a liberty sweep

this could have been a post with lots of pretty fabric pictures if the light in my sewing room was nice. but it's not. so these aren't very pretty even tough the fabrics are. sigh. someday! someday when i have my new house built and a sewing room with glorious natural light everything will photograph much more prettily. until then, on with the discussion.

i've been organizing and cleaning in my sewing room (which i'm so grateful for regardless of the current light quality). most recently i tackled my shelf of liberty of london tana lawns (top shelf in photo above). i have lots and lots of liberty bits which needed some more stringent order than existed. folding was sloppy and the quasi system i had in place wasn't functioning.

so i pulled everything off and began sorting by print. one of liberty's nicest qualities is that their classic collection prints are continuously reprinted in new colorways. i love this approach to fabric production

poppy and daisy print variations and the mini version

i ordered several small plastic boxes that i had previously used in my kitchen pantry to use for fabric organization, sized 3 x 6 x 10. i wanted to use them for all my fabrics, but they turned out too small for fat quarters or folding for file storage, so i decided to see how they did for the liberty pieces.

i generally buy liberty prints in fat quarter/quarter yard sizes or smaller. the way i've been using liberty, i don't need a lot of any one print. if i really like a print and think i'll use it more than that, i get more based on how much i like it. i also have several one yard cuts of prints i really love for use in backings. mostly i buy the same dozen or so prints that i really, really like. or so i thought! today i found i have a whole slew of one-off prints, far more than expected. but i do have plenty different versions of my favorite prints, too.

all boxed in for storage

once i had everything either in a pile with it's mates or in the one-off pile (except for a few color palette bundles), i began sorting the prints into boxes. some i had enough of the one print to make use of a whole box and others i grouped in a box with very similar prints. 

poppy and daisy got it's own box along with the mini version of the print, as seen in the photos above. so when you see the stack of boxes on my shelf, that's what's in them.

i did keep three color categories together regardless of print because i have plans to make quilts from these. they are: fall colors, pastel w/ neons, and red, white, and blue prints.

the fall bundle is sitting atop my pile of one-off prints that's nestled in between the boxes (for some structure). the one-offs were too big for a box of their own, but they're doing fine here between the boxes. the clear boxes make seeing which print family is inside easy. 

some of the other print collections were also too big for a box, like betsy (and betsy ann, the mini version). i have more betsy than any other print. it sits to the far right side of the shelf atop some cuts of chambray that will be used with the liberty for future liberty + chambray quilts.

moving left from the betsy pile past the boxes we come to the milk crate basket that used to hold all my liberty pieces in one place. it now holds my liberty quilting cottons and the other two color palette bundles for my future quilts. the neon pastels actually came together from, i believe, the alice caroline shop. nope, just looked and it's from duckadilly. both are great liberty sources. 

far left is a pile of my favorite prints also too big for a box but not as big as the betsy stack: june's meadow, capel, mitsi, katie & millie, flower tops. i try to keep each print in rainbow order to make locating one easier. it mostly works.

 aside from everything on the shelf, i moved all the scraps from my liberty + chambray quilts into a drawer in my new scrap tower. there are all the chambray 2.5" strip pieces, the flannel binding i've used on all the quilts, some random joined pieces scraps, and 2.5" strips from previous projects. this will come in super handy when i make more quilts in future. working with liberty in all the same size each time (well, two sizes, actually) really helps me make use of the scraps. it makes cutting a lot easier, too. i just cut 2.5" or 3.5" strips every time and i know they will always get used. 

i have also put all the pieces for my liberty christmas quilts in this basket.

that's my liberty swept up and sorted!

i think i accidentally put away the pile of prints i was using for my liberty courthouse steps quilts, which is a shame. i only have two more rounds to go on those and now i'll have to make new selections all over again. might not be too bad, but it was already done and i undid it. cleaning up does have it's consequences and casualties sometimes. if i'd put them together in a box or basket rather than just a pile before, this wouldn't have been an issue. but here we are. doing my best and moving on!

