A SNEAK PEEK OF BEADY BLING...

LOL.  Okaaay...I'll be nice, lol........

Not perfect...but I'm okay with that.  It took me a good long while, but it was FUN...and I only needed 3 Band-Aids!  I think I will avoid sharp objects for a while, though, LOL.

Toodles...

CRAFT ROOM STORAGE...

If you do any type of sewing, quilting or crafting you know that finding an organized, cheap and accessible method of storing your supplies is not easy.

As a design element in my Perky Petal Project, I decided I wanted a bit of beaded "bling" added to the flower center.

When I was a kid in the '60s, beading was all the rage and I had a good supply of beading supplies.  Over the years, however, all of my embellishments were given away or trashed.  If I wanted to add a bit of "bling" to my project I was going to have to buy some supplies.  Using the LAST of my free gift cards I ordered an assortment of seed beads from Amazon.  Unfortunately, the clasp on the plastic box is not very tight and I had visions of my craft room strewn with teeny, tiny flecks of color.  I DO have a problem with dropping things! 

Wanting to keep all of my beading supplies in one place, I went searching through my stash of "containers" for something big enough to hold my new assortment and any other beads I may purchase in the future.  I found this plastic container that I have had for YEARS.  Controlled hoarding is a GOOD thing!

As a diabetic, I always keep a supply of glucose tablets in my purse and in both cars.  A low sugar spell can be dangerous and feels HORRIBLE!  After I empty a container of tablets, I remove the label and wash out the tube.  I have been tossing them into a box in my craft room closet.   I knew for sure I would find a problem that could be solved by these little tubes!

I placed my assorted beads and my supply of tubes into the plastic box.  As I buy more beads I will store them in the tubes.  I still have room to add several more empty tubes.

Over the weekend I began adding a little bit of beading to my project.  An online tutorial advised wetting your finger and dipping it into the beads, and then transferring the tiny little things to the sticky end of a post-it.  Their advice works wonderfully.  Since I don't have "beading needles", I have been using a small generic needle I found in my sewing box.  It isn't quite thin enough and there have been a lot of seed beads that won't fit over the eye of the needle.  I've been dropping them into a small Altoids tin to keep from trying the same beads over and over again.  Annoying, for sure.  I have beading needles on order, lol.

Everything fits well into the plastic box, but I needed something to keep the loose fitting lid closed.  I searched through my ribbons for something I could use to hold my beading kit shut.

With a few quick measurements, a bit of Liquid Stitch to hold the two ribbons together, and some free elastic I made a strap to hold everything in place.

My beading kit is cute, organized and "available" whenever I want to stitch a little beady goodness onto my sewing/quilting projects.  If I hadn't saved this plastic box years and years ago, I would not have had the perfect container to corral my supplies!

So, the moral of the story?  Save any and all decent containers that you find throughout your home.  Hoarding these little gems can provide the perfect storage for craft items and save TONS of money as you work to make your craft room neat and organized!

ME AND HERCULE...

Poirot, that is.  Like one of my favorite Agatha Christie characters, I, too, am drawn to things that are symmetric, perfect, and precise.  As a child I can remember "playing school" with my friends and ripping out page after page of writing when I found too many "mistakes".  Even my play had to conform to my strict standards!  At age SIX!  While neatness and perfectionistic tendencies can be a good thing (and are probably the reason my "little gray cells" did so well in school), they can also prevent one from venturing outside of the perfect and precise.  Ahem...ME...to a "T".

 However...I wasn't always so stifled.  The revelation that necessity really is the mother of invention (and creativity) had once led me to transform a cold and empty house into a home!  As a newlywed, I busied myself making our new house a warm and comfortable place to live.  We were on a tight budget and couldn't afford to buy furniture for more than our bedroom, kitchen and family room...and the family room consisted of only a sofa and loveseat.  No tables, no lamps...nothing.  The other rooms sat empty.  But it was "ours" and we loved it.  If I wanted our home "decorated", I would have to do it myself.  I painted, added trim to plain bath and kitchen towels, sewed curtains, and handcrafted almost all of our Christmas gifts.  My sewing machine, glue gun and paint brushes were in constant use.  I was "crafty" (as my mom would say) and loved the way my "personal touches" made the house warm and inviting.  Everywhere I looked, I saw me...peeking out from items lovingly crafted for our home.  I never saw "mistakes", only the love I poured into each item. 

