Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Making Fabric Bins To Store Scrap Fabric

 These fabric storage bins were started about a month ago.  They have been a project I would work on during my Sunday playtime I mentioned yesterday.  Well yesterday wasn't Sunday but it was time to get them finished. 


When I started making them back in December I thought it would be something I could finish in one Sunday afternoon.  And it would have been had there been a better plan.  But Sundays are all about just going with flow, relaxing and enjoying the process.  So I flew by the seat of my pants, didn't check my math and cut fabric.  As you can see by the not so uniform bins, I had some issues.  Once I figured out the math I didn't write it down.   There's my biggest issue, thinking I can remember measurements from one week to the next.  Sure I could've measured the previous bin but I didn't.  When I finally did measure a bin, I cut them wrong, not once but several times.  


When cutting for a quilt size matters.  These bins don't matter.  They'll work no matter the size of the finished bin.  So why bother pulling more fabric to make them perfect.  They still look pretty cute when filled with fabric scraps.  This takes up more space than my cardboard box but I think it will make the process of sewing together crumbs a little more efficient.


The Ziploc bag with my finished quilt section is a temporary solution.  As this quilt grows the bag will need to be replaced or I could put the finished sections under the bins.  I like that idea, it's simple and doesn't require math or money, HAHA!


Did you notice my brown bin has white fabric in it?  As you know brown, gray and black are not colors I use very often so I didn't have as many as I thought.  But I have a huge amount of white.  So the brown bin will be used for as second white fabric storage.  I may need to start making some white string blocks with them, they multiply like bunnies.


The tiny brown crumb scraps were added back to the bigger brown fabric scraps drawer.  I rarely open these drawers.  This is my go to stash for test blocks, charity quilts and utility quilts.  They contain my older fabric scraps.  Most of the fabrics in these drawers are cheap fabrics, novelty prints, and no so loved prints.  There's also a drawer full of smaller than crumbs scraps that I swear someday will come in handy for the ultimate tiny applique quilt.   Anyway, notice the big green arrows.  Two drawers are now empty after doing a little organizing!  Yippee!   I immediately think, more room for fabric!  But my dream the last few years has been to use up these old fabrics and get rid of the bins.  Stay the course Lea Anne, you can do this.  Someday, when I use up all these fabrics, I'd like to replace these bins and my current cabinets with IKEA Billie cabinets.  So stay focused and come up with a plan to use them up fast.  Yep, I'm dreaming.


Thanks for stopping by my little spot in Podunk!

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!




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Friday, January 14, 2022

Who Doesn't Love a Red and White Quilt?

 This weekend I'm living life dangerously!  Getting a little wild and crazy here in the Podunk Studio all weekend.  You see I'm going to start a new quilt this weekend using unwashed reds.  WHAT!  Oh yes I am!  And to put a little extra added danger to the wild ride, most of these are not designer fabrics.


We all need a little excitement from time to time, that's what keeps us on our toes and young.  Living life cautiously is an overrated and boring life.  Playing with known bleeders isn't easy and if you don't know the ropes you are in for a real treat.  But I've got a few tricks up my sleeve because, you know, I'm no fabric snob and have been quilting with crappy fabrics most of my life.  I and many of my followers can make beautiful quilts from just about any fabric.  I even made one years ago out of corduroy. This cheap cotton fabric will be a breeze compared to that one. 

So here's to you my quilty friends!  You are the Quilting Super Hero's!  Hold your rotary cutters high and know you are my Quilting Hero's!  You're fearless quilters with a passion for all fabrics.  We do not discriminate, all fabrics are welcome in our studios!  Uniting all fabrics!  Staying bold and strong against the naysayers.  Fighting for truth, life, liberty and the pursuit of quilting happiness!
We are quilters and we are the peicemaker's.



Until next next time....

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!




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Wednesday, January 12, 2022

HST's, A Superhero And One Mess After Another

 Remember last week when I mentioned my plan to tackle squaring up years of flippy corner bonus HST's?  To be exact 3500 HST's. Just trim 100 HST's first thing every morning.  Well it's probably no big surprise my plan didn't go off as planned.   It's the usual excuse, you know this happened, that happened and excuse after excuse.  To be honest there was days last week when I just threw up my hands and said "to heck with all those HST's!".  The next morning I'd regret my decision.  So it was time to play a little game of catch up over the weekend. 


