It’s voting time!! The theme for this week’s quilt contest is Commemorative Quilts. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, a pencil to make note of your faves and maybe even a box of tissues. The stories with these quilts are heart-warming. You can vote for FIVE quilts this weekend.

Our sponsor, Road Home Quilting, is giving away this gorgeous Grandmother’s Garden Tote kit for this week’s winner.

Now it’s time for you to vote for your favourites!

• Voting is open Friday – Sunday @ 11:59 p.m.
• One vote per person (based on IP address NOT email address), so have your family and friends cast a ballot for their favourite quilt (from home if you send it to coworkers)
• Winner announced Monday!

How to Vote:

• Review the photos and stories below… there are several, so you’ll need to scroll down to see them all. You can also click the link to the slider version to review the quilts in the large format and then return to this page to vote.
• Underneath the photos, scroll down, you’ll see the names of all the quilts with a square button** beside each one. Select the buttons for the quilts you want to vote for. You can select up to FIVE quilts this week.
• Then scroll down, all the way, until you get to the bottom of the names of the quilts. Press the vote button.

** Note: If you don’t see the square buttons to vote, but instead see the voting results, that means someone on your IP Address already voted, or that the voting period has ended, or that you need to refresh the page to see the voting options. Shared IP Addresses are very common in home or work networks.

Slider version: To view the large photos of all the quilts and descriptions, CLICK HERE. You’ll need to return to this page to cast your votes.

Please Note: If you are not seeing all of the photos, check your browser settings. Go to view, and text size. Make sure it’s set at medium. If you need web sites to be larger so you can read them more easily, then use the browser’s Zoom function, not the text resize. You can also use the scroll bar above, beside the photos, to scroll and see the hidden ones.

Next Week’s Contest

The theme for next week’s contest is Be My Valentine. For this contest, you can also enter other items made with fabric that fit the theme… and quilts too, of course. Also, it does not have to be something you made this year. Let’s see all your Red and Pink love!

Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EST). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Weekly Quilt Contest Links

• Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2012 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Sponsor a contest

The Learning Center

In The Learning Center this week, we continue with the Studio Organization series. In the first post, Pat Sloan shares ideas on Finding a Space of Your Own.

Plus, everyone is invited to share their BEFORE photos and join our link party for a chance to win a copy of Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter. Two winners will randomly be selected next Monday.

Want to win? – Add your link here!

The second post this week includes several Project Storage Tips from Pat, myself and other quilters. Lots of gorgeous photo inspiration is included!

Hi everyone! Michele here with some project storage tips from a few quilting friends around the world. Before I get to those, I just want to remind you to share your Before photos on Tuesday’s post: A Space of your Own.

We have two copies of Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter: An Illustrated Guide to the Space of Your Dreams to give away.

Pat’s Tip – Project Management

Our first tip is from Pat Sloan and is a continuation of her Studio Organization 101 series.

Sometimes we start projects and then … well… we don’t finish them. I know… hard to believe… but it happens to the best of us! Sometimes we need to take a long hard look at that group of “stored” projects. Why?

• They take up precious room (for most of us)
• We have forgotten what is in the bags (there might be something good in there!)
• and they often make us feel guilty for putting them aside, they whisper to us in the middle of the night.. finish me.. finish me!

How long has it been since you looked at ALL of your stored projects. Really? That long? This is the month to do it.. yes.. haul them all out into the light of day and see what you have.

Once again prioritise… most loved, sort of love, long forgot I had it.. and why in the world did I ever decide to make that one?

You know what to do…

• keep the first 2 groups.
• unpack the last 2 groups.

Take the “no longer loved” projects and give them away or sell them. You may want to keep the fabrics and just release the made part. Also consider piecing these unfinished projects into your next quilt back… really.. why not!

Doesn’t that feel better?

Michele’s Project Storage

I like to store my UFOs or fabric collections in plastic bins or pizza boxes. I put all fabric, patterns and blocks into the same box, so that I don’t accidentally use the fabric for something else.

