Tag: storage

Yearly Review- Sewing and Crafting
Crafty · Life Posts · Monthly Review · Sewing

Yearly Review- Sewing and Crafting

LSiehLeave a comment

It has been a crazy year! I switched jobs twice, lost my serger pedal, but found it yesterday (!!), made a dress in 5 hours, found a favorite dress pattern, and used up an entire notebook.

I’ve watched multiple seasons of weird British shows (Death in Paradise, Doctor Blake, Great British Baking Show) and some Project Runway. Also, some action shows like The Flash, and Wynona Erp, much to the Husband’s dismay. 🙂

My space is getting organized, slowly but surely.

All my larger scraps are now housed in two containers. I have a shoebox style container full of tiny scraps as well, but they get lost if they are in with the bigger pieces.

Umm.. there’s a slight chance I need to stop saving scraps, or work exclusively in scraps for a bit…

I made about a million tea wallets, which does help with the scrap piles. They’ve also been selling a lot on Etsy all of a sudden. My tea wallets are in a brick and mortar store as well, Hawthorne and Vine, which makes me more confident when trying other avenues in the future.

My Etsy and vending events went decently well. I’ve been better about posting to Twinflower Fancies and am investigating other options for advertising.

One of my favorite clothing makes for the year was my Dita Dress, otherwise known as the “5 hour dress.” I did make some modifications to the pattern,  but got a ton of compliments on it from complete strangers. It’s very exciting to say “Thanks, I made it!”

We discovered that Fancy is not a fan of my dress form unless it is dressed. Silly dog.

I also made two other versions of my strawberry dress, after finally remembering which pattern it was. I like them all, but was so pleased at how the lace worked out on my rose dress. I think it’s my favorite. I wore it in my professional head shot for work too. 🙂

Quilt-wise, my absolute favorite quilt was this rainbow one for a friend’s baby.

I love this quilt. Maybe that’s what I can use my scraps for! I’ll make a version to keep. It does use tiny pieces if I make the 5 inch squares first. Plus, I’m fairly certain I have some extra black squares somewhere.  The Husband is shaking his head at me and suggesting that I should maybe finish the projects I have started for other people first… Silly Husband, deadlines are for other people… (He’s probably right though.)

I also took a huge leap and made the pictures for my office. I was nervous about putting my almost non-existent drawing skills out for display, but was inspired by someone who repeatedly makes me draw things to “help build my confidence in drawing skills.” In the end, I’m glad I ended up choosing the songs and images I did. I’ve had positive responses from people and take pride in embracing my space as my own.

I found a source for my quilts, since they don’t meet Project Linus requirements. My friend has an OT room for kids with emotional disturbances and they will be getting some of them. I have one completed and two tops waiting to be finished.

I used 7 craft books. I added a few more in the process, but have tried to pull patterns or books that I am not using to be donated. I actually was able to connect through the bellydance world with a high school sewing club and they will be getting these items. The box of fabric I had for them is getting bigger and bigger. I’m excited for it to go to kids who are just getting into sewing.

Overall, I completed 67 total projects. This did not include actual numbers of tea wallets. I lost track somewhere in one of the rushes. If you know any tea drinkers, send them my way. I’m sure I can find one for just about anyone.

And what did you learn? 

Things I’ve learned from this year is that I don’t really like working with paper very much, despite having a bunch of scrapbooking stuff.  There is not one paper project on this entire year of blogging. I’ve brought a bunch of it to my office and most of it will probably make its way there.

I need to have a firm hand with the supplies that I keep. I have random craft supplies, Christmas ornament supplies, and beading supplies that I rarely use. Is it really worth having it take up the space, when it could go to someone who would use it?

Organization is my least favorite part, well, along with ironing, of the whole process. Losing my serger pedal is the perfect example of the reasons why I need to get this under control.

Do you know where it was?

It was staring me in the eye from behind a box of elastic and hidden by my thread boxes. The thread boxes that I go to every time I need new thread… that sit next to my sewing area in the basement. That I swear I searched. I’m a bit annoyed with myself to say the least.  My dad is going to say “if it was a snake, it would have bit you” when he reads that.

I may make this picture my background screen on my Ipad if I’m having trouble getting to the organization bit later. Maybe it’ll shame me into actually doing it.

Speaking of actually doing things, here’s my yearly goals.

Yearly goals: 

* Continue blogging both successes and failures.

