A necessary WIP...

Forewarning... it's another long one, so for those last time that poo poo'd  the idea of a drink or a snack, you might want to just go now and get one...

So for today's project my day was spent upstairs in my sewing room. Or maybe i should call it the storage space/playroom. Half of the room has been given to the boys and their toys, thinking that i might actually sew up here if they are with me, nope... i'm a kitchen table sewer... except on normal Wednesdays. Then i'm a living room coffee table sewer, boys regular day with grandma = my full control over the tv ;)

 But with limited space downstairs my fabric needs to live somewhere right? So here it is!


 In all it's glory... and i'll be honest here folks, it generally is way more messy. But after seeing all the loveliness being linked up for Sarah's You show me yours, i'll show you mine, i figured it was the perfect time to do a little tidy up! So here's the breakdown, let's start to the left and work around shall we?! And be prepared... i'm going deep here, i love seeing other peoples spaces and i love all the little details. So i'm being thorough. Feel free to just enjoy the pics though!


This is what i refer to as the both the pretty shelf as well as the ponder shelf. Here i keep the stacks that i love seeing on a regular basis as well the stacks that are long term works in progress. 

The champagne bucket is my garbage can for paper, threads and such. And i use the teal vintage tackle box to hold notions that i don't use frequently, buttons, zippers, that kind of stuff. On top of it is my bit of Melody Miller prints as well as AMH linen. 

Then there's the little bamboo rack, it holds my stack of Sarah Jane's Let's Pretend prints as well as a couple from her Children at Play line. Beside that stack is little bits of AMH's Little Folks as well as the Pastry Line prints. On the top shelf is my little stack of Heather Ross, mostly Nursery Versery. As well as some other pretty things!



Next to the tackle box is the stack i've been pulling for Sammy's fourth birthday quilt.


The pile stays there and i'll add to it on the side and leave it to see if it makes the cut... right now it's the little bunting scallop from Michael Miller. I'm trying to keep the palette to green, blue, black and white, but i love that bunting! And just so everyone knows, this isn't how i pull fabrics for all quilts... I just loved the Let's Pretend line from Sarah Jane so i picked up my favorite prints and i'm building the quilt around them. His birthday isn't until February so i have some time to pull the perfect stack.

Next to it is this bit of delicious goodness.



My Little Folks stack for my hexie quilt... this stack is a permanent fixture and surprisingly it doesn't seem to get any smaller, hmmm. I also have this cute girly stack that i've already decided how i want to quilt it, yet i have no plan as to what i want the quilt to look like, does any one else do that, go backwards into a project?

Moving around to the back wall...


 Most of my fabric lives in these lovely little dollar store baskets, not ideal but cheap. I'm still unsure on how i like my fabric stored. I love looking at the mini bolts people make with comic book cardboard, but it's too much work for me! I know without even trying it that it wouldn't stay that way. And as for colour order, not going to happen around here! I pull stacks with reckless abandon and more than half of what i pull doesn't get used. The thought of having to put everything back in it's proper colour placement, not me. Most of my fabrics are grouped together by designer, or what i would normally pull to go together, some of it is colour order, but really... no plan here. Just what i think looks pretty together :)

 On the left, mostly Sarah Jane's Out to Sea, pink colour ways, as well as some other coraly/pink cotton lawns. Middle is the mostly Lizzy House basket, with added bits of matchyness and the right is my Nautical basket... pretty sure i was a pirate in a former life! This basket is a mix of SJ Out to Sea, Michael Miller's Ahoy Matey and Smooth Sailing from Connecting Threads.

Under the fabric shelves are the "fancy" diaper boxes that hold mass yardage, flannel, anything to big to fit in a basket. That box in front filled with zipper bags is projects that have already been cut and just need to be sewn together. 

And the top shelf is for the baskets that hold pulls for specific ongoing projects. I generally won't remove fabric from these baskets until the project is finished. This is why you'll see multiples of certain prints throughout my baskets.


 My Penny Sampler pull.


Everything i've been using for my Indian Summer quilt. All little bits are kept in a ziploc bag in the basket, smallest bits included... to be used for paper piecing!


 My Christmas Stars stack... which i had pulled out today. Three new stars in the fabric selection process, left is Mercury by Julie of 627handworks, the middle is Blooming Hot, which i'm pattern testing for Esther at Ipatchandquilt. And on the right is Fusion Block from Sarah at Sew What, Sherlock?

Shall we break here for intermission?!

 

And back to the stash flash!

Here's a shot looking under the cutting table.

The small section directly under the table is for my whites, now being kept labelled and in their own zipper bags. As well as some sort of colour order baskets. Then back to random.

I like having little groups of matching fabrics that can be pulled out on a whim and added to. To make a quick quilt or even sometimes just to look at  a pretty stack of fabrics. Come on people, i know i'm not the only one who stack builds for imaginary quilts right... hello... anyone? dang!

Moving along,  Up in front of my window is my sewing library... still relatively small, but well loved none the less.


I also have my selvedge jars, with the lids i've been meaning to paint for ever.

Below this is more baskets of fabrics, i won't show them all but here's another example of my fancy sorting...


 On the left, green and mostly "boy" type prints, the middle is predominantly Tula Pink with some other randoms thrown in and on the right... dots. Hmm, i really don't understand any of this, is anyone seeing a pattern, other than the one that says i might be crazy?

