Ribbons, Ribbons, Ribbons

It’s been over a year since I posted anything on my blog. This is like starting all over again. So here goes –

Mondays have always been dedicated to hints, tips, and tricks. This Monday I’m going to show you one of my storage ideas.

I have a lot of ribbon, I use ribbon but not every day. I’ve tried keeping them in various ways but nothing seemed to be working for me. I tried ribbon racks, ribbon bars, putting them in various containers, etc., etc., etc., you get the picture.

They just kept getting jumbled up or the ribbon would spin off the spool.

Container of empty spools

Then I ordered some acid free cardboard that are 6X6 inches and I found a container that they would fit into.

I removed the ribbon from the spools they came on and wound the ribbon onto the cardboard keeping them organized by color.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the end result. 

Side by side containers for ribbons

The empty spools take up a lot of room (I should have taken a picture of the big container they resided in before I started this project). All the ribbon from these spools fit into the small container. 

View of all the ribbons

And the best part is I just remove the lid from the new container and I can see exactly what I have. No more digging around in the spools looking for the one I want. I have room for more cardboard in this first container and I will add more ribbon to it as I come across them while I am cleaning and organizing.

Keep on stitching (and organizing)!

Rose

Sometimes Ideas Just Pop Out Of The Blue.

I had meant to post this last Monday but I couldn’t find the items to take photos of so I put it off thinking I would do it on Tuesday (has Monday night tips and tricks become Tuesday tips and tricks?). Well that didn’t happen either because it was late Tuesday before I found them and I had to dash off to my quilt guild meeting.

Plastic Paper Clips

These were something I bought thinking I could use them as an aid when I was working on something. My idea did not work (and it took me a long time to remember what the idea was but I did remember whatever it was it did not work!). And I was a little bummed because I had spent a few dollars on something that I could have spent elsewhere. Oh well!

I have since remembered what the original thought was. I came across a hexagon project I have been slowly working on and the “aha” moment came. I thought these little clips could hold my hexagons together as I stitched them to each other. That did not work. They do not open up enough to grasp the thicknesses of the fabric and the card stock.

So I put them aside thinking maybe they’ll land up in a garage sale one day.

Then the other day I was working on sorting out my ribbons that had gotten all tangled up when I thought “hey maybe I can use those clips to hold the rolled ribbon nice and neat and keep them from intertwining with each other”. So I searched for the clips and tried it out. Happy camper here! Worked on most of my loose ribbons (a few were too thick but that’s okay).

Clips holding my ribbons nice and tidy

Now I may just have to go and purchase some more of these!

Happy Camper!

Rose 

What I’ve Been Working On Wednesday

I know, I know it’s Thursday. Still trying to get on track with my postings. I’ve been busy doing some design work for the Quilters’ Guild of Arlington. No not a quilt! A postcard for our upcoming May Festival of Quilts Show and a bookmark detailing our meetings, workshops and general information.

I haven’t used Photoshop for any design work for quite a while. It’s been a re-learning process and of course I just jumped right in with no pre-planning. That reminds me of why I should do some paper sketching first I think. I was in a hurry last minute deadline you understand. Now in hindsight it probably would have gone a lot faster and smoother if I had paused to sketch my ideas first.

Front of the Post Card

Here’s my results. 

Thankfully they were well received!

Back of the Post Card

 If you will be in the Dallas area the first part of May (May 2^nd and/or 3^rd) come check our show out!

 

Bookmark Front

Bookmark Back

Other than that I’m just trying to straighten up my work area so I can find things and get more sewing/quilting/crafting done. Still have a little more to do and then of course organizing everything will take a little more time. My husband’s comment was “wow now we can actually see the floor and walk around in here!” I think I’ll take some pictures when I have it done and post them up so I can remind myself of how good it looks de-cluttered and hopefully encourage myself to keep it that way. We shall see!

Happy Designing (and straightening up if you are like me)!

