bedroom is by no means tidy and finished, but having most of the furniture in the right room is a good first step. Meanwhile, it's on to the chaos. Just me, my handtruck to help with the heavy lifting, and my MP3 player. Send organizing thoughts my way!

I've been doing some thinking about getting my house organized in between Christmas celebrations (which there have been a lot of). I'm thinking I'm going to swap my bedroom and my sewing room--my current bedroom is quite a bit larger than my current sewing room and that quilting machine is, after all, 10 foot long. And if I'm going to quilt more in 2010, I need the space. So this week, that will be my plan. I'll keep you posted here, but meanwhile, check out what my pals have been up to. 


The Artful Crafter
Don’t toss those leftover holiday candle stubs! Here’s how to organize them for recycling later – after the holiday whirl subsides.

Aileen's Musings
To help bring in the New Year Aileen has a snazzy freebie New Year's card for you to download and send to your friends and family.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Press On with Trylon and Perisphere Cross Stitch using a cool font from the book A Rainbow of Stitches


Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
File this one away for next year...Madge's final Retrofabulous Christmas Craftabration Project for 2009! This one kicks tinsel!


Mixed Media Artist
Mix fabric and paper for a one-of-a-kind collage!


Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
At Craftside there is a Steampunk-style cam chain necklace, how to make an image have a pop art look, recycle a milk jug into snowflakes, and a tutorial on making domed bead caps.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is going bananas, literally, over amigurumi again. Crochet folks take note!

So I noticed the other day that Hobby Lobby was having a sale on frames--a really good sale. Of course, we don't have one in Milwaukee ("Why not?," I wonder on a regular basis), so while I was in Illinois this weekend, I stopped by Hobby Lobby to check them out. I've been looking for a large shadowbox frame to house my fabric scraps from the outfits I sewed as a kid in 4-H. And they had them. So I bought a 24" x 36" jersey-framing box and I'll figure out how to make it work. After all, I figured out how to fit it in the back of the Jeep, and that was a feat in itself! I think it will be big enough to house everything I want it to put in it, but if not, I'll buy a second or even a third to make it work. I'll just have to wait for another sale...

I just read an article on Oprah.com about what you could do if you weren't standing in your own way, basically. Martha Beck wrote it, and I keep saying I'm going to read or listen to one of her books--just haven't figured out which one I should start with yet, so suggestions are welcome if you've read any of hers. (Sadly, I might have one, or have had one, but I can't remember...) But that thought reminded me of my project from this weekend, so I thought I'd share.

As I've mentioned before, when I cleaned out the sewing room to put in the quilting machine, I created a pile of projects that I decided either got finished by Dec. 31, 2009 or left the house as supplies soon after. So the other day I realized I had a baby gift project that hadn't been given to said baby yet. I pulled it out, thinking that between the cake I needed to bake for the Father's day get-together at Mom and Dad's, and decorating that cake with my nephews, and going to Six Flags Great America on Sunday with my sister, her boys, and Rich, and dropping things off at my cousin's house, I might be able to complete this project and leave it with my Mom would surely wouldn't mind dropping it off to the baby in question for me. And as for my thoughts on how much time it would take, well, it was just a tied fleece blanket--how long could it take?

So after I didn't get it done Friday night or Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon, I pulled it out at 9:30pm (yes, 9:30pm, the PERFECT time to start a project, right?) at Mom's and got to work. My sweet, wonderful, and generous mother offered to help me with the tying once I got the fringe cut. My sister Alice offered to watch and cheer us on until she was too tired to keep her eyes open. So I cut the fringe and Mom and I sat at the kitchen table and got it tied. Getting that project finished took about 90 minutes on Saturday night. Yes, we were up until 11pm. But we talked and laughed and spent some time together, just us girls (or until Alice went to sleep, then it was Mom and I talking and laughing REALLY QUIETLY).

