Another use for selvages

The yarn sorting party was successful - and if there is anyone out there who would like scraps of polyester rug yarn - it's yours for the asking! But ask soon, it is going out with the trash on Sunday!
The guest bed is now up on risers, and about 90% of the yarn is now under the bed, stored in covered bins, with a selvage retrieval system that I conjured up out of available materials - namely, empty gift wrap tubes and strips of selvages. See pic...

No, I'm not going to show you the yarn itself. Although I do wish I had taken pics of what was in each box - might pull the bins out just for that purpose - it would be easier than writing it all down!

and here's the stash UNDER the bed!  Notice the selvages wrapped around the boxes - that's my retrieval system - the strip of selvage goes through a tube at the back of the pile, so I can pull out the whole stack at once without crawling under the bed!  nifty, I think...

This the is resulting floor space where those boxes had been:
Still a long ways to go before anyone comes to call... but a major improvement from my perspective - I haven't seen that floor in months!

the bed/quilt storage facility - almost uncluttered!  wooot-wooot!!

Here's Traci working on the new floor plan for the sewing studio.

On a sad note, today I'm closing the "Quilters Closet, Etc." shop at Craftique downtown - it was just not going to make it through the bleak winter months. That merchandise will still be available, however, in my new "GrannyGoodStuff" boutique on ETSY. It's not quite open yet, but watch for it next week.
Although it's hard to believe this is the last day of 2009, I'm looking forward to 2010 with high hopes and positive expectations.
I hope your New Year celebration is safe, healthy and joyous.

yarn sorting

Hello again,
We had a wonderful Christmas with a little trip thrown in and ended up driving through some nasty blowing snow on the way home, but things are getting back to normal, so I'll be posting more often again.
Today is sort the yarn day - Traci (DD) is helping me find, sort, and repack my yarn stash - it was just taking up a bit too much of the guest room, so I'm taking a short break.
Now, I know lots of quilters are also knitters/crocheters and have yarn stashes - mine goes back several decades - so we are sorting into what will and will not felt when washed, with a sub-category for 'embellishment' fibers.
So as we have the room nearly covered in boxes of yarn, Traci says to me: "Mom - your are one of the few people in the UNIVERSE who could to fill a TARDIS to the point where it WOULD NOT MOVE."
I'm not sure, but I get the impression she thinks I have a lot of yarn...
She likes it when I knit for her, tho - she found several skeins that she showed an interest in... which I will do in exchange for her able-bodied skillful assistance.
She says my knitted gifts are tangible proof of my motherly love and devotion...  and could I knit another pair of wrist warmers?

A Cute Christmas Story...

It was the day after Christmas at a church in San Francisco. The pastor of a church was looking over the creche when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from among the figures. He hurried outside and saw a little boy with a red wagon, and in the wagon was the figure of the little infant Jesus. So he walked up to the boy and said, "Well, where did you get your passenger, my fine friend?"
The little boy replied, "I got Him at church."
"And why did you take Him?"
The boy explained, "Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to the little Lord Jesus and I told Him if He would bring me a red wagon for Christmas I would give Him a ride around the block in it."
An Early MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

graph paper solution

I want to share a link for all kinds of graph paper - http://incompetech.com
there is a ton of other stuff on this website, but I was looking for hexagon graph paper and this website has a graph paper generator that will produce a pdf file in any size grid you need for whatever you need any kind of graph paper for in metric or inches.  There's also circle, perspective, tiles, tumbling blocks, etc.  What a find!
There is a mesmerizing assortment of goodies on this site, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Quilter's Night Before Christmas

My friend Cheryl sent me this little ditty:
  
Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be fat quarters or a pattern or lace?
Or a quilt kit, I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him,
"Hi Santa," I said
"You know....good little girls should be in their beds ".
"I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited to see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work."
He shook his head quickly, And left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
"You've got enough stuff, I'll see you next year!"

~Author Unknown

Christmas projects

I have a little quilt as you go wall hanging up, a dozen fabric candy canes, and a new flannel pillow done this past week - today I'll be baking cookies!  Yum - the best part of the holidays!

Here's a picture of my projects:

The directions for all of these projects were included in the recent Cross Country Designers Blog Hop sponsored by 12 quilt designers, including Gudrun (the quilt) Pat Sloan (the pillow) and the Candy Canes were offered by Miss Rosie's on day 10. All of the projects included in the Blog Hop were quick easy holiday patterns and one participant even managed to get all 12 projects done by the end of the Hop - impressive work from bro3ther! 

The designers even gave away prizes for those who commented on their blogs on 'their' days and there was a Grand Prize (which yours truly received, amazing!) which I just HAD to spread out and photograph for posterity:

An amazing and very generous assortment of goodies, patterns, books, tools, fabrics, and kits - I'm still stunned that I won all this just for making comments!  and the blog hop itself was so inspirational with all the holiday traditions, memories, old pics, etc., and even a blast from the past - it was so much fun, it was worth getting up extra early every morning just to read them all!

If you would like to see more Christmas quilts, check out my friend's blog:
http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com/

I'm off to the kitchen to bake cookies now - merry merry time!

best of plans

I made a trip around town yesterday - tried to combine as many errands as possible to conserve energy, fuel, etc.  The errands were accomplished, but included standing in line far more than anticipated, so I didn't get back in time to sew up the candy canes, pillow, etc. that I had hoped to get to yesterday.
So TODAY I will attempt those fabric candy canes again!  and if I get those done, I'll go on to the pillow triangles.
I also want to share a blog with you today - Geta does the most amazing trapunto - scroll down the page to see her blog link - it is very impressive - AND would you believe, she GIVES HER WORK AWAY!!!!  Sign up for this month's giveaway on her blog today - and good luck!

quilting small for the holidays

This is the first time I've tried making the 'INCHIE' quilts - which, if you haven't heard of them before, are exactly one inch square quilts - admittedly stiff, but quilts for sure - they are made with a satin stitch edge and then embellished with beads, ribbons, or what-have-you.
The first attempt took several tries, and I almost gave up as it was getting soooo time consuming, but then I just cut out a couple dozen pieces and kept trying until I found the stitch length/width x thread x needle combination x machine speed that worked, and suddenly it got a lot easier... now I'm thinking I might just do a lot more of these.  For info on INCHIES, see http://inchiequilts.com/2009/12/01/the-daily-inchie-20091201/ which shows you a different inchie idea every day.
Other small projects I have finished so far include a pair of donut ornaments, a small Christmas tree wall hanging (from the blog hop pattern by Gudrun of GE Designs)
http://gudrun.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008d7b1248834012875650316970c-popup
and I hope to work on the fabric candy canes and Pat Sloan's pillow today.
No major projects in the works until after the new year.  This is enough sewing fun for now, it's time to take inventory of my UFO's and see how many I can finish before New Year's Eve!
Hugs to all.