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 2: Make Life

A stash hoarding series would not be complete without an entry by Sweetwater. In fact, this year's Stash Hoarding Series will include TWO Sweetwater collections.

Of course, I am still completely smitten by one of last year's stash hoarding entries, Authentic, but I have other favorites as well.

Sweetwater's second collection for Moda, Make Life, was an entirely different color palette from their wildly successful collection Authentic. But it contains some of the same elements that make their fabrics so wonderful: dots, stripes, text prints, etc. As soon as it was available, I wasted no time in making one of my Hip to Be Square quilts:

I also made a tumbler quilt out of some of the collection. This picture is a nice representation of the beautiful colors and prints:

Earlier this year, I revisited the collection and made a couple of additional Hip to Be Square quilts, as well as a matching burp cloth and stroller blanket for a customer:

This charcoal grey minky dot was a perfect backing for the burp cloth, even though the fabric in the collection reads dark brown.

I can't believe I was able to find enough of the green text print on the Internet to back the quilt -- very hard to find nowadays!

Occasionally, I come across some reasonably priced Make Life charm packs, and I can't help but snatch them up. I'm definitely still not over this fun collection!

Tomorrow, I'll share my next favorite Sweetwater collection, Any guesses as to what it will be?

 

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!

 

My Sewing Studio

Since The Sewing Loft and Ellison Lane Quilts are currently hosting a linky party to share your sewing space, I thought it was time for another visit to my studio, which did undergo some improvement since the last time I posted about it.

My favorite thing about my tiny (approx 8 x 8 foot) space, aside from the fact that I have a place to call my own in which to create, is my fabric storage system. These cubes were purchased from Michael's over a period of time (either when the scrapbooking storage was on sale, or when I had a coupon). I had seen them on a blog and thought they would be perfect for fabric, and they really are!

Folded fat quarters fit in them beautifully, as do charm packs. I labelled the drawers, so it is easy to find or store fabrics from all of my favorite designers and collections. The cubes also stack in any configuration. Most of my cubes are the four drawer variety, but I do have some open slotted cubes I use to store Accuquilt dies or layer cakes.

Even with all this storage, I still have some overflow, which I store in bins on top of the cubes. Yardage for backings, as well as my book collection, are stored in stacked wood crates (also available at Michael's or Joann's). These fabrics are grouped by designer rather than color, in keeping with my drawer storage system.

My other main storage area is a stainless steel shelving unit from Sam's club. I use this for all of my Etsy quilts that are ready for shipping.

The room is so tiny that I really had to take advantage of vertical storage, so all three storage systems fit the bill quite nicely!

When I rearranged my sewing room last fall, I was able to move my sewing table to the window wall, so I have the added bonus of a nice view while I work.

This summer, I decided the old linoleum and area rug had to go, so I installed some peel and stick vinyl tiles from Lowes. I wanted an inexpensive, easy fix, but I did select a good name brand tile on clearance, so I'm really happy with the durability and comfort of the tile. Changing the flooring gave me a chance to so some major cleaning and dusting, and I've been enjoying my updated space all summer long!

Hope you enjoyed your visit! Next week, I'll be doing a series of posts on "stash hoarding", so be sure to come back for another peek inside my fabric storage units!

To see previous posts on my sewing space, see here and here.