And why did Martha Beck's story on Oprah.com make me think of this project? Well, I think that that stack of boxes, bags, etc., has been daunting to me. So instead of spending some time working on a project in my spare time watching tv, I've been unsure of what to tackle, as few of these projects has a true deadline or a target date, aside from the 12/31/09 date that looms ahead. But now that I've finished the blanket, the relief of completing one project from my list and elimating one large bag from the stack of bags, boxes, and storage containers is really unmeasureable. And knowing that one new little farmer boy will have this blanket to roll around and nap on and curl up under when it's chilly and that my loving momma helped me work on it... well, that part is priceless. Now, it's on to the next project, whichever it may be. Maybe it's a good idea to get some of the quick ones done first, so that I can see real progress in the number of containers of supplies dropping and the number of containers of finished projects increasing or, in some cases, see those finished projects get delivered to their destination. What do you think: start on something that might not be completed for a week or more or knock out some done-in-a-night projects?

Yesterday's creative endeavor--the one that I forgot to take a picture of--was dinner--chicken enchiladas verdes, spanish rice, and strawberry shortcakes (from Jiffy muffin mix). I have leftovers of all of it, which is just fine with me. Rich was appreciative of a homemade dinner and I love those enchiladas. And they freeze great, so I can take them for lunch in the days to come.

Meanwhile, over the last few days, I've been getting organized around here. I did a bunch of cleaning up, finishing up the sewing room purging from back in late 2008. I feel like I got a really good handle on what's there to make and my own personal pledge is that I do everything I can to convert those raw materials into finished projects to give as gifts this Christmas. And my pledge is that whatever I don't have turned into projects by the end of 2009 goes to some other creative soul who might want to create something with them. With one exception. I don't think I can give away the printed embroidery-ready pillowcases that I got when my grandmother passed away almost a decade ago that still need to be embroidered. I don't know who will want embroidered pillowcases once I finish them, but I feel the need to finish them anyway.

I've got all of the pieces and parts organized in containers. Now to just figure out what to do with the containers. Maybe once I get the papers and stuff that were from the sewing room and are currently on the sun porch all sorted through, the containers can go out there. Or maybe there's space in the closet in the sewing room... I know, one step at a time...

The cabinet is in the living room, thanks to a very good friend with muscles, a truck, and flexible daytime hours. And the folks at Chattel Changers were great about figuring out which piece of furniture I was talking about on the phone, taking my payment over the phone, and helping my friend carry it out.

I still have to clean up the wiring situation and all that (as evidenced by the wires below the cabinet) and figure out the best use of the storage space. There are three drawers behind the two panels on the left side--each hold 30 video tapes quite neatly, amazingly enough. On the right side (the center panel and the two right ones), there's a removeable shelf. Right now, two clear plastic containers fit nicely on the top shelf--both are currently filled with video tapes and DVDs. I'm starting to think I have too many videos if all three drawers and one shelf are pretty full.

So that's the new piece of furniture. Now that I've got it in place, I can finish tidying up the rest of the room and organize the stamping corner. (And making good on my 2009 goal of getting to the gym more often.) Then it's on to sprucing up the dining room. And finally, I'll be going through my closet and dressers and getting rid of the clothes that I no longer wear or need. Only THEN is it on to creative endeavors again--cardmaking, quilting, beading, etc. Don't worry, I'll keep you posted when I regain my creative time. Meanwhile, I'll let you know how the clean-up goes.

So it's the end of day 5 and I really feel as though I've accomplished a great deal in these five days. Here's the rundown:

Basement--tidied up and organized
Sewing room--reorganized
Quilting machine and frame--set up and ready to go
Christmas decorations--packed away
Living room--rearranged
Excess craft supplies--in the car and ready to share with my coworkers
Turkey breast--cooked
Ham bone--boiled down into broth
Dozen eggs--hard boiled
Papers--shredded
Lots of trash and recycling on the curb

So there it is. My five days in a nutshell. I'm really proud of what I got done and I'm okay with how much I accomplished. Of course, you always think you'll get more done than you do, but I'm really okay with that list. There's still more to do--the stamping corner in the living room still needs to be organized, but I can't do that until I get the "new" piece of furniture for the living room, and the dining room is still a wreck, filled with all of the things I want to make in the next few months for gifts for 2009. And then there's the Christmas cards and letters...