Rose 

Prunes and Threads

Repurposing Plus

Prune Container

Today I’m giving you two ideas, one is for storage and the other is for controlling those threads.

I use prunes a lot – well I eat two a day. I used to buy them in the smaller tube container but then switched to the larger pack that is just a plastic bag. Well now I’ve switched back to the tube packaging for a while. Why?

Storage containers

I discovered I could remove the plastic label and the container is the perfect size to hold my pencils, brushes, pens, etc. So after throwing several away in the recycle bin I have found a use for them and I need more.

Next up came from my embroidery projects. First if you read this post you know I’ve been working on organizing and storing my floss. Well the little labels sold to be used on the floss bobbins do not stick to the plastic ones very well. While I was working on a project I put the selected colors on a binder ring. By the time I had finished the project the labels were everywhere but on the bobbin where they should be. After researching on the internet for a solution I decided to use a fine black sharpie pen and write the number on the bobbin. Make sure you use a pen that is waterproof and smear proof. You might want to test your pen out first on a few bobbins before doing all of them. Okay that was just an aside to what I really wanted to share.

Floss Bobbin with sets looped in hole

When I start to work on a project – small or large- I cut off a length of floss, separate the strands and then group them by the number of strands I plan to embroider with, 2 – 3- 4 etc.  If I’m not sure how many strands I will be using I will put all six back together. I then tie a single overhand knot at the bottom of each set. Now I’m ready to embroider. But wait! I am only using one set at a time. What to do with the rest? I was using a carbone ring to hold them but sometimes the colors are so close that I had a hard time distinguishing them. Looking at my thread bobbins it dawned on me, they all have a hole in the top of them for putting them on an organizing ring. Well I store mine in boxes so I don’t really use the hole. Yup you guessed it! I take the extra sets and loop them through the hole. Perfect! 

Thread sets ready for storage

And when I’m done and still have sets left I keep them looped in the hole and wrap them around the bobbin top to bottom. Nice and tidy.

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Introducing My BFF …

Well in the workroom that is! It’s my IPhone! Sorry should have said best helper rather than friend. Here’s why:

The Alarm – if I only want or can only spend say ½ hour on my project I can set the alarm to alert me when my time’s up.

The Stopwatch – if I want to track how long it takes me to do something I can use this tool. This is good because if I get interrupted I can pause it and resume it when I’m back on task.

The Apps – oh yes the apps that are available, some are free and some you have to purchase. I’ve already mentioned the Thread Tracker app I use. Here’s another good app called aNote (Awesome Note) for capturing ideas, organizing information and tracking projects plus a whole lot more. There are many more apps maybe some even better than the ones I’ve found.

Voice Memos – can’t forget this either. I’ve used it to capture a recipe someone is sharing (and I don’t have paper or can’t write fast enough!), record notes to myself as I’m working. Wish I would have remembered this one last night when I was mixing watercolor paints – lol!

And of course you can have music, surf the web, Oh wait! I forgot I should be working in my workroom.

OK back to work. Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with an update on my projects, until then …

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Some Updates

TAST2012

These are continuing and I’m doing my scribbles with them. The last three are:

Bonnet Stitch

Bonnet Stitch

This is an old stitch that is not too well known. I had never heard of it but I managed to do it. I thought I would have a difficult time with it but it actually went quite well.

Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch

 Up and Down Buttonhole Stitch

This was a little more difficult for me to get going on. I had to view a video of someone (Mary Corbet of needlenthread.com) working this stitch with my laptop upside down to get the left hand aspect of it. Worked it awhile before figuring out the best way to hold my hoop and work the stitch. Now I like it. Oh the joys of being left handed!

Basque Stitch

 Basque Stitch

I watched a video (Mary Corbet of needlenthread.com) for this stitch too. It actually went quite well. I left my scribble mark so you could see the way the stitch went around the sharper points. I only had one line not two lines to stitch between.

