New Year's Quilty Resolution, Day 2

I'm starting off 2014 with a series of blog posts on my Quilty Resolutions. Hopefully, putting them in cyberspace will make me more likely to stick with them!

Anyone who has virtually visited my sewing room (to take a tour of my tiny, but functional space, see this post) knows that one of my favorite storage items are these cube drawers from Michaels:

I purchased the cubes 2 or 3 at a time (on sale or with a coupon) over a period of several months, and eventually built this 4 x 4 structure. Although I would love to purchase more and add on, I am at the point of maximum capacity in my current sewing space.

I absolutely love the way fat quarters, jelly rolls, and charm packs fit perfectly in the drawers. It is so easy to see what I have on hand, and very easy to return fabrics to their proper storage!

I have labeled the drawers with the names of either designers or fabric collections for sorting purposes.

So, on to the resolution part: my fabric stash has exceeded drawer capacity, so it is time to start going through the drawers and make some quilts out of what I already own, so that I can free up some space for the fabrics under my sewing table!

Quilty Resolution # 2: "sew" my way through some fabric drawers to make room for new fabrics (and at the same time, try to cut down on what I add to the stash!)

 

Wrap Up: 10 Things This Summer

Earlier this summer, Sherri at A Quilting Life hosted a Linky party to share your list of summer goals. Since fall has officially arrived, it's time to report how I did!

#1 Replace the floor in my sewing room and reorganize my quilts and supplies --DONE!

#2 Bind the stack of quilts that I finished in June (read more about this goal here). I didn't quite make it through the stack, but I did make a nice dent in it -- perhaps my October goal could be to finish binding the rest?

#3 Use up some scraps and make some pillows for the shop -- I'm happy with the ones I finished, although I could have made even more!

 

#4 Make a bunch of Christmas stockings for the shop (tutorial can be found here). -- DONE!

#5 Finish writing the four patterns I've been working on -- okay, this was the goal that I slacked off on the most. However, I did make some good progress on the sample quilts for the patterns, and hope to have at least one completed pattern within the next week or so!

#6 Complete some of the partially finished projects that are taking up space on my sewing room floor: Although I had a steady stream of custom orders this summer that prevented me from making a huge dent in my project pile, I definitely made some headway, as you can see below!

#7 Buy less, and start working my way through those beautiful fabrics I have stashed in my storage drawers -- I think I did pretty well with this goal. Although there were definitely some collections I couldn't pass up this summer, the fact that I was able to condense my fabric shelf pile from what you see on the left, to the photo on the right, illustrates that I did use up some fabric this summer!

#8 Finish my son's sports t-shirt quilt -- DONE!

#9 Quilt tops as I finish them instead of letting them pile up -- DONE! (As a matter of fact, the quilt pictured below was my last unquilted top, which I just finished today!)

#10 Get a good start on my final year as Block of the Month chairperson for my local quilt guild by making this year's sample blocks, and precutting all the fabrics for the kits -- DONE

These ten summer goals really kept me focused on what I wanted to accomplish -- I look forward to repeating the exercise next summer!

 

Stash Hoarding, The Sequel, Day 5: Dream On

To conclude my week of stash-hoarding posts, I'll feature one of my favorite collections by Urban Chiks called "Dream On":

This collection has such a vintage look -- in fact, I think I'm drawn to it because it reminds me of the sheets on the twin beds in my grandmother's guest room.

I especially like the collection when paired with a crisp white solid (although you may be able to tell that I accidentally used a different white for the borders of the quilt above)!

So pretty and cheerful!

 

Stash Hoarding, The Sequel, Day 4: Fandango

Given my love of Kate Spain fabrics, it is not a surprise that another one of her collections would be part of my "stash hoarding". Fandango was her second collection for Moda Fabrics, and I love the soothing color palette and Art Deco feel of the fabrics.

I really love to pair the Fandango fabrics with an ivory solid -- so pretty!