Fast forward QUITE a few years, lol.  Our income grew, we moved to a bigger house and my free time diminished.  Life got in the way.  LIFE, mind you...not living.  I stopped crafting things for our home, and turned to mass produced, store bought items instead.  The decor in our house was "picture perfect"...always symmetric, coordinated and precise.  And if something I bought didn't meet my "high standards"?  I sent it back.  Only the "perfect" came into our house.  Our house looked great, but "making a home" was lost in the shuffle.   

Then, a little over three years ago I retired.  I once again had time for crafting...and I really wanted to learn to make quilts...WELL.  Unfortunately, the perfectionism that had grown over the years made the learning curve tough to handle.  I cannot begin to count the projects that I tossed midway through because my technique wasn't up to par.  Every quilt I gifted to my family came with an explanation of each and every little mistake I saw glaring back at me.  They didn't see mistakes, only the love I poured into the quilt.  It was me who had the problem. 

While my first several projects were quilted using the embroidery module on my Baby Lock (perfect and precise, you know), I wanted a variety and personalization that I couldn't find in "canned" patterns.  Much like the decorating in my home over the last 20+ years, I was limited to the vision of the designer.  But I wanted the freedom to BE the designer!  I wanted the visions in my head to exist in reality like they had in our first home so many years ago.  However, to accomplish this variety, I needed to learn Free Motion Quilting!  I tried.  Oh, how I tried.  With my hands on the sandwich and my foot on the pedal, I felt like I was jumping from a bike to a Ferrari.  Everything was moving way too fast and nothing I did was symmetric, perfect or precise!  Ahhhhh... Palpitations!

With practice, my FMQ improved some and I began to look for new and interesting designs to add to my projects.  And you know what?  I realized something REALLY important as I surfed the net.  Not all of the quilts I was seeing online were a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y perfect!  I could see a wobble here, a long stitch there.  And the thread painting and raw edge applique I saw over and over again consisted of wobbly lines, crossovers and every other "mistake" that set my teeth on edge.  Yet these women and men seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed creating their projects and were proud enough of their work to post it online!!  And it was PRETTY!  Maybe perfection isn't always necessary?  Maybe it ISN'T the outcome that is as important as the enjoyment of the process?!?  Huzzah!  Finally, a fact that rang true!

SO...  A few weeks ago I pulled some charm squares from my stash and set about to have some FUN!  I limited myself to only stash fabrics, hoping that once again necessity would beget creativity.  And it did!  As my project progressed I was having more and more FUN and finding more and more satisfaction in the outcome.  Today I put on my FMQ gloves and tried my hand at the imbalanced, imprecise, imperfect FMQ I had seen on line.  And you know what (again, lol)???  I LOVE IT and can't wait to do more!!!!!!  Oh, and I'm hoping to add a little bit of "beady" bling to the center of each circle!

What have I learned?  Life isn't about "obtaining".  It's about "living".  It isn't always about the "outcome".  It's about the "PROCESS".  And...if we cut ourselves enough slack...we may have more fun than we ever thought possible.  Relax.  Live.  Enjoy!

ORGANIZING LEFTOVER BINDING...

As quilters, we ALL have leftover scraps of binding after we complete a project!  I hate to admit it, but up until recently I had simply thrown away the leftovers, figuring I would never have a use for such small amounts of binding.  I know...I'm sorry  :o(

Then I learned about mug rugs, mini quilts, pieced bindings, etc.  There are so many uses for these tiny leftover bits!   So, I began to collect my leftovers in a small jar...but they were so MESSY LOOKING!  Anyone who knows me well knows that I. CAN'T. STAND. MESS!  What to do? 

A really CUTE solution was waiting for me at the Sizzix website!

After Christmas I began buying quilting supplies and fabric to use up the money left on numerous gift cards (set to expire in early 2015).  When I saw this shape cutting die I knew it would be PERFECT to corral all of my binding scraps, and my leftover pieces of ribbon!  I popped it into my shopping cart, paid using a free gift card and waited anxiously for my package to arrive.

This morning I used my die to cut a handful of "spools" out of card stock, and began measuring and winding my bindings.  I wrote all of the measurements in pencil so it would be easy to reuse my spools a few times before they became dogeared.

I secured the binding ends with a safety pin and dropped the spools into a large metal clasped container.   My bindings will stay safe, dust-free and, most importantly, AVAILABLE whenever I need just a small amount of binding to finish a sewing or quilting project.