FLOSS BOBBINS

 In my last organizing post I talked about the plastic bobbins made to wind embroidery floss on. I said I preferred the DMC ones and I still do but I have to report this incident. I needed more floss boxes to store my floss bobbins in. So, I went in search of the larger boxes. I didn’t find any but at one of the craft stores I found the regular boxes at a good price and with 50 free bobbins included. They were being sold under the DMC brand so I thought great and bought a couple of boxes. Was I disappointed – the “free” bobbins were not the same as the nice DMC ones I had previously bought. 


These were in fact far worse than the other brand I had purchased. You can see in the photo (you may need to enlarge it) that they had all kinds of problems even the slots for anchoring the threads were bad. Tsk, tsk, DMC, maybe it would have been better if you had sent them back to the manufacturer as inferior quality rather than offer them to your customers as “free”. Now I’m nervous that they are dumping their high quality products for cheaply made ones. I hope not!!

EMBROIDERY HOOPS WITH SCREWS

New Oval Hoop

Oval Hoop with Plastic Cover

I recently found two new oval hoops. I prefer the oval shape when stitching as my hand can hold it better. These secured the fabric better than my wood ones and all I had to do to protect my threads from the screw is cut a longer piece of the plastic tubing. The only think about this style of hoop is the ridge on the inside ring. I would not leave my fabric in the hoop for very long. (You are should remove the fabric at the end of your stitching session anyway.) But it you stitch for a long period of time I would recommend releasing the fabric every now and again (30 minutes?). Sometimes though I set mine down to do something quick and don’t always get back to it like I had planned. I’ll let you know how it works – I will be damp stretching my work for sure.

Inside hoop

NEW PROJECT

Yes you read right, as if I didn’t have enough going on all ready! But I took another online class, what can I say the price was right! This one was from Big Picture Classes called “Happy Go Lucky Stitchalong “ taught by Amy Powers. We’ve been working on a grid of 25 1 and ½ inch squares using mainly six strands of floss. I’ve never worked that small and I’ve never used that many strands at once. So this was a new experience for me. I’ve only done 5 of my squares. I’ll post more about this project later.

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Organizing is a Hard Word For Me!

Not in spelling or saying but in doing and maintaining. I have people around me who are good at organizing. The problem with that is they don’t always organize for the way I work. But something has to give. I know I would get a lot more done if I could only get to a more organized, less cluttered state. Now I’m not talking minimalist here just a somewhat state. Plus my grandson is crawling now and he knows “Tutu’s Room” is full of neat, interesting stuff. So I have to be able to at least close the door.

So I’m starting and I plan to share as I go along. Maybe you’ll be inspired by something I do. I’m starting small. I have a lot of different materials to organize, threads  (both sewing and needlework), yarns, beads, buttons, buttons, and more buttons, books and magazine, tools, just to name a few. So I’m attempting to clean off my sewing/work table. Next I’ll tackle my cutting table and then the floor. Yes the floor! In the process I’m going to investigate others methods of organizing and see what might work best for me. Staying flexible is a must here!

Floss

For the organizing I’m starting with my embroidery floss. Remember I said I’m starting small. I’ve attempted various solutions in the past.

Floss on Sewing Machine Bobbins

One time I started winding partial skeins of floss on empty sewing thread bobbins. I had discovered I was using the wrong type of bobbin in my machine. Unfortunately I had purchased a lot of them. So I thought this would be a good way of using them. Not so.  For one thing I did not know the brand or color number once the floss had been removed from their packaging. So I abandoned that idea. 

Floss Bags

I’ve also tried the plastic bags on a binder ring (too bulky and the bags deteriorate over time).

Floss Bobbins

 Another attempt was bobbins made for floss which could be stacked. Same problem as my sewing bobbins although these closed so that the floss didn’t unravel. 

