Sorry, (Not Sorry), This Is NOT a Nine Patch Variation

If you've signed up to receive the email newsletter from the International Quilt Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, you were treated to a photo of this glorious Civil War era antique quilt by an unknown maker yesterday:

93.5 x 85.5 Quilt From IQM Collection, circa 1860-1880

Look at the masterful color and value placement and deployment of design principles in this quilt that was created by someone who definitely did not have a "design wall" and probably didn't have any formal art training, either.  I love how those two opposite L-shaped brackets of darker blocks and the dark brown blocks surrounding the blue ones in the center create framing and structure similar to a medallion quilt for a one-block quilt that could have been dizzyingly busy with a random block placement.  I love how the strips of pink blocks do the same thing, but with more subtlety.  I love the glimmer of the teal center patches and the one block with the bright blue.  I was immediately captivated by this quilt, but scratched my head by its designation by the museum as a "Nine Patch Variation" and the newsletter description stating that this quilt contained "small diamonds" in addition to squares, rectangles and triangle patches.  

New Year's Day 2026: Studio Setup Continues with Design Wall, Ruler Peg Wall + Quilting Thread Racks

Hello and Happy New Year 2026.  I hope you all enjoyed wonderful holidays with your loved ones that were some combination of happy/healthy/peaceful/blessed/magical/exciting/restful and all the other good adjectives.  For those of us whose holidays were tarnished by things like grief/sadness/illness/disappointment/loneliness, I am sending out a big virtual group hug and a high five to you right now, because we made it through and we survived and now we are looking at a blank sheet of paper, a fresh bolt of fabric, and an empty design wall of possibilities for what we will choose to make of this brand new year.  Carpe Annum 2026!

The extra work of the Christmas season -- shopping, wrapping, Christmas cards, returning and exchanging -- necessitated a pause in the work of unpacking from our recent move and setting up my sewing studio in the new house, but we've used some of the quiet days between Christmas and New Year's to make progress in the studio again.  No, none of these Stonefields blocks is newly created, but this is the first time I'm seeing them again since I packed them up in Florida in October.  I have been struggling with motivation in recent weeks, especially with regards to setting up my sewing space, and I am hoping that these little quilt blocks will cheer me up and summon my "sewjo" to return to me.

Stonefields Blocks Unpacked and Back On My Design Wall

Here's what I decided to do with my design wall:

96 x 96 Design Wall Installed on Obtuse Angle Adjacent Walls

The new studio space has lots of windows and closet space.  Wall space suitable for an 8' x 8' design wall was in shorter supply.  I considered putting the design wall behind my long arm machine, but realized that there wasn't enough room back there for me to be climbing up and down on a step stool to arrange blocks.  So I convinced my husband that the design wall should go in this corner of the room instead:

Happiness is a Missing Wall Between the Sewing Room and the Long Arm Quilting Studio

You guys, I am SO EXCITED by this dreary photo that my son snapped for me at 2 AM:

The Wall is Gone!  This Is My New Studio in North Carolina!!

That is where there used to be a wall dividing a basement "guest bedroom" from a small "exercise room."  My builders started the renovation this week and they have ripped out the flooring and removed the offending wall.  I know it doesn't look like much at this point, but the photo was taken from the former exercise room where my sewing machine and serger cabinets will be set up, looking through the new opening to the former bedroom where my long arm machine will be set up with my thread racks and ruler racks on the walls, and that black door leads to a nice, big closet that will store all of my batting.  

If that doesn't motivate me to get cracking and get packing, nothing will!  That's all you get from me today because I'm headed out to get more boxes and packing supplies!

I'm linking up with nothing and nobody because this the shortest blog post ever.  

September Goals: Stonefields, FrankenWhiggish, Inherited UFO + BIG News for Rebecca

Happy Labor Day in the United States and Happy September, everyone!  I have a lot going on right now and my Big News (which I shall reveal towards the END of today's post) is going to dictate which projects and tasks take priority this month.