Because I have more spools cut than binding leftovers, I used two large paperclips to secure the spools together and taped them to the underside of the container...without taping directly to the card stock.  I could have dropped the paper-clipped spools into the container with the bindings, but I don't want to have to go digging through my nicely wrapped binding every time I need another spool.  Had there been more leftover spools I probably would have placed them in a small clear bag and taped it to the lid.  Time will tell which method works best, but for now I have organized yet one more small item in my sewing room.  Another 2015 goal gets checked off the list!!!   

PERKY PETAL PROJECT PIECED...

Say that three times fast, lol.  This quirky little pillow/mini quilt was begun as a way to try out the new Sizzix die that my parents bought me for Christmas.  I was determined to complete this project with absolutely no money spent on fabric!  It's time to shop my stash! 

The next step will be to quilt this little beauty with lots of happy colored threads and maybe even a few embellishments to pump up the funky fun!  Then I'll add an envelope back just in case this "Perky Petal Project" is destined to cover a pillow in my Expanded Sewing Room.  OR, I can add a few 3M hangers to the back of the pillow cover, turning it into a mini quilt to bring some pizazz to my sewing room wall!  Multi-function means more bang for my buck...er...stash!  No matter where it ends up, I know it will turn my frown upside down!   

FREEBIES LEAD TO PROGRESS...

At the end of December I took stock of my numerous gift cards.  I had quite a few that were set to expire in early 2015; so in January I began purchasing various quilting supplies to keep from "losing" money to ridiculously short expiration dates.  Of course, since all of my purchases were being made online, I was left with "small" amounts of money on numerous cards.  My goal is to get all of my cards down to $0.00, but the minimum I am willing to lose is less than $1 on a card.  If I can, I will use the tiny bit of change left on a card toward in-store purchases (though we all know how much I hate to shop in brick and mortar stores!)

One of my cards was down to $4 and change.  By the time you include tax and shipping, there isn't very much you can buy in the world of quilting for under $5.  Then I remembered Judi Madsen's shop, Green Fairy Quilts.  Judi offers free shipping within the US and carries a good number of "mini" charm packs...32 at last count...for under $4 each! My fingers flew over the keys and within seconds I was "ooo-ing" and "ahh-ing" over the selection.  BUT, I could only buy one!  It was a very unusual (for me) half hour of indecision before I finally put a single pack of "Best Day Ever" in my cart.  I have three or four mini-charm packs in my stash and they are all in bright primary colors.  Hopefully I can combine pieces from multiple lines to make a truly unique project.  "Best Day Ever" seemed like it would fit right in.

A few days ago I received my mini charm pack and it DIDN'T make it into my stash with all of the other mini-charms...it stopped right on my craft table!  Amazingly, a large number of the charms were a perfect match for my "petal" pillow/mini!  I had stopped working on my pillow/mini because nothing in my stash was quite "right" for the pieced border I had in mind...and I was DETERMINED to use only fabrics I had on hand to finish the project. 

Yesterday I began the cutting and piecing and I'm REALLY happy with the way "Best Day Ever" is adding such a pop of color against the first border.  Thanks to Judi I was able to add to my stash for free and find the solution to my problem at the same time!  Kudos, Judi...I LOVE YOUR SHOP! 

A TINY FINISH...

With J moving back home, and space at a premium, Dear Hubby has had to consolidate both his work computer and home computer onto one tiny desk.  Believe me, it is a tight squeeze...but we are more than happy to do anything we can to help J reach his goals. 

A few years ago I had made a rug mug to match the color scheme in my Expanded Sewing Room, now Dear Hubby's Man Cave/My Expanded Sewing Room.  Unfortunately, it is too large to fit on the desk.  So, Dear Hubby asked me to make a tiny "coaster" that will take up minimal room on the desk, but keep the condensation from his ice water from getting all over his paperwork. 

I am sure most of you already know how to make a tiny coaster, but for any newcomers to the sewing/quilting world I thought I would show a quick step by step tutorial of how it is done. 

I figured since Dear Hubby wanted it "tiny" I would look through my assorted 5" charm squares for two coordinating fabrics.  The room is black and gray with bright happy colors throughout.  For this project I picked two charms and a scrap of Warm and Natural batting from my scrap bucket.

I placed the batting on the bottom with one charm square facing right side up and the other charm square facing right side down on top of it. 

I then used my rotary cutter and a small ruler to trim the batting flush with the edges of the charm squares.

I pinned all around the charm square packet, leaving about a 2" opening for turning.

Using about a 1/4" seam I sewed all the way around the coaster, backstitching at the beginning and end of my opening.

I then trimmed all four corners, being careful not to cut into the stitching.

I then turned the coaster inside out and sewed a scant seam all the way around, being sure to catch the opening in the fabrics, which had been turned under and finger pressed in place.