DMC Thread Store Displays

Another way was the old DMC store displays (a wood box with drawers that were divided to hold individual colors of floss). I was fortunate to get three of these boxes when I worked for Walmart. These are not convenient for finding colors and the floss is not protected from dust, etc. I’ll use those for something else.They hold my cards of rickrack, binding, etc. just great. 

Another idea was to wind the floss on old wooden sewing spools but I have way too much floss for this to be a good storage solution. Although they do look cute as a décor item. So you can see I’ve tried a lot of different methods.

This is what I’ve decided to do: I’m using the little flat plastic floss bobbins and the number labels (DMC).

I’ll wind the floss on the bobbin and store it in a plastic box (or 2 or 3 or 4) made for these bobbins. First I will store them by number and later by color groups. By numbers first so that once I’m done I can check my IPhone app to make sure it is up to date and accurate. And then I’ll re-sort them by color because that is the way I work. If I ever need to find a color by number I can go to my app and look up the number, that will give me a color square and name so I know where to look for it.

Thread Tracker Logo

This app Is called Thread Tracker and is for DMC floss and lets me track how many I have of each color (or if I don’t own it) and I can add it to my buy list so I know which ones I need to buy. Also if I’m at the store and see that floss is on sale I can whip out my phone and check to see which colors I need or which ones I don’t have yet. They also have apps for other types of threads so it's worth visiting their site for more information about the apps including one called Thread Replacer.

I do have some floss that does not have the number and brand notation and some where the brand is no longer being made. I am winding these on some cardboard bobbins (I bought these before I found out how thin they were). I do not recommend getting the cardboard bobbins, there are two different brands of plastic bobbins that I’ve found. The DMC brand is thinner than the other so they will take up less space. Consider this if you have a lot of floss to store. Also the other brand I have has little burrs, spots where they were punched out. DMC ones have very smooth edges.

OK this is my floss storage and the beginning of my organization story. I still have ribbon for ribbon embroidery for which I’ll probably use the same method.  You can write the color and number on the bobbins. My thread for Brazilian embroidery which is a rayon thread will be stored in the floss bags for now. That leaves my metallic floss and specialty threads to store and organize. I think the bobbins will not work well for these threads. Any ideas?

How do you organize your threads?

Next I'll be working on my fabrics. Stay tuned!

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Happy Stitching!

Remember This?

Butterfly Vest

Well I mentioned last time that I really needed to get started in my 12 in 12 UFO projects. This being six months into the year I thought I was going to pick some items that needed just a little bit of work. But no, my eyes landed on the butterfly vest and that’s where I went. To have it totally finished and lined will take some time. In the meantime my goal is to get all of the outside edges stitched down and the butterfly antennas done by July. I’m down to a few more wings and then the antennas. I plan to wear it to my quilt guild meeting in July. I’ll be wearing a work in progress!

So here are my tips stemming from this project:

1. Keep a record of the brand, colors, and number of strands used for the colors. Also add any notes or ideas you have as you progress on the project. A notebook or sketch pad would be good for this. Then just in case your supplies get separated from the project you’ll still have a record. You guessed it, this project is years in the making and has gone through several moves and an organizational attempts by my daughter. I think I succeeded in matching what was already done pretty well but it would have been easier with a record. Of course the record has to be available too! I’ve even thought about using sticky notes on the project.
2. I’m down to just needing black thread for the first goal. I plan to take it with me when I take my husband in for some medical tests. He’ll be in for at least 2 hours so I should be able to finish. Since I know I’ll need quite a few sets of floss I’m going to prepare them ahead of time. First I’ll cut my lengths then separate them into 2 groups of three strands each. I put a small overhand knot at the end of each set. As I cut the lengths and separate the strands I keep them all going the same way so I know which is the top (edge pulled from the skein) and which is the bottom (cut from the skein). When I put the strands back together I try to get the edges even as near as possible. I’ll pull them through my thumb and forefinger to smooth them out and then tie the knot. Then I can trim the excess and make the top even. I’ll prep several of these at one time if I know I’ll need a lot and know how many strands I’ll be using. Of course this won’t be necessary if you are using a non-stranded thread like pearl cotton.