However, I also like the way this jelly roll quilt came out: (pattern is Jelly - Filled by Thimbleblossoms

Such a lovely collection-- it's still hard to resist those elusive precuts when I come across them!

 

Stash Hoarding, The Sequel, Day 3: Hometown

Yesterday's Stash Hoarding post featured the Sweetwater collection Make Life. Today's will focus on another Sweetwater favorite, Hometown. I'm really not sure I could choose a favorite print in the collection -- I just love the way they all go together! The color palette is great, and all the basics are there: text prints, stripes, plaids, dots, etc.

I had a great time making Christmas stockings out of this non-traditional palette:

When I wrote my When the Stars Align pattern, I knew I wanted to use Hometown for the cover photo:

As I mentioned, I love the way the palette works together. However, earlier this year, I had a custom request to make the quilt in only the reds and yellows. I love the way it turned out!

At this point in time, precuts of Hometown are pretty hard to find, so I grab them whenever I find a good deal!

Tune in tomorrow for another episode of Stash Hoarding!

 

Stash Hoarding, The Sequel, Day One: Ruby

Last fall, I did a series of blog posts on my favorite fabrics to "hoard". (My working definition of this is "out-of-print fabric collections that I can't resist purchasing if I find a reasonable price on them, and although I will sew with them, I seem to have to maintain a healthy amount in reserve in order to do so!"). I decided to do a second series of posts this week called "Stash Hoarding: The Sequel".

It will come as no surprise that the first collection, Ruby, is a "sibling" of one of last year's collections (Bliss). I would buy any Bonnie and Camille fabric collection sight-unseen. I just love all of them, and I especially like the way they work together. In fact, I've made several quilts with multiple collections, including my Scrappy Trip Along (Bliss, Ruby, Vintage Modern, Marmalade, and Happy Go Lucky), which now lives on my bed.

Another quilt for me : Great Granny Squares (Bliss and Ruby), and backed Ina cozy flannel print from the Ruby collection.

Patchwork Squares (Bliss, Ruby and Vintage Modern)-- this is one of several I've made for Etsy customers.

I really haven't made too many quilts solely out of Ruby, but I did make this queen size version with matching shams for a customer in January.

This quilt was inspired by a pillow I made from Bliss and Ruby. Instead of using a white background, I chose the Ruby aqua dot to set off the stars.

I am working on a similar version using the grey Ruby dot as background:

Here are the most recent additions to my Ruby stash: a couple of scrap bags from Ebay that I think are destined to become Christmas stockings!

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of Stash Hoarding!

 

Stash Hoarding, Day 5: It's A Hoot

Today is the final day of my Stash Hoarding Top Five list, although I think I should include some "honorable mentions" later this week (let's face it -- I hoard a LOT of fabric!).

There are certain fabric designers whose work I would buy sight unseen, just because I've loved everything they've done. Momo (for Moda Fabrics) is one of them. The first quilt I ever sold on Etsy was made from Momo Wonderland fabric:

I've made and sold at least 5 or 6 of these quilts, and stocked up on quite a bit of Wonderland along the way. I think I'm over the hoarding of it, however -- I had the opportunity to add some to my stash this week and chose not to! The next collection was Freebird, and I thought this one was a lot of fun, too. The first quilt I made in it sold very quickly:

I made a couple of other Freebird quilts, but decided to try separating the bright colors with a neutral fabric. I do really like the way the solid sets off the wild fabrics.

This spring, I made a Freebird circles top for one of my customers who likes to handquilt:

I loved this one so much that I'm working on one for my store!

The next collection that Momo produced was It's a Hoot, which is the subject of today's hoarding post:

I've actually only made one It's a Hoot quilt. It sold so quickly that I never even got a picture with the binding finished. Since then, I've purchased a lot of It's a Hoot fabric with the intention of making follow up quilts, but the fabric just seems to collect in a drawer. I have charm packs, layer cakes, and yardage -- definitely enough for several quilts! I'm not sure why this one keeps getting pushed aside, but I still keep buying those precuts whenever I find them!