Stonefields Quilt

First, let's talk about my Stonefields quilt, because I am delighted with this project so far.  These blocks have been such a treat to work on!  All 13 of the blocks from Month One are now completed and on the design wall.  All blocks will finish at 6", but the applique backgrounds were cut oversized and will need to be trimmed down.  Because I use starch and glue in my applique preparation methods, I am thinking I might wash my applique blocks before trimming them down to size.  The serged edges will prevent them from fraying whether I hand wash them in a little dish pan or -- gasp! -- put them in a lingerie bag and run them through the washing machine on the Hand Wash Delicates cycle.  Honestly, that is probably exactly what I will do, because I know the washing machine will get all the glue and starch out very efficiently and I am more curious about what will happen in the washing machine than I am worried about what will happen in the washing machine.  

Stonefields Blocks 1-13 Completed, Appliqué Blocks Need Trimming to Size

My Sawtooth Star blocks were foundation paper pieced on the sewing machine, most of my applique blocks were stitched by hand, but the final Posy Pot block is a mixture of some shapes stitched by hand and other shapes stitched with my Bernina B990 sewing machine:

Stonefields Block 13 "Posy Pot"

I am absolutely delighted with my customized invisible machine appliqué stitch and how closely I got it to resemble the look of my own personal hand stitching.  

Custom Quilting Progress on the 1984 Sampler Quilt

Good morning and Happy Thursday!  I've been making progress with the custom quilting on my friend's circa 1984 sampler quilt.  There are certain editing tools and features in Q-Matic (the computer robotics package that enables me to quilt digitally with my Bernina Q24 long arm machine) that don't get used in edge-to-edge quilting, and I'm learning more about how to use them to size and skew digital quilting designs to fit inside the imperfect shapes of patchwork pieced by humans.  My friend Marybeth is being extremely patient; I think I've had this quilt in my possession for six months at least, and most of that time I've been procrastinating and agonizing and catastrophizing about all of the ways I might mess it up...  But I'm feeling better about it now and I think it's going to look pretty good when it comes off the frame and I can see it as a whole instead of zooming in on every little imperfection.

Digital Block Design with Digital Sashing Design

I'm trying to balance out the different types of quilting throughout the quilt.  I think I have maybe three blocks like the one above where I've stitched one digital design across the entire block.  That can be quite lovely when it's a good pairing between the quilting design and the patchwork.  I did stitch in the ditch quilting in the patchwork seams prior to stitching the block design but some quilters would choose to just do the block design to save time (and to save money, if someone was paying for the custom quilting).

P2P Triangle Design with Separate Digital Motif in Block Center

In the block above, I quilted a P2P (Point to Point) digital design one at a time in each of the red print triangles.  Then I quilted a separate digital design in the center of the block.  I'll go back later and quilt the red and blue solid patches, probably straight line quilting with rulers.  I'm learning (belatedly!) that it's more efficient to do all of one type of quilting throughout the quilt before moving on to a different type of quilting.  When I started working on this quilt I knew enough to do all of my basting and SID (Stitch In the Ditch quilting along all the seam lines) throughout the entire quilt before rolling back up to the top of the quilt to start on the fun quilting that actually shows, but then I tried to quilt one row completely (digital designs, ruler work, free motion quilting, multiple thread color changes etc) before moving on to the next row.  

New Cabinets, New Machines + Deco Returns to the Design Wall

Good Morning and Happy February, everyone!  My kitchen and bath remodeling that was supposed to be complete by January 20th is still not done, and we've moved into the home we're remodeling in that our furniture is here and we're sleeping here, but we're not really moved in because there is still so much unpacking and organizing and figuring out where things are going to go, in a house that is even smaller than the last one and also most likely temporary.  I took a break from all of that last night to get out my Deco quilt project (dating back to November of 2021) and arrange the blocks on my design wall.

Deco Quilt WIP, will finish at 102 x 102

My main motivation for getting Deco up on the design wall was so I could physically count how many more of these green and indigo checkerboard-like blocks I need to make.  The directions in the Deco Quilt pattern by Lo & Behold Stitchery involve faster strip piecing construction, but I wasn't able to follow those directions because I decided it would be fun to use 12 different colors instead of 6, and I also decided it would just be easier to to cut all the patches individually with AccuQuilt dies and then sew the blocks one by one rather than figuring out how to adapt the pattern instructions to my custom color scheme.  And now here I am, up to my armpits in the consequences of those decisions as the quilt top construction drags out across three and a half years, four different sewing machines, three different sewing rooms, and two household moves.