spring break stitches, year 4

for the fourth, i think, year in a row, we spent spring break in mexico with my husband's family. and for the fourth year in a row i brought "cheery (easter) quilt" with me for some handwork. this time it was the only handwork project i brought along, but i still didn't do much work on it. i did, however, complete the last of the lilac and melon colored boxes, so that's something to celebrate.

there's a pair of nail clippers in this photo because this year i accidentally left my snips behind. i started out packing my sewing things for the trip in my usual library bag, then switched it up to consolidate with my carry-on backpack. that's where the snips got left out. fortunately for me, the nail clippers worked. note to self for future travel where my snips might get snatched (like they did in sydney). 

other items of note from this quilt's spring break travels:

2022 - the handquilting gets started

2023 - i misplaced most of my colored threads, but i got the sunburst quilting done and did a photo shoot with the kinda completed quilt.

2024 - i found the missing quilting threads! yay! i didn't use them much, but they did make the trip. a lot of the handwork was done alongside my new little grandaughter.

granna at work, for once not making a horrible "quilter concentration face." this was because i was actually focused on someone cute nearby, not just the stitching. i'm smiling for fluffy.

i spent a lot of time with my grandkids this trip because their mama is pregnant again and needed the extra help. their dad was still doing schoolwork online while we were there, so i got a lot of time with the littles.

the aunties are really helpful, too.

 just look how cute her curls are getting! her hair is finally growing some and it's adorable.

we're home now and "cheery (easter) quilt" is actually getting more work done. i decided not to put it away quite yet, to see what i can do for it before next spring break. it's the main handwork project i have a the moment. sometimes i need a break from the other stuff in the photo - house design for the kitchen reno on our current home of 22 years, a house for our daughter's family, and our new home. whew. it's a lot. so i occasionally take a break to listen to a story with d5 and stitch.

since we are about to relocate to the LA area for a time as our older son receives medical treatment there, i just may have a lot of handstitching time on my hands and finish this off at a different beach than it's used to seeing.

quiltcon 2025

d5 and i went to quiltcon in phoenix for a day. short trip, in and out, so much packed in! the quilts were, of course, mindblowing and so inspirational. i did a photo dump of them on IG if you need to see more photos of quiltcon quilts. what made this day so special for us was the people! we had some really fantastic interactions with quilters and designers there that were almost overwhelming. we left so happy.

my first priority was to meet up with my long-time online quilt buddy from the early heyday of blogging circa 2013, michelle bartholomew. (this post! this is from when we first met online. i'm in the comments. so are sarah schraw and nicole/snips! oh, i miss the old blog days.) michelle is so talented. i've loved her quilts and her quilt photography for over a decade. we were actually going to room together at quiltcon 2017 in savannah, but my husband had a little accident and that went out the window. this year we were both at quiltcon and finally got to meet in person! turns out we're kind of hair twins, with similar (all-natural) coloring and highlights. 

michelle was busy in the morning helping a friend do book promotion, so we met midday for lunch. the easiest place to find each other - at her award winning quilt! i told you she was talented. we went to the convention center food court for lunch because it was convenient and i didn't remember the food from the last quiltcon, which seemed to mean it was at least okay. michelle and i picked a stirfry shop and got in line. as we approached the counter, i notice AMH was a few people behind us. wow. not a place to fangirl, so we didn't say hello.

we ate our lunch, which was not good at all, and talked, which was great. d5 was patient with me while we chatted, but eventually we all needed to move on. there were a bazillion more things i could have talked to michelle about. next time! and next time we will eat at a real restaurant.

while d5 and i were perusing quilts before lunch, i happened apon this cutie. i've followed amy smart "diary of a quilter" for a long time but somehow i did not expect her to be so darling. she was just the nicest, so friendly and engaging. we talked like we were old friends and she talked to d5, too. i was completely smitten with what a lovely person she is. i had no reason to expect otherwise, but it made me so happy to hit it off with her this way. i think i should have given her my bag - it matches her cute pants.

after lunch with michelle, we did the vendor booth side.

d5 tried out a longarm machine. no room for that around here, but it was a fun experience for her.

i met meghan of "then came june." her booth had so many adorable bundles and it was really fun to see so many of her quilts in person. d5 wasn't around so i didn't get a photo.

