Organizing my stash

Source: infarrantlycreative.net via Beth on Pinterest

I found this photo on Pinterest. I love this! I really like that the shelves are all painted the same color, that gives a unified look. I just happen to have an old spice rack that I could use.




On Saturday my friend Donna showed me how she folds fabric from her stash. She recently learned this trick and has been busy folding all of her fabrics. I spent the day doing the same for my stash, too. Wow, this is a great way to sort your stash and to make it so attractive. The above video is similar to the technique Donna showed me. The way Donna folds hers is with a 6 x 24 inch ruler. Fold your fabric with the selvedge on the left and fold the fabric lengthwise to about 21 inches. Place your ruler as shown in the video and then fold up. When you slide the folded fabric out of the ruler, fold the fabric in half so now it is about 11 inches, not 21. Your stash will look like a fabric store and you will be able to actually see what you own. Even small pieces of fabric can be done this way I found. I do have a pile of little scraps which I am pondering what to do with. They may go in their own little box. How small is too small to keep? Some of my little scraps are just too adorable to throw out, ha ha.

2013 Here I Come!

I'm full of ideas for 2013 and embroidery is definitely on my list of things to do. I want to make a sampler book of embroidery this year. Last year I participated in Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST 2012) that Sharon Boggin hosted on her blog Pintangle. I learned a lot even though I did not participate every week. 

One thing I learned is that I like to make something. I like a finished product of some sort rather than just a doodle of stitches. So this year I want to continue to explore embroidery with some small projects which I hope to put together as a fabric book. 

My initials are the cover. I downloaded a font that I like and used that for these letters. The B is done with padded satin stitch and the F is done with chain stitch. I really like chain stitch. 

When I was a teenager Erica Wilson was on PBS and wrote several embroidery books which my mother and I really enjoyed. Mama and I took a crewel embroidery class at my high school, taught by a woman from Bowdoinham. I haven't done much embroidery over the years, but I recently bought used copies of two of Erica Wilson's books, one on crewel embroidery and another called Needleplay. 

The above floral design is taken from Needleplay. I'm really enjoying working on this little piece. The daffodils are done with long and short stitch. I need to add bullion stitch stamens to the daffodil centers. 

Here is my old quilt top that I finished last fall at Camp Kieve. Ann Woodhead who belongs to Back Road Quilters, machine quilted it for me. She did a super job. Thanks, Ann!

I had several yards of the dark blue floral print leftover so I used that for the binding.

Extra wide quilt backing for the back. Ann's luscious swirly feathers really show up nicely. I used wool quilt batt. 

The hour glass blocks create a secondary design of a star around the shoo fly blocks. 

Weasley says Happy New Year!