See the wad of black thread at the corner?  Not good.  I could have avoided that by beginning my stitching more toward the center of the side so that my machine did not get caught up at the edge of the fabric when I began sewing.  But, since this is simply a small coaster for Dear Hubby's drinks...perfection isn't required, lol.  

Using a contrasting marking pencil I drew lines from corner to corner to secure the batting to the charm squares.

Ta-Da!...a "tiny coaster" for Dear Hubby's desk.

Sometimes a "tiny" finish is just what I need to get my mojo flowing again.  Next week I hope to get back to working on J's quilt!

Toodles...

CH...CH...CH...CHANGES...

 

J is tired of paying ridiculous amounts of money to a landlord each month and getting nothing for his hard earned cash...not even sufficient maintenance of his apartment.  SOOOooo...he has decided to move back home and save up for a down payment on a house.  Dear Hubby and I agree that his best way to save up is to reduce his cash outlay, and living here will do that (dramatically)!  Plus, secretly, we are thrilled to have him around again!

So today he is moving back home.  Please excuse any absences over the next week or two as we try to fit his 832 sqf apartment into our home.  And, NO, I am NOT giving up my Expanded Sewing Room so he can have his bedroom back, lol.  Instead he will be moving into our finished basement.  But, since it is a "finished" basement it is going to be "FUN" trying to fit all of his stuff into an already decorated room!  Oh how I wish his stuff was made of shrinky-dink!

Be back soon...

STUCK...

Did you ever reach a point in your project where you just weren't liking ANYTHING you considered as the "next step"?  I am at that point...and I have to say it is really frustrating for me.  Mostly, because I am usually SUPER decisive, know exactly what I want in my head and hit the ground running.  This time I have limited myself to ONLY using the fabrics that are in my stash (cheaper and challenging!).  Therein lies the problem!  I thought I loved a challenge, but now I'm not so sure, lol.  I am really happy with the fabrics I have chosen so far.  But, NOTHING from my stash seems to be a good "fit" for the pieced border that I planned next!

Okay, time to focus on the positives.  

1. I love the fabrics so far.  They are so bright and HAPPY!  Check.  
2. I absolutely LOVE the zig-zag stitch I used to attach my raw edge flower petals.  Check.  I wish I could get a better picture (it blurs every time I try to get a close-up of the stitching).  I usually use Satin Stitch or Blanket Stitch to applique, but played around with one of the zig-zag stitches on my machine.  It will be my go-to for many projects I am sure...if I can recreate it, that is!  Usually when I find a stitch setting that I like I take a picture of the project (as close up as I can get) and take a picture of the settings on my machine.  I tape them both to the same page in my Project Book.  Wellllll...I forgot!  Grrrr!  Can you tell that my mind is frozen in frustration??  Deep cleansing breath...  There are only a few zig-zag options on my machine and only so far I can change the size, so I am sure EVENTUALLY I will find it again.  But, geeeezzz...  Sigh.  As Scarlett would say, "I'll think about it tomorrow!"
3. I know EXACTLY what I am doing for the center of the flower.  I can SEE it in my head!  Check.  
4. Ummmmm...STUCK!

Solution...dare I say it?  WIP.  I think my only work in progress is J's quilt and a quilt I started MANY moons ago and honestly will probably never finish.  HEY...if I remember correctly it was sorta, kinda teal-ish blue!  Maybe those fabrics will work!  I just KNEW there was a silver lining in there somewhere!  If not, I may just hang this little block on my pin board until a new solution pops into my head. 

Aaahhh...peace.  Now I can go back to sleep...

Toodles...

BACK IN THE SADDLE... AGAIN...

Dear Hubby returned to work today, which means I am "back in the saddle, again" with my normal activities.  Gosh, I am going to miss him!  Between our vacation and the company's shutdown over the holidays, he has only been in the office for 5 days since Thanksgiving (although he did work online almost the entire time).  I am SURE it was a real shock to his system when the alarm went off this morning and he had to face the 50 mile commute to the office.  Yesterday I spent the morning getting things ready for MY official start of 2015.  This year's routine is going to be a little different as I intend to take the time to "think" about everything I do...prior to doing it!