These boxes sit on top of a large cabinet and store the fabric collected for upcoming projects. Milo has outgrown his large teddy bear, so that’s hiding up there in the boxes too.

In the sewing room, I have smaller boxes for various projects and pre-cut scraps.

These two plastic storage units fit nicely under my work table. Some contain scraps that need to be cut up into various usable sizes and others contain UFOs. These bins need to be re-organized and labelled!

I also have a couple of pizza boxes for storing blocks. They are the perfect size for 12.5″ unfinished blocks. Here’s Milo guarding my postage stamp quilt blocks.

You’ll notice that my pizza box is not nearly as pretty as these ones that Serena Smith covered in fabric. She’s put together two fabulous videos on how to cover a pizza box with fabric.

Project Storage Tips from Pam

Pam in KC sent me the following photos and tips of her project storage. Wow, isn’t her system impressive!

My project storage is probably not unique. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the ArtBin Super Satchel Series 9000AB boxes designed for scrap booking.

I’ve put one or more sets of blocks in each box and have labeled it so I know what is in the box.

I have space for two more boxes and contemplated getting them, but ultimately decided against it to discourage me from starting something new! I tend to start projects and then get waylaid. Actually, two of the boxes on my shelf are empty and I need to move a couple of projects out of my secondary storage. The secondary storage is a big plastic bin with bags of projects just tossed in it.

I also love 2 & 2 ½ gallon zip top bags. On the outside of the box, I’ve got labels telling me which projects are in the box. Finally, I have two large bins with folded tops. The box on the top of the shelf contains tops and the slightly smaller box on the floor under the shelving unit contains tops with backing. I have a problem turning my tops into quilts as well. But in my defence, I am diligently working on completing these quilts.

Here’s a picture of the entire storage system.

I probably should have cleaned up a bit. Here’s a tour: Top of left shelf the ufo project boxes. The next three shelves contains fabric, typically less than a yard sorted by color or theme. The frog quilt is held up by magnets. The bottom two shelves contain my yardage. Not pictured, but tucked under the bottom shelf is my extra sewing machine, the case to my main machine and a large box of small batting scraps.

The shelving unit on the right starts with the box of quilt tops with out backing fabric and the box of large batting scraps. The next shelf is for thread and stabilizers. The boxes contain my baby fabric and shirting. Down one shelf is the start of my scrap saver system – boxes of 1 ½” strips, strings, 2 ½” strips, orphan blocks and the additional UFOs. The shoe boxes on the next shelf contain more pre-cut strips, bricks, and blocks, my vintage fabric and the Christmas fabric. Finally the bottom shelf contains my quilting magazines and patterns. Under this shelf is the box of quilt tops with backing fabric and my serger.

Project Storage Idea from Peggy

Peggy from Utah likes the ArtBin boxes too. Here’s what she had to say…

I use the 13″ x 14″ scrapbook paper storage totes to keep all of my quilt projects organized. I buy the clear ones so I can see what is in them. They stack nicely and I can label the end so even if they are on a shelf I know what is in each box.

They also have a handle so it’s easy to carry them when going to a quilting bee or retreat. They are large enough to hold a 12″ block (or larger) plus extra fabric, pattern, thread, etc. They also usually come with large flat dividers so I can keep each block separated. This works really well for applique projects.

Storage Ideas from Kathleen

Kathleen shares these ideas:

I hang sets of blocks from a closet rod using skirt or pant hangars. Pop up mesh laundry hampers are perfect for storing batting. They’re the right height for packaged rolls, and hold all the smaller pieces, too. I display quilts over the tops of doors that are rarely closed.

Project Storage Idea from Sharon

Sharon from the UK shares…

To keep all the parts of a project or UFO together, I ordered 100 translucent large sturdy plastic bags with handles (like the kind you might be given when buying clothing) from an online packaging supplier. I can write on the outside of the bag with a Sharpie the name of the project and the date started. I can see through it to view the contents, and they stack on a shelf. I’ve got about 30 projects bagged up and easy to grab.

