In my studio I have 3 of these 7 foot tall bookcases with my fabric on them. It doesn't make sense to have a 6' shelving when the ceiling is 8'. However I am not tall so the top shelf always looks messy because I am up on the tips of my toes stretching to put anything back up there that I have pulled down. I have a small design wall to the left of this unit and the other 2 bookcases are at the other end of the room. If a "normal" family lived here this would be a family room off the kitchen. When they built houses in 1953 they weren't grand rooms like they have now for family rooms. This is just a plain 11' x 15' room with 3 nice sized windows.
My blacks and whites live in the basement sewing area and are in 2 blanket storage boxes up on end on a shelf. The one on the right contains the best stuff, all of the positive/negative prints and the clearest whites. The one on the left has whatever I was using last thrown in on top of the pile of creamier whites, blacks with gray in them and prints I am not as fond of.
So there is a taste of my stash. Yes, I have a lot of fabric, but my jobs over the years have all been related to fabric, teaching, giving programs, making store samples, and I have had a store discount for most of the years, so it didn't cost me the regular retail price. Sewing has been a great joy in my life since I learned to sew in home ec. in high school and was in 4-H sewing with the help of my best friend's mother.
This is where they all start. It is under my cutting table and easy to just throw the scraps onto the top shelf. If it is a bigger piece, but less than 1/4 yard, it goes on the bottom shelf.
When that gets full, it is time to sort. Bigger pieces go in one bag, the smaller ones sorted by color and individually bagged go into the other.
Long strips, usually the generous clean up cut, go into this orange mesh cube. When it is too messy, I start sorting in there by warm (red, yellow, orange) and cool (blue, green, purple) and all black and whites are put in a plastic bag.
All of the smaller scraps eventually get sorted into color bins. These are what I work out of when I am making
this kind of block. I have 69 blocks so far but they are going to finish at 6 inches so I think I need a lot more. I may try some ideas, take pictures, and then take them down off the design wall.
My eyes are OK he says. That is good news with all of the eye problems I may inherit from my mother. I take after my dad's side of the family for most things so I hope this is true for eye problems too.Elsie wants me to show my stash, especially my scrap bin stash so I will spend part of the afternoon taking pictures. Does anyone want to see my yardage stash too?
The whole object of colorwash is to have the fabrics/colors all run together in such a manner that you don't really see the division of the squares making the whole. I made this one in January this year. It kind of gives a blurred image which is what I will be seeing after the eye dr. dilates my eyes today. It is the day of my yearly eye exam so no close work until the eyes focus again.
Here we have another picture where I wasn't standing directly in front of the quilt, and yes it really is square. This is another of those batik panels that I love to buy and rarely use. The blocks around it are "Easy Pieces" by Margaret J. Miller. One day about 8 years ago a friend and I sewed blocks all day. I did lime green ones, blue ones, and turquoise ones. I have made 3 quilts out of them but the other 2 aren't quilted yet. I found this border fabric about 2 years after I had put the blocks together into a top.
Yesterday was busy from morning to night. In the afternoon I hired a guy to come wash the outsides of my windows and to take out a window air conditioner that just wasn't working well. It was in the north window of my studio so now I have 3 windows, unobstructed to let light in.
This page shows "Cross Strap Play Shoes" and "Humpty Dumpty". Can you imagine the stir you would make if you wore those shoes in public today? I imagine they mean bedroom slippers because in 1948 chances are your "play" was at home.
This one doesn't have a date on it but by the looks of the sewing machine I would say 40's or early 1950's.
I remember having some of these footwarmers.
I found these booklets while looking for something else, and no I haven't found what I am looking for.
These boxes contain the trays of 2 1/2" squares, one box of regular fabrics and one box of batik fabrics.
This is my bin of 2 1/2" strips for use with 2" Thangles.
I made the blocks for this quilt in 2005 but never got around to the layout. My friends who I used to work with came over last Wednesday and I finally got it designed. Over the next 3 days I got it sewn together. I'm not sure I like it but I think it will look great on a twin bed with the darker outside edge hanging over the sides and the lighter part on top of the bed. It is 72" x 96".
My blacks and whites live in the basement sewing area and are in 2 blanket storage boxes up on end on a shelf. The one on the right contains the best stuff, all of the positive/negative prints and the clearest whites. The one on the left has whatever I was using last thrown in on top of the pile of creamier whites, blacks with gray in them and prints I am not as fond of.
So there is a taste of my stash. Yes, I have a lot of fabric, but my jobs over the years have all been related to fabric, teaching, giving programs, making store samples, and I have had a store discount for most of the years, so it didn't cost me the regular retail price. Sewing has been a great joy in my life since I learned to sew in home ec. in high school and was in 4-H sewing with the help of my best friend's mother.
When that gets full, it is time to sort. Bigger pieces go in one bag, the smaller ones sorted by color and individually bagged go into the other.
Long strips, usually the generous clean up cut, go into this orange mesh cube. When it is too messy, I start sorting in there by warm (red, yellow, orange) and cool (blue, green, purple) and all black and whites are put in a plastic bag.
All of the smaller scraps eventually get sorted into color bins. These are what I work out of when I am making
this kind of block. I have 69 blocks so far but they are going to finish at 6 inches so I think I need a lot more. I may try some ideas, take pictures, and then take them down off the design wall.
Yesterday was busy from morning to night. In the afternoon I hired a guy to come wash the outsides of my windows and to take out a window air conditioner that just wasn't working well. It was in the north window of my studio so now I have 3 windows, unobstructed to let light in.