Moving Day...

...has finally arrived. Thank you to all of you who continue to visit my blog despite the fact I've been posting about once a month. I promise as soon as I get settle in my new home I will start blogging again about the sewing in my life.

It's amazing how much fabric I have accumulated in just a few short months.  I came across several patterns and kits I picked up that I had forgotten about.  I found bags of fat quarters I had bought on visits to local and distant quilt shops that I had forgotten about.  And don't even get me started on the BOM packets that I found scattered around....

I ended up filling a HUGE container (the big plastic ones with the wheels on one end) and another Tuff Stuff container with fabrics.  And, that's not including the sewing machine, sewing notions, rulers, organizers, books, etc.  Wow.  It will be fun finally having a room where I can spread out and get my sewing area properly set up.  But, still, wow.

Thanks for following me on the journey.  In same ways, I feel as though I am just beginning.  So tell me, what's your secret to organizing your sewing room?

In the Good Ol' Summertime Mini Quilt Swap, Part III

I just wanted to post some pics...



Nice bright strips of fabric, the camera doesn't do them justice.









Now, what are we going to do with these squares, I wonder?












Is that a rose I see, or something entirely different?






Keep watching this space! More to come...

Staying Organized

I am back to working my usual 12 hour shifts this month so I have very little time most days to sew. I did manage to make a few blocks over the weekend, and am working on my fish for the Up a Lazy River Quilt. They look sooo good! Posting soon.

I thought I would take a sec and show how I have my sewing area set up. Living in an apartment is hard on space. Within the next two years I will finally have a house and be able to set up my dedicated craft room. Until then, here's my work corner...
I made a hanging organizer for my rulers and grids out of some leftover materials so I could keep them out of the way... when I remember to put them away :) I used a desk organizer for my sewing supplies. I can't believe I have almost filled it!
I cleaned off a couple of shelves in a book case for my fabrics and books.

I found these great baskets on sale at Target and these letter holders were in Target's dollar area.
I didn't have a use for them until I started sewing. Now when I start cutting my pieces, I just pile them into the boxes to keep them organized, and as I work on one project or the other, I just pull out the letter holder I need. Keeps everything together.


Another thing that I do is put a Post-it on magazines or books as I start to read through them for the first time. It marks projects I am interested in, or patterns I want to try. I like the look of all the little flags in my growing library... that's a lot of creative sewing just waiting to happen.
I'm able to keep my sewing machine to the side of this work table when I am cutting, and I have an ironing board I drop to the level of the table and put at my side when I am doing my piecing.


And, there it is! I would love to hear how you keep yourself organized?!?!

In Purse-uit of Happiness

I love purses... especially totes. I had to run to the fabric store to pick up some supplies, etc, and I saw these fun fabrics and a neat little pattern for a tote bag.

So, I took some free time and put this little bag together. It actually looks pretty sturdy. I can't wait to use it this summer.

I also bought the fabric for another one of my projects, but more on that later.... for now, I am just going to enjoy my new purse....

A New Distraction

I haven't had a lot of time for the photo challenges over the last several weeks. Then, just a few weeks ago, I bought a sewing machine. I had wanted one for a while just because it would make hemming and fixing clothing just a little easier. This time, I had just received some new scrubs for work that needed to be altered more extensively than I could do well by hand. So I bought one.

It's a nice beginner's machine. Very simple, and it's easy to use. I imagined just making a lot of straight lines. Of course, once I got started I found I was finding more and more projects to sew. Then came the trip to the fabric store because I "needed some thread."

While there, I remembered a book I had bought that showed how to make teddy bears (which I love.) Well, then I thought I had to buy just a "little fabric" to attempt to make a bear. I bought a few inexpensive remnants and here is my first bear.That night I was looking at the beautiful quilt my friend's mother made for me when I graduated from medical school. Then I was thinking to the Amish quilts I had seen on a recent trip to Pennsylvania, and I began to wonder how hard it would be to make a quilt. I started looking at websites, looked at patterns, and thought, "I can do that!"

So now here I am, several fabric trips and book buying ventures later, with several projects in the works. Here is my growing work pile. I will post progress on various projects as I go along. I would love to hear your comments and suggestions, plus I will be adding some of the various sewing sites I have found while surfing the web for my new hobby.

Cheers!