One of Three

I was watching Love of Quilting a few weeks ago. It was an older episode and Maryanne Fons was actually on it. She made the comment that a quilting instructor once told her that if a quilt isn't working out it was one of three things; cutting, stitching or pressing/ironing.

All the tips and tricks that exist in the quilting world boil down to one of three things.  The accuracy of cutting out the pieces.  The precision in the stitching, And last but not least the pressing technique. 

Cutting - When cutting out fabric it is important to be accurate. The pieces must match up of the block is going to be square. Square is very important when it comes to finishing the quilt. A slightly larger or slightly smaller block makes a big difference.  On a more recent episode of Love of Quilting, they were talking about making the blocks slightly over size and trimming them down. Angela Huffman stated that is was perfectly acceptable to waste a little fabric to achieve accuracy. 

I often work with precuts. Largely because I bought a bunch of them.  For the most part they are great for a quick quilt top. But I when using charm packs from two different manufacturers, I run into size problems. This half square triangle project I am working on for example.  I am using 2 charm packs from Robert Kauffman and two charm packs from Moda.  The Robert Kauffman charms are bigger by 1/8th of an inch.  Which wouldn't be bad but the Moda charm pack were not square.  Their size was 5 - 1/8 by 5 inches.  I of course didn't notice this before starting the project.  Always check the size of your pre-cuts.

Sewing - I think most people who sew occasionally run into issues with sewing a straight even seam.  I know I do.  I have taken to using a sewing ledge to keep my seams even and straight.  I first learned this trick while teaching sewing in 4-H.  (I really miss the master sewing training workshops.) Of course I thought I didn't need to use it. After all I've been sewing for years. But I came to the realization that I did in fact need to use one after long arming some quilts with a little bit of extra fullness here and there. The flatter the quilt is the easier it is to quilt.  You can learn about sewing ledges from Karen Brown's Video on beginner quilting. Suffice it to say I now have painter's tape in my sewing drawer.

Another issue with sewing can and does arise in group projects.  A while back I worked with some women to make a quilt for a family who had helped out our congregation at church.  TAtianna and I worked with them to get the cutting as accurate as possible. But the stitching was another story. We had 1/4 inch feet on the sewing machine but no matter how often we explained how to line up the fabric with the feet, we got numerous different sized seams. In the future, when I sew with a group, I will be putting sewing ledges on the machines.

Pressing/Ironing - I once had a good friend explain the difference between pressing and Ironing.  Ironing uses movement, heat and pressure to get wrinkles out of clothing. The things is when we iron the fabric we can and often do pull it off grain.

Pressing uses heat but light pressure and no movement. Pressing involves placing the iron on the fabric then lifting it off the surface and placing it again. So when we are working with small pieces and it is fairly easy to just press. But when dealing with yardage it's a little harder. Pressing is a struggle for me. I always want to iron instead of press.  Karen Brown's video on ironing technique is really helpful.

The biggest thing about pressing/ironing is to not distort the fabric. So this will take practice and and patience. But I think it is very important to develop this technique. After all it would be really sad to have a perfect cut and seam only to mess it up with bad pressing.

In conclusion, if I am being honest, I am still struggling with all of the areas listed above. Sometimes it is one more than the other.  But I think I am getting better at them.  Practice Makes Perfect as the saying goes.

What is you downfall in making quilts? Where do you need to improve?

Will Power, Planning and Goals

This past week my friend, Tom Russell, posted a meme on Facebook that really hit home. It was a quote by Brian Tracy. Brian Tracy is a motivational speaker and self development author.  The Quote was;

"The one human quality that must be developed it the self discipline for success. The will power to force yourself to do what you know you should do when you should do it, whether you like it or not, whether you feel like it or not. Success is tons of discipline." 

Now I don't have any great desire to make millions or be famous.  But I do want to become proficient at quilting. I do want to develop the skill to longarm. I want to have a side business to supplement my retirement.  But I've had the long arm for 3 years now and all I have really accomplished is getting it paid off.  

So where am I falling short? SELF DISCIPLINE!  I get home from work and am too tired to do anything.  I don't feel like doing anything. This week was especially bad for me.  I was dealing with car issues and getting a rental while ti was in the shop.There were so many hiccups and snags that it was emotionally exhausting.   All the turmoil going on in the world has been getting to me as well. I did very little this week other than wallow in my discouragement and frustration.


I need to develop the will power to push through things like that. I did manage to shake off the melancholy a little bit on Friday and Saturday.  I got some sewing and cleaning done on my room. It wasn't a lot but I did feel better after doing it. That is what I need to focus on. the feeling of accomplishment when I get somethings done. It won't be easy to do. But I do believe the 30-30-30 plan is a start. But it's not quite enough. I think I need to define it more. Or at least set up goals in the 3 areas to work on during the 30-30-30 effort.  

So this week I am planning it out a little better. I am going to break areas down into bite size pieces.

