Whimsicals Threads

Market Prep

As you can imagine, I have been frantically trying to get ready for International Quilt Market, which is in { gasp } less than a week.  Where oh where did the time go?!  

I've had several days in the past few weeks when my parents have graciously come to help out, and because mom always brings her camera and takes pictures, I thought I would let her write a post and share some things from her perspective.  So, let me introduce to you.....

Mom (aka Jackie)!

As you read, you will see that I felt the need to insert a few comments.... you will be able to pick them out, I'm sure!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greetings from Mom!  Terri has granted me the questionable honor of doing a blog for her.  You see, she has been really busy getting ready for Market in Houston.  So being the Mom that I am, she asked me if I'd like to do a "guest blog."   Of course, I couldn't resist the offer.

Dad and I love helping Terri get ready for Market!    Well, I love it and Dad jumps in after I volunteer him.   Actually, our vehicles are trained to make the 60 mile trip between our homes in record time, time and time again!

My first assignment for this market was to show up to help with a new design.   Wellllllll.....any of you who design your own quilts know that great ideas don't always turn into great quilts.  Here's our first effort at using the new fabric line to make a "musical quilt" like Tyler's.  

NOTE:  I don't think I shared the making of Tyler's quilt here on my blog because I was trying to decide if it was going to be in my next book..... Just a few weeks ago, I decided to attempt writing the instructions for it and think I have it figured out, so you will see the final quilt in my new book!  But here is a photo as a little sneek peek since mom brought it up! 

Neither of us were really pleased with what we were seeing, so back to the drawing board we went.   To make a long story short, I headed home with the "notes" and a stack of fabric.  Being as lazy as I am at times, I decided to use only completed blocks for A Brief Note.    I have to admit, its a little "off the wall" or different, but I also have to admit I had a blast doing it!

 

Oops!  There's a stray spool left from another project on my design wall!!!  {hmmm...... wonder if that ended up in a project for this book..... I'm thinking you're going to have to check back to see when I do the sneek peek post!}

After quilting and finishing the quilt, I headed to my embroidery machine and produced three labels for quilts going in the book.   Labels are really important, especially for someone who is old, like me, as I cannot remember who quilted what, or even if I did it or someone else did it--especially after time passes.

Back to Noblesville a couple more times--don't ask me just what we did, but Terri and I were busy all day.

OK--time is really getting short now, so Carol, Terri's assistant, cut fat quarters, many of which ended up back in Lafayette where Dad folded them while I worked on binding a couple things so photos could be taken.  

Back to Noblesville again--whew!  Carol was still cutting while Dad folded more quarters.....I stitched labels in place and attached a sleeve for the Indy quilt show, where Terri entered a wonderful exchange quilt. {I'll post a picture of that quilt at a later date.... it's one of my favorites!}   Carol works on the computer while Dad (the Champion folder) is busy stacking quarters for bundles.

And here they are!!!   Neat, tidy little bundles all ready for the trip to Houston.

 

In addition to getting fat quarters ready, Terri has to finish the back of a rather large quilt.....here she is, diligently working on piecing it.   Notice that its not just a large piece of fabric.....pieced backs are much more fun.

Photos are another "must" in order to publish a book.....The dining room turns into the photo studio!  {sigh.... the photography is NOT my favorite part of doing a book!}

And you surely think Terri treats her quilts like gold---not all the time.   These have been photographed and are ready for the trip.

Oh, and the booth needs to be designed, props selected, etc.    Not sure just what the ball has to do with it, but maybe the little bed will be taking a trip! {The ball was there to hold up the center of the quilt so I could see if it fit on the bed!  Really, I think that is the most action this excercise ball has seen in several months!}

 

There are still a couple of projects to be finished.....to use or not to use, that is the question!    Do the colors work?   How many blocks?   And on, and on, and on.    This one may or may not make it into the book!

One more little detail--Terri always makes sure there's a delicious lunch available for anyone helping her!  {Yum!  My favorite lunch!}

Well, that's about it from Market Prep land.   Hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of what Quilt Market is all about.....it's about a messy house (always time to clean up later) and everyone pitching in to get it done!

Cheers to all, and happy quiltimg from the Whimsicals Mom

 

 

 

 

:: creative storage ::

I so appreciate all your ideas and comments about my room! 

I had to laugh at the number of people who suggested I move to the basement.  Believe me, that has been in the back of my mind for years.  Someday it may actually happen, but there are a lot of things that have to fall into place before I make that big move...... additional heat down there being one of them!!  Maybe after I find a cheap, easy way to make a 20 foot by 20 foot basement with tile floor and paneled walls warmer, I might think more seriously about moving.  But until then......

I'm in a big crunch for time, trying to check things off my to-do list that should have been taken care of long ago, so this will be a quick post, then you may not hear from me for a while again.  I haven't had the time to try any of the sugggestions you have given me, so I thought that today I would share some of my favorite storage solutions.

As you can tell, I have a small space, but still have a lot of things that are packed in there.  Not all of these are practical solutions, mind you.  And not all of them are great solutions either.  But they work for me.  And who knows, they may work for you too.

