My Sewing Space

Lots of linkys to Sunday Stash #75 were also linking up to "Show me yours. I'll Show you Mine" over at Sarah's Quilts. What a great idea to show off how folks organise their stash. 

Cooincidently, I spent a day last week giving my stash a serious overhaul and a tidy. So my Sewing Space looks very good right now.  Trust me, it is not always so.

Each of these IKEA boxes contains things like t-shirts, elastic, buttons, FMQ practice, selvedges, vlisofix, ribbons, button making etc.

Here (where a built in was never, well, built in) I have crates organised into themes - solids, tone on tone, floral, Binding, Halloween, Christmas, Girls, Boys, Babies, Denyse Schmidt, Themes and Vintage Sheets. Before you gasp in horror at the amount - I would say that 40% of this was directly given to me by my quilting mother when I first started. Some worth keeping. Some I culled this past week.

Here are the two boxes of fabric I culled. I will write up a Sunday Stash post about these soon. I have started giving some of these away. The green zip up is Christmas fabric she gave me last time she visited. I have yet to sort through it.

Craft Books

Scraps sorted by colour. Rulers hanging on hooks.

Gorgeous cross stich my mum made, Hand Stamps in the Paris box and Business cards in the two drawers.

More Fabric - Heather Ross, Aneela Hooey, Civil War, Modern, French General, Patchwork pieces, Sketch, Repairs, T-Shirts, Dr Seuss.

Scraps to sort, Preschool Scraps and thread rubbish.

My Janome DC 2101, Snoopy cup from my childhood.

And down below the IKEA desk.

Bin, fan, overlocker, Beginner Machine

The IKEA drawers hold all the stuff you need close.

Blinds that double as a design wall

If you want to see the actual fabrics in my stash....why not join me here EACH Sunday for Sunday Stash? You are more than welcome to link up with your stash. There are 75 posts to catch up on vouyer fabric flashing in my stash.


Linking up with...

You Little Ripper!

February's block for 'And Sew On' was called 'You Little Ripper'. Which in Australian colloquial terms means "You winner". We also say "You little beauty". Aren't we a funny bunch?

As always Kristy's block was easy to put together. I found selecting fabrics harder than anything as I wanted to tie it into my 'Measure Twice' block. I also wanted to make the detail on the seams ripper stand out by using a solid.

The only tricky bit was lining up the vertical seams on the patchwork and the seam ripper bottom to the top.

Linking up to the Feb list at Quiet Play.

The new March design called "Spooling Around" should be out any day now.

Sunday Stash #1

My little girl has been sick at home all week...nothing serious, a snuffly nose, sneezes, cough and red eyes....but   long enough to make a serious hole in my sewing plans. No matter...we've actually had a lovely time together.

But there has been fabric! 

A few parcels of fabric I had ordered in January, started showing up at my local Post Office. With my 'Item for Collection' slip fresh from the letterbox, I would drive the 8Km, present it at the PO counter, and collect my mystery package. Rather than rip it open there (like Charlie Bucket with his Wonka Bar) I would transport it home to open reverently in a quiet moment when the kids were occupied. 


Now do you remember the great Fat Quarter Shop sponsored 'Blogger's Choice Bundle' competition run by Laura at Quokka Quilts last month? Well my FQS order had just enough room (and postage) to squeeze in this gorgeous fabric which was the starting point for my Bundle entry. And it is just as delicious as I imagined it would be.

Daisy Cottage Gray - small daisies

As a stand alone fabric it may not be much use to me in a quilt. However it might lend itself nicely to a small sewing project from #4 2012 Challenge to Myself.


County Fair - Denyse Schmidt

I think I have remarked before, in coming late to the party with quilting, that I have missed out on some gorgeous fabric ranges that have been released and now unavailable. My recent passion is for Denyse Schmidt designs. Hard to come by thesedays - especially this 2007 released line called 'County Fair' - featured in that gorgeous 'Small Plates' quilt by Elizabeth Hartman. But then, looking for Vintage Sheet fabric on Etsy, I came across a FQ bundle at Kristi's NY shop called eaudebean. And it arrived yesterday! Looking all scrumptious here in it's colour wash stack.

It is upholstery weight fabric and lovely to work with. I think it will lend itself nicely to some projects from #6 in my 2012 Challenge to Myself.


And good news! If you love Denyse Schmidt fabrics too. Free Spirit Fabrics are re-releasing her 'Flea Market Fancy' range again. So get yourself to the FQS and put your name down for notification...or make a reservation at Sew Lux Fabrics.


And shhhh! don't spread it too far...but Kristi has some more DS FQs in her shop too!


Extra Sweeteners


Some people are just thoughtful and generous aren't they?
In amongst my fabric arrivals this week, I received a few personal notes and some free sweeteners.


Mini Quilt Kit  - Rainbow Whirlygigs
Including pattern and precut fabric from Linda and Chrissy  from Sew Lux Fabrics. 

Applique Flowers

A little surprise thrown in by Beverley of Beverley's Designs when she sent me her QCA Feb Bee blocks.

Looking happy put together.

Remnants

Then Kristi from eaudebean snuck in a few remnants with the Denyse Schmidt order. I am in love with the bottom print featuring 'Little Red' and the wolf.

Thanks to all you generous ladies for your extra sweeteners!