Let's Make Blocks That Are Too Small On Our New Sewing Machine!

I traded in my Bernina 790 Plus and my embroidery-only Bernina 700E sewing machines for the new TOL (top-of-the-line) model, the Bernina B 990.  (Two reasons: I wanted to reduce the number of sewing machines I own so I can work more efficiently in a smaller space, and I'm looking forward to playing with some of the new high tech features on this machine).  The first thing I sewed with the new machine were two of these Deco quilt blocks, and they both finished too small because I forgot that I need to sew with a SCANT quarter inch seam (vs a true quarter inch seam).  Well, guess what?  I'm using them anyway and I'll fudge them when I join the blocks together.  So there!

There's a Design Wall in My Hallway Full of Deco Blocks! But it Looks, Umm, ROUGH...

First, the good news: there's a 96" x 96" design wall in my hallway across from the entrance to my sewing room, and my Deco Quilt blocks are up on the wall.  Hooray!  This is the project-in-progress that was on the design wall in my old studio in North Carolina right before I had to pack everything up and move to Florida this past December.  It's good to see those blocks out again, especially since now I can see the progress I made working on additional blocks here and there throughout the move.  Woot woot!

My Scandi Deco Bed Quilt Blocks Are Up on My Brand-New Design Wall

Now for the bad news: this new design wall did not turn out anywhere near as nice as the old one, and it's going to require immediate revision.  For one thing, we shouldn't have put it up so high -- my fault entirely, as I thought it might be nice to be able to plug a vacuum cleaner into the bottom outlet socket.  We should move it down to completely cover the outlet so it's centered nicely from top to bottom the way it's centered from side to side.

Bernie Said "Quick, Cover It Up With Your Quilt Blocks!"

Actually, what Bernie said was "I KNEW it was going to look like crap.  Cover it up with your quilt blocks so I don't have to look at it."  

Rebecca's New Sewing Room Tour

I don't have much appreciable progress on any of my personal quilts in progress to share with you.  I have been really busy with remodeling and furnishing our new home, since we got rid of so much worn and outdated furniture when we moved.  I'm still working on piecing those double nine patch Tilda blocks that I wrote about in March, just in 5-10 minute increments here and there when I get a chance.  I've managed to finish piecing only two of the six double 9-patch blocks that I cut out eight weeks ago.  How's that for "slow stitching?!"  

Two Nine Inch Blocks Completed, Four More In Progress

Much more progress has been made in the Herculean task of trying to fit all of my sewing and craft goodies from our 3-story home in North Carolina into our MUCH smaller home here in Florida.  The solid maple butcher block top that I had for my giant 97" x 42" cutting table in North Carolina underwent a major amputation in order to repurpose it for a cutting table that would fit in my new 11' 4" x 11' 6" sewing room:

Bernie Sawing My Butcher Block Cutting Table In Half

You can read all about my old cutting table in this blog post from 2013 if you're interested.  

New Cutting Table, 42 W x 61 L x 39 H

My new cutting table utilizes the same custom MDF base units that Bernie built for me in 2013 in a different configuration, and it measures 42" wide by 61" long.  I'm about 5’7” tall and my cutting table height is 39".  

My Slow Progress: Scrappy Tilda Celebration, Scandi Deco, New Sewing Room + Kitchen Update

Hello from sunny Naples, Florida, my lovelies!  Happy Spring and Happy Easter to all who are celebrating!  Son the Younger went off to spend the weekend with a friend in North Carolina, but Son the Elder, Bernie and I will be having Easter dinner with Bernie's dad and sister.  Alas, no little ones hunting eggs or keeping their eyes peeled to spot an Easter bunny.  Those years sure went by fast!

I haven't written a blog post in a LONG time, so fair warning -- I have lots to say.  ;-)

My Tilda Scrappy Celebration

On to the eye candy, because I know that's what you're here for.  My most recent accomplishment was cutting out all of the pieces for six of these double nine patch blocks, for my Scrappy Celebration quilt project.  The small scale green floral is Tilda Farm Flowers in Green (available here on Etsy).  This fabric is also included in the Tilda's Jubilee Mega Blenders Bundle if, like me, you are crushing on Tilda prints lately and want to add a whole coordinated assortment of these sweet Norwegian prints to your current projects (or to your stash -- no judgement!).  And now, for that icky but necessary disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking on one of my links, I might be compensated at no additional cost to you.  I feel so dirty now.  Moving on...  

