Tuesday Tip - Vacuum sealer + fabric?

Between Birthday Bonus Club 2016, mini mini swaps, and various giveaways, I feel like I'm packaging up fabric and heading to the post office pretty regularly. I typically wrap the wee gifties in plastic wrap or put them in a zip top bag in case the outer envelope should get wet. And then I try and get the package as small as can be to get the postage as low as possible. Well, I've got a new tool in my postal arsenal. Our trusty vacuum sealer. Yup.

I lined my stack of fabric up with the envelope I wanted to use, put it in the vacuum sealer bag, and did just what I would do to seal up food. Then I trimmed down the bag edges (being mindful of the seal) so that it would fit better in the envelope.

I can't claim to be original on this one. A very crafty guildmate shared the trick with me! Look how thin that stack of fabric got once all the air was sucked out!

And it slides so nicely into the envelope! I could hardly wait to take it to the post office! Of course, it doesn't weigh any less, but volume is a factor in the postage pricing.

I'm linking up today with Tips and Tutorials Tuesday @ Late Night Quilter, if there is one this week. ☺ Pop on over and learn something new!

J

Tuesday Tip - Curious little fingers...

I never thought I'd be writing a blog post like this one, but as DT get more and more mobile, I think a lot about their safety. My sewing space is right next to their bedroom and GT has been known to take a detour on the way to nap. If you've got littles in your house, grandkiddies who visit, or even an overly curious fur child, some of these baby proofing tips might be useful to you!

There's no question that if you have a dedicated sewing space, as I am lucky enough to, you can close the door on all that potential danger. But one day you'll forget. Or they'll learn to turn a door knob! ☺

Before leaving my studio, I tidy my desk. Each. And. Every. Time. Even if I think I'm coming right back. Think of all the sharp edges (rotary cutters, seam rippers, pins, scissors) and wee things (safety pins, Wonder Clips). Danger! Danger! Danger! I push my machine to the middle of the desk and place my scissors back against the wall or in a drawer where BT can't grab them.

You may have noticed this handy mug in a few shots of my work space. When I leave my desk, the (closed) rotary cutter, seam ripper, and just about anything else goes in!

I try to think about all the wee things that live on my studio desk. Thankfully, bobbins and presser feet can be easily contained in my machine's handy flip top storage area.

My trusty Wonderclips are very attractive wee things. That's why they live in a container with a screw top!

Given that my ironing board is always set up, I make an effort to unplug my magic cookie making iron AND put the cord up onto the board. BT has a quite a reach and he wouldn't hesitate to grab that cord!

I read a tip some time ago about safely disposing of broken needles and bent pins. Ever since, I've saved medicine bottles to use as sharps containers. When full, you can toss the container in the trash without worry.

Related to sharps, the other item I'm planning to add to my tools is a magnetic wand to be swept across the carpet each and every time I drop a pin or break a needle. Better for me to take a couple minutes from my sewing then for GT to have it in her tiny pincer grip.

I'm linking up today with Tips & Tutorials Tuesday @ Late Night Quilter!

Got more safety tips? Please share them in a comment!

J

P.S. Apologies for the slightly wonky formatting on this post. The html seems to have gone a little cattywampus behind the scenes and I didn't have the time/energy to re-write the post! 

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make bias tape... sort of

The end of the month looms, as does the Finishes link-up for OMG @ Red Letter Quilts. Have I finished the repairs to J-Boy's Good Old Hockey Game? Nope. Have I even started? Ummm... nope.

Time to stop procrastinating and get to it. My repair plan involves the creation of bias tape to cover questionable raw edge appliqué. I thought I'd share with you my step by step directions for creating bias tape.

1. Iron your chosen fabric and lay it out on your cutting mat. Using the 45 degree line and a large ruler, make your initial bias cut. Lament the fact that your lovely yardage is going to be a weird shape when you put it back in your stash.

2. Re-position your fabric with the diagonal cut against the vertical lines. Spend valuable quilting time Googling what size strips to cut for your size of bias tape maker. Or read the (likely misplaced) instructions for your chosen bias tape maker. Your call. Overestimate the number of tiny, stretchy bias strips required and get to cutting.

3. Sew your tiny, stretchy strips together whilst hoping against hope that your machine doesn't choose this moment to chew up the edges when you start a segment seam and jam them clear into the bobbin case while creating a colossal thread nest.

4. Trim to ¼ inch seam allowance and press open. Attempt to avoid steam burns while cursing the concept of pressing seams open.

5. Stuff the end of your strip into the bias tape maker. Curse. Think about why you chose not to starch your fabric.

 6. Using whatever sharp object is at hand, stuff/tease/drag your strip into the bias tape maker.

7. Stuff/tease/drag the end of your strip out of of the bias tape maker. Wonder why your fingers are so large and/or why the bias tape maker is so small.

8. Enjoy the zen magic of bias tape creation. Press, slide, press, slide. Ohmmm. Wonder why you don't do this on EVERY project you ever make.

9. Stare in disbelief and consider why this occurred. Curse the bias tape making Gods/Goddesses. Press wonky edges down whilst incurring steam burns on fingertips. Think about turning off steam function.

10. Hold your breath whenever one of the carefully pressed open seams from Step 4 passes through the bias tape maker. Pray to the bias tape making Gods/Goddesses.

11. Argue with your bias tape maker over which side of the fabric you REALLY wanted on the outside of your bias tape. Exert your will and twist strip until it flips right side out again. Press. Burn fingers. Curse.

