My Favorite Tutorials: How to Make A Quilters Table

IKEA Hackers (the IKEA blog) has an excellent tutorial to make a Quilters Table, with plenty of storage, that stands on casters, allowing it be easily moved around a large sewing room or classroom.  I had to add this to my list of favorite tutorials and am delighted share it with you today.



Visit the IKEA Hackers blog to see their tutorial to make this Quilters Table.

Don't forget you can see more of my favorite tutorials indexed on a page of my blog labeled "My Favorite Tutorials".  I'm still updating this index.  In the meantime, you can also search my blog for "My Favorite Tutorials" for a complete list.  But, I'm hoping to get this index fully updated soon!

Fall De-Stash Invitation

Fall officially arrives on September 22nd.

Source: thealternativebride.blogspot.com via Shannyn on Pinterest

This is a great time of year to work on projects to decorate your home for the holidays, as well as for gifts.  And, it is also a great time to think about "De-Stash".  Like Spring Cleaning, there may be a few things in your sewing room that you don't use and someone else might want.  

If you part in the Spring De-Stash (aka SewCalGal's 12 Step Program) you may remember what this is all about.  This is a fun opportunity where quilting, sewing & embroidery enthusiasts simply identify what they may not be using in their sewing room and want to get rid of, to free up space in exchange for some $$$$.  Bloggers post on their blog about what they want to sale and their terms, while non-bloggers do the same using flickr.  Some may be open to trades, but most will post item(s) and price and let others know they are participating in a "Fall De-Stash Program" and encourage others to check it out too!  The more people we have participating and helping with PR the more shoppers we'll have.   Everyone is invited to participate and it is free to join this De-Stash Program.  

Start thinking about what you have in your sewing room that someone else might want.  Take photos and get ready to post on September 22nd.  SewCalGal will host a linky on "Fingertip Shopping", which is a blog focused on promoting awareness of super shopping opportunities.  To link up your post will need to be dated September 22nd or later, provide info on what you want to de-stash, price, and how you can be contacted.  You can add a link, for free, but I do ask that participants also include a link to the Fall De-Stash Linky post and encourage others to visit to see all the de-stash opportunities. 


Time to start thinking about what you want to de-stash. And, check back on Fingertip Shopping on September 22nd for all the great shopping opportunities from those that want to de-stash.  SewCalGal is definitely going to have a few items that will hopefully find a happy sewing room to go home to!  And, I hope you'll also find a happy sewing room to take some of your items that you'd like to de-stash too!


note:  This is for quilting, sewing & embroidery enthusiasts who truly have items in their sewing room that they would like to de-stash.  If you are in the business and want to increase awareness of products you have for sale, please email me for PR opportunities, as the Fall De-Stash is not intended for those in the business.

Those that wish to use the Fall De-Stash Logo in their post are certainly welcome to copy and use it as they wish.  PR appreciated!

http://www.fingertipshopping.blogspot.com/

 

Quilt Walls - A Tutorial For A Simple An Inexpensive Quilt Wall

Quilt Walls help quilters audition fabrics, layout blocks, plan borders, and simply help make the quilting assembly process a much easier activity.   They can be made out of all sorts of materials and in a variety of sizes.  Today, I want to share with you insights on a very inexpensive quilt wall, as well insights on a few other tutorials for creating quilt walls.

IKEA has some hardware that can make it easy and inexpensive to install a quilt wall.  As I have limited space in my little sewing room, I wanted a way to have a quilt wall that was also easy to move as it needed to be placed in front of existing wall-to-wall cabinets.  This approach won't be appropriate for everyone, but I wanted to share it for those that it might help.  I haven't yet tested it, but I'm pretty confident this hardware would also work to hang/display a finished quilt too!

I'll admit my DH installed this for me, but anyone that knows how to find ceiling & wall joists and use an electric drill could easily do this.

Dignitet Curtain Wire is a stainless steel set for $12.99, semi-ready to mount to ceiling or wall (where semi means you need your own screws).  The Dignitet was installed a few inches down from the ceiling, on two parallel walls.



Dignitet Support $4.99 provides extra support when you are doing a very wide quilt wall (mine is at ceiling height with a width of 172").  As I was striving to maximum the size of my quilt wall, I opted to use two Dignitet support brackes (2 per package).  These were installed on the ceiling, along the line where the two Dignetet Curtain brackets were installed on the walls.  The wire cable that comes in the Dignitet Curtain Wire kit was strung thru the appropriate holes in the four Dignitet brackets and set screws were used to tighten the wire before using wire cutters to clip any excess.

All Dignitets were mounted where the ceiling and/or wall joists existed vs mounting a dignitet directly into the dry wall.  This will allow this curtain wire system to hold more weight, which will easily support requirements for a quilt wall and should also work for displaying a large finished quilt too!


Rigtig Curtain hooks come in a 24 pack for $2.99.  I used one package, evening placing them on the wire.

I currently have a queen size Hobbs batting that I purchased at Michaels, using a 50% off coupon for an out the door price of $9.  Due to the width of the curtain wires (mine is 172"), I may end up with two separate pieces of batting, each with a width of ~86" should I want more than one project on my quilt wall, or to help with king size quilts!  It was also easy to place the batting into the Rigtig Curtain hooks, but I may later stitch some fabric to one end and place this side into the Rigtig curtain hooks.

Total cost of this quilt wall using the curtain wire & hooks from IKEA, along with batting from Michaels: $30

Install time:  