The rose pink solid in the center of my little 9-patch blocks is from a Tilda Solids fat eighths bundle (not sure which shade), the little white squares were cut from my bolt of Moda Bella Solids Off White, and that low volume print with diagonal blue stripes and tiny red dots was pulled from my stash of Who Knows What Purchased Who Knows When.  I'm looking forward to piecing these blocks!

Yummy Tilda Fabrics Cut and Laid Out, Ready to Sew

I'm sure that, if I was following Lissa Alexander's pattern for my Scrappy Celebration-inspired quilt, the instructions probably involve time-saving strip piecing techniques.  However, when I began this project my rotary cutters and rulers were still packed in boxes somewhere, and they are still packed in boxes somewhere since we need to make modifications (amputations!) to my ginormous worktable before it will fit in the much smaller sewing room of our new house in Florida.  So instead of cutting strips for my nine patch blocks, I cut out all of my squares individually with my AccuQuilt GO! fabric cutting dies.  

A Sampler Block, a Custom Ironing Table, and a Custom QOV for Harold

Lest you think I've not been making any progress at all on my own projects, I have this block to show for myself:

Another 5 inch Block Completed for my Retro '80s Sampler

I've actually finished several more 5" blocks for my Retro '80s Building Blocks sampler quilt besides this one -- I only have six left, plus borders and corner blocks.  The photo below was taken a few weeks ago and doesn't show any of the new blocks.  What it does show is my new, fancy-schmancy custom ironing table, built by my "Handy Husband":

Rebecca's Fancy-Schmancy Custom Ironing Table

24 x 48 Custom Ironing Table

I have been searching in vain for an ideal quilter's ironing board, and I finally talked my husband into building one to my specifications.  

Studio Tour: Let There Be Light! And Also, Thread! Upgrades From My Sweetie

You guys, I am SO EXCITED about the wire cable track lighting that my husband installed above my new Bernina long arm last night!  I LOVE IT! 💕💕💕

Wire Cable Track Lighting Installed Above My New Q24

The Bernina Q24 has plenty of bright LED lighting along the throat of the machine head itself, but I wanted the entire length of the frame lit up from one side to the other so I can inspect each section of a quilt as I'm advancing it on the frame.  Bright task lighting enables me to find and remove any pet fur or stray threads before they get quilted in, and makes it easier to notice things like open seams that my hopping foot could catch in if I didn't see them ahead of time.

Bright Lighting Helps Me Spot Problems Like This Open Seam

That photo above with an open seam was my own kaleidoscope quilt, by the way -- I am not a perfect piecer, either!  (When I see something like that as I'm quilting, I like to mark it with a hand stitched tailor tack in contrasting thread so it's easier to find it later when I want to hand stitch that spot closed).

Free-Motion Quilting with My New, Snazzy Quilt Beast: Meet the Bernina Q24!

Now that the vintage Corn & Beans quilt has been repaired and returned to its owner, I finally had a chance to start playing with my new Bernina Q24 long arm machine yesterday.  I am in Quilting Heaven!

First Free-Motion Stitches on my New Q24

This is a preprinted practice panel that I bought from Lisa Calle when I took her long arm quilting workshop in Paducah in 2019.  My Q24 was delivered with a full bobbin's worth of orange thread, so I threaded her up with a cone of So Fine thread, color Orange Julius in the needle for the maiden voyage.  I haven't done any free motion quilting at all for nearly a year, having been so focused on learning that IntelliQuilter computerized quilting system, so I'm a bit rusty -- but I just love how  this machine handles for free motion work.

Giverny Teleidoscope Quilt Progress + Custom Sewing Cabinet Modifications

I'm still chugging along with my son's high school graduation quilt, in fits and snatches!  The real challenge is coming up with new pictures for each post about it, because it looks pretty much the same up on the design wall regardless of whether seams have been sewn together yet!  

