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