Marianne’s Tip for BOMs

Marianne shares how she keeps her long-term BOMs organized…

For a project that is going to take a long time I like to keep everything together. I started a mystery quilt last September that was supposed to take about 6 months. I’m keeping it organized. I did all the cutting and labelled the pieces with sticky notes, popped them in baggies, and loaded all including scraps and extra fabric into a storage box.

I like clear plastic boxes so I can tell what’s inside when there are a few of them around. As I get the new instructions each month (I keep them all together in the box too), I re-label the sewn units. Then I won’t get confused next month. I have another project in the collection stage and I’ve started a box for it: so far it has a book, a template, a new specialty rotary cutter, and fabrics of course.

That’s a Wrap…

Thanks to today’s guests for sharing their tips and ideas on how they store their quilting projects. What about you? What project storage ideas or tips do you have? Please share in the comments.

Looking for some additional eye-candy storage solutions, check out these ideas:

• I Heart Organizing – I got lost at this site, so many fabulous ideas for the entire home
• Flickr group: Operation Sewing Room Organization
• Sewing Room Storage and Organization Products

Don’t forget to share your Before photos on Tuesday’s post A Space of your Own for a chance to win Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter: An Illustrated Guide to the Space of Your Dreams.

We’re getting down to the wire with our UFO challenge and looking for more entries: our quilt detecting antenna detect UFO’s everywhere… we know they are out there!

Quilting Gallery and Quilting Is Murder teamed up earlier this year and created a challenge to quilter’s everywhere: finish up a UFO and you could win a bernette 25 sewing machine. Remember, you don’t have to totally finish your UFO: just make significant progress. The goal is to quilt and have some fun while doing it. Read about the Challenge here.

Here is the link to our Flickr group. Take a minute and click through the photos and add yours to the entries.

Spool_dust queen finished hers already! A big hurray goes out to her. :)

justcrafty1 has BEADS on her quilt!! We love beads!!

Ten Quilts has a wonderful set of Jacob Ladder blocks she’s pulling together: let’s give her some friendly kudos and encouragement to get them quilted.

thePieceCorps has VeeDub group of block ~ blocks of VW bugs she’s putting together. Fun!!

Hurry – get your UFO entry in: it can be anything from a quilt to a table runner to an oven mitt ~ we all have a UFO or 25, so there is no excuse for you to pull one out and git ‘er done.

Chief Inspector Jean’s UFO update: “I haven’t touched my UFO since putting it up for inspection on the Flickr site…. I’d better get moving! My entry is just there to give me incentive: it will not be considered to win, of course. However, I did finish up a table runner last week as I made room to move my UFO quilt into the sewing area….”

Deadline to submit your quilt photos to the Flickr group is this Saturday, February 11th. Be sure to leave a note in the discussion too with your official entry info.

My grandmother taught me to knit and my first project was a doll skirt. My first cross stitch project was a rooster on a red cloth with black floss. I embroidered a pillow case at camp. I made my first outfit in middle school (then it was called junior high)! And I made all my clothes when I went to college. And it didn’t stop there. I always had a project going my entire life and I still do today. But if you would have told me that I would become a designer with my own company because of a cat – I wouldn’t have believed you.

Twenty years ago we moved to Florida with our 2 cats. My family had vacationed there and I loved it. It was my dream to become a "little ol’ lady on the beach with lots of cats"! Be careful what you wish for! Thanks to a loving husband, I am living my dream!

However, one thing I didn’t anticipate was having lots of hurricanes (a few maybe, but not lots)! We evacuated many times. Not much fun, but very necessary. We always took our cats – there was no way I would leave them behind. But 20 years ago, not much thought was given to animals in emergency situations. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 changed all that thanks to the many animal agencies that responded to that disaster. Emergency Management officials saw the need, but it was a slow learning process. The issue was raised again with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and fortunately, since then, emergency officials have listened.