Under all the baskets i have more of those fancy pampers boxes. Use what you have people!, diaper boxes come free with the diapers, so instead of buying something else, spend that money on more fabric, or groceries, bills, whatever... but i vote fabric!


This box holds all my scraps. Which by the way are colour sorted, not that anyone believes me after seeing the rest of my craziness. But they are, and they're stored very carefully in high tech, wait for it... plastic bags!! I probably should look into splurging on some see through bins for my scraps.
The big bin in front is scraps that still need to be sorted. The large box next to it holds batting scraps, the rest of my batting is in the closet. And the baskets on top of the batting box hold more wips.

Finally we have the right wall. And the little closet that's stuffed to the brim!


I tape up index cards on the door of all some of my current projects, right now it's everything still needing to get finished for the third quarter Finish A Long. Am i confident they will be all taken care of in time?... not in the least! am i letting it bother me, nope! I also sometimes hang batting on the doors for an impromptu design wall.

And what's in the closet you ask? Well, let me show you.


This is where projects go to wait for finishing.  Quilt tops mainly... i'll hang them with any fabrics i have decided on for backing and or binding. And i also keep larger blocks in progress so they don't get folded up, nothing worse than pressing the same blocks repeatedly because they've been folded up waiting to be finished!

And that my friends is that! Hope i didn't bore you all ;) And make sure to pop over and check out the rest of the Stash Flashers!


And this is where the fancy button would be if i was competent enough to get it to work,
so instead i'm going old school on ya! -  click here!


Getting my regular link on with Lee over at Freshly Pieced, pop by there as well to check out what everyone else is up to!

Stash flashin' high fives for all!
xo snips



Comments

  1. Jars of selvedges....I am so jealous!! And hello cutest closet I have ever seen! I want that photo to be poster size on a canvas!! I have to say I do not know how you find anything in your stash but it seems to work for you. I am organized in color order but I LOVE the gorgeous fabric stacks. Love what you have started for the Birthday quilt and the pinks and gray that you know how your quilting but not how you're making. You are so silly but I like you just the way you are!!! :)

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  2. oh my word but you have some lovelies in your stash! What a treat to get the tour of your sewing space - thank you!

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  3. warms my heart to see all of that fabric! and I did a double take when I saw the 'mercury' :D

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  4. Yum! Lots of eye candy there - I photographed my stash today, ready to do a stash post hopefully tonight :o)

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  5. Missing my stash even more now !!! - its all at my parents house while we renovate :(

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  6. I love seeing how your stash room is set up! It makes me wish I was a bit more organised with mine. Your index cards and projects in waiting are very impressive!!

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  7. Oh wow. Can I come and live in this room?

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  8. Stash flashers!! Ha!

    Thank you so much for linking up! I loved loved loved seeing your happy little space and your extensive fabric collection! Wooow. One thing that I loved is that you keep out fabric you just enjoy looking at! I've often left new fabric out for a while to enjoy and always feel sad to have to put it away. I'm definitely going to have to put our plans to join the kids into the same room on the fast track so I can do my sewing room! Fabric on shelves! That is what I need.

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  9. A room full of nice fabrics! Perfect! :-)

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  10. I want to live in your house! Love your fabric for the penny sampler quilt. I'm going low volume with it and can't wait to see what you do with your stash.

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  11. Wow, that's a nice healthy stash! Feeds the creativity, eh? All you need now is a tv in there for you. And the boys when they're sharing the room.
    I pull stacks for imaginary quilts too :)
    I LOVE your project board, I think I'll have to copy that!!!!

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  12. 1) Thanks for the link :) 2) Yay you finally did honest sewing room! 3)Thanks for the info about Sarah's site, I'm following her now, awesome site! Gotta run home after work to take stash pics before end of day to enter!

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    Replies
    1. GAH! Also thanks for the link to 627 and Block Rock'n! Great series!

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  13. Such a fabulously organised sewing space!

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  14. Wow, girl! That is some fantastic stash you've got there! I really admire your ability to have several things going at once, and all of those awesome fabric pulls for different projects. I am just not that cool! Great idea to use the closet that way too!

    :) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

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  15. That's an impressive stash. I love the way you pull for a quilt. I think setting them out to look at and add to is something I may have to get on board with. You are not alone in the comic book idea or the planning out quilts in your head. Love it and new follower as of today.

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  16. Now THAT is a stash and a tour! Awesome, thanks for sharing!

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  17. I poo poo'ed the suggestion and now I am famished! ;)

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  18. Your stash is impressive - I'm jealous of the AMH voile especially. That's a long list (index cards) of things to do. Don't forget to enjoy the moment! I was finally able to sew a bit last night while my kids slept. BLISS!

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  19. Ummmm I think I just made seventy million mental notes to things I wanted to comment about as I was reading this. But in the interest of space, I'll just say that I am flipping in love with the pink--->gray stack (I think it's one of the ones you don't have a plan for... you know throwing 'em into an envelope and writing my mailing address on the front is always an option..); anywho, moving on, I am totally going to borrow that notecard idea (notecards>chicken scratch "to do" lists scattered on my desk); and holy smokes you are so organized! What with the hangers and cubbies and boxes oh my :)

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