i also loved the "low and behold stitchery" booth. the eye candy!! i decided it was time to make a few purchases. i got an adorable retro fabric backing and yellow bundle. d5 picked some quilt stickers for herself. when we got to the register, my credit card didn't work. i had misplaced my backup card (in a clothing pocket) earlier in the week and only had the one card on me. i had to make a phone call and it turned out there was a security freeze on the card. good thing we got in the show and paid for our lunches before that started! i got them to unfreeze the card while i made my one purchase and then put it back on hold. darn. that was the end of my shopping for the day. i can get everything else i wanted online anyway, but it would have been nice to take it home right away and not pay shipping.

i did not pay any attention to who was going to be at quiltcon beyond michelle. so i was really surprised and delighted when i happened apon several designers i admire. first up was heather bailey.

this picture cracks me up - my face! hahaha. d5 took several photos for us, but this is, unfortunately, the best one. i think i was trying to get daughter to stop taking photos with a look, but instead i look like a maniac. in reality, it does kind of show how ecstatic i was to meet and talk to heather in person. she is my favorite designer! i'm so happy she is designing again. we got to talking and we have a couple of mutual connections. like, my seester went to art school with her and is good friends with her sister. i think this means heather and i should be good friends, too.

d5 fell head-over-heels for linsey's "pen and paper patterns" quilt designs in another booth. maybe when her skills get a little better she'll be ready to tackle something that complex.

we walked around another corner, i saw denyse schmidt in her booth, and my jaw dropped. we perused the booth a little and d5 told me i had to talk to denyse. i wasn't buying anything (stupid security block on my card), so i didn't want to take her time. but the daughter made me.

the colors in this "snake trails" sample quilt were so good! i may need to make one. or at least borrow the fabric palette.

we waited in line a minute and got to talk to denyse. (only one photo and she has her eyes closed - sorry denyse!) she was very gracious and nice to converse with; such a gentle, beautiful soul so full of creativity. i'm glad i listened to d5 and talked to her.

at this point, we were near the end of the vendor booths. our feet were tired. we were a little overwhelmed with all the sensory overload of quilts and fabric. i was giddy with the people we'd met. one more row to go and we would be done.

on the very far side, last row (or very beginning, depending on where you start from), i saw heather ross. it felt like too much for one day! i was so happy with my encounters with heather bailey and denyse schmidt. heather ross on top of that felt like a little too much. but again, d5 insisted we speak to her.

this turned out to be probably the best part of the whole day.

d5 recognized some of the fabric designs in the booth and was excited herself to talk to heather. she approached the first lady in the booth and started gushing about how much she loved her work. it was heather's assistant, haha. but she was really kind and talked to us for a bit until heather was available.

then we had the pleasantest experience of the day. despite there being a line of people behind us, heather gave us all the time in the world. and we weren't even buying anything. d5 is about the same age as heather's daughter, bea, and heather took a real shine to her. heather mentioned how bea and her friends will hang out in her studio sometimes and create things there. i said to d5, "can you imagine having a mother like this?" you know, an uber talented artist with tons of fabric lines under her belt and an amazing art/quilt sudio. d5 responds, "i do have a mother like that!" she melted all our hearts.

heather then asked us if we could take a picture together. i wasn't going to ask because of the line, but it was her idea. she suggested we do it in front of the strawberry print wall. great choice.

then she asked d5 if she could give her some fabric. uh, yes please!!

they spent a few minutes combing over the bundle options heather was offering d5.

and they kept conversing. 

you want to win a mother's heart, do something for her child. this was no sales gimmick, but i am for sure a hard and fast heather ross fabric fan now.

it's a good thing this was the end of the vendor booths because there's nothing that would top this meeting of heather ross! we walked out of the convention center stunned by heather's generosity, not just of the fabric, but of her time and attention she lavished on us. we were on cloud nine.

last encounter later on was at the phoenix airport. i found kate "quarter mile quilts" on display in terminal 4. somehow i had missed her posts that her quilted family portraits would be there, but i immediately recognized them. nice work, kate!