There was a little black cat that came into my life right before Hurricane Opal in 1995. Casey was a feral cat and I couldn’t get close to him when we evacuated, so I had to leave him behind. The next day when we returned (and that is another story) Casey ran to my arms. I became very attached and when he passed, I decided his little life should not be in vain. Read the complete story of Casey on my blog!

Because of Casey and my love of animals, I became involved with The Humane Society of the United States and was part of their Disaster Animal Response Team (DART). As a result I worked fires, floods, tornadoes and hurricanes. I saw firsthand the need to get the word out about taking care of pets during disasters. Therefore I created The CASEY Plan (Caring for Animals Safely in Emergencies during the Year) in memory of my little black cat to help promote animal disaster preparedness.

And that is also when I created Purrfect Spots. Living in a resort area, I designed cross stitch patterns of local landmarks. A portion of my sales goes to The CASEY Plan which promotes animal disaster preparedness. My first effort was the Seaside Post Office (Picture).

One thing led to another and I started creating all sorts of cross stitch patterns and then added needlepoint.

Well it was only natural to go into quilting as a lot of my patterns worked beautifully as appliqué.

I fell in love with quilting and that is what I design today, both applique and pieced.

I love to hand quilt as I find it very relaxing and good therapy. It is one place in my life that I can make the pieces fit (if they are cut right). I am also the Marketing Director for The Quilt Pattern Magazine. However I still am very much involved in the promotion of animal disaster preparedness and safety. Casey’s legacy lives on! That is why I created this “Safety Tips for Pets” slide show for all my sewing friends with pets.

Give-Away

I have enjoyed being a guest on the Quilting Gallery today and I hope you have enjoyed the story of my journey as a quilter and animal lover. In appreciation of your visit, I do have a contest!

Leave a comment below telling me if you have a pet, (name & description) plus what poses a threat for them in your sewing room. There will be a random drawing for a special gift next Wednesday!

Thank you again for visiting.

For the animals,
Nan Purrfect Spots

Author Linda Hubalek

Isn’t it funny how we used "old bedding" when we were growing up, and now realize how valuable these antique quilts are due to the work and love put into each of them?

This fall I moved my parents from the farm they had called home for 65 years to a smaller home in town.

Because my parents didn’t have room for two trunks of quilts, I was lucky to inherit them. Inside these wooden chests were the handmade quilts, made by my great grandmother and grandmother, which we had used on our own beds when I was young.

Oil tinted photos of Kajsa Swenson Runeberg standing in front of her house featured in Linda K. Hubalek's book Butter in the Well

My childhood years in the 1960s were spent in a wood frame house built back in 1870. The only heat for my upstairs bedroom came from a floor vent, which let a little warmth drift up from the room below. Therefore, during the winter months, there were "blanket sheets" on my bed, plus three or four quilts on top.

Author Linda Hubalek and her little sister in front of the "Butter in the Well" house in 1966

Then I grew up, left home, and started using the light modern blankets on my bed.

Looking through the inherited quilts again brought back many memories. Not only of the quilts, but other flashes—like tucking my feet up inside the flowered flannel nightgown I wore to bed, pink sponge curlers, and having only my nose sticking out from under the pile of bedding.

Now I think of how I treated those quilts that we had used for everyday bedding, and am amazed that they survived.

Pink quilt used by Linda Hubalek while growing up in the "Butter in the Well" house

I marvel at the thousands of tiny handmade stitches and the variety and colors of the fabric—all scraps from past clothing of my ancestors.

How many hours did the quilters spend cutting out the block pieces, and then sewing them together?

Who sat around the quilting frame to quilt them?

What was the conversation those days back in the late 1800s and early 1900s?

