Organizing... Organizing

Does your fabric ever get to a point where you can't find most of what you are looking for?  Mine definitely got that way earlier this spring.  The last I remembered it had been neatly put away using the system I am going to describe.  With the UFO Challenge my guild announced for this year, I began to pull out older fabrics and UFOs expected to find all of it still neatly organized.  However, what did a find but a scattered mess!
Of course, there is no easy solution once you get to this point.  Things get worse before they get better.  Typically I have most of my fabric in plastic storage containers: some are in a closet and some are in what used to be my daughters' play room.  To begin this process of re-sorting, I ended up with most of the fabric stacked on two beds.  Well, I admit - there was some of it on the floor, too.  It overflowed!
How do I sort it?  First of all, anything that is designated for a particular quilt is packed with other fabrics for that quilt and the unfinished portions of the quilt - if I already started on that - and hopefully it also contains the directions for making the quilt.  (This was what got me on the path to reorganizing - I had issues with patterns not being where they should have been ... gremlins must have been sifting through my fabric the last time it got put away!)
Then I work with larger pieces that are not set aside for something in particular (these are large enough to be considered for possible quilt backs or to be used as a main fabric in a quilt) and place those together.  Still more categories...  One container is for general holiday fabric.  Most of mine is for Christmas, but I also have Easter, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, etc.  I have a separate container for the few fabrics I keep on hand that are not quilters' cotton - fleece, flannel, upholstery fabric, etc.
One of my fabric designations is "scraps."  These are obviously for scrap quilts or can be used if I need a small piece of fabric for applique.  I also have a separate area for new fat quarters, still neatly folded.  I use a photo storage box for them and they fit really well.   The remaining fabric gets divided into plastic containers by color.  With these I try to make sure there is at least enough there to complete a 12" block or two.  After more than 10 years of quilting, there is no problem filling these containers either.  Some of the colors are combined.  My "red grouping" is red, pink, and orange.  "Blue" is for blue and purple.  You get the picture.   Actually, you don't get the picture - I could have taken a before and after picture, but some things you just don't want to see again!

Rainbow Row

Rainbow Row has been quilted and I finished stitching the binding today.  I am showing two pictures -one of the whole quilt and then a close up showing the quilting.  The quilting seems to show up better if I turn off the flash so that's why the color is darker in the close up.  This quilt was quilted by Vickie Perry with Whistle Stop Quilting.  I really like how the quilting turned out on this.  It was hard to know what to select that would work with both the bright colors and black!

Venetian Tiles Completed

Yesterday I finished sewing the binding on Venetian Tiles. The pattern is by Patricia Pepe.  Isn't it beautiful?  I made most of this out of scrap fabric that I had on hand so that made it even better.  Pretty elegant for a scrap quilt!

I offer this class as a workshop.  http://arkangels.info/quilting

The beautiful quilting is by my friend Vickie (or you may know her as Vivian) Perry.  Her business is Whistle Stop Quilting in Gilbert.  Check out her blog if you haven't already done that! http://vivianperry.blogspot.com/

Blue and White Star Sampler

On Wednesday I completed one of my UFOs from way back when... really "way back when."  This was from the second quilting class that I ever took.  I am really happy to have it completed.  It sounds odd, but I was not willing to complete it for a long time because I liked it so much and was afraid that my skill level at that time was not good enough.  I didn't want to ruin it.  I guess I waited long enough because now it turned out fine!

Stay cool, everyone!  What a hot week it has been here.

Rainbow Row



About two years ago the quilt guild that I attend had a swap that we called Rainbow Row.  The quilters who signed up made a row of a certain color.  My row was blue.  If you have visited my web site, the row I made (seen above) is the border for my web site.  Anyway, my rows have been sewed together for a long time and just added the borders so it can be quilted.  I always like how bright colors look against black fabric.  I'll post a picture of it again once it is complete with the quilting and binding .  Thanks to my guild friends who made the red, orange, yellow, green and violet rows!