* Be more involved in the online sewing community for support and growth.

* Continue to develop my Etsy store.

* Learn to take better pictures.

* Learn to use (and not be scared of) the serger. It dishonors my friend’s memory to have it just sit there and not use it.

* Get halfway through my UFO boxes.

* Donate items I am not using/that don’t work for me.

* Be fearless with new projects and techniques.

Whew. That’s a lot of words. Here’s a new cute sleeping dog picture, if you’ve made it this far.

I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along on my journey with me! I know I’ve learned a lot, maybe I have inspired you too!

Here’s to another year of creativity and adventures!

Monthly Review
Canning and Preserving · Crafty · Gardening · Monthly Review

Monthly Review

LSiehLeave a comment

It has officially been six months since I started the blog! So far, I have been pretty pleased with my progress, but can always do a little more.

I’ve decided that when I do extra things, instead of my written goals for the month, I should just get to call them “bonus goals.” That way I won’t feel bad about getting those things done instead. Like deep cleaning my kitchen cupboard…I knew it should be done, but wasn’t actually adding it to any list until there were ants. I do need to start a regular cleaning list for things like that. I tend to do them when I get frustrated, which would be prevented, if I was doing them regularly.

I am going to start with the craft part of the review today, as I am proud of what I had gotten done.

Crafting Review:

I’m in a weird sewing rut right now. I want to sew, but there are too many projects to choose from and I get consumed with anxiety about what I want to get done. I’m also not sure how many elastic waisted poofy skirts I need in my closet, which is the easiest thing I feel like sewing. I want to sew rainbow scrap quilts too, but since I have been attempting to finish one for three months at least with no joy, I’m not allowed to start another.

I’m also struggling with starting new things right now. My brain is telling me that I need to fix the things in the mending or that are half done first. My brain is right of course. I did finish one thing from the UFO/mending pile, just today actually.

I made this tunic dress about a year ago, washed it, and promptly discovered all the places the very tiny bias tape didn’t catch. This included the left sleeve, which had also frayed and was literally hanging on by a thread. I took off the edging on the sleeves and neck and sewed new hems. I also blind stitched the pocket edges down, to make them look neater. Now I can wear it again!

Here’s closeup of the pocket: You can see where the wash made it a little wrinkly, but I think that won’t be too noticeable while wearing it. Really, if anyone is inspecting the pockets that closely, I will be firmly requesting some more personal space.

The dress is a beautiful cotton batik and it has a blue linen like material on the bottom to add length and interest. It’s based on my favorite shirt pattern and is pretty comfy. I’m counting this as my piece of clothing for the month, as it was unwearable until I fixed it. 🙂

Other things that I have made:

Covered boxes for the games at work.

I decided to keep the plastic bin for my Legos, but then needed a few more storage containers to keep other card games and other small games in. I had thought about buying something, but already had shoeboxes and cute fabric. Who wouldn’t want rocket boxes?

These are just hot glued and could be neater on the inside, but they work perfectly for me, and the kids I see are not going to care.

I added black buttons to the tea wallets that I made. They look really nice. I’m hoping to get them up on Etsy soon.

Speaking of Etsy, I did end up listing 3 new things and renewing a few more. I also sold one of my older bags soon after renewing it, which was nice. I know I need to get some more stock up there. I am hoping to get pictures outside.

I also organized some more in the basement. It still doesn’t look like I did anything, but I did make my way through another pile of ironed scraps to be cut up. I did get my 1 yard totes and patterns squared away, so that helped.

I decided against making a whole new purse. The vintage ones I had book marked didn’t look as fun. I switched to a messenger style one with books on it. It has no pockets though and I desperately need a wallet and coin purse for it.

Crafting Goals:

* The ever-present Rainbow Snowball quilt.

* Make a wallet and coin purse.

* Continue with basement organizing.

* Make art for office.

* Finish a UFO/Mending project.

Garden Review: 

Everything is still alive! I picked two strawberries and two cherry tomatoes today and they were delicious.

All the food plants have buds or vegetable starts. The herbs are growing well too. I’ve been using them while cooking and have had the basil in Caprese salad about six times this month.

Garden Goals: Keep everything growing! Eat everything!

Recipe Review: 

Hits were the new chocolate chip cookie recipe, the yogurt, a caramelized onion grilled cheese, and a custard based ice cream from Pinterest-recipe to come.