 11. Repeat Steps 8, 9, and 10 at random intervals.

 12. Breathe a sigh of relief as you come to the end of the strip without further incident.

12. Sew it to something.

Though there might be a couple extra steps in my tutorial, it might be useful to someone out there. I'm  linking it up with Tips & Tutorials Tuesdays @ Late Night Quilter.

J

P.S. If you're looking for a resource that's a little more concise, check out this PDF from Dritz.

P.P.S I forgot to announce that Ana @ Mad Cat Quilts won the giveaway from last week's Stash Love link-up! A custom scrap pack of oranges and yellows will be heading her way soon!

How to Write a Stash Manifesto in Five Easy Steps

Planning a stash revolution and want to ensure its success? Time to draft a manifesto! I can't offer you much direction on how to overthrow a government, but I've been thinking a lot about how to stick to the goal of using one's stash. All joking aside, working from one's stash is a challenge for many quilters and appears in tonnes of annual goal posts. Here's what I came up with for my Manifesto.

 

Are you struggling with your own guidelines for The Year of The Stash? Never fear. Here are some ideas to help you get to the root of your fabric hoarding  collecting and start using that fabric loveliness! Feel free to pick and choose the ideas that suit you best.

Article 1 - Organization & Editing
Is there an organizational reason why you're not using your stash?

• Touch all the fabric. How else will you even know what's in there?
• If you stack your fabric, rotate your the piles - putting top fabrics to the middle or bottom.
• Remove fabric you don't love anymore. Sell it, swap it, donate it.
• Break up FQ bundles or fabric pulls you've made and not used. 
• Consolidate. If your stash is all over the house/neighbourhood, it's tough to know what you've got.
• Keep it visible. While it's not good to store one's fabric in direct sunlight, it's easy to forget about fabric loveliness that's jammed in a box or at the back of a cupboard.

Article 2 - Swaps/Bees/BOMs
If you've taken on the challenge of a swap, bee, or BOM, there might very well be fabric needed that you don't have.

• Check your stash for appropriate fabric before buying.
• Buy only what you need to fulfill requirements. No extra bits.

Article 3 - New Projects
We can't limit ourselves to WIPs all year. It's just too dull for words. New projects are a tricky business.

• Check your stash before starting anything.  
•  Start with the stash in mind. Ask yourself "What can I make with this?"

Article 4 - Adding to the Stash
If we didn't love fabric, we wouldn't be quilters. 

• Buy nothing for a set amount of time (a month, until your birthday, the entire year).
• Give yourself permission to buy something - prints from your favourite designer's new line, treasures found at a quilt shop while on vacation, only items that are on sale
• If finances are part of the reason you're sewing from your stash, set a monthly budget. Fabric allowance, anyone?
• Are you tempted by the shiny new things? If Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/blog posts from fabric shops are a constant source of temptation, it might be time to edit your feed.
• Do you buy fabric when you're sad/happy/bored? Spend time in your stash instead of on-line fabric shopping or visiting your LQS.
• Give yourself 20$ a month (or whatever amount works for you) that carries to the next month if you don't use it. Buy the time the January 2017 sales are upon us, you'll have 240$ to spend!

Article 5 - Celebrating

• Keep a tally of projects made with your stash
• Schedule posts and link-up them up to stash celebrating
• Set a stash goal each month and toot your own horn when you achieve them

Phew! A veritable buffet of suggestions to get excited about stash sewing. Feel free to choose what speaks to you. Only you know what will work best to reach your goal of sewing your stash this year! And when you've polished up your manifesto, don't forget to link up and grab a button from my side bar!

I'm linking up with Tips and Tutorials Tuesdays @ Late Night Quilter. I mean, can't we all use a tip or two on how to get our stash under control?

 J

The first cut is the deepest....

 Way back in March, I blogged about the arrival of a glorious new Kona colour card.

And an idea was born. Well, an opportunity was born now I had multiple colour cards. Someone else already had this awesome idea. Check it out... I'll wait for you to come back.

Okay then. I agree with Sheryl, so it took me a long time to put rotary cutter to paper. It just felt so wrong! (Yes, I have a rotary cutter exclusively for paper. It's labeled as such. Don't judge, people.)

I sliced into my pre-2013 card as well as my 2013 insert. For the newer 2014 colours, I opted to collect up actual fabric samples and make my own swatches. I'm still missing ten colours: Ballerina, Bordeaux, Cobblestone, Corsage, Dahlia, Honeysuckle, Latte, Limestone, Morning Glory, and Scone. Pinks & browns. Who would have guessed?

These piles make me so ridiculously happy. If only I could have taken the pic in daylight. Quiet activities, like cutting up colour cards, are perfect for when are sleeping. Must not wake the dragons...

I put fuzzy strips of self adhesive Velcro on the pages and small pieces of grippy Velcro on the backs of the swatches. In the end, this little experiment takes up a lot more room than my old colour cards. Instead of a poster style display like my inspiration, I went for a binder with colour coded pages. Then I can grab the blue, orange, neutrals, whatever page and off I go!

 I could have photographed every page. Seriously. These make me very happy.

Now I can do fabulous things like this when the need arises. No more trying to fold and position my gigantor colour card to figure out what lovely Kona I've used.

That's my Underwater quilt in case you were wondering!

I'm linking up with Tips & Tutorials Tuesdays @ Late Night Quilter. Today, she's blogging about setting up your sewing room for maximum efficiency. I think this a far more efficient way to use my colour card! So, have you taken the leap and cut up your cards? Are you as ridiculous as I am when it comes to Kona?


J

P.S. If you answered the second question above with a yes, pop on over to visit Val @ Purple Boots and Pigails. She's could really use your help!

And I will say that "Kona Nerd" is 100% her term. We all know I prefer something with a little more kick. Stay tuned on that front!