Giverny Teleidoscope In Progress

You can't see the whole thing in the photo above, but the top six rows have corners attached and blocks sewn together into rows.  I have three more rows to go with attaching corners and joining blocks into rows.  There are no borders planned for this quilt, so once the top has been sewn together, it will be ready for quilting.

Order In the Studio: DIY Wall Mounted Racks for Longarm Quilting Rulers

Good morning, and happy Thursday, everyone!  Thanks to my blog-reader-friend Diane in Texas, SAMWISE LEARNED HOW TO GO DOWN THE STAIRS YESTERDAY!!!  After reading my post about how I was carrying my 50-pound Rottweiler puppy down a flight of stairs every morning, Diane emailed me with step-by-step training instructions to get Samwise over his fear of the stairs, and they worked like a charm.  It took me all of 5 minutes, y'all, and this morning he came down the stairs all on his own.  I am eternally grateful, Diane, and so is my back!!

On to the Quilty Goodness...  I have been wanting to show you guys the wall-mounted ruler racks that my husband made me for Christmas, and since I haven't got any sewing progress to share with you, today is the day for the DIY Ruler Rack post!

Inspiration: Lisa Calle's Ruler Racks, shown on her blog here

I first saw racks like these on Lisa Calle's blog, Living On a Thread, in her post about setting up her quilting studio in her new home.  If Lisa had these for sale in her online shop, I would have just ordered them from her -- but when I asked her about them, she said that a friend made them for her and it's not an item she sells.  I searched Amazon, did some google searches, and still could not find anyone selling racks like these, so I begged and pleaded with my husband to make them for me.  Anyone who develops a ruler addiction will understand that it's not just owning the right ruler for the quilting task at hand that matters -- it's REMEMBERING which rulers you own, and being able to survey your options and quickly put your hand on the right ruler right when you need it!

Here's what you -- or a handy woodworker who loves you -- will need to make racks like these for your studio:

DIY Ruler Racks for Longarm Quilting Rulers

Gather Your Supplies:

• 4' long 2x4 of wood, one per rack

• 3" toggle bolts

• sandpaper

• mineral oil

Rebecca's Ruler Racks

Making the Ruler Racks:

1. Mark evenly spaced lines on your boards, approximately 1 3/4" to 2" apart
2. With a table saw (or a sliding miter saw, if you don't have a table saw), cut grooves into the board at each line that you marked.  My grooves are cut at a 31.6 degree angle and go approximately 1" deep into the boards.  Make sure the groove is slightly wider than the 1/4" thickness of your rulers, so they don't get scuffed up when you take them in and out of the board.
3. Sand the board smooth with the sandpaper
4. Rub all sides of the boards with mineral oil to make them look pretty and to protect the wood from drying out
5. Drill through your board about 8-10" in from each end
6. Mount to your wall near your longarm machine with toggle bolts through the pre-drilled holes (the toggle bolts will safely hold the weight of the racks on drywall even if you don't have a stud in the exact location where you want your racks)

Lisa's racks look beautiful in the dark stain finish, but I preferred the mineral oil finish for my studio.  The light, natural finish of my racks looks better with my maple butcher block cutting table, plus the mineral oil doesn't need time to cure like a varnish or stain.  I wanted my racks to be installed and filled with rulers ASAP, without having to worry about not-quite-dried stain making my rulers stick in the grooves.

Bernie actually made four of these racks for me, but I only have enough rulers for three of them (so far...)!

Although I've been doing more piecing than quilting lately, I did buy some more nifty longarm rulers, and I'm looking forward to trying them out on a real quilt soon!  When I first purchased my longarm machine, I ordered some rulers from The Gadget Girls that I thought would be useful.  These are the yellow ones you see on my ruler racks.  First attempts to use them were comical, though -- this was before I'd taken any classes on quilting with rulers and I didn't know anything about where to position my hands for the best control of the ruler or using anything on the back of the rulers to keep them from sliding around while I was stitching!  Also, the rulers I ordered initially weren't as versatile as I thought they would be -- the clam shell ruler only makes clam shells in one size, for instance, whereas clam shell quilting can easily be accomplished with circle templates that are easier to control and can be used for so many other things.  