Home - work on cleaning my room, starting with the window corner on my side of the bed. That will include going through the craft stuff in the drawer units and getting rid of stuff I won't use. If I get that done this week that will be good enough. Oh and wrap last years christmas presents and send them off.

Studio - Get the floor that is the path way swept, Get the space behind the long arm cleaned out, get the long arm cleared off.  Watch the videos on giving the long arm a deep clean.
then prepare to give it a deep clean.

Quilting - Finish the 168 HST that I've started.  Get the batik quilt put up until I can lay it out. Get borders on the Pretty in Pink quilt. Make the back to it quilt and the tan quilt. I found some fabric that will be perfect for the tan quilt. I broke the only buy what you need rule because it is an awesome neutral print and I think it will add depth to my stash. Plus I didn't know how much I would need at the time I found it. I wasn't shopping for fabric.  I also need to find different border fabric for Scrappy Joy quilt. I decided that the border fabric I had had out just isn't working for me.  Otherwise I would have made the borders already.  I think I have some that will work in my stash though. So while I am at it I will look for backs for the Church Ladies Aprons quilts.  It will require doing some organizing of my stash. Maybe do one bin at a time over the next few weeks.

That is a lot to do over the next few weeks but I am going to try and prioritize in each area. Plus I have a calendar that I can mark what I need to do each day. I am hoping that writing it done will help me to keep going.  I will also try to limit my caffeine so I am not hitting a rebound effect when I get home. 

I just need to do something different. I can't doing the same thing because we all know that leads to the same results.  I will plan to succeed not plan to fail. 

What are you struggling with?

30-30-30 Challenge, Routine or Both?

I am a procrastinator. I put off doing things that I find unpleasant, tedious or just plain boring. This is a life long trait that I doubt I will ever completely conquer. But my current guru of quilting, Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts suggests, that when you're faced with doing something you don't want to do, that you set a timer for 30 minutes and work on it 30 minutes at a time.  Set a day during the week (or more) and do that thing for 30 minutes. That way you will make progress without being overwhelmed.  After all you can do anything for 30 minutes. So I took her suggestion and ran with it.

30 - House. I hate doing housework. I push it off onto my children and have been doing so for far too many years. Now that they are growing and up moving away, I am going to have to start doing it myself or hire a house keeper. And I'd have to get the house clean before I could hire anyone. So I try to come in the door, change my clothes and pick a chore to do. This week it has been folding clothes and  making the bed because my husband has been doing the laundry.  But the laundry is folded and put away and not sitting in a basket waiting to be worn.  That is progress.  Now to be honest, it hasn't happened every day so I still have room to grow. But it is a habit I want to develop. If I can just keep doing it for 28 days or more maybe it will be come one.

30 - Studio.  I am terrible at putting things away when I am done with them, especially craft supplies. So as I am sure you deduced, my studio is a mess.  I am slowly and surely finding a way to keep the things I need handy and yet out of the way. I need to find the proverbial "place for everything". this week, I started just picking up things in the studio. I am trying to put things that do have a home in their home. I've cleaned up one corner of the studio. Now there is a clear path to my front door and it has been swept.  Yesterday, I cleared off my work surface and organized the shelf of tools above it. I even cleaned out the desk drawers. Of course this took much more than 30 minutes, but I found once I started, I wanted to keep going. And that is totally acceptable.  This week I hope to clear behind the long arm.  I have a shelf that I want to put up and a wall quilt to move. I would also like to get some pictures framed and hung up. That or I may organize the parts bins I have on the wall.  Who knows how much I will accomplish at 30 minutes a day.  I might even go past the 30 minutes again.  It all depends on how I feel in that moment.

30 - Sewing/Quilting. This is my reward. I feel my best when I take the time to sew or quilt everyday.  It is a stress buster for me. It helps fight off depression so it is a need as well as a reward. I try to keep a piecing project going. I also need to work on UFOs. So I usually do this for more than 30 minutes. This week, I cut the sashing strips for the batik strip quilt. As I was cutting them I made a design change. I'm not going to put corner stones on the outer edges of the quilt, just in between the blocks. The outer edge will just be a white strip. Fortunately I made that decision before cutting the sashing strips. I've gotten sashing on one side of all the blocks and corner stones sewn to the remaining sashing strips. Now I need to find a place to do the lay out. I've also cut the Borders for the Pretty in Pink quilt. So progress on a UFO.  I really need to settle down and do some planing. Maybe work on UFOs every other day. I am feeling a need to get the UFOs to the finish line.  They are starting to stack up. I think that part of it is, I am stalling. I think I may be a little intimidated about starting the long arm back up. I just need to get on with it.  So this week will be about getting a quilt ready to go on the long arm.

So for now it's go to work. Come home & change clothes. Set my timer and do my 30-30-30 and then repeat it all again on the next day. 

How are you getting everything done? When do you work on UFOs? Do you have a plan or schedule?