 

creating some order

in january i happened across karen brown of "just get it done quilts" 's declutter challenge and started watching her prep videos, which cover a lot of different ideas about quilt room organization and decluttering. although i am not currently able to follow her month-long decluttering schedule, i picked up a lot of ideas from her!

i have been exploring scrap storage options ever since i read jolene klassen's new book "scrap quilt diary." jolene said she uses lori holt of "bee in my bonnet" 's scrap storage system, so i went to lori's blog to learn about that. basically, these smart ladies cut all their scrap pieces into strips and squares of specific sizes they frequently use and store the scraps by size, further sorting by color or value is optional. so smart! having ready-cut strips and squares in standard sizes is like making your own precuts. most of the ladies i learned from have set patterns they know they can make quilts from using the standard sizes. this means the scraps are more likely to get used.

i have already been cutting scraps from my dump-them-all-in scrap basket for this fun "bonnie lass" project, so it makes sense to me to have scraps precut in standard squares and strips for other projects. once i have my scraps organized, i will share the results.

i read more about scrap storage from amy smart of  "diary of a quilter,"  she's also doing a purge and sewing room declutter for january. additionally, amy had an organization guest post from andy of "a bright corner," which i think is how i ended up with karen brown. maybe.

anyway, all these ladies had great ideas for decluttering/organizing the sewing room and for sorting/storing/using scraps. it was inspiring!

my space has needed a major overhaul for a while now. i took the ideas i gleaned and decided on a few to implement in small doses when i have time.

i tried a few containers from target for scrap storage, which i'll get to in a moment. what i'm going to start talking about is my new project boxes and tower, because this is what's working best and is most exciting for now.

i ordered two iris brand six-box storage towers (which come with optional wheels) and have stacked them together. there is one more tower i'll be putting under my sewing table for scrap storage

the boxes in the tower are 12" x 12", 3" deep boxes with snap-close lids. they are fantastic for individual project boxes! i'm so happy with them. and the 12 in this tower are already full of wips. so i've ordered another two towers, which should do me. (my wip page says i have 17 works-in-progress that are in the piecing stage. there are actually a few more than that, but 24 boxes will be adequate.) projects to the flimsy stage or further along are stored elsewhere in my room.

the box above contains all the finished blocks for my "sunny crossroads" quilt. there is a pile of fabrics still to be used somewhere in the room, which i can add to the box.

this box has some finished blocks and a lot of the as-yet, uncut fabrics for my "cute betsy hearts" quilt.

many of the boxes have all the fabric, including the backing, in the box. this is so convenient!

i really like that these boxes are clear for visibility. i feel like visibility means i'm more likely to work on the projects and not forget them. the aesthetic in me wishes these weren't plastic and looked prettier, but they look good enough and are quite practical. the tower included all the boxes, which was great. no guess work about fit!

these deeper, narrower sterilite rectangular boxes are what i used to store projects in; a few of the projects, at least because i only have about 8 of these. the rest of my wips were stacked and scattered around the room.

i like the shallower square boxes because they accomodate larger finished quilt blocks. these boxes now hold fabric pulls for future quilts that i haven't cut into yet. these live at the back of my pressing table. i can reach them pretty easily, but they aren't in a prime spot. they are further down the to-do list, so this is fine.

i ordered a set of iris's slimmest boxes, which i'm sure are absolutelly perfect for scrapbooking. however, they were a little too thin for quilt projects. if i had all the blocks done or maybe cut, they would store those fine. but they aren't deep enough to store additional fabric with blocks. so i'll be using those elsewhere in the house. to be determined.

before i ordered the iris boxes, i made a stop at target to see what they had to offer. i was really hoping for something pretty that would add to the look of my room and be practical. my sewing room has this set of square cubby shelves where i store a lot of my books, notions, and fabric pulls. but i feel like it's underutilized with far too much empty space. 

target no longer carries the milk crate boxes i originally got with these shelves, but i found these skinny woven baskets i was hoping i could stack in the cubbies. but they don't work at all. they stick out more than an inch and i can't fit two side-by-side in the cubby.