So thanks for hanging out with me for this 5-day trek through my house-clearing "staycation" (if that's what they're calling it these days). Here's to the next week of finishing it up.

So I did make some progress today in decluttering the sewing room. (Actually, decluttering the living and dining rooms of the stuff FROM the sewing room.) I'm down to a pile in the corner that contains all the stuff that I want to turn into gifts for next year, a pile of magazine pages to file in binders, and a pile of things to photograph to see if my sister wants them. Oh yeah, and a pile of empty containers that no longer store stuff but might be needed before this organizational phase is over.

In my one excursion outside the house today, I think I found a piece of furniture for the living room, and it's marked down quite a bit. It's at an "antique" store, though it's not an antique--probably from the '60s. I think it's an old buffet--it's got great lines and quite a bit of storage so it would be a perfect solution for the living room's storage needs and would be a great entertainment center for me.

When I first moved into this flat, I could only imagine the living room set up in one arrangement. And I really haven't moved things around much, except when I brought the cardmaking stuff and drafting table in from the sun porch this fall. But since then, I've been thinking about options and I think I might have come up with one. The true inspiration is a chair I bought a few years ago--it's been in an unoften used corner of the living room. I love that chair--it's almost as comfortable on the chaise that I sit on any time I'm watching TV. But when I rearranged things to set up the Christmas tree, I put it in a corner that faces the TV and have gotten to sit in it more and realized I want it in a better position in the room. So I think I can do all this once I undecorate and it should solve a few challenges.

I got to see the upstairs flat today, which is very similar to mine in layout, but she's done great things with color and she's a VERY neat and tidy gal, so, unlike my more cluttered decor, their place is not only clean and tidy, but picture perfect! I have to keep reminding myself that I have 20 years more of stuff than they do, plus I have lots of hobbies, so there are reasons I have stuff around. But as I clear through the sewing room, I'm motivated to tidy up the rest of my home and life. Maybe next weekend I can tackle the dining room built-in linen drawers or the cabinet that holds all of the hair stuff, body wash, makeup, and all of that for a purge of its own.

So there is progress being made, though there's still the Christmas letter to write and some cookies to bake. But there's Sunday...

My long-arm Voyager quilting machine is on the frame and all hooked up. I haven't taken it for a test drive yet. I can't take the risk of losing too much time playing with it yet. I've got SO much to go through from the sewing room, stuff to look through and make decisions about and to figure out where and how to store it. So it's me, my chaise, and the West Wing DVDs and classic Christmas movies while I go through piles of displaced craft supplies. I've never been good about .....

As I was typing that, the power went out. And was out for 3-1/2 hours. So I got some "quiet time" because candles only kick off so much light and when you can't hardly see, you can't see enough to make decisions about what to keep and what to toss. But it's back on now, and I'm heading back to the sorting.

And for the record, it seems that tea lights burn for about 3-1/2 hours. They started burning out just about the time that the power came back on. Handy, really, as it meant I didn't have to blow out a whole bunch of candles.

And boy-oh-boy does it take up more space than I anticipated! I knew it was going to measure a bit over 10-ft. long, but I didn't really expect it to be SO WIDE. The specs said 41", but now I know that that doesn't include the space you need to actually operate the machine. But the good news is that it's built, and the machine is on the carriage. I didn't actually hook up the machine itself, but look what I built, all on my own!! The instructions were great--I didn't watch the DVD, but I didn't need it for additional guidance. And while measuring the room preconstruction, I realized I needed to remove the closet door so it wouldn't almost smack into the machine every time I opened it, and I was able to remove it on my own, with help from some man via an internet video. I'm so proud that I was able to put the frame together on my own. (That lyrics that should be running through your head right now is "I am woman, here me roar...".)

If I had the luxury of more space in my flat, I'd have nothing but this fabulous quilting machine in that room. But since I don't have more space, there might need to be more prioritizing that needs to be done, some additional things added to the "make this year" and "give away to friends" piles, and some more organization of the stuff that's currently in the sewing room. The jewelry-making stuff still needs to be gone through, and I might have to get rid of some old sewing patterns to make room for other stuff.

