Matchmaking

Here's another "matchy" set. I like these. It's funny, to put these together. It's easier, and I think more successful, if you don't think about them too much. They are supposed to resemble each other, but only sort of.

I've got a lot of blue fabric on order to make the sample quilt I will use in writing the Zebras tutorial (I'm gonna make a blue Jealousy quilt) and in the meantime, I'm going to use my stash to work on the Oh So Modern variation. And if I told you that before, I'm sorry. It's kinda been a very stressful week, y'know?

The third one down is too dark. Part of the reasons why I get stuck is sometimes a good option is in another stack being matched with something else. I have no objection to repeating a fabric, but it's more fun (OK, better bragging rights) to say that in a quilt like this each fabric is used only once. That is not a requirement in this quilt. At any rate, I won't sew this up until I'm sure, and right now I am not.

i like these four, but I am a bit concerned they are WAY TOO MUCH together. If this busy quartet is the busiest one in the quilt it will stick out like a sore thumb, and I don't want that. I want all these fabrics to play in harmony.

Please note I am not asking for your opinions or suggestions. I'm just sharing what I see. I'm still feeling my way around. Nothing is carved in stone yet.

These are looking good.

Some of these are a bit risky, and some are not. It's going to be fun working this out.

I wrote about which thread I use here. Last year I bought some Master Piece thread by Superior Thread at a quilt show, and I am just now getting to try it out.

Last week I was reading Mrs Goodneedle and she showed a new seam ripper. I thought it was so spiffy I went to the vendor site, and when I found out they were three bucks each, I ordered four. (The fourth is already in my travel kit.) It is called a Razor Ripper.

I might be a seam ripper junkie.

Organization... What?

I was surprised by some of the reactions to my "studio tour." I didn't think my studio was worthy of all that praise. It was simply a room I have arranged to help me work better.

Then I remembered something that happened at my very first job. I was asked to do something - I think it was stuff envelopes with about five or six different items.  They were all spread out on a table in front of me. "So how do you work?" my supervisor asked. "Left to right, or right to left?"

I had never thought about that before.

"Arrange everything so it suits you. So it makes sense to you and you're not expending excess energy."

It was a piece of advice I never forgot. Arrange your tools so it's easy for you to get the job done. It sounds so simple, yet in our belief that there is A place for everything, we think there has to be only ONE place for anything.

Example One:

I am five feet tall, so it stands to reason that I can't reach things that are very high up, so I have a step stool. Mine lives behind the hallway door. Which means it's a real PITA to walk halfway through the house and lug this thing back to the studio use it, and put it back.

So I keep a small step stool in the studio. It's a small price to pay for convenience.

Example Two:

Probably every household has a measuring tape and many have painters tape. You can usually find them in the tool chest. Usually those are in the basement or in the garage or some other place in the house. I have them there too. But I also have some that live IN my sewing studio. Because it's a lot more efficient to have a set in the studio than run all over the house. Besides, a sixteen foot measuring tape is more appropriate for a sewing studio than a thirty foot one normally sold in hardware stores. And mine is a lot lighter to carry.

Example Three:

I didn't show you on the tour, but I have three wastebaskets in the studio, each of them at arm's length from each of the stations where I work - the cutting table, the sewing machine or the small cutting table.  Why?  Years ago I read a book on organization that suggested there be a wastebasket in every room in the house. The rationale was that it would keep the house cleaner. This works in the sewing studio as well, with a wastebasket within arm's reach. The key point is, I don't have to move to get to one of them.

It's the same with the spray bottle and the measuring cup full of water in the studio. They are always there, always ready. I don't have to do run around the house to chase them down.


I  may have some good ideas that work for me. But every one of us is different. Don't just slavishly follow my organizational ideas. Figure out how you work, and adapt your workspace and your tools  accordingly.

One final thought... When I'm done working, I put my tools away. Every. Single. Time. Sure, I leave fabric strewn about, but my tools are my bread and butter, and if I can't find them when I want to work, it's just a waste of energy. So when I'm done sewing for the night, I put the rotary cutter back in the drawer, hang the templates where they belong, empty and unplug the iron and put the pin tin back in the cabinet. 



***BTW, the grey thread I use is Presencia 60 wt cotton thread, color # 352. It is a 3 ply 100% mercerized Egyptian cotton. I buy a cone of 4882 yards.