A New Way to Store Patterns & A Special Thank You

Since coming home from Florida, I've come home with another idea for my sewing room.  I am a visual person and I love quilt patterns, but I have one problem.  I buy a pattern and forget that I have it.  So I have a solution to my problem:  a trellis that was 40% off at Joann Fabrics.  I bought two.

They are attached together by black Velcro that is used to organize computer cords.  You could also use those plastic ties that pull up tight and lock.

I put rubber covers on the bottom of the trellis so they wouldn't scratch the floor.

 Then you need rings that you can buy at an office supply store and a paper punch.

I then hung my patterns.  The Patchwork Pig quilt shop had much heavier and taller trellis' displaying their patterns.  They had three attached together, but two work well for me.

 Just wanted to thank Mom and Dad for such a special time together in Florida--hope we can do it again!

If you are near Plant City during strawberry season, stop at Parkesdale Farm Market for strawberry shortcake.  Dad is trying to be funny taking my picture with two :)

I only ate one although they're good enough to eat two!

Happy Quilting

Kay Lynne

A New Design Wall and Working on 4-H Sewing Machines

This has been a very busy week.  I finally had some time to put up my design wall in my sewing room.  It is covered Styrofoam that was left over from siding our house this summer.  It's simply covered with batting and nailed up to the wall.  I wasn't sure that fabric would stick on it, but it's working.   

 The rail fence quilt top on my design wall will be given to St. V's hospital for a premature baby.  I have enjoyed making a few small quilts for them through my sister's 4-H quilt program.

I also enjoyed a pleasant day cleaning and oiling 4-H sewing machines.  There have been some really generous people that have donated machines so 4-H kids will all have a machine to borrow for their projects.  What a great way to pass our love of sewing and quilting onto the next generation!

The machines that I worked on were very interesting.  The black Singer above is approximately 60 to 70 years old in my estimation.  She sews perfect stitches and her motor sounds great!  She weighs a ton and will last as long as her motor runs.  All she needs is some new wiring to make her safe for kids to sew on.   Below is a Singer 237 that my sister named Marylin.

Marylin is also a really heavy machine and has all metal parts.  I cleaned all the lint out of her and oiled her.  A few adjustments to the tension and she is now ready to do a 4-H project.  You must think I'm silly for being excited about a sewing machine, but it's a part of our history.  

The reason the machine above is named Marylin is because the 4-H kids started calling the sewing machines by the name of the person that donated the machine.  The kids would never remember the brand name or model number of their favorite machine, but they do remember a person's name.

I think that is pretty neat.

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Happy Quilting

Kay Lynne 

My New Sewing Room and I'm Proud of My Sis

This last week I've been slowly moving in my sewing room.  This is my cutting table and the wall on the right will be a design wall.  I haven't had time to make it, but that is the plan.  All extra scissors and razor blade knives are in the glass mug.  Rotary cutters are in the basket on the table.  DVD's are in a basket.  Quilt rulers all have a special place.  I don't have a storage plan for scraps yet, but there will be when I'm finished.  If you have any ideas for storage on scraps that are smaller than a fat quarter that would look great on a small shelf, I would appreciate it.

The space of this room is more than doubled from my old sewing room.  I had grafted out all my furniture on graft paper and played around with ideas for several months before I came up with something that is workable.  My serger table can also be used as a pressing and cutting table.

One corner has all my books and magazines.  My husband thinks that I should scan off all the magazines and store them on DVD, but I still like having a magazine to curl up in bed to look at.  The small cabinet with all the drawers was bought over 15 years ago to store all my sewing notions.  It's a pretty convenient place to store buttons, thread, needles, and anything else that is small.

This cabinet below was refinished this summer and I tiled the door.  I'm using it to store cone thread.

 After the holidays, Dean is going to install a new closet door so my fabric won't fade.  

 Over 25 years ago my grandfather built my sewing cabinet.  It comes in three sections.  Both of the side sections have three large drawers.  The center holds my machine and there's also a hutch for open storage and display.  The racks on the side for serger thread are really convenient, but are dust catchers.  I've thought about putting some clear plastic over the cones, but haven't made a decision yet.

I've become used to having a bulletin board in front of where I work.  It's convenient to hang patterns where I can see them.  I also hung my small quilting rulers where I can see them.  If they are in my site, they will be used!

The only new piece of furniture I bought was this ottoman.  It opens up for storage and also is nice for hubby to sit down on when he wants to see what I'm up to.

I've had this storage cube for a long time, but wanted to show you how I use it to store my dress patterns and long rulers.  It's amazing how some little hooks can make life so much easier.  Before I had a place to hang quilting rulers, I would spend a lot of wasted time looking for them.  Now everything has a special place so I can find it when I need it. 

My younger sister is a co-author of a new Ohio 4-H Quilting Project Book!  What an amazing project!  I'm so happy that the kids in Ohio have a project book to get them started.  I can't wait to have the hard copy in my hands!  I had the honor of proofreading the rough draft :)  We all need to remember to teach the younger generation our quilting skills and build wonderful relationships along the way.

I just have to say:
I'm so proud of my sis!
She is nine years younger than I am and I have sweet memories of Jen and me at Mom's 201 Singer working on 4-H projects.  She can tell you how I made her sew every seam herself with my supervision when Mom couldn't be there.  Now she does great things with her sewing machine!
Congratulations to everyone that helped put this project book together!

Happy Quilting & Merry Christmas!

