Monday Mis En Place

Over the weekend, I had the chance to sit down and leaf through a fabulous book my mom lent me:

I've always been a cluttered person and my sewing space is no exception!  The fact that I have a toddler really only compounds the problem, since I only have small windows of sewing time and I rarely  "waste" that time cleaning up in between projects or organizing my space.

On top of that, we are expecting bundle of joy #2 in July ... which means that Bundle #1 is moving into his big boy bedroom next month ... and I have to find a place for all of the sewing goodies I've stashed there now ... in my office/sewing room/fabric shop ... and still be able to function in that space!

So, it's time to make some permanent changes!

Step #1 in Carolyn's book is to identify the causes of the clutter.  Easy enough - that's me. :)  I tend to pile things (on the desk, the floor, my workspace, the bookshelf) rather than sort through them and put them away.  I also have a nasty habit of starting new projects on top of old projects, and then rearranging stacks as I need things.

Once you've identified the root of the problem, the idea is to do a deep clean and then reorganize all your goodies into organized stations based on your needs.

While I can't do any heavy lifting right now, and bending over is a bit of a challenge, I did manage to at least straighten up my main workstation this morning!

My first station is my ironing station, which sits at table height (so that I can press while sitting down).  It's perpendicular to my sewing machine so that it's quick and easy to sew, press, and then sew some more - all by just swiveling in my chair.  My design wall sits directly behind the iron board, so that it's easy to lay out blocks as I finish pressing them.  This isn't a new set-up for me, but I find that it really works and so it's definitely staying in place.

My sewing station is in the corner of the room, right next to the only window.  Unfortunately, it's a difficult place to photograph, but again, the set up near the ironing board works for me.  What doesn't work is that all my thread and sewing machine accessories are housed all the way across the room in the closet.  Most of the time, this isn't a problem, as I'm piecing with my giant spool of white thread ... but I'm thinking that it would be nice to have everything within arms reach.

I'm lucky enough to have a 70" rotary mat, so I usually use the end closest to the sewing machine as a staging area for block construction and trimming.  This week, I'm working on my Civil War piece, Shiloh.  These blocks just fly together, even with the paper-pieced borders, so I'm hoping to be posting a finish and the new pattern by the end of the month!

The end of the table houses my fabric for my current projects - I'm limiting myself to just two on the table at a time! - along with a second trash bin and any tools that I'd like to keep handy.  There's a spare monitor living there at the moment, but it'll hopefully be finding it's more permanent home on our desk in the very near future.

Finally, some of my more frequently used my sewing gadgets (which are in desperate need of tidying) are hanging on the wall at the end of the table.  The rest are housed in my sewing boxes in the closet.  Again, I've had this set up in place for quite awhile, but for the most part, it seems to work for me.

All in all, I think I'm off to a good start.  Hubby is planning on hanging some of those fabulous Ikea shelves along the wall, so that I'll be able to easily move projects out the way when I need to cut yardage, or assemble kits.

Next up ... the overstuffed bookshelf ... and in all honesty, the pile in front of it. :)   Happy sewing!

Design Wall Monday!

I'm so happy to actually have finished some sewing this weekend, even in spite of the triple digit heat wave we're experiencing.  Last week's epiphany led to several more "Ah Ha!" moments over the weekend, and I was finally able to complete several blocks in my latest project!

I recently treated myself to an Etchings fat quarter bundle to use specifically with this pattern and the fabric is just so beautiful to work with!  It's so silky, which makes piecing and pressing a dream!

Eventually, these cross blocks will be joined with floral blocks to make an 80" square quilt!  I'm not quite sure if I want to tackle the quilting on this one on my own yet!

I also made some great progress on Shiloh.  The paper pieced setting triangles slow things down a bit and makes for a ton of scrap fabric and wasted paper ... but boy do those points come together beautifully!

Since my little one decided on an early bedtime tonight, I'm hoping to finish at least four more Shiloh blocks ... that is if I don't get distracted by my latest Nook purchase!

I cannot put this book down!  I've flown through the almost 600 pages in less than a week and I'm so thankful that the sequel was released last month - I'll probably be picking that up tonight!  If you're looking for a fantastic summer read, especially for one with a little bit of fantasy, lots of history & research, a bibliophile, a love story, and fantastic wine ... all tied together by a superb author ... pick this book up now!

In the meantime, don't forget to stop by Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times.  Happy Sewing!

Fabric Tuesday

Well, my design wall didn't stay empty for long!  

This is the first block for my new quilt tentatively named, "Shiloh" - more on the name soon.  I can't wait to share, since it's a beautiful story!

This block is a traditional 1930's Dogtooth Violet block.  The historian in me really would like to know more about the pattern and how it originated, but there just doesn't seem to be any information out there on the web.  Does anyone know of any good sources?

I'm really enjoying working with Barbara Brackman's line, Lately Arrived from London.  As I mentioned yesterday, this is the first Civil War Reproduction fabric I've ever purchased.  Originally, I toyed around with making a quilt with a classic 19th century block to really showcase the fabric, but I just kept returning to this block.  I'm really pleased with how it's turning out!

When I originally mapped the pattern out in EQ6, I had planned on using two of the lighter background-ish type prints in the line for the sides of the setting triangles ... but then I spent all my fabric allowance for the month on a beautiful fat quarter stack ... so I decided to throw caution to the wind!  I used my go to white-on-white print that I already had on hand.   It's definitely not traditional, but so far I'm loving how the white just makes the dark, Victorian-ish colors pop! 

After struggling with all the triangular points on my Robot Roulette quilt, I decided to give foundation piecing a shot with the setting triangles, and boy, am I in love!  Granted, the fabric waste is much higher with this method of piecing, but man - absolutely perfectly pieced blocks are so worth the waste!!

Ummm ... quick tangent for a minute: has anyone else experienced difficulties with foundation patterns printing from EQ6 in the WRONG SIZE????  After making several test blocks, I just couldn't figure out why my block wasn't working out.  I checked my math several times, because surely the error was my fault ... and not the fancy computer program's fault.

Sure enough, my math was right, thank you very much ... and the foundation pattern printed directly from EQ6 was over 1/4" too small!  Unfortunately, I already printed the foundation pieces for the entire quilt already and had to reprint them in the correct size ... so this pattern will be responsible for the death of not one, but two small trees.  Won't be making that mistake again!

So, now that everything is all worked out - and little man and his Dad are happily enjoying some male bonding time this evening in the front room - I'm off to enjoy a glass of CG Di Arie's Primitivo Block 4 {YUM!}, watch some trash TV, and piece my little heart out!

Be sure to stop by Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story to see all the other awesome projects going on in blogland!