So, after taking hands-on ruler work classes with both Lisa Calle and Judi Madsen at the Paducah AQS show last Spring, I had a few rulers that were included with my kit fee for the classes.  It was great to be able to test those rulers in class, learn how to use them successfully, and know for sure that they would work for me before committing to purchasing an entire range of sizes.  These rulers/templates are just 1/4" thick etched acrylic, but they are pricier than you'd think -- probably because they are made in relatively small quantities for small businesses serving a niche market.  Some of those yellow Gadget Girls specialty rulers I played with probably work well for what they're designed to do, but I need to find a good tutorial for using them!  I really liked Lisa Calle's Quilter's Groove circle and arc rulers after using them in class, so I purchased them in every size she offers.  That way I'll always have the exact size I need, no matter what I'm working on.  

Quilter's Groove Pro Circle Templates, available here

I'm thinking of using those circles to quilt a Baptist Fan design in the center of my Pineapple Log Cabin quilt.  Not sure what to do with the borders, though.  I can also use them for clam shell quilting, wreaths, etc.  I really like the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal reference lines on the Quilter's Groove Pro Circles.

The Pro Echo arcs, also from Quilter's Groove, can be used for everything from curved crosshatching to border designs.  Lisa's YouTube channel has lots of great videos for how to use her rulers, and she also has an online ruler work class on the iQuilt platform.

Quilter's Groove Pro Echo Rulers, available here.

My most recent ruler purchase was Bethanne Nemesh's Garden Lines collection of rulers: two different French curve rulers, a nifty little applique ruler, a long point-to-point or stitch-in-the-ditch ruler, and a pair of small multipurpose rulers for stitch-in-the-ditch and continuous curve quilting within pieced blocks.

Bethanne Nemesh's Garden Lines Ruler Collection, available here

I also purchased the two larger French curve rulers that Bethanne released more recently, the Lily 3 and Long Lines rulers:

Bethanne Nemesh's Lily 3 and Long Lines set, available here

Not only can I use the French curve rulers for creating identical, symmetrical feather spines, but there are so many other cool ideas for using them in Bethanne's video tutorials.  Seriously; those video tutorials are a huge selling point for me, because any ruler is more useful when you understand how to use it, what it was designed to do, and how the various markings are intended to be used.  After successfully quilting Lars's Mission Impossible graduation quilt with a DIY custom curve ruler and two basic straight edge rulers, I feel MUCH more confident now about what I can do with my longarm machine when I can guide my hopping foot along the edge of a 1/4" thick acrylic template to ensure a smooth line of stitching.  So much easier than free motion or even following a pantograph, in my own limited experience, and that's what encouraged me to splurge on a complete arsenal of the basics.  

These rulers are going to be so much fun to play with on my quilts!  I'm linking this post with:

·       Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

·       Beauty Pageant at From Bolt to Beauty

·       Finished Or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts

Archaeological Accomplishment for the Month of August: I Have Unearthed My Cutting Table and Rediscovered a Window!

There Was a Cutting Table Hiding Beneath Those Mountains of Fabric!

Does your work space ever get so cluttered that it's literally paralyzing?  Mine had gotten to the point that I was stalled out on several works-in-progress because I only had about a square foot of this table surface available for cutting and measuring.  That was fine for making those decadent little string triangles, but I didn't have anywhere near enough room for:

• Measuring and adjusting the pieced borders of my almost-completed Jingle BOM quilt top
• Measuring, cutting and piecing the backing fabric for my Paint Me a Story Bear Paw quilt
• Measuring the backing fabric for a couple of charity quilt tops, which will likely need strips of fabric added before I can load them on my quilting frame properly

My Beloved 6" Time Timer, Available on Amazon here 

I thought I had taken a "before excavation" photo of the disaster that was my cutting table, but apparently I was too ashamed because I can't find one.  Anyway, it was bad enough that it took me at least EIGHT hours to organize everything and pack it all neatly away.  I know this because, to keep from getting overwhelmed, I used my handy Time Timer and would just set it for 30 minutes or an hour at a time, and then just focus on putting things away until the timer went off without thinking about the WHOLE mess.  And folks, I had to reset that timer MANY TIMES over the past couple of weeks...