Since our long term goal is to sell our home and move to something single story, I made a HUGE list of every tiny little thing that needs to be fixed before we can put our home on the market.  I am going to transfer it to an Excel file so I can sort by room, trade, estimated cost, etc.  Hopefully, by having everything listed in one place, I can take advantage of Freecycle freebies and store sales to reduce the cost as much as possible.  I am going to go to the hardware store some time this week, with gift cards in hand, to buy some of the little things that need to be purchased to make really minor repairs, things we can handle on our own.  The handle broke on a  drawer of our master bedroom closet system.  I am sure a typical cabinet pull will fit and because our closet system is all white, finding a match should be easy.  Our carbon monoxide detector finally died so I will purchase a new one to plug into our kitchen island.  Two things will be crossed off of the list.  And...I should be able to use gift cards to pay for the supplies.  YIPPEE! 

I have caught up on the last "full" load of laundry and will do more during the week as the sorted piles grow to full load size.

I have used a gift card to purchase yesterday's daily deal charm pack at Missouri Star Quilt.  I have gotten that card down to just $.58 cents.  I finished off another gift card by buying a layer cake of plain white to pair with a layer cake I received last year for Christmas.  This will complete all of the fabric I need to finish another quilt, well except the backing.  I will use a sheet for that.  My goal for 2015 is to keep up my quilting while spending as little out of pocket as I can.  While I ADORE using gift cards, and stacking them with sales and loyalty points to get the most "bang" for my buck, I hate the fact that it is so hard to use them up completely before the expiration date.  I am always left with a bit of change on the card.  I sure wish online stores would allow the use of more than one payment source! 

On Saturday I decided to try out one of the dies that my Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas.  I love flowers and figure this die will get lots of use over the years. 

I pulled several coordinating charm squares from my stash and started on a mini quilt.  As you can see, I cut the shapes before I took a picture of the charm squares, lol.  Oh well, you get the idea!  This quilt has been floating around in my head for a while.  It is going to be a rather simple design, but will have a lot of quilting and "embellishment" to give it character.  I hope.  Sometimes I worry that what I "see" in my head will be impossible to bring to fruition, lol.  I am not sure yet if it is going to be a 12" square quilt to fit on my mini quilt stand or a larger pillow cover.  The good thing about a pillow cover is that with 3M hangers you can turn it into a wall hanging too!  Or, I could simply make a 12" quilt with an overlapping back that could be a pillow or wall hanging!  I LOVE versatility!

PATTERN SALES...

Anyone who has an online store has certainly heard of the EU VAT mess.  Basically, online sellers are going to have to keep detailed records, collect tax from customers and remit said tax to the EU for any customers living within the EU.  In a word...RIDICULOUS for anyone who has a small online shop!  Yes, the tax was initiated to collect applicable tax from large sellers such as Amazon, but its impact on the small shops is prohibitive. 

After reading up on my options: comply, modify my selling area or shut down, I have decided to limit sales to only those who live in the USA.  While I hate to lose sales from those outside of my country, and SINCERELY appreciate their support, it is not worth the time and effort it would take to comply with the EU VAT rules.  As neither Craftsy or Payhip provide me with a method to initiate these limitations, I have changed my PayPal profile to ONLY accept payment from within the USA.  If you live outside of the US and try to make a purchase, you may be able to place the item in your cart, but you will not be able to complete payment through PayPal...the only method of payment I accept. 

Again, I apologize for excluding my foreign readers.  Hopefully, in time, Craftsy and Payhip will set up a method by which the issue can be handled.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! MY GOAL FOR 2015...

Happy New Year to all of my dear friends, family and blog followers.  I wish you health, happiness and prosperity all the year through! 

Wow, I cannot believe I have been away so long!  The end of 2014 was completely crazy here at the cottage, but I am hoping for a much calmer 2015!

Yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time contemplating my "goals" for 2015.  What do I want to concentrate on in 2015?  How do these fit in with our long-term goals?  What do I want to accomplish in 2015?  What would be of the most benefit to me and my family during 2015?  After reviewing my answer to each question,  I have concluded that each and every goal can be encompassed by one single word---THINK.

THINK.  It sounds like such a simple action, but I have come to realize that, like most people (I believe), I go through much of my life "by rote".  Dear Hubby and I have defined our long term goals for the future.  Our main goal is for him to retire as soon as possible and, secondly, for us to move into a single story house that will be much easier for both of us given our medical issues.  In order to reach these long term goals there are many "sub-goals" that we need to strive toward:

• Pay off debt
• Spend less
• Stash cash
• Purge through the house eliminating things we would not want to move into our new home
• Organize our home from top to bottom
• Fix up this house with an eye toward selling 

In order to do so, I really need to THINK about every action I take...Every. Single. Day.  In future posts I'll tell you a little bit more about how I hope to "think" my way through each category!