Good thing the cardmaking supplies are already in the living room...

Yesterday was spent clearing space everywhere in my house, it seems. I started in the basement, going through things in storage to make room for anything that needs to be stored down there. Then it was up to the sewing room. I started by moving the quilting machine parts into the living room (except for the machine itself, which is over 70 pounds). I cleared out the closet, moving things out, going through them, and moving the things that needed more time to go through out into the living room and dining room. I did the same with most of the rest of the stuff in the room, measuring and planning. Then I moved thing into the closet, including the bookcase, which fit perfectly and gets a large piece of furniture out of the room itself. As you can see, I have all the fabric on the biggest, tallest shelf. I had to go into the basement with a flashlight, as the cable coming up through the floor wasn't giving me any slack, but I was able to maneuver it so I was able to move the TV and VCR. I still have to go through the little white dresser and the short plastic three-drawer container, as I didn't sort through those things. The last thing was to get everything off the floor, including the rug, so I have the big space ready for the quilting machine.

Last night, I watched old "That's Entertainment" (all three parts) while I went through several of the containers that I had moved into the living room and dining room, sorting through what goes in the trash, what goes in the basement for storage, and what goes to the office to be given away to other crafty folks. And then there's the other stack: the one of all of the materials that I want to transform into gifts for next year. I think I need to set some goals for those projects or it will be like this year--too many projects I'd like to make and too few days to get them completed.

My first task for today is to clean the poles with nail polish remover and get the machine-building underway! And my plan after that is to go through more of the containers that have been dragged into the living room and dining room and start moving things to the basement. After all, who needs a tool box and jigsaw in the sewing room.

The exciting news for me today is that I'm NOT at the office for the next five days. It's possible the last time I had this many days off in a row (that wasn't a vacation) was when I left my previous job to take this job (six years ago January 2, actually). That break, though longer, involved traveling for the holidays, a few days driving around town looking for a place to live, and other busyness that was neither relaxing nor productive. And boy-oh-boy do I have relaxing and productive plans for THIS break! I hit the grocery store Tuesday night and got enough food to feed me for a month. And I went home and made the list of all the things I wanted to get done. So I'll keep you posted on my progress as the days pass. A lot of the plans revolve around the sewing room. I have to go through every single thing in there and make some space for my new quilting machine, so I really need to get organized. And I need to transform some raw materials into finished projects so they're not in the sewing room any more, taking up what has suddenly become very valuable space!

Once I get the sewing room together (optimistically within the first three days), I've got some crafty projects to make, food to cook and freeze for later, a Christmas letter to write and cards to send, and maybe, if there's time left at the end of the five days, I'll put away some of the Christmas decorations and make some cookies to take to work to celebrate my six year anniversary at my job!

It's amazing what you can get done when you 1) turn off the television and 2) pledge to accomplish something. I got on a bit of a binge Thursday night and it carried through to the weekend. Okay, this might be a rambly story, so get cozy. It started Thursday night, the night the snow started at 4:50 p.m. My evening plans to hang out with a cutie patootie 2-year-old changed because her Dad's appointment got cancelled. So I was planning to work late until I noticed that the snow had started. Why that seemed to trigger a "let's hit the highway" thought, I have no idea, as it's never the best idea to leave the office the minute the snow starts because the highway home is always slow-going because everybody else had the same idea! But I had a book-on-tape to accompany me, so I departed. Though the commute was, in fact, slow, I got home at 6, which was much early than I've gotten home in a while.

Welcome to the final installment of Ornament Thursday. Here's my little guy. He's adapted from a pattern that I saw in Love of Quilting magazine—he was one of four snowman blocks in the middle of a table centerpiece on the cover and he was a much larger block. I decided he'd be an adorable ornament, so I took the basic lines and drafted him in Quark (it was what I had available) and turned him into a foundation-pieced ornament. (For the non-quilters: Foundation piecing is sewing pieces of fabric to a foundation and, in this case, the foundation was paper. I tore the paper off after it was done, but it keeps everything very accurate.)