I bought this timer for one of my kids, by the way -- a special ed teacher suggested it as a way to help my then-elementary-age son develop better time management skills for homework.  The 12" version is popular for classroom use as well -- it's great because the kids can see how much time is left visually in a red "pie" that gets smaller and smaller.  My son was annoyed with me for buying it and refused to even try it, but I love my Time Timer and I use it any time I need help staying on track with a tedious task that I don't really want to be doing.  Dusting, vacuuming...  I can do anything for thirty minutes, right?

If I had dumped everything off the cutting table into a big box and then hid that box in a closet under the stairs, I could have been done in 10 minutes.  But these were piles of new fabrics that had been carefully selected and coordinated for upcoming but not-yet-started projects, backing/binding/batting picked out for WIP quilt tops that are almost ready for quilting, and of course the BAZILLION leftover 1.5" strips of fabric that I'd carefully cut for my pineapple quilt...  If I just shoved those strips in my scrap bins they would be a wrinkled mess when I wanted to use them and I'd have to iron them.  I wanted to store everything in a way that I could find what I needed and use it easily when I wanted it again, so I undertook a reorganization of my stash of (mostly) fat quarters in hopes of finding the perfect fabric that I already own more frequently rather than continually buying all new fabric.

And so the fabric strips from the laundry drying rack have been neatly packed away in shallow wire drawer bins where they are ready to go when I need them again:

ClosetMaid Shallow Wire Drawer Bins for Folded Strip Storage

I cannot tell you how great it felt to finally get that laundry drying rack out of my studio.  It has been in my way, serving the purpose of keeping those strips organized and visible for the past five years as I S-L-O-W-L-Y pieced my pineapple log cabin blocks.

And my stash of fat quarters is now organized by color in deeper wire bins, like so:

Fat Quarter Stash Organized By Color in Deeper ClosetMaid Wire Drawer Bins

Those wire bins are great, by the way.  They allow air to circulate so my fabric doesn't get mouffy, and I can pull them out and easily see what I have in whatever color I'm looking for.  As I said, these are just stash fabrics, not earmarked for any particular project.  I also have certain wire bins designated for all of the fabrics that were purchased to be used together in upcoming quilt projects.  It is definitely time to start finishing some of these stalled-out projects and turn more of my stashed fabrics into finished quilts!

With the butcher block surface of my cutting table finally visible again, I gave it a good wipe-down with mineral oil and allowed that to sink in overnight.  Now I just need to knock down a few cobwebs and give the studio a good dusting and vacuuming before I get back to sewing again.

Do you have any favorite tips for organizing and storing your fabric stash and supplies for different projects?  Or, better yet, any tips for STAYING organized so your studio never gets so cluttered up in the first place?  I'd love to hear fabric solutions in the comments (unless your suggestions require me to stop buying fabric, 'cause THAT ain't gonna happen!).

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I'm linking up with:

• ·       Needle and Thread Thursday at http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/ 
• ·       Whoop Whoop Fridays at www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com
• ·       Finished It Up Friday at http://sillymamaquilts.com
• ·       Finished Or Not Friday at http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com

I'm Sew In Love With Craig's List!! Check Out My New Serger/Featherweight Desk!

Craig's List Score!

I'm not just excited, folks -- I'm GIDDY.  But let me back up: Unless you're brand-new to my little corner of the Internet, you know that an APQS Millenium longarm quilting machine on a 12' frame followed me home last month, and I've been working on purging and reorganizing my studio not just to make room for the longarm machine but to create a new setup that works for me both visually and functionally.  I need to maximize space without piling up so much furniture that I feel like I'm working in a storage closet.