but that's okay because they weren't ideal for my scrap storage anyway. i put my 2" strips in this basket to test it out. now that i've tried the iris boxes, i think they will be perfect for scrap storage by cut size. iris also makes the tower with drawers instead of the boxes, which is what i plan to put my scraps in. i think drawers will be more accessible and appropriate for scrap storage than boxes. individual boxes with lids are good for items that need to be contained and moved around a lot. i envision opening and closing a drawer that stays in place rather than taking out a box and opening a lid for scraps. since it doesn't need to be portable, open top is better.

i got these white plastic baskets from target, as well. they were inexpensive and not too offensive looking. my issue with these is they don't stack and they don't fit my cubbies, either. 

somebody should have measured before she went shopping.

they did fit my scrap strips okay, but i think the 12" x 12" drawers are going to be better.

so, my room is getting some much-needed organization! hopefully, this helps with making more quilts more easily.

i have another system i bought to maybe put my fabric in. when i get to try it out, i'll report back on that next. 

back to hsts

 the winter light has been sparse for a few days as we've had the rare deliciously overcast weather. what little light makes it into my sewing space isn't enough to illuminate anything. so i've taken few pictures of what i've done in here, but i have been here doing.

i've been studying scrap storage ideas and decluttering strategies for my sewing space more than i've been sewing so far this year, but they are ideas i've needed to gather to improve my sewing time by improving the space. 

there are several projects on my design wall at the back of the sewing studio that i would love to complete, but because of the state of the space, i can't even reach them anymore. so after a few days listening to other quilters' ideas for decluttering, i walked into the room and cleared a space to my design wall. now i can actually reach "gypsy child hsts."

i've had the hst squares laid out in groups on the far end of my cutting table for a couple of years now, but i no longer remember what system i was using to place them in the quilt. i'm assembling the blocks for the quilt in 16 patches, each block includes 2 of the red hsts and 14 more from the available squares.

since i couldn't remember how i was working through the squares, i decided to check my maths for the project and see if they gave me a clue. i did have those recorded in my quilting sketch book. what they told me was i had planned for a long, skinny quilt and i no longer liked those dimensions. so i reconfigured the dimensions to be more pleasing and calculated how many of each of the squares i would be needing for the new block count. 

then i put each unique type of hst pair in a pile with the number of that square to be used for each row of blocks in its own grouping within the pile. now i can build out one row at a time, which will make placing the squares easier. i previously completed 3 rows; there are 4 left to go.

changing the dimensions of the quilt and culling the extra pieces left me with a whole lot of extras. i'll decide what to do with them at some future point.

many of the hsts are still untrimmed, so i'm having to do that as i move through placement, too.

this is row 4 nearly built out. because i'm trying to place the squares in alignment with the already sewn squares, it's a little hard to know where my row or column is. the seam allowance eats up some of the already sewn squares, so i need to overlap the squares i'm placing to keep everything aligned. as these are small squares - 3' cut, 2.5" finished - things get off quickly if i don't overlap properly.

my workaround on this has been to place pins in a grid format to approximate where each square is. when i place a square, i move the pin to a new grid on the left which will be used for the next row. i also have a scrap strip of fabric marking the outer edge of the row. i've even placed pins in that to mark where each new block starts. there are 2 pins at the place where row 2 starts, 3 where row 3 is, etc. 

this system has been working well so far and i almost have the 4th row completely built out. i'm excited to get this wip off the wall and finally finished. it's not where i anticipated starting my year, but i'm happy it's where i am.

the rest of my sewing room still needs a major overhaul, but that'll come. i'm happy for any progress on the decluttering and the sewing.

one stitch, one step at a time.

i need an update

liberty, liberty, liberty! from sewing room birmingham

those of you who come here to read but don't comment, that's totally fine by me! you're welcome in this space. i'm past the point of needing feedback here, although i still really enjoy it when it happens. those that do comment, i'm having some difficulties with replies these days. read on. i'll throw in some gratuitous photos of what i stashed in 2024 as eye candy, but mostly i have some questions for you today.