One of my favorite storage places is this funny little drawer unit that I picked up at a local antique shop many years ago.  I say that it is funny because the drawers are all cigar boxes, which are too long for the openings that they sit in.  It sits almost 2" from the wall in the back so that the boxes "almost" close in the front!  But thy are the perfect size to hold spools of thread, floss, needle case, small scissors, measuring tapes, pins..... you name something small and I probably have it in one of those drawers! 

The top drawer that I have half open holds many of the needle cases that I've made out of old asprin tins, wool, and even the little tin cases that Fossil gift cards come in!  I'll have to do a post on that someday......

And you can see how neat and tidy I am when I put away my tape measures.  Mixing the old with the new..... you have to love it!!!!

And I'm sure you are familiar with the saying "out of sight, out of mind"?  Well, that is so true for me!  So I have many things that I put in glass jars, like threads, lace trim and buttons......

This way, I get to look at them all the time, and the those little balls of thread are so colorful sitting there.  The smaller jar is full of little felted wool balls that I bought thinking that I would use them for.... well, I'm sure I had a good idea at the time, but it escapes me right now! 

Spools like these are all over the place in antique stores, so I have lots of them and find that they work great for wrapping ribbons and trims, and they are fun to look at too!

Now, you may have wondered (or maybe you didn't) why I have the dry sink in my room and what is in it.  Besides holding my ironing board on the top of it, I have stacks of wool inside of it....

 

And in the little opening beside my ironing board, I keep my Best Press, water, little scissors, etc.  It keeps it within easy reach while I'm ironing, yet out of the way so that the cord doesn't knock things off onto the floor.  It's not the neatest area, but it works! 

The one problem with the wool inside is that I still need to find some boxes (besides these cardboard file boxes) that are the right size to easily slide in and out.  These have worked for several years, but are starting to get all beat up on the bottom from pulling them out all the time.  But, they hold all those little scraps that don't fold nicely, so it's nice to have them contained and in a box that is easy to dig through.

And you can see that I'm not neat about putting the nicely folded wool away either, as I look at this picture! 

Okay, so I need to get back to work and try to warm up.  It's only supposed to get up to 14 degrees tomorrow, so I'm going to stay inside next to my little space heater, and hope to get a lot of work done!

'til next time......

terri

:: my room, an overview ::

Thanks so much for all the comments!! They all give me something to think about!

I realize that it would probably help to see an overview of my entire room and give you a bit more information, so I tried to tidy it up a bit and took a few more pictures.  I thought about standing in the middle of the room and clicking pictures as I turned in a circle, but the room is too small for you to see much of anything unless you are physically standing here with me.  Seriously.  It is a bedroom that measures almost 11 feet by 13 feet. But, it's my own little space, so it works!

You already saw part of the wall with my sewing table, so here is the rest, moving around the room.

Right now, this dry sink holds my wool inside and my homemade ironing board on top.  The nice thing about it is that I can stick things in the space under the ironing board.  But really, it's too tall in front of the window.  It's a picky thing, I know, but from outside, when the blinds are open, you see the icky back of this, and it covers the heat register.  Also, being only 5 feet tall, I have a really hard time reaching over it to open the window!

To give me added space, I took the doors off the closet and built in a desk, which made sense 7 years ago when I did it.  But since then, I've realized that we put the desk too low and I can't even get a file cabinet to fit underneath, so right now, I have it stuffed with bolts of fabric that I'm trying to find a place for.  I've thought about converting it back into a closet so that I can put my fabric in there, but then I'd have to find a desk, which leads to more issues.....

And in case you are wondering about the wall shelf above my computer.... I had my brother make that for me and I love it, but there again, I need to figure out how to make better use of the space.  More about that at a later date.....

This is a little wider look where you can see the start of my own custom made design wall (complete with a cutout for the outlet!!)

And the rest of my design wall.  Notice that I had to take the door off of the room in order to use this wall, which works out okay until the basement (which is right down the hallway you see there) is filled with teenage boys and their music/video games.  Ahh..... what I wouldn't give for a door on those days!!  But, I only have 8 more months until he's off to college, and I know that I'll be missing it then, so don't even let me get started.....

And now, we're back to where we started, messy table and all.  See my sewing table there on the left? 

Now, before your jaw drops, thinking that this is all the fabric I have, understand that this is where I do most of my work, but not all.  In previous posts, I've given glimpses of the "oozing" effect that comes with having a business in the home, and you can tell that my dining room is used more for Whimsicals than it is for dining.  That is also where I lay out large quilts because it's the only room with a floor that's large enough.  The up side to that is the exercise I get running between the rooms and up and down the half flight of stairs when I'm working on something!

So, there you have it.  I can't believe that I actually am putting pictures of my sewing room here for everyone to see, and I'm hoping they don't end up on some weird website showcasing "what NOT to do", but I guess I took that risk when I first decided to ask for your suggestions!  I'll take some closer pictures of each area for the next few posts, so that you can get a better idea of what I'm trying to work out and accomplish. 

But in the meantime, I need to get to work.  Can't wait to see what kind of suggestions I get this time!