Another section of the vest

Happy Stitching!

Rose

Three weeks and counting:

Oh my, it’s the end of January and I feel like I am behind already. I should have at least thee things completed and a start on finishing my fourth. OK here’s my second item. From the before photo you might be wondering what’s to finish since they are already packaged but if you look at the one in the middle you’ll see the difference.

Needle Nabbers Photo

I have these little flowers for sale in my online shop and also at a local quilt store, Kilauea Kreations, that is popular with the tourists. Well the owner of the store mentioned to me that people were finding them to be a little on the tipsy side. Now we don’t want that to happen, do we! She showed me how she had glued a piece of round cardboard to my sample and it was stabilized.

Completed needle nabbers photo

Well I couldn’t settle for a piece of raw cardboard so I had to put my thinking cap on. I found some wood circles, painted them to match the flowerpot but that still wasn’t good enough for me. So I decided to crochet some little doilies to top the wood circles. That solved the stability problem. Now however I ran out of the paint I was using and found that none of the local stores were going to carry that brand of spray paint so I was back to thinking again. I did find some of the paint while on vacation in Texas on clearance so I purchased what the store had left and stored it with my son. I knew I wasn’t suppose to carry it on the plane back home. So I still needed a temporary solution. I considered sending the wood circles to my son, have him paint them and then send them back to me. But I really didn’t want to wait and they were earmark as a need to complete project. So then I decided to try painting them to match the doilies and flower colors. That worked! So these are ready and will be going out as gifts soon.

Unfinished white button bracelet photo

Finished white button bracelet photo

Next I decided to finish one of my crocheted cuffs with buttons. That went quick although I did have to “scrounge” through my buttons to find some more creamy white ones that would work. Going through my buttons is always a tempting process that often gets me sidetracked onto another project. I resisted this time though and was able to finish the cuff.

Now on to my next project. I received a phone call from the same quilt store requesting that I send them some more of my Needle Candies as they had sold out of them and all they had left was the sample. Wow! Then I realized that I had some already started from 2010 so they would work in perfectly. However as I was working on them (I need to make a dozen) I attempted to make a change to the little holders that I made from fabric. The stiffener I used dulled the fabric somewhat and I wanted to try and brighten them up a bit. I also wanted to add a little protection to them so I brushed them with some gloss medium and shellac. But I put too much on and they became cloudy instead of bright and shiny. So now I had to make some more from scratch. This time I’ll use a smaller brush and just do one as a test. Yes, I did all twelve the first time! I’m still working on these but hope to have them finished and in the mail to the store by Tuesday at the latest.

Needle Candies started photo

You’ll notice I’ve added a slide show to show some of the UFO projects I’ve located while trying to clean and organize my crafting space. Not up to 52 yet but getting close. And actually I could list some that are now grouped together as individual projects. I decided to group some of them because I was stumped on how to do the next step so as I work on those I’ll let you know what had me stumped and hopefully how I solved the problem and moved on.

Happy stitching!

Rosie's Monday Night Tidbits

Things I like in my sewing room:

Sticky Notes

When I’m working on a project that requires adjustments to my sewing machine, stitch length, stitch type, feed dogs, etc. I make a note of what I’ve done on a sticky back notepad. That way if I’m interrupted and have to turn my machine off (or if I’ll be using it over the course of days) I can stick the notes to my machine and I’ll have all the settings I need to continue. No more trying to remember what I did the last time!

Index Cards

If you have something that you do frequently but not every day, jot the steps down on an index card. Punch a hole in the corner of the card. Slide it unto a binder (book) ring and hang it near your work area. That way the next time you go to do it you have the steps to follow.
Happy Stitching! Rose ♥