Kay Lynne

Grandpa's Hammer, Old Sewing Room, and I Spy

You would be so proud of me.  I put up wood trim strips all by myself in my sewing room closet doorway.  It's not perfect, but it will work.  Sometime in the next few months I will shop for a new closet door.  I would rather keep the old, but the old door opened into the closet, which takes away closet space.  Also if you have small children, it's not the best plan because closet clutter can trap a child inside the closet and it's a terrible when you cannot open the door and the child is trapped inside!  We talked our son out and he now has quite a story to tell his kids someday.

My Grandpa not only farmed, but he also was a carpenter.  He loved making furniture and small items for anyone who asked.  He only charged for the supplies and never for his time or labor.  Our family has quite a bit of furniture that he has made.  I think that there is something that he has made in every room in our house.  Eventually, age and cancer took Grandpa to a better place.  There are little things like his hammer that makes me smile.  My Mom and Dad had given it to me for a keepsake and I actually use it once in a while. 

I installed some little shelves that were leftover pieces from the closet organizer that weren't needed.  So for the time being I put little cute items on the shelves just for fun.  Cone thread would also fit nicely.   I like the idea of making every inch of my closet useful.

I wanted to thank all you for such nice comments on my new closet, but I wanted you to know that as a quilting artist things can get messy and unorganized and that is okay :)

My old sewing room is still intact.  There are always several projects going on and I don't always have my sewing room in perfect order.

 Just wanted to show you that I'm working on being organized just like you
Or maybe you should be giving me advice!

 Sandi is having an I Spy Swap.  If you want to join us, please let Sandi know as soon as possible.

Check out her blog at http://sewinpeace.blogspot.com/2010/11/online-i-spy-swap-fall-2010.html

The weather has been beautiful this last week and warm for this time of year.

Happy Quilting

Kay Lynne

New Sewing Room Closet

Last weekend Dean was busy doing a fix it job and I was more or less in the way so I decided to install the rest of the laminate flooring in my sewing room closet.  I finished without any problems!  We still have about four more rows to do on the main floor.  It's a two person job so I'll have to wait until Dean and I can work on it together.  This week I worked on installing my closet organizer.  I know closet organizers aren't cheap, but Dean just doesn't have time to build one for me and it's cheaper than hiring someone to do it.

Last night I started organizing and moving my fabric in.

I found these wall racks at Menards.  They fit fat quarters just perfect!

This fabric I've accumulated over the last 25 years.  Some of it was given to me, but a lot of it I bought.  Now that my sons are grown and moved out, I hope to have more time to spend on sewing it up.

I even installed small shelves to fill in a small area so every inch of my closet will be in use.  Dean showed me how to safely run the table saw to cut the shelves.  I'd rather run a sewing machine than a saw.  I have a few more really small shelves I'll be installing and some hooks to hang quilt rulers.  I like everything to have its place so I can find it when I need it.

I've sorted my fabric by color, project, kind of fabric, and amount of fabric.  It probably wouldn't make any common sense to anyone, but me.  Anyway it's organized so I can find what I need.  If you want to use up that beautiful sales fabric, I have a suggestion that has really helped.

Fabric yardage that is one yard or more is rolled onto my 8 1/2" x 24" ruler, which is about the size of a bolt of fabric.  The ruler is slid out and I safety pin the amount of the yardage on the left side.  Please be sure to use the type of safety pin that doesn't rust.  Have the fabric stored where you can see it.  I like to see my fabric for inspiration, but also I don't want it fading on me so that is why it's in a closet.  My husband will be installing a new door so the fabric will be protected from fading.

My fat quarters are rolled onto my 6" x 24" ruler and folded in half again.  I found these cheap plastic containers at Wal-Mart to store some of my fat quarters until I find a better idea.
 Hope everyone is having a nice fall season.  Below are some cookies that I decorated about two weeks ago for the bakery that I work at.

It's really a joy to see little and big kids smile at our pumpkin faces.  Isn't that what life's all about making people smile!  I think that's why we all love to quilt!  Have a wonderful week and enjoy looking at all the beautiful quilts on Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Also thank you for all the nice comments on my Grandmother's Fan Quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Kay Lynne

Future Sewing Room

I have a new sewing room in the works!  The walls were painted with a lighter shade and I sponged painted them with one shade darker paint.  It was just something new that I wanted to try since I've had the sponge for years and never tried it.  I finished stenciling last week.

Below is a toy sewing machine that inspired me to make the sewing machine stencil that I used.

I bought this sweet little toy sewing machine at an antique shop over 25 years ago.  It doesn't sew, but it makes a really cute decoration.

My kids, Ron and Jamie, helped me roll up the old carpet and throw it out the window, which was much easier than carrying through the house.  I've never threw something out the window before--it was a great feeling.  Many years ago I had a lemon sewing machine and I felt like throwing it out the window, but I behaved--oh well that's another story.

Now I'm deciding on what type of flooring I want.  There are too many choices out there.  Do I want hardwood, carpet, or laminate?  I will have to shop around for prices.  I also want to redo the closet, which has painted over wallpaper in it that needs to be scraped out--what a mess!  I have already updated three of the closets in our home over the last six years.  It's a lot of work, but well worth the extra storage room it creates.

My husband will be rewiring and adding new outlets.  The weather here has been very hot and humid and I'm not going to ask him to work in the attic until it cools off.  We also want to finish up our outside projects first, but I have a great start and my old sewing room is still in working order while I'm waiting.

Happy Quilting,

Kay Lynne