While binge watching the last few episodes of Dexter I began to tackle my huge pile of procrastination HST's plus 200 more than what I needed so I could be ahead of the plan.  Yes my quilting friends I was feeling like a quilting superhero.  There's nothing that can stop me now!


Hours of trimming.  I'd sit and trim for awhile, stand(very slowly) and trim for awhile.   The office/sewing chair is kryptonite to this 52 year old quilter.  I really need to invest in a chair with more cushion like a recliner or couch.  Hmmm?...a recliner for a sewing chair?  Sounds perfect for my hips but not sure it's doable.   Avoiding being in the chair is probably the more doable option.  I made good progress and by the time I watched the last episode of Dexter I was pressing the freshly trimmed HST's.  The rest of them could wait until the next day.


The next day had other plans.  My kitchen sink wouldn't drain.  So while hubby was at work I tackled the clog myself.  I'll spare you the yukky stuff and jump right to problem #2.   Well first of all I didn't find the clog in the plumbing under the sink, it's under the house and that is hubby's area of expertise due to possible critters.   We know snakes like to hang out down there, we found those when we did a remodel a few years ago.  They probably wouldn't be too active when its 20 degrees outside but who cares, it's a snake.  Anyway,  this pipe would not go back onto the bottom of the sink.  I thought it was just me and my lack of plumping skills.  Nope!  Mr. Podunk couldn't make it work either.  He said it needs replaced.  Oh happy day, I'm without a kitchen sink for another day.  The plus side of this situation is no cooking means more sewing room time.


Nope, the next day had other plans.  It started off with me oversleeping.  I'm pretty sure the stress of me trying to be a plumbing superhero might have been the reason I overslept.   What can a gal do but try to make up for lost time.  The plan was to pick up a few items at the store, stop by Hobby Lobby to look for a background fabric for my next project and then drop off my dad some meatloaf, visit for about an hour and head home.  I should be back by noon.  

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses.   What can I say...Hobby Lobby is a wonderland.  How can you not look at all the things?  So I did.  I'm not ashamed.  I deserve a little girly time in Hobby Lobby after playing plumber for a day.  I was a good girl and only bought fabric since we are having to replace the sink and pipes under the sink.  

Before that one quilt police pops up and tells me how horrible this fabric is.....I know the risk and I don't care.   It's cute, it makes me happy.  And just to make you cringe I'm going to let you in on a little secret, I'll probably mix it with good quality fabric and a few Walmart prints too.  


Once I finally made it to dads(1pm, I should've been home already), I threw out another excuse.  
It's not an excuse, it's a fact and the right thing to do.  Dad is soon to be 76, he gets almost no visitors besides me due to the Covid.  He is and has always been very social.  The kind of guy that when he walks in a room he owns it, works it, and everyone loves him.  He needs engagement.   So to just drop and run isn't the right thing to do.  Me and the grandkids is all he has and you know how millennial's are, they are young and living life.   

Dad always reassures me he is fine being out there all by himself and not seeing too many people other than when he runs errands and shops for groceries.  But I know all about regrets.  Family is more important than HST's.  I left around 3 pm, so I could get home with enough time to eat and  be ready to help install the new sink and pipes. 

NOPE, Mr. Podunk came home empty handed.  No sinks in stock that will fit and that aren't way too much.  We just want to replace the stainless steel with stainless steel.  Looks like everyone else is just as thrifty as us.  We thought ordering from Amazon would be the way to go. NOPE.  

To make a long story short we both went down a  internet search rabbit hole for a stainless steal sink.  At bedtime our situation was we could pay way too much for a sink we didn't want or like  OR we could wait a week for one to be shipped to our local Lowe's.  

Again this morning I woke up late.  This is getting old real quick.  I like being up before the chickens.  Mr. Podunk has gone to work but has left me a note.  
FOUND A SINK AT HOME DEPOT, BRINGING IT HOME TONIGHT

Thank goodness.  The last few weeks have been one thing after another. It started off with my car not starting.  It just needed a battery.  Did you know the price of batteries has almost double in the last 5 years? 

