Should I or Shouldn't I?

Recently I've been reading some blogs, where people are measuring the fabric in their stash, and keeping track of what comes in and goes out.  I've been thinking that it would be fun to join in, and start keeping track of how much fabric I have.  The problem is, I'm not sure I want to measure everything I have.  Since everything is packed up right now, it might be a great time to measure it all as I unpack it.  However,  if I stop to measure it all, it could take me much to longer to get my studio unpacked and set up.  If I put everything on the shelves, then I would have to take the time to pull it off, and measure it later, and that takes time away from being able to actually sew.


There was talk of weighing it, instead of measuring it. Which most have said is fairly accurate, to within a half yard or so. And it would take a lot less time to put a stack of fabric on a scale, vs unfolding, measure, then refold. That would still take more time than just taking it out of the boxes and putting it on a shelf. But that sounds like it is something I could do with out slowing me down too much in the unpacking.  

I know I'm going to have to take time to organize my fabric no matter if I measure or weigh it before putting it on my shelves.  But do I want to take more time, to find out how much fabric I have??  I can see by looking at it, that it's a lot.  Do I need to know the yardage??  Will knowing how much fabric I have motivate me to use it more? 

With the cost of everything going up, including fabric, I tell myself that I was buying as a hedge against inflation. Even while I was working, I would justify my purchases by saying, I may not be able to buy as much once I retire.  But if I'm not using it, was it really a good purchase?  Spending money on something you aren't using, isn't a good use of your money.

Before our move, I was doing better at using my stash, and not buying anything, unless I needed it for a project I was actively planning or working on.  I was able to walk into a quilt store, and not feel the need to buy yards and yards because the fabric was just too pretty to leave in the store or even worse, it was on sale, and I couldn't get it at that price again.  

Since I'm not close to any quilt stores now, I think it will be really easy to keep using my stash before running out and purchasing more fabric.  Of course, my stash has some areas where I lack a lot of variety, and I may need to supplement what I have if I'm using those colors in a quilt.   However, if I want to go to a quilt store now,  I would have to plan a day to go into town.  If I were to buy online, I don't want to buy just a yard or two, or even a few FQs, I would want to get as much as I could for the shipping charges, so I would buy more than I really needed, so it's easy for me to say no to buying online.    

I think I will not measure or weigh my fabric, I do like the idea of keeping track of what comes in and goes out. I would like to be able to look back over time and see that I used more than I purchased, and I think that is something I will be able to keep track of, especially since I won't be buying a lot.

I will leave you with a quilt I designed in Electric Quilt 8.  I wanted to create a quilt with the grey and off white fabric that I purchased.  Both were End of Bolt purchases, so I couldn't get more, and the project I purchased it for, I decided to do something different.  So I needed to come up with a project to use the amount of fabric I had, and by adding in the red, I had enough of both to create this quilt.  My plan is to bind it in red, and if I don't have enough, or I can't find it, I know what the fabric line is, so I should be able to buy more when I get this quilted.

 

 

Until next time... Happy Crafting!!

Stuio Makeover

Well, since I can't sew, or unpack anything yet, I thought I would share some pictures of what has been happening in my Studio.   

Here is a picture of the inside of the building before any of our stuff was delivered from the move.  There were some cabinets at the far end, and we tore those out and are starting with nothing but the studs.

 

Before we started getting all the supplies, we had someone come out and run electricity to the building.  The previous owner used an outdoor extension cord that was left in place, for any electricity he used, but we weren't going to take a chance with my machines using that.  Here is the trench he was digging to run the wiring.   While he had that open, he also ran a pipe for water, so I can have running water and a utility sink out there.  He dug down about 18" so that the water shouldn't freeze in the winter.  It started at the back of the house, and ran through our front drive/parking area.  The trench was filled back in, within  a few days, so other than preventing UPS from driving to the front door, it wasn't much of an inconvenience. 

After he got the wiring out to the building, he installed lights and outlets for me.  I had the outlets put in at about 4' rather than down near the floor as they usually are, so I won't have to crawl around under tables trying to plug or unplug something.  We will have all the machines in serge protector/UPS but even those won't have to be plugged in near the floor.  I have outlets on both side walls, none on the back wall, which will become my design wall.

We installed a unit that will heat or cool the space, much like what is found in a lot of hotel rooms.  This has the capacity to heat/cool an area that is larger than my Studio, so it should work well with out taxing the unit and needing to replace it any time soon.

Here are all the supplies we bought, from insulation, to drywall to flooring in the truck we rented to get it to the house. We even bought a small refrigerator with a freezer, so I won't have to go to the house if I want something cold to drink or snack on. 

 

 

 

After we got the supplies, it was time to start putting up the insulation.

And the drywall came next.

Oh, and we also bought some insulation to go on the inside of the track door, so hopefully, that will help keep the heat and cold out of the building.

This is where we are at now.  We had other things to do the last few days, so work has stopped for now.  But in the next day or two, the joint compound will be applied to all the seams on the drywall, then when that is finished, it should be ready to paint.  The flooring won't go in until everything else is done, so that it doesn't get damaged from construction.

We have an 8' by 15' shed that is coming, that will be used as extra storage, and all the stuff that is in the studio now will get moved in there to be out of the way to paint.  Then when the Studio is finished, it will be moved back, and I should be able to start all the unpacking and organizing.


Until next time... Happy Crafting!!

Dreaming of quilts to make...

While waiting for my Studio to get finished, I keep thinking of what projects I want to work on once I can start sewing again.  I have recently purchased some Bonnie  Hunter books and there are some great patterns in them.  I have more than a few that I want to start working on, to use up my scraps.  However, I have projects that were started before the move that I want to get back to work on, so starting something new may have to wait. 

I enjoy the planning stages of quilts, thinking about what pattern I want to make, which of my fabrics I want to use, do I have enough variety of this or that color to make the quilt sparkle, or do I need to supplement my stash?  Then when I have settled on a pattern and color scheme, I start going through my scraps and Fat Quarters and yardage to pull what I think will look good together.  Then comes the cutting. 

I bought an Accuquilt Go! a couple of years ago, and that helps get fabric cut much more quickly than a rotary cutter and ruler.  As long as I have a die to cut the required sizes and shapes I need, I can get a quilt cut out in no time.  In fact the first quilt I cut using my Accuquilt was this one.  The pattern came with one of my Qube purchases, it uses 4 of the 8 dies in the Qube. The fabric was left over from a Hoop Sisters quilt I made and I got all the pieces cut in less than an hour.  It took much longer to sew them together than it did to cut them.  I still need to finish the quilt... I love the piecing, not so much the finishing parts of making a quilt.

I tried finding a picture of the Hoop Sisters quilt, and don't have one that really shows it off.  So I will see if I can get a better picture of it and post it later.

My studio is coming along, the lights and electrical outlets have been installed, and all the drywall is up, and we are waiting for our electrician to come back out and run wire from the studio to a shed we are going to put up for more storage space.

The ceiling is going to remain unfinished, mostly because it's would be too difficult for one person to try to get drywall up there, and we don't want a drop ceiling. Plus, the middle area needs to remain open to allow access to the area we are going to use for storage in the rafters.

We are hopeful that he can finish the work in 2 to 3 weeks, and I can start unpacking and get back to sewing soon.

Until next time... Happy Crafting