XMas in July Part 1 + Misc. Projects

Last Christmas before my boyfriend and I jetted off (sailed off?) on a holiday cruise to avoid holidays, we spent some time at his sister's house. She was setting up her tree. Her living room is huuge and has incredible vaulted ceilings which means the space demands a big tree.

As I was helping her hang ornaments, it dawned on me that she didn't have a tree skirt. Naturally I asked her why this was. Apparently she just couldn't find anything that wasn't disgustingly cheesy and Christmasy. So I decided to make her one.

For her tree skirt, she wanted black, silver, and white. (Yay! Oxford comma!)

I have spent a few months researching patterns and came up with my own. I am using twelve 30ish degree wedges. As far as fabric goes, it isn't all quilting cotton! A lot of it is, but I am also including some fancy schmancy fabrics to add texture.

This first one is a "special occasion" fabric with fancy roses.

The next fancy fabric is a crinkly silver. The texture reminds me of ruminant molars. Whatever this stuff is made of made a hilarious popping noise every single time my sewing machine needle went through it.

The rest of the wedges used quilting cotton. Except for one fabric, all of the quilting cotton wedges have a wonky asterisk pattern that could be bows or snowflakes.

So this is what it looks like with all the wedges assembled and stitched together.

Now I'm stuck because I don't know how to quilt it or even what to back it with. Luckily I have about 5 months to figure it out!

On to other projects!

I made my first Spice Market tote. Well, sort of. It was coming out way too heavy with all the interfacing, so I left the interfacing off the lining. This could possible be because the exterior fabric is Echino linen. Have any of you made one with all quilting weight and experienced something similar? I also left out the pocket and the false bottom because they seemed unnecessary for a grocery tote.

Now here is a close-up of the hipster stag linen I used for the bag! Spweee!

I also tackled a project out of One Yard Wonders: The bed organizer thingamajig! I had purchased the rubber shelf liner at Container Store ages ago, so I was itching to make this. I used two different fabrics for added cute. Here are some photos of it. The lighting is horrible because the pictures were taken at night time.

Better late than...

Never?

Pregnant? (As Blanche Deveroux from Golden Girls would say)

While both are important, this particular post will focus on the only relevant topic: Better late than never.

I am incredibly late for WIP Wednesday. Wait. It is only Wednesday. I'm not actually late. Woohoo! I just feel so rushed this week.

The only non-new project I worked on this week was sewing space/bedroom (same room, people!) organization. It is still incredibly cluttered, but it is starting to feel more usable. On the cube shelf to the left of the photo I have my yardages of fabric folded into tiny bolts so that they are easily accessible. In the plastic drawers under the concrete skull, I have fat quarter storage. (See this post for more info on the amazing and perfectly sized drawers!) They fit perfectly in these drawers! Finally in the lime green Ikea drawers, I have notions, interfacing, giant yardages for backing, tops, blocks, more fat quarters, BOMs I am horribly behind on, and yarn.

Aside from the colossal and seemingly endless monster that is organization, I really only worked on new projects this week. I finished the March block for Color Bee Shocked. Mallory wanted different stars (unfinished @ 8.5"). I used the galaxy star paper pieced pattern by Moira McSpadden.

I also made two commissioned pouches for a coworker. The first one is a pencil pouch and the second one is a big carry-all bag for her GoPro and GoPro accessories.

As far as new projects go, I started working on the front and back for a pillowcase I am making. One side will be in cool colors, one side will be in warm colors.

The cool color side is nearly done!

I also started working on something secret. They looked so cute and garlandy after chain piecing that I had to snap a photo!

What could it be?! Oh, alright, I'll tell! It's a Dresden plate! Well, half of one. This is my first time playing with them and I am loving it! Sometimes handwork makes me very happy. :) As for what I'm using these for, you will have to stay tuned.

I am leaving you with an adorable picture I took at my favorite German restaurant. They drew my mustard into hearts! Aww!

Resolute

This is not a new year's resolution. This is just something that hit me, and I want to try my best to stick to it.

I am not buying any fabric unless it is necessary for a project I am actually working on.

This means no more online fabric ordering in the middle of the night when I get fabric envy from someone else's projects.

This means no more picking up miscellaneous fabric when I visit new out of town shops on my travels just because it is something I like and can't get at home.

Realistically, this might mean no more visiting new shops.

What saddens me is that it means no more obligatory supporting of small business owners. At least I can sleep easy knowing my money will not be going into big box stores instead.

This means no more "oo, but this is my favorite fabric, so I have to buy it every chance I get!"

This is about clutter and chaos, not money (although hello added bonus). My stash runneth over, and I do not feel bad about that. But I know that I have picked up so much incredible fabric and it all deserves a chance to get used. If I keep buying fabric, stuff will start getting lost in the madness. Speaking of the madness, my organization is slipping because I keep having to make accommodations for new fabrics. Hopefully if there is a set number, I can make my space a relaxing sewing haven that I am proud of.

Plus, I woke up with a decision about going for more grad school (Yes, more grad school. I'm a nut.), and it involves a move. Translation: My stash needs to shrink significantly over the next few years.

Fine Print: If I do happen to find one of the fabrics I have spent so long trying to find (think: Moda Lush line), I will probably allow myself to splurge. Come on, I am human and this isn't really a resolution.  :)

Fat Quarter Organization

Let me begin with an extreme purchase of fabric that I feel pretty guilty about. I was planning on actually using all of this to make cute host/hostess gifts for my cousin and her boyfriend who are hosting Thanksgiving this year in their brand new [to them] house. I thought these colors would be fun while also a little autumny.

When I asked her about what she could really use and told her about the colors, she was thrilled! But then asked if I could use the colors from the housewarming quilt I made them. Here is a picture of that quilt.

As you can see, those are not at all the same colors. Luckily, I still had enough scraps leftover to make everything I wanted to make them. Pictures in a few weeks when I finish the backs. Fronts are done though! Yay!

So that left me with 24 fat quarters that I was not prepared to house in my limited and poorly organized stash. (My local brick & mortar quilt shop has a sale: Buy 10 fat quarters, get one free.) Well as the title implies, I have [finally] found a nearly perfect way to organize my fat quarters!!

Meet the answer to all one of my problems!

My boyfriend and I were out of town and needed to kill some time, so we went to the Container Store since I had never been. Our goal was to find some sort of shelf to keep my fat quarters on. A wire mesh CD tower appeared to be the best bet, until I found this by accident! We were ready to check out and in line, then he had a phone call, so I wandered through the random middle section and found it! Fat quarters fit PERFECTLY!

I was starting to put them in by color, then realized two things:

1. I did not have enough room for all of my fat quarters in just one drawer. We only bought the one in case it didn't work. Next time we visit in a few weeks, I am definitely buying a few more!
2. I was just so excited to see them fit in there that I really did not care about grouping them by color! 

I was able to fit 86 fat quarters in there!! Eighty six!!! Could have squeezed a few more in, but then the ones in the back would be more cramped, which leads us to the only flaw I am finding in this...

The poor fat quarters in the back.

Unless the drawer is removed completely, the last 4 fat quarters are difficult to look down upon and flip though. This is a minor problem, though. I can pull the drawer out completely and it is a non-issue, or I can put duplicates back there, fabrics I don't really like, or just put something rigid back there so they don't go all the way to the back. That would lose the space for about 4 fat quarters, but I was able to fit 86 fat quarters in there!! Eighty six!!! So really, losing 4 would not be the end of the world, considering I have enough in my stash to fill almost 3 of these bad boys.