 Then my dryer quit working.  I love my dryer, its old, no bells and whistles, just a turn knob and start button.  We considered replacing it with a new one but I hate my new washing machine with all the bells and whistles.  He left the decision up to me on whether or not to replace.  As long as we can still get parts for the old girl I say fix it.  

After that we had gravel poured in our driveway.  A good gravel guy smooths out the gravel so all we do is pay for the job and TADA we have a nice looking driveway.   NOPE.  The worst driveway job I've ever seen.  Luckily our neighbor saw our mess, brought over his little bulldozer looking thing and smoothed it out for us. 

 And that brings to our current issue, the sink.  

My goodness that was a long winded rant but it's part of my quilting life and why I can't seem to get things done.  Thank you to those of you who stuck it out to the end.  

Before going to bed last night I did manage to get the rest of my trimmed HST's trimmed, pressed and sorted.  800 HST's, from 1" to 3.5".


They were sorted by size and stuffed into baggies.  It's starting to look like I should have started with gallon baggies instead of quarts.


My well organized storage bin will soon be to small as well.


There's many more to trim.  I pulled todays baggies last night.  To stay on track I need to trim 200 HST's today.



Should I get these completed there will 2300 HST's left to trim.  Twenty-three days of trimming 100 HST's a day.  I'll keep you posted....LOL!


I keep trying to remind myself...


If you missed my Bloom word of the year post you can read it here

Until next time....

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

See you soon!


















 
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Thursday, January 6, 2022

Big Beautiful Florals Bloom

Seriously, How could I not buy these?  They are gorgeous.  Big, beautiful, bright florals.  It's getting so hard to find colors like this.


Sure it's not the best quality of fabric but it's not the worst either. If the designer companies would make florals like this, I'd buy them.  Our local quilt shop has a great selection of  almost everything but they can only stock what is available.  And colors like these are few and far between these days.  I've ordered four different FQ bundles in the last few months.  Online they look amazing.  My heart sinks when I finally get to see them.  Muted tomato soup reds, cheddar yellows, peachy pinks.  The color names are very deceiving. Blushing pink should be pink not peachy.  I'm convinced they are editing the images to make the fabric look amazing online. When I take a picture of them, transfer them to my computer they look like they do in real life, awful.  So when I spied these I didn't even care what they cost or the quality. They are mine before they are gone!  I know they will sell quick.  I need a bolt or two!  Walmart.com had bolts but they didn't last long.  Sadly, I put them in my online cart and waited too long to make my decision.
 

That's okay because our local store also has these prints.  And there's a lot more on the Walmart website that isn't available here but can be shipped to store or home.  One yard cuts and three yard cuts are both available online.  I'm giddy about every one of the prints and want them all.  Looks like I'll be purchasing my own Valentines present early again this year.   No cut flowers for me, they die.  These flowers will last much longer.
The beautiful fabric inspired more than my quilty creativity, it inspired my word of the year.  Not that I put a whole lot of  thought or stock in the word of the year but I was looking for one.  It's nice to set goals for the year but rarely do any of us stick to them all year long.  Every year I say this is the year and every year I fail.  However, I do feel I'm getting better at working towards my goals.  

So the personal goal or "resolution"  is to just do better at what I do no matter what I'm doing.  My word of the year is...


Basically it means to "Bloom Where You Are Planted".  The meaning of this statement means something a little different to so many so called experts online.  So me being an expert about me I came up with what it means to me.

Just be me and do what I do.  Do the best that I can.  Try to stick with a plan to the best of my ability.  When the plan gets to difficult to work, work it anyway.  See what happens.  Be the best that you can be, give it your all, while giving yourself grace.  Grow gracefully and naturally.  Just BLOOM.

The Bloom image above will be put in the sidebar of my blog as my reminder.  I'm also going to print one out for my studio also.   Making it the first thing I see everyday.

Thanks for stopping by my little spot in Podunk!

Until next time...

~ I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet ~


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