Home, Studio, and Sewing - Efforts in Time Management

As I predicted last week, not a lot of sewing got done. But the big audit is over and hopefully I will be able to work fewer hours for the next little while.  By that I mean only working 8 hrs.

While I didn't get a whole lot of sewing done, I did do some organizing, as well as planning and prep work done.  Which in and of itself is an accomplishment for me lately. Between the renovations, work, and life, I very often feel overwhelmed.

So I am trying to break things down into bite size pieces. I have gone back to my 30-30-30 strategy. 30 minutes on the house. 30 minutes in the studio, and 30 minutes sewing. I've only been back to doing it for 2 days but I feel like progress is being made.

In the house category; I managed to fold several loads of laundry, and sort and match half a laundry basket full of socks.  Now that may not sound like a lot but I've managed to get it down from a whole basket of socks. A couple of months ago it was 2 whole baskets of socks.  I've been throwing socks away. Kim's new book shelves have cleared up some space as well.  We no longer have a mountain of books on the floor of our room.

In the studio category: I've cleaned up behind the long arm machine, well at least 1/2 way.  I've cleared the door to the front deck. Then I did some scrap management.  I have a basket that I was dropping scraps in as I was trimming. But then it was covered up so I started dropping them in a little box. I gathered them up and started cutting them into useful pieces.

I got this idea from Karen Brown at Just Get It Done Quilts. She has a video series on Scrap Management. She suggests that once a month (or once a week) you cut your scraps into useful pieces. She says to start with the end in mind. That being said, I have a scrap quilt I want to make. It's a basket weave pattern and I fell in love with it when I saw it on a wall at Sew Blessed Quilts in Hahira, GA.  This quilt takes 3 inch squares and 3x8 inch strips. But not all of my scraps would yield themselves to these dimensions.  So I set out with some standard sizes in mind. 2 1/2 inch strips/blocks & 5 inch strips/blocks. 

As I was cutting, I realized that I had some 2 inch strips, so those were set aside. Then I had some 4 inch by WOF strips that I had cut for a border and changed my mind. I saved those. I had some strips of fabric that were less than 2 inches but more than 1 1/2 inches so I classified those as strings. I also have some 2 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch strips and some 2 1/2 x WOF strips that I put aside. All in all I had a few different piles.  I decided to put them in sandwich bags to keep them clean and neat. To differentiate the sizes, I placed a Post-it note with the size and shape on it in each bag. 

As I was cutting, I started setting the bags in a little shipping box. I realized that it was the perfect size for the sandwich bags.  But it wasn't all that pretty. Since I didn't plan on stuffing the scraps into a box and shoving it in a closet, I decided to clean it up a little. I cut the flaps off and covered it with wrapping paper.  Now I would be able to leave it out on a shelf where it is easy to access and it wouldn't be ugly. The little sandwich bags fit in there so neatly, just like a file. It will be easy to keep up with the organization. I love my little scrap file.

I personally believe that in order to keep up any organization plan, it has to be easy to use and easy to access. I think the old saying "A place for everything and everything in it's place" is a great idea. But it falls short. If "the place" is difficult to access "the thing" will never get put in it's place. Basically defeating the organization plan.

In the sewing category - I cut a bunch of 2-1/2 inch strips for the sashing of the Batik quilt. Then I realized that I actually had two different colors of white. They weren't close enough to use together. I found some more of one of the colors and cut 2-1/2 inch strips before realizing I wouldn't have enough of that color either.  I put all of those strips into sandwich bags and in the scrap file.

I finally used my Missouri Star Quilter's cash.  I had 3 different sets of charm packs that I only had 2 packs of.  To make a throw I need 4 packs.  So I decided to buy enough of coordinating colors to be able to make throws.  I bought 2 each of a blue, purple, ad white.  I also bought 3 natural charm packs to go with a freebie I once got. And I bought 2 ivory charm packs to replace the ones I used on my last quilt top. I am ready to sew 3 more throws as soon as I figure what pattern I want to use.

I did decide to do a four patch quilt of half square triangles. Just all the triangles going in one direction like sails.  I got the diagonal sewing lines drawn on them this week.  So I am ready to start sewing the 1/2 square triangles after work this week. 

Killian cleared a path to my yardage storage. I was hoping I had more of the white fabric that I had started cutting sashing strips out of.  I did not find any. I did find a couple of yards of white fabric that should give me enough sashing strips.  So I will be pressing and cutting sashing this week as well.

Speaking of pressing, my iron died.  I plugged it in so I could press the scraps before cutting them and it didn't heat up.  Kim sent Perigrine a text telling her to pick up a iron for me.  She did an excellent job of selecting an new iron.  It is the Black and Decker - One Step Steam Iron. It has excellent steam power. I could press several layers at once. I am so happy with the purchase.   It also has a stainless steel sole plate.

So I've done some work on the house, I did some organizing/cleaning in the studio and I have planned and prepped for more quilting. It has been a good week.  Long and tiring but good.

How was your week? What are some of your organization tips? How do you manage your time?