blog friends, i am sorely out of date when it comes to blogging tech. gone are the days when i knew what was what and kept up on the latest happenings in the blogger world. it's not my platform anymore and my know-how has disappeared. i just pop in here to make my posts like i always have, but i am completely out of touch with other bloggers. i do all my (limited) quilt socializing on instagram and know a bit about the ebbs and flows there. true confessions - jolene at blue elephant stitches and rachel at stitched in color are the only blogs i occasionally read anymore. but i am having a renewed interest in blogs lately and it seems hard to find them or connect.

heather ross and low-volumes from nova quilts

there are still about 100 people subscribed to this blog (whatever that means or how it works anymore, i don't know). my posts' stats tell me posts get anywhere from 60-100 visits, on average. i have one regular commenter (hi, julierose!) and a few other random ones. this is a big change from my early blogging days, pre-instagram. i'm saying all this because although my purposes for blogging have changed, i do recognize there is a very small audience here and that is meaningful to me. if you do me the honor of a comment, i sincerely appreciate it and want to reply. 

i'm having problems with the reply these days and since i'm so out of touch, i no longer know how to fix it. here's the deal - all the comments i've received lately (which still get delivered to me via email) have come listed as no-reply blogger comments, meaning i can't send them an email reply. once apon a time, i knew how to fix this for them, but i'm starting to think it's now a problem on my end and i have no clue what to do! the fixes i know are outdated by more than a decade.

find me cosmo japanese fabrics from cottage couture fabrics

then earlier today i went to the profile of a commenter (kathy s) and connected to her blog, but when i left a comment, it published me as anonymous even though i logged in to my google account. i'm so confused! and i don't know how to fix any of this so that i can reconnect to readers or other bloggers.

heather bailey's new collection "wild abandon"

i'm also really curious how people are getting here. i know bloglovin' isn't a thing anymore, so how are people subscribed here? i put the widget up myself, but i no longer remember what that's all about! so how are the rest of you that are still active in the blog world still finding and staying updated with blogs? 

you other bloggers, what's your experience like - are your readers your same old circles or are new people getting involved? do you interact much with readers? i'm so curious. once apon a time, when blogging was the main format for connecting, things were so interactive and different for me. now that i have a renewed interest in blogging as my instagram experience is loosing favor, i wonder what's going on here anymore. please share!

old quilter, new trick

 

i'm trying to get one thread-length a day stitched into "wiltshire rows." a few days ago, as i was nearing the outer edges of the quilt, i thought about how when machine quilting i occasionally catch the excess quilt back in the stitching, sewing it to the back of the quilt, but that it never happens when i handquilt.

sure enough, as i was working on the farthest row to the edge, i did just that! well, i thought, that's a first. i'm 13 years a quilter and i just managed to make a new mistake. how fun is that?

 

there's nothing i hate unpicking more than handquilting. fortunately for me, this happened on my second set of stitches for the row, so i didn't lose much. i hadnt' even pulled the needle through when i noticed what i'd done. all i had to do was fish out the knot at the end, snip it, pull through, retie, and get stitching again. now i'm right back at it.

progress on the handquitling - one third complete. 

there are 15 rows of chambray i will be quilting on both sides, and one thread length currently reaches approximately halfway across the width of the row. so that means i have 60 thread lengths to complete the quilting. so far, i've done 21 of those, putting me at just over one third done.

getting there one stitch, one thread at a time.

something else curious i've been musing on as i stitch is the way i still don't have my preferred stitch style figured out. i don't have a consistent stitch length or distance between the stitches. even when i'm using the same needle every time, these factors vary. i am definitely leaning toward small stitches, but it's the distance between that varies the most. and i honestly can't even tell which i like best. there is appeal in both larger and smaller distances between.

the above photo is pretty consistent on both sides of the small block.

this is a good example of not being the same or consistent.

i wonder if this will work out over time, or if it will always vary? this is my 12th handquilted piece, so it's not like i'm completely new to it. i definitely have learned to make smaller stitches than when i started. but they are still noticeably inconsistent, even across one quilt. it's a mystery to me!

goodness, these two close-ups are not showing my seam-matching skills at their best. that's okay. all of it is a-ok because i make quilts that are good enough, often pretty darn nice, and get loved a lot. living with all the imperfections and embracing them.

now, back to the needle and thread because i have some downtime!