We didn’t have any misses, just a few recipes I need to bump up the spice as usual. This month, I promise to actually measure once in a while to make sure I’m not under spicing the food.

I used 9 new cookbooks this month and made 25 new recipes total. I made up one new recipe, which turned out to be good. I canned 1 savory item, 2 marmalades, and one juice concentrate.

I also bought three new canning books… I couldn’t seem to stop myself at an outlet store. One was a paperback set of two for $.99 and the other I blame on the Husband. He found the Southern Living Small Batch book, which includes seasonal “Putting Up” party ideas. How was I supposed to resist that? 🙂

Meal planning went pretty well and I made at least two new recipes per week. I finally made yogurt and we’re on our third batch of ice cream. I ate good lunches too and planned enough time to figure them out before I had to go.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to find a biscuit recipe for Fancy, although, I was given one by a friend. We just bought her a large bag of chicken treats, but I would still like to find a crunchy biscuit for her.

Our bacon plans had to be put on hold, as I wasn’t able to find the right salt and had to order it online. It also takes a week to cure. Eventually we will have homemade bacon.

Fancy doesn’t seem to mind fireworks, as long as they are small ones. She does not like large booms or screamers and definitely does not like the ones directly across the street. I’m going to take her with me to organize the basement and see if that helps. We’ve got lots of cuddles, treats, and chew toys at the ready too. This is her before the fireworks.

I hope your plans for the 4th are good ones. On Wednesday, I’ll share one of my family traditions for the 4th that cause people to want to be adopted by us.

Have a happy holiday!

 

 

 

Crafty

Crafty Storage Progress Update

LSiehLeave a comment

I wanted to wait to post until Tuesday so that I could report more progress, but now it’s already Wednesday, so this post won’t be wordless, but I’ll post some extra pretty pictures in a separate post later. I have discovered all the lovely spring flowers in my yard. Fancy has rediscovered the joy of rolling in wet grass. She’s helping me find all the flowers and chasing the huge squirrel out of the yard.

I did make something crafty this week for my new counseling office, but got so excited to take it there, that I forgot to take pictures. I will have to get pictures  of it on Thursday when I am there again. My office is shades of cream and brown with blue accents. I already have one candle holder that is brown and needed a blue one. This one is a blue Ball canning jar with brown and white twine and bronze tone scrapbooking charms hanging on it and it’s filled with blue glass beads. I need some more of the beads as I realized I can’t reach the votive without tipping the jar. I am using the fake battery candles, definitely not real candles, but it’s still sad. I have some brown fish tank gravel that may work for it as well, so I may try to use a mixture of the two.

So I started sorting out my fabric in my big cream colored trunk this week. It is something I can do in pieces, as the fat quarters in the trunk are in separate boxes. I can just pull one box out at a time. I haven’t really gone through it with a realistic eye for what I’m actually going to use in a while. It was buried in the storage unit at the last apartment and I let it get messy.

So far I have a little pile of fabric that is a yard or more, which needs a new home, and another pile to get rid of. I have donated to the church quilting ladies in the past, but may try to spread this around. I could probably donate a bunch of my scraps to a local community art center for their materials box as well, or see if my friend’s girl scout troop needs them. I could also add them to my therapy art supplies, which I may do, if I have a lot of clients who like art.

I sorted through my pinks, purples, reds, and blues, and am in the middle of my browns, yellows, and black fat quarters. The reds, pinks, and purples fit in one container for right now with some room to expand. I know I have some more of each if these colors in various places which will be added as I find them. I tried to fold everything the same width so that they would all fit neatly and did a pretty good job. The container is the top tray for a different container holding my interfacing. I have a second one as well that currently holds pot lids in the kitchen. This might be viable and neater storage solution than the random collection of boxes I have now, but I’m not sure If I’ve seen too many sturdy trays like this lately.

Here is the blue box, which will probably need to be switched out when I get all my blue pieces together again. You can see it’s already bowing out in the middle and blue is my favorite color.

I have more motivation now to actually get things cleaned up. I have a couple of projects for other people to finish and have found a place to donate most of my finished quilt projects. My friend, who is an occupational therapist in a hospital, has a sensory room with lots of things that quilts could be used for. I would rather have my quilts go to a place or person that I know can and will use them. Not to say that the national charities I was looking at couldn’t or wouldn’t use them, but I’ve been looking for ways to help locally, either geographically, or with those I know personally. My goal is to spread as much kindness as I can and use my stash as much as I can to counteract the negatives. Do you have any favorite charities or causes that might need fabric for projects, or completed quilts? If so, please let me know!

