Cabinet is Complete!

I've just finished folding of the 30's reproductions and couldn't be happier with the results. There were so many green fabrics that overflow had to go into the  bottom drawer. There are still black, brown and multicolored FQs to move, but there's still room in the 'shoe box'. Now I'm wondering if I should go back to the box and refold all those FQs, too. I'm in no rush to commit to that tonight. 

There's a small set of rolling drawers for scraps once I have some time to sort the giant rubbermaid container. It's just so nice to be able to view all the 🌈 prints together, they make me so happy.  Great grandma Gladys would be so proud!

There are some charms left to sort as I prep stacks for the top construction. I keep changing my mind about how to best compliment the triangles and am glad I didn't try to piece it as I went along. I understand that the process might feel overwhelming for some, but this is my first full quilt. Originally, I had no plans to attempt any triangles, had never appliquéd, and basically approached it as a great learning experience, which it absolutely has been. 

Happy Organizing & Planning,
Heather

Starting to Shape Up

The warmest colors are finished with roughly half of the cool tones to go. The cabinet is really shaping up! It reminds me of the ooh and ah factors of my favorite quilt shop, Erica's, that has sadly closed its doors. The sewing room is becoming more inviting every day - I can't wait to be in there regularly. 

I hope to fold some more greens and blues tonight or tomorrow and move on to the Heather Ross prints next week or weekend. Fingers crossed. 

Happy Folding,

Heather 

                                               

Folding Continues

The first folded fabrics were moved to the cabinet. I like the look, but will need to finish the reds for the first shelf and pinks for the second before I'll know how I feel about it for sure. It looks like the yellows and oranges did not travel well and may need to be re-stacked soon. Blues & greens were planned for the bottom shelf.

I may have to split the green 30s between the second and third shelves if is room available.  I found several stacks of smaller charms between FQs in the folding process. I'm considering cornerstones for the Dear Jane construction and changed my mind about the background fabric between the triangles and kites. 

Happy Organizing,
       Heather

Folding Method

When folding fabric to take advantage of vertical space, be sure to use the WOF (width of fabric) as the starting point. I have several cuts of the same fabrics and the folding techniques used by the sellers vary greatly. The most common cuts are FQs and 1/4 yards from initial purchases, 1/2 to 1 yard cuts in recent shipments, though I will take several small cuts if stock is low. FQs are not folded consistently between various shops.     

While the comic book boards were thought provoking, the acrylic ruler allows room for other cuts or items in front of the folded fabrics in the cabinet, maximizing available space. The board method would have also required pressing all of my cabinet contents and that sounds terrible. 😆

 Folding at WOF or half WOF (FQ)

FQs can be folded several ways

I prefer to use WOF as the basis of most of my folding options and find the consistency is helpful longterm in my projects. I originally planned to iron as I go along but that would take far too much time and seems like an unnecessary step. Once you have your WOF (except FQs), fold in half lengthwise towards the selvedge edges. Place your ruler at about 2 inch mark above the raw edge for FQ, a bit more for yardage up to 3.5 inches. Wrap the remaining fabric while holding the center or at least the ruler at the end of the fabric edges. If utilizing for FQs, you're starting with half the WOF, meaning you can skip the fold in half.

Carefully pinch as you go to avoid uneven wrapping. Continue to wrap the fabric around your ruler until finished.  If you prefer to tuck in the remaining 1-2 inches or the remaining fabric will not hold on it's own, tuck on the same side you finished on or use a wonder clip to hold in place. Pinch your fabric again, as shown above left and slide your fabric off of the ruler. 

The first few will seem awkward at first but the process gets better with practice. 

Happy Folding, Heather

Lesson Learned

 

10” charms

I still have some sorting to do with the pile as I was chatting & distracted when I worked on it. The oranges from yesterday were folded first & I didn’t want to waste pins keeping them in place. Since I share space with the laundry room, they’re at high risk of rusting & that’s the last thing I want to happen to this fabric collection. 

Moving forward, my sorting needs to occur before I begin folding to avoid issues. When adjusting piles by color, I start with dark on the bottom. I don’t worry about the shades of colors, just know there will be some variations that I used to lump together, darkest first, then I save the cream backgrounds, white backgrounds & multicolored for last since they may play a role in the final Jane layout.

Please note the darkness of the purple on the light backgrounds are not important to me. If they are to you, place them by purple quality then tuck them in at the top of that purple subsection before moving on to the next section darks. 