It's definitely time to revisit this collection and make some quilts, and then maybe I'll have a chance to make some out of the other Momo collections (I have an unopened fat quarter bundle of Just Wing It, a brand-new layer cake of the brand-new collction "Oh Deer", as well as several charm packs of Half Moon Modern). I've got a few more custom orders and many unquilted tops to make a dent in before I make good on this pledge, but I WILL use up some It's a Hoot this year!

 

 

 

 

Stash Hoarding Day 4: Bliss

In my mailbox this afternoon was the perfect example for this week's topic: stash hoarding!

For Day 4 of my week of stash hoarding posts, I have chosen the collection Bliss by Bonnie and Camille for Moda fabrics. Although this is not their first collection, it is the first in their series of red, pink and aqua collections.

I purchased a Bliss layer cake (10 " squares) as soon as the collection was released a couple of years ago. It is such a pretty palette -- who doesn't love pink, red and aqua?! I sold at least 2 of these lap size quilts, and then I received a custom order to make a full size version:

The thing I love most about Bliss is how nicely it interacts with their next 3 collections: Ruby, Vintage Modern and Marmalade. Last January, I did a custom order using selected fabrics from both Ruby and Bliss:

 

I've even received an order for custom valances to match a Bliss quilt:

 

When Vintage Modern arrived, I used some Bliss, Ruby and Vintage Modern charm squares to make this simple patchwork design.

Bliss can still be found; although some of the prints are very hard to find, and the precuts (layer cakes, charms squares, etc) are very scarce. So, I don't necessarily hoard Bliss and not use it -- but I feel the need to replace some whenever I use it!

 

The final hoarding post may be delayed by a day or two -- we will be on the road to Grandma's tomorrow night, so I may not post until Sunday. Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stash Hoarding, Day 3: Neptune

Anyone who is a fabric connoisseur will not be surprised to see my third entry in my week of stash-hoarding posts: Tula Pink's widly popular collection for Moda Fabrics, Neptune:

This collection was released right around the time that my style was changing from "traditional" to "modern". It definitely appealed to me, but I wasn't purchasing a lot of precuts (layer cakes, jelly rolls, charm packs) at the time (otherwise I definitely would have stocked up!) I'm almost positive that my first Neptune quilt was made from a clearance priced layer cake. (This was also when I used to make my kids hold the quilts up for Etsy pictures!)

I had two Neptune quilts for sale in the early days of my shop. The second one was made from a honey bun, and included some floral appliques. I was testing out some additional pattern ideas at the time, and I'm pretty sure I bought the honey bun on clearance, too.

This striped honey bun quilt prompted my first ever custom order. Less than two months after I opened my shop, a lovely woman in Australia contacted me about remaking this honey bun quilt as two matching twin size quilts for her girls. I was able to make the quilt on a larger scale by using jelly rolls (2 1/2" strips) and adding borders. She was thrilled with how they turned out, and I was so grateful that someone halfway around the world would trust a new Etsy seller to take on such a project!

I knew the collection was becoming scarce at the time-- I bought one jelly roll right away, but had to do quite a bit of searching to find the second one. There was still a bit of yardage to be found, and by the time I finished the quilts, I had begun a little stash of Neptune. I even kept most of the smaller scraps, and earlier this year, I finally went through the bag and made a few pillow covers:

To be perfectly honest, my hoarding issue extends to all of Tula Pink's fabrics, especially her earliest collections. I have a couple of Nest and Flutterby precuts that I haven't found the perfect project for, and I always snatch up Hushabye when I see it. It looks like her upcoming collection Salt Water might be a bit of a tribute to Neptune, judging by the teaser picture on her blog!

 

I've got a little more work to do on custom orders before I head off to bed -- hope you'll join me tomorrow for Day 4 of my Stash Hoarding week!