Well, that’s it for this post. I have a whole day of errands planned for tomorrow, but will make some time for more cleaning and organizing.

Hello? Organization Fairy?
Crafty

Hello? Organization Fairy?

LSieh2 Comments

I haven’t been doing much crafting lately, due in part to scheduling, but mostly because everything is such a mess and all over the place that it frustrates me to try and find anything. When we moved into the house, the basement was where all of my crafting things went, since it was where I was going to be sewing. I kept saying “oh, I’ll organize this later.” Then we got a dog, had dinner parties, vending events happened, Christmas gifts were made, and I now work three part-time jobs. (I told my Mom the other day “I thought it was supposed to be easy when you got your dream job.” She just laughed and laughed.)

Regardless of life events, I’ve let my craft area get out of hand. It’s more like a craft/fabric dumping ground. I also found more fabric in boxes that were packed from our last apartment, which really means they had been packed in a hurry and never unpacked from the previous living situation. Gosh..

I don’t even want to take pictures because it’s too embarrassing. I have three scrap boxes that are overflowing and I keep finding projects and thread in unexpected places. I had a hole punch, sharpies, and paper scraps in my dance bag from who knows how long.

Here’s what the table looks like when I’ve been on a sewing spree:

I’ve been looking at fun ideas to organize using fancy boxes and bins, cute revamped dressers, and even filing cabinets for fabric which all seem like they would like life so much easier and prettier. Here is a link to one of the sites I like to dream about using all these ideas. http://www.thescrapshoppeblog.com/2015/01/20-fabric-storage-ideas.html

I’ve come to the conclusion, however, that I might need my own sewing store set up, just to contain it all.

I currently use a mix of old suitcases, cardboard boxes,  randomly sized Rubbermaid totes, and some smaller baskets. Mason jars and tins hold my buttons and smaller things. I have some wheeled drawer carts and a two shelf thing with dividers in the shelves, making it into four thin shelves. I have a three shelf bookshelf and a 2 shelf metal shelf that is questionably sturdy.

Oh, and the huge old wooden trunk that tried to kill my husband by sliding into the driver’s seat of my old van while he was driving. He hates that trunk, but it works pretty well to hold my fat quarters and I borrowed it (with no intention of giving it back) from my parents so I can’t really give it up. Plus, I would have to replace it with another option to store fat quarters anyway.

I think that I need a more standardized set of storage containers and at least one more sturdy metal shelf. My crafting and sewing books take up almost all the small bookshelf and I still have some magazines to add to it, so I don’t really have that as an option. We have some nice IKEA shelves in the kitchen that I think would work well down in the basement too.

I’ve seen people who leave their fabric wrapped up on comic book boards in a bookshelf and think that it looks adorable. I don’t want to leave my fabric exposed though, since it is all stored in the basement. I am going to use the cardboard from our moving boxes to make my own comic book boards for fabric, but they will be in totes. All my totes right now are different colors and I may want clear ones so I can see what is in it. The other option to avoid having to spend money is to divide the totes by type of fabric or by how much, such as all cottons, all apparel fabrics, or by 2 yard, 3 yard, etc. That is sort of how they are now, but it is still a mess. Having the cardboard should help everything stay in the right shape and make things easier to store hopefully.

I’m not giving up my suitcases though. I love the way it looks to store things in them and it makes it look a little more personalized instead of all totes. I have a cool vintage 60’s one that has my already cut squares in it, and another one that has already cut strips in it. If you’re interested in seeing that scrap saving system, I used Bonnie Hunter’s guidelines from her site Quiltville. It works really well to get me going through scrap boxes, but lately I have not been good about using it. http://quiltville.com/index.html

I also want to do something different with the scrap boxes and color code them. Most of the time with scraps, I’m looking for a specific color and have to sort through ridiculous amounts of fabric to find them. I have two sets of clear plastic drawer carts with three drawers each that if I can move things around, I can use them. Some of the colors can be put together, like yellow and orange, so that might work. They also sit next to my sewing space, so it would be very convenient for scrap quilting.

So those are some of my ideas. If you have any other ones that work for you, let me know! Hopefully one day soonish my craft area will be lovely and well-organized space to work in. I’ll post some progress pictures along the way to keep myself motivated.