Pink quilt used by Linda Hubalek while growing up in the "Butter in the Well" house

Did these women ever consider their handwork would keep their decedents warm after they were gone? Or that I would treasure these quilts and the memories of the quilters a century later?

Just think, whether it was a hundred years ago—or present time—a quilt made by someone’s hand, is keeping another person warm.

How valuable is that? Priceless…

About the Author of Today’s Post

Hello from the Kansas prairie! I’m pioneer writer Linda Hubalek. Because one of my book series, Trail of Thread weaves stories and quilts together, the Quilting Gallery is the perfect place to share some thoughts about antique quilts.

Book series by Linda K. Hubalek

Today I’m thinking about my first book series though as I write about the quilts I used while growing up. Butter in the Well series, written in dairy form from 1868 to 1888, features the Swedish woman Kajsa Swenson that homesteaded the farm I grew up on. The series continues in Prarieblomman as her daughter Alma Runeberg blossoms into a young woman. Egg Gravy is a reading recipe book that features quotes from the first two books about food, and then features the old-time recipe. The series finishes with Looking Back as Kajsa reminisces her final week on the land she homesteaded.

Enter a Give-Away

Want to win one of my ebooks for your Kindle? Please enter my ebook give-away by leaving a comment below, and a randomly picked lucky reader will receive a Kindle version of Butter in the Well, featuring the old house I grew up in.

Because quilt patterns can have more than one name, please tell me what you’d call the hand tied quilt I used growing up (pictured above – that I got in trouble for pulling out some of its yarn ties) as your entry for the ebook drawing. Winner will be chosen next Tuesday.

Many thanks from the Kansas prairie for following my trail of thoughts about quilts!

Linda K. Hubalek
Facebook | Blog

Many of you do not have a "space of your own" in your home where you can sew. A place where you can leave up all your things and work at anytime without hauling it all out.

How do you find a space of your own? First take a very close look at what you have. Yes… it ALWAYS starts here!

You need to know the bare minimum you need to have available to enable you to sit down to work. I imagine it’s not as much as you think:

• sewing machine
• cutting mat
• rulers, rotary cutter
• iron and board
• the project you are working on

Not much eh?

So you need a table that can be left up with the sewing machine on it. In an extreme pinch you can get out the mat and rulers to cut when needed.

Now to find a place for this table .. don’t worry yet about what the table is.. let’s find a spot first.

• Bedroom…often there is a corner here you can clear out and use.
• Family/living room – there MUST be a tiny spot a table can go.
• Dining room – as a kid that is where my spot was… my parents put the sewing machine in the dining room. That gave me the table to use.
• Eat in kitchen… maybe not the ideal spot, but many have a built in cubbie place you could modify for a sewing machine. Or put the machine in a lower cabinet to pull out quick, use your counter for a the cutting station… be creative here.
• Bathroom…mmm… not sure on this one!
• Closet – often there is a closet in a room you could take over. Remove everything in it (as most likely it’s storage and junk). Then convert the whole closet into your studio. There are tons of these make overs on the Internet to look at.
• Part of a book shelf- you can either store the machine on the shelf, or actually make a shelf extension that is the table you work on.

Does this get you thinking? Be CREATIVE and really look hard at what in is in your home. Do you have unused things in a room that can be moved or donated elsewhere? Do you have things in a room that could go somewhere else?

Have you used a creative spot? Post question/photos on spots in your house you think you can used.

Now for the table. There are tables that fold down from the wall, small tables that you can find at yard sales, tables you may already own! There are tables built just for the machines and the machines go down into them. For years my main sewing table was a kitchen counter clamped to legs my husband built for it. The legs make it the exact right height, the counter was smooth and had finished edges. We bought the counter at the hardware store for very little as it was a reject. Customers special order and something is not right so the counters are sold at a good price. This is a great option for making a table fit a space you have.

Here are a few sites with spaces to check for ideas… link to others in the comments!