Happy Sorting, Heather

Folding Begins

                                                                                                         

The air conditioner has been on the fritz lately and the serviceman has had to make several visits to our home. He was able to work around an issue while we wait for a part to arrive, but the sewing room is temporarily unavailable again.

Not to worry, while I wait, there’s plenty of folding to be done. With hub’s help, I can work on that task upstairs. I’ve decided to use the ruler method. It’s still a little wonky working with smaller cuts and it is slow going, but I know I’ll love the cabinet when it’s complete. There are far more quarter yard cuts than I realized & quite a few 10” squares from trades with online quilters a good decade or so ago.  I’m so glad to be sorting these, as they will definitely come in handy soon.

Here’s hoping that your Wednesday is going well. 

Happy organizing,

Heather

A Coffee Cake Kind of Morning

 

I’ve been meaning to bake my husband a coffee cake, he's been working so hard. I decided after yet another sleepless night that this was the perfect day. It came together quickly and smells delicious! Once cooled, powdered (confectioner’s) sugar is sprinkled on the top before cutting.  Cooling just took a half hour without a cooling rack. 

          As for the recipe, the original had mixed reviews for several reasons. I planned to share the recipe immediately but had to alter quite a bit of it. 

Please let me know if you're interested and I can update it after some rest. 

Have a wonderful day, 

Heather

                                                            

Colorizing

The colorizing has begun - this is how I tackle fabric sorting. First, identify the best storage options available to you and expect this to change over time. I like the upgrades and enjoy revisiting fabric prints when this occurs; it often sparks new ideas for projects and gifts.

Next, I have several different types of collector fabric lines from some of my absolute favorite designers. I keep mine separated because I like to use them together in projects, rarely adding from other lines except what I consider to be basics, but my collection is fairly extensive. If you have a general stash, limited space, and/or are not interested in the first division, it's unnecessary. These aren't rules, just organizing options from someone that has spent quite a bit of time growing the sewing room over many years. 

Next, I put each piece into general color categories. For the 30s, I use blue, green, red, pink, orange {I swore I'd never know what to do with 😆}, yellow, black, brown, and cream backgrounds of varying colored conversational prints. Don't worry about values of your fabrics yet, there is plenty of time to create subcategories after folding occurs. 

When you hold/fold/touch it, what is your first instinct? What is your overall read (majority color)? If you don't know, take a break and look at it from far away when you return or add multicolor to your sorting list. You can always change your mind and this is for your benefit. Don't stress about it or take too much time on this element because there are additional sorting stages...and fabric can be moved. Take a deep breath, you've got this. 

For now, I'm leaving the fat quarter "shoe box" for Dear Jane fabrics alone though they're getting wonky again with some pinks and purples squished in there. I purposely left the blue FQ in the middle of the pinks to demonstrate what feels like one color initially. It will stand out from the other prints if it needs to be moved. I used to keep all multiple color fabrics in their own pile when I began sorting 30s; it gets easier over time. 

The new and oh so tall cabinet has vertical space available, which I am definitely not accustomed to. This is a great opportunity to learn a new folding technique. I'd like something easy and consistent, regardless of fabric size. Then the Heather Ross fabric has to move again. Great news - a long, also new cabinet was cleared in today's 30s sorting session. The length should be perfect for yardage. I'll get to the Aneela Hoey, Liberty of London, Kaffe Fassett, and Tula Pinks after the two largest (so far!) collections are complete.  I'm leaning toward moving basics to the first Heather Ross cabinet; just a glance is usually all it takes to grab my coordinating basics, so keeping them to the back of the room should not cause any access issues. The "small" cabinet is the one with the solid doors at the back of the photo to the right.

Happy Sorting,
Heather 

Embroidery Floss & Scrap Storage

As I was looking for some fabric in the sewing room the other day, I realized that I forgot to post the final home for the ever-growing embroidery floss collection. This large glass jar was a gift many years ago and has housed a lot of items in that time.

 The most recent collection stored here were fabric scraps that required much larger storage solutions - the fabrics that I have already used in the construction of the Over the Rainbow 30s Dear Jane. It won't be long and I'll have all those lovely pieces and bits joining the soon to be colorized reproduction collection and I can hardly wait!

Happy sewing & stash organization,
Heather

Printing Quick Projects & Organizing the Sewing Room

 

                     

Good afternoon everyone! I was excited to see the US numbers increasing in the stats this weekend.  💕 I've been clearing out the sewing room after my DH added a couple storage options. I have been sorting, colorizing and moving fabrics around while printing some Alice Caroline Liberty of London Sew Along patterns for a friend's gift bag and related goodies.  

