Week in Review 2017 - 01/13

Cat's eye view into the guest room
where my quilts are stored. They
are laying horizontally, one on top
of another on the bed.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

A question I see asked and answered by other fiber artists and quilters is "how do you store your work?" I'm impressed with people who opt to roll their work around pool noodles, slip the rolled work in a muslin bag closed with a drawstring, and hang a label on the bag. Some even go so far as to maintain an inventory sheet with a spot to mark where the quilt is located. Organization may be my middle name, but when it comes to storing work I am much, much looser than this system. With the exception of the 14 pieces I have hanging on the walls of our condo, 100% of my work is stored on top of a bed in a guest room off of my studio. The work is stored Princess and the Pea fashion with the oldest and or largest work on the bottom and the newer and smaller work on the top. Rarely do I need to go digging deep into the pile, since the majority of the time the only work I need for exhibition is on top or only a few pieces down. I cover everything from dust, cat fur, and light with spare bedspreads. Simple, effective and most importantly, it works for me.

All elements seen here
are permanently stitched
into position!

This is precisely how I approached my work this week. If it works. Don't mess with it. Since the deadline is fast approaching on the Call for Entry I will be submitting Where Have All the Flowers Gone? to, I simply pressed forward, as you can see:

1)  Attach a sleeve to Siren's Song - Some day, but not this week.

2) Free motion quilting practice - Not this week

3) Continue working on Where Have All the Flowers Gone? - Done!

a) I reworked where the vines should cling to the tombstone, cut them to length and stitched them down.

b) I stitched hexagonal flowers together and stitched them in place.

c) I worked out the layout for the yo-yo flowers and stitched them together.

4) Pot(s) made this week - Done!

A field of yo-yo blooms tacked together
and ready to be stitched to the quilt
next week.

It was another week of learning what not to do, or more precisely wishing I could discover a better method. Stitching the yo-yo flowers together was a nightmare. I researched how to do this first by hand sewing and then by machine. Since yo-yos are circular and I want to sew them together in staggered uneven rows, keeping track of which yo-yo needed to be sewn to which yo-yo and where the junction should be was extremely difficult. I was more than happy to whipstitch them together by hand, I just couldn't keep track of the joints. I found a tutorial on using a "tack" stitch (not available on my machine) or very short length of satin stitch. It is was recommended to use a monofilament thread. Hate that stuff, but I did use it as my top thread and a blending, Bottom Line thread in the bobbin. Instead of tying off the threads or burying them in the yo-yos, I opted to stitch the tack and reverse stitch the tack, then trim the thread. If a few tacks unravel it won't be a big deal. There is no stress on them and even when I did pull tacked yo-yos away from each other, the stitching remained. Close enough. 

I'm really looking forward to putting those yo-yos to bed next week. The next step is to secure them to the quilt. That I can do! Maybe I will have time to get to a few more items on my list, too. I hope so. Here is the list:

1) Continue working on Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

2) Pot(s) made this week

3) Free motion quilting practice

4)  Attach a sleeve to Siren's Song

I am now linking up to two blogs on Fridays. The first is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays and the second is Free Motion Mavericks.

Quilt Along With Leah Day - Week 27

Leah ran into a technical glitch this week which meant that she was unable to film and blog about her latest assignment for her followers. Instead she shared the method she uses to store her show quilts. It is very similar to the method I use to ship my quilts. The basic premise is to roll the quilt around a pool noodle. My tip is that if you are new to using pool noodles, but plan to add them to your supplies for storage and shipping, buy them during the summer. These are seasonal items. The price can triple over the winter, that is if and it is a big IF you are lucky enough to find them somewhere.

Here are few items all quilters accumulate that require organization to have them easily accessible and how I have chosen to deal with them.

Ruler Peg Board

There is nothing like a peg board purchased from a hardware store for organizing tools and rulers. Each ruler can be hang from its on "L" shaped hook. When the ruler supply grows multiple rulers of similar shapes can be hung from a single hook with the largest ruler in the back. I hang my rotary cutter and shears here when they are not in use.

My Most Frequently Used Thread Collection

Note that the caption reads my mostly frequently used thread collection. I have a second supply of threads that are predominately manufactured by Sulky and are their smallest spools. I store them in a plastic box that opens either from the front or back and has many compartments. This was I tip I picked up years ago. The box's purpose is to store matchbox cars. It works great for Sulky spools since you can load three full spools to a compartment. It is not the best system for moderate or large spools. For these I use June Tailor thread racks. Mine sit on a chest of drawers. However these racks can also be hung on the wall if you are short of horizontal space.

A Closer Look At My Active Thread Supply

I gritted my teeth and had my husband take the photographs for this blog without me being present. I didn't want to be tempted to clean up my work space. So, what you are seeing is what the studio looks like on any given day. My Bernina sits to the left and catty corner to the thread supply, facing out the window. I have a desk chair on casters as my sewing chair. Any thing on the chest of drawers is accessible just by pushing back and turning. There is a coaster for my drink, feet for the Bernina, tissues, a telephone and although I rarely use it now, my radio complete with tape and CD player.

Note how my threads are divided by type with a collection of Superior's King Tut series running across the top two rows on the left with a few interlopers. Then there is a small but serviceable collection of Bottomline thread, also by Superior. I like to sort my collections of thread by hue (color) and then value. Most of the neutral threads on the far right are the ones I use for piecing.

The Stash

I had simple shelves built into a small closet in my studio. Normally the door is closed so that my fabric stays unexposed to light. I like to arrange my fabric, just like my threads, by type and then by hue and value. The top two shelves are commercial prints in primary and secondary hues. The next shelf down contains neutrals and a few prints where black is a significant player. That blue bin has scraps of fabric left over from fusible projects as well as non cottons that have come my way. The lowest shelf contains a collection of solids I picked up very, very early in my career when Jo-Ann's had a sale. I bought half a yard of every one of their colors. Thanks to Leah, I have put this collection to good use. It features in a many a practice piece. I did invest in a bolt of muslin, that I washed and rolled back up to use as backings on future Leah assignments. Inside the clear bin and to the left of it are fabrics I have hand painted, dyed or marbled. Yes, this really is nearly my complete fabric stash. I have just two more stacks of similar height to the stacks in the closet, of black and white fabric that I store separately. This is the collection I turn to and replenish whenever I make a piece in my Shifting Value series.

Entwined is an original Gwyned Trefethen design
64" H x 48" W