• Organize Your Sewing Room
• Sewing Closet Revamp; Using Every Inch Wisely!
• Sewing Space Organization-Getting Started
• Sewing Room in a Closet

So look around and find a space, and a table.. report back!

Link Party and Give-Away

And now for the Link Party! Share a link to your blog post or Flickr photo of your area in most need of work.. or your whole ‘before studio’.. I can’t wait to see your space!

C&T Publishing have generously donated two copies of Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter: An Illustrated Guide to the Space of Your Dreams. Two winners will randomly be selected Monday, February 20th from those sharing their spaces in the link party. Non-USA winners will receive the ebook version.

Pat Sloan is owner and founder of the quilting design and publishing company Pat Sloan & Co. She has published over 25 books, more than 100 patterns, nearly 10 fabric lines, and has had her work featured in all the major Quilt magazines. In January 2010, Pat started hosting her weekly Internet Radio show called Creative Talk Radio.

Find Pat here:

Web Site | Blog | Radio Show | Facebook | Twitter
Quilt Forum | Pinterest | Newsletter

The theme for this week’s quilt contest is Commemorative Quilts. Be sure to explain what your quilt commemorates when you enter this contest. It can be a quilt made to celebrate a person, place, team, event, etc.

I’m pleased to introduce you to a new sponsor this week, Road Home Quilting. They have donated a fabulous Grandmother’s Garden Tote kit for this week’s winner.

Road Home Quilting

Welcome to the New Age of Commemorative Quilting! Tradition is finding new meaning in the abundance of anniversaries in the coming decade. Is your province, state, or town having a centennial you are dying to commemorate in your art? Are you creating Civil War or War of 1812 tribute quilts? Share your pride and creativity here.

Want to see what’s happening? For more information, please visit our Quilting Gallery guest blog.

Road Home Quilting designs quilt patterns from warmth and tradition while meeting contemporary decorative functions. We have friendly quilt projects that remind you of home, each one tested for fun and functionality. Thank you for celebrating your creativity with a Road Home Quilting pattern!

The contest winner will receive a complete kit for creating your own Grandmother’s Garden Tote. Vintage inspired tote carries springtime treasures while showing the fun side of your traditional style. A continuous English Paper Pieced project featuring a sculptured edge – even the straps are pieced. Suitable for portable handwork, machine quilting optional. A great travel project!

Kit value is $75 and includes: pattern, precut hexagon pieces, Paper Pieces hexagon paper templates, Create-A-Strap interfacing, fusible batting and
lining fabric.

Enter the Contest

Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EST). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Weekly Quilt Contest Links

• Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2012 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Sponsor a contest

Last Week’s Quilt Contest

Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s Snowy Friends quilt contest. All of the quilts were gorgeous. Pastimes Online donated designer scissors from Gingher for the winner. Congratulations to:

Sharon Elliot

Blog It

Please share the logo below on your own blog. The more contestants, the more exciting the contests!

It’s voting time!! The theme for this week’s quilt contest is Snowy Friends. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and a pencil to make note of your faves. You can vote for FOUR quilts this weekend.

This week’s sponsor is Valerie from Pastimes Online. She specializes in Block of the Month clubs that include all of the supplies needed to complete the block as well as a unique member’s only area with tutorials for each block. Check out this gorgeous Vintage Sewing Machines BOM that she’s hosting for 2012.

Vintage Sewing Machines BOM

Now it’s time for you to vote for your favourites!

• Voting is open Friday – Sunday @ 11:59 p.m.
• One vote per person (based on IP address NOT email address), so have your family and friends cast a ballot for their favourite quilt (from home if you send it to coworkers)
• Winner announced Monday!

How to Vote:

• Review the photos and stories below… there are several, so you’ll need to scroll down to see them all. You can also click the link to the slider version to review the quilts in the large format and then return to this page to vote.
• Underneath the photos, scroll down, you’ll see the names of all the quilts with a square button** beside each one. Select the buttons for the quilts you want to vote for. You can select up to FOUR quilts this week.
• Then scroll down, all the way, until you get to the bottom of the names of the quilts. Press the vote button.