My dearest, oldest friend has been waiting so patiently as I heal from shoulder and multiple wrist surgeries; it's taken far longer than I could have imagined, truly.  They're not a fan of mixing prints or charm projects, so I'll have to pull a 💙 solid, maybe some of the light, yarn-dyed Speckled Blue Essex Linen for the dotty fabric? I'm just not sure yet. 

I don't have enough yardage for a full bag with insert(s) or tool bag, so I'm hoping something like the X fabric will also work for her. It's been so long, maybe it will be more appealing at this point. 

Happy Sewing, Sorting & Planning,

Heather

Judie Rothermel's New Releases & More

Goodies just arrived and I can't wait to work with them! Judie Rothermel's Aunt Grace Goes Scrappy line is as lovely as expected. Some of the prints are re-releases in case you missed the original promotions. Initially, I only purchased small cuts and was a bit late to the party; the additional yardage is certainly welcome. 

The all-pastel jelly roll by Riley Blake will fit right in the growing stash. I decided to go with some smaller cuts of tiny prints that can be utilized in several projects. Reproduction prints and their beautiful, cheery color combinations are still appealing to me after all these years. Of course, the Over the Rainbow Dear Jane is still on my mind, but I also have a few other plans for some upcoming projects once sewing room access is restored. 

DH & the kids have been changing layouts in a couple of bedrooms and the only available temporary storage space available in a pinch was the laundry/sewing room. The applique go-bags and embroidery supplies are somewhere beneath the growing piles. Fingers crossed this process goes quickly, I'm difficult to deal with when I can't piece, applique, quilt, or embroider, as you can imagine. 

Happy Sewing,

Heather

Charms Arrive

Some harder to find 1930s charms arrived today. They may be used in my Dear Jane, with details to come later. I think the eye block in that blue fabric with the white diamonds outlined in black was on my redo list. It's been so long, I could be mistaken.

I was excited to see the Judie Rothermel red lily of the valley fabric. Lily of the valley flowers are my favorite. They were in my wedding bouquet that I designed and arranged. When I was a young girl, they lined my grandmother Lucile's driveway. 

I loved the scent and fragile nature of these beautiful blooms; they'd be nice to have in the yard in the future.

 

My love of flowers started as a toddler when my great grandfather, Eddie showed me how to propagate violets. He grew several perennials, his favorites were his climbing roses and asparagus ferns, a pink and green combination that appealed to me. The grands and great grands have been on my mind lately. It must be time to get that DJ done in honor of my great grandmother, Gladys.

Happy Sewing,
Heather

Embroidery Floss

The embroidery floss took longer to sort than expected. The carrying cases did not work as well as I had hoped but for now, they're sorted and all loose floss has been wrapped around a card. I have a large glass dry goods container somewhere with a lid that could hold everything in one spot. I'd like to keep them off my sewing room counters, if at all possible. 

I'm looking forward to starting some of Aneela Hoey's patterns from her books Little Stitches, Sweet Stitches and Stitch & Sew soon.

Happy Handwork,

Heather

Salsa Fresca/Pico De Gallo & Guacamole

I whipped up some salsa fresca, also known as pico de gallo. It's simple and so delicious! Start with fresh tomatoes, these are heritage varieties that we rarely have access to unless we grow them ourselves. Next, dice half a large or one whole small white onion. I opted to include four jalapeño peppers, sliced, seeds removed and diced roughly the same size of the onion pieces. I'm not a fan of cilantro but LOVE lime juice in my salsa and guacamole. 

Salsa fresca is great served with tortilla chips but I also use it a component of my guacamole. Mash your avocado(s) in a serving dish. Guacamole seasoning is readily available, but I prefer to use the following: 

• Garlic Salt
• Black Pepper or Lemon Pepper
• Onion Powder
• Cayenne
• Thyme
• Chili Powder
• Fresh Cilantro (optional)

Next, add salsa fresca and more lime juice to your seasoned avocado mash. The rough ratio is about one ladle salsa fresca per ripe, soft avocado. If you are making this in advance, be sure to cover in cling wrap, pressing the plastic over the top of the mixture to avoid darkening to a gray-green hue. Be sure to share both the salsa and guacamole paired with fresh restaurant style tortilla chips with guests and family members. Enjoy!

Heather