In addition to my new longarm machine, I've got 'Nina the Diva (the Bernina 750QEE that is my main machine for sewing, piecing, and machine embroidery; predecessor to the current B 770QEE), a Bernina 1300MDC serger named Sergei, and a Juki MCS1500 coverstitch machine named... Juki.  The coverstitch machine is just for garment sewing, but I use my serger for garments, home dec sewing, finishing the edges of applique blocks so they don't fray while I'm stitching them, and serging the edges of my Minky backed baby quilts to make it easier to attach satin binding (and to help the quilt survive the inevitable satin binding replacement once the baby becomes a toddler who drags the quilt everywhere he or she goes).  I've also got two vintage Singer Featherweight 221 sewing machines, the 1951 machine named Judy that Anders uses occasionally as well as the 1935 machine named Bette that I like to use for really fiddly piecing, like the tight curves on my Rose Dream sampler block, or for Y-seams, partial seams, and things like that.  If I'm going to do any patchwork sewing away from home, I'll grab one of the Featherweights because they are so much lighter and easier to schlepp around than the Big 'Nina.

My Studio Back in February.  Green Chair was my Secondary Workstation.

So I don't need to have ALL of my machines out at once, but most of my projects do involve switching back and forth between two machines.  The problem is that the ugly but serviceable desk I was previously using for my "secondary machines" (see above photo) had to move to make room for the longarm frame, and it really didn't fit anywhere else in my studio.  I've only got 51" of wall space to the right of the window where I want to be able to use these machines (one at a time, not all at once), and the yucky desk that probably came from Staples was 60" long with zero storage. 

Old Desk Moved to Wall, Blocking Window, NOT Working!

Yet my "handy" husband, who built my red sewing cabinet for 'Nina and my giant cutting table, is recovering from a recent heart surgery and will not be doing heavy carpentry for awhile, so I knew that no custom Featherweight/Serger cabinet was going to materialize in our garage any time soon. 

I looked at Ikea first, because I know a lot of crafty folk have found great options for sewing rooms and craft spaces at reasonable prices by way of "Ikea hacks."  But I just didn't LOVE anything I found there that was the right size, primarily because their desks looked so flimsy and sewing machines working at high speed create a lot of vibration.  I don't want to put them on a dainty little desk that turns into a trampoline when I switch the machine on and sends my sewbabies bouncing off the desk and onto the floor!

Briefly Considered IKEA Alex Desk

I though of looking at the Habitat Restore and Goodwill for a used desk in the right size with a drawer or two, but I drive a little convertible now (VROOM!) and Bernie's car is a sedan -- even if I found something, I'd have to rent a truck to get it home.  Big hunt, big hassle, and no instant gratification.

Same deal with Craig's list, right?  Except not this time!  Something compelled me to check Craig's list anyway, and the second listing that came up was this lovely solid wood desk that the seller described as "early 19th century." 

Bette the Featherweight is On the New Desk, Sergei the Serger is on the Cutting Table...

It looks more early 20th century to me, but I could really care less what year it was made.  It fits perfectly against the wall where my ironing board used to live, and I can keep all my Featherweight accessories, serger accessories, and all kinds of other goodies in those fabulous DRAWERS!  I didn't even bother to go look at the desk in person.  I could tell from the photo that it was heavy, sturdy, and that any rough edges that might have snagged a delicate fabric have long since been worn smooth by the passage of time.  Best of all, the nice man selling it offered to DELIVER it to me tomorrow for an extra $25! 

...And Judy the Featherweight and Juki the Coverstitch Machine are Over Here

The drawers are the best part:

Paper Pantograph Patterns for Longarm Machine Go in This Drawer

Accessories for Serger and Coverstitch Machines Go in this Drawer

Featherweight Accessories Go in This Drawer

Temporary Fabric Markers, Tailor's Chalk, etc. in This Drawer

Accuquilt GO! Baby Cutter and Dies Go in This Drawer

Reworking my studio for the longarm machine was a much bigger project than I originally realized, but I'm so glad now that it's done.  My new setup makes much more efficient use of space, with tools and supplies stored neatly out of sight near the locations where they are used most often.  The smaller desk and elimination of clutter has actually made my creative workspace feel larger and more spacious than it did before the longarm machine arrived!

So now, FINALLY, I'm ready for some sewing again.  I'm all caught up on my clients' interior design projects and business paperwork and the laundry is done, so I'm headed up to the studio for at least a couple of hours today.  My goals for today are:

• Piece together a King sized practice quilt and load it onto the longarm frame
• Add borders to Butterfly Bear Paw quilt and set aside
• Start a new pineapple log cabin block
• Pin the last two petals on my hand applique project

Happy Tuesday, everyone!