** Note: If you don’t see the square buttons to vote, but instead see the voting results, that means someone on your IP Address already voted, or that the voting period has ended, or that you need to refresh the page to see the voting options. Shared IP Addresses are very common in home or work networks.

Slider version: To view the large photos of all the quilts and descriptions, CLICK HERE. You’ll need to return to this page to cast your votes.

Please Note: If you are not seeing all of the photos, check your browser settings. Go to view, and text size. Make sure it’s set at medium. If you need web sites to be larger so you can read them more easily, then use the browser’s Zoom function, not the text resize. You can also use the scroll bar above, beside the photos, to scroll and see the hidden ones.

Update: The prize for this contest goes to the second quilter with the most votes. Please, if you wish to enter the weekly contests, read the rules and guidelines first.

Next Week’s Contest

The theme for next week’s contest is Commemorative Quilts. Be sure to explain what your quilt commemorates when you enter this contest. Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EST). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Weekly Quilt Contest Links

• Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2012 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Sponsor a contest

The Learning Center

Check out the new Learning Center hosted by Pat Sloan. For the month of February, we’re tackling Studio Organization… a topic I’m sure that we can all use some help with.

Our first post Organization 101 a la Pat Sloan, will help get you started. Look for new Learning Center posts Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Big Overhaul

To kick start The Learning Center our February topic is Organization and Storage tips!

I like to call this "Organization 101 a la Pat Sloan". I’m going to start you off today with what we’ll accomplish. Then each Tuesday and Thursday will be tips and tricks, along with a prompt, to be sure you are working towards your goal of an organized work area!

In order to have a tidy, organized space…. end of the kitchen table, spot in the dining room, corner of your bedroom, or a lovely FULL room of your own to called your “studio”… you first have to know what you have.

I am very Serious… you NEED to know what you own. Do you?

In order to know what we have, what we use most, and where to put all of our precious things, we have to know the importance of our items to everyday use.

Some items we use more than others… some we only use every so often. We want most-used items where we can get to them and the little-used items can be stored high/low or out of the way.

What you need to do first is think through your work to determine what you keep in your space. We are all different and use different things. So make a list and put the items in order of MOST USED.

Here is MY list…

Studio Priority List – Pat Sloan

(note – this will NOT all fit in my space.. note the order is in order of importance to my everyday creating)

• Computer station
• Sewing machine
• Cutting table
• quilt making tools (scissors, rulers, thread, etc.)
• Design Wall
• radio station items
• Active Project Storage
• fabric storage – active fabric
• less used quilt making tools
• books
• batting, backing fabrics
• trims, buttons, charms, beads
• quilt storage
• fabric storage – older fabric
• inactive project storage (yes I have those too!)
• Yarn
• rug hooking/wool
• stamps, inks, paints, scrapbook papers and embellishments
• Biz items like store merchandise, travel info, teaching kits

Make your list.. share your thoughts here in the comments… ask questions.

Are you ready? This is step one to fully organizing… each post this month I’ll give you another step towards making this transformation happen!

So you have a priority list. Now you have two options: the BIG Overhaul.. or the SMALL Overhaul.

Let’s look at the BIG Overhaul first. This is what I do every time I do a big reorganization and I’ve done many over the years..WAY before they did it on HGTV.. LOL!

BIG Overhaul

1. Remove EVERYTHING from your area.. I mean EVERYTHING. You need to be able to see your space and sort your stuff. So clean out the closet, haul all the boxes from ALL the rooms in the house and put it all in one place. Maybe move the cars out of the garage or push the living room furniture back.
2. Now put your most important and most used items together. Think hard on this. Don’t put things here unless you use them often. These are the things that must go back into the room no matter what. Like your sewing machine, threads, rulers, current projects, most used books, etc.
3. If you have the time, go through each item on your list and work through the most important and used. And you’ll have stuff you don’t use, never have used, and wonder why you even have it. Those go in their own special boxes to be sent on to other homes to live out productive lives… wink!
4. Start moving the stuff out of the room, start sorting. Next you’ll be looking at what is left and how you use it so you can put the room back in the most effective way for your work style.

SMALL Overhaul

So what if you can’t unload your room right now and still want to get organized? Let’s look at the SMALL overhaul.

1. Identify your WORST area or problem. Maybe it’s over flowing disorganized project storage, a table that is crowded or piled high, or is it fabric in so many places that you don’t even know WHAT you have anymore!
2. Problem is identified. Now let’s concentrate on JUST that. Don’t get sidetracked with OTHER problems. They will be calling your name.. hinting you should look at them instead.. but RESIST I say.. resist!! If you tackle one at a time you will make great headway.
3. Here is an example of a problem. You have fabric in too many places in the house and it’s making you crazy. So you really MUST bring it all together for evaluation. Then sort it.
   • MOST love
   • sort of loved
   • maybe this can go to a new home
   • why in the world do I still own this stuff?

Take ALL of the last group, put it in plastic bags and CALL SOMEONE to come get it from you. There.. that’s taken care of!

Now you need to look at the ‘maybe’ pile… sort it down into give away and keep.

At this point, for this problem, you now have less fabric… or a bit less. Sort by color.. or whatever system you love. Maybe all backings together, all 30s, all Christmas, all cat prints, then sort the rest by color. Hopefully it now fits better in the containers you have and you can put those container back into your room!

Let’s Get Started…

Each post this month will have a tip or idea on how to work through common studio problems.

Now take some before photos, create your list, do a blog post and next Tuesday we’ll have a link party so you can share it with the world!

These are the extra prompts we’ll do this month to get your space usable for the long haul!

• Post 2 – Link Party of what you most need to organize. How to find/make a space of your own
• Post 3 – Michele on Project Storage
• Post 4 – Designer day – Tips on tools
• Post 5 – Carrie Nelsons’ studio
• Post 6 – Fabric storage
• Post 7 – Michele on Digital Storage – tips on books/magazines
• Post 8 – Tips on threads and link party of your ‘after’… or ‘almost after’ photos

Pat Sloan is owner and founder of the quilting design and publishing company Pat Sloan & Co. She has published over 25 books, more than 100 patterns, nearly 10 fabric lines, and has had her work featured in all the major Quilt magazines. In January 2010, Pat started hosting her weekly Internet Radio show called Creative Talk Radio.

Find Pat here:

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Here is the star block I did for the Fat Quarter Stars Quilt-Along.

Milo's Star

I’ve called it Milo’s Star. I couldn’t decide on the name for the block when Samelia’s Mum suggested Milo’s Star on Facebook, I loved the idea.

The fabric is from the Happy line by Me and My Sisters. This was the fabric I used in my Happy Memories quilt in honour of Pal, Daniel and Slade – my kitties now on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

Happy Memories Quilt - in loving memory of Pal, Slade and Daniel.

I added a 1/2″ finished hot pink border and a 2″ green border to make two mini quilts. I finished the quilting the other day and will add hot pink binding later. One will be for my niece Lucy’s 6th birthday later this month. I may keep the other one I made for myself or give it to my other niece. The sashing looks crooked in the photo only. :)

Milo's Star Mini Quilt

You can download the free tutorial for completing the Milo’s Star block here. There are prizes being given away as part of the quilt-along. Visit the quilt-along site for all the info and the tutorials for the other star blocks too.

If you create my block, please upload to the Quilting Gallery Flickr group or the Facebook group so I can see them too.

While clearing off my camera earlier today, I found this short video that I took of Milo and Barney (my parents’ dog) at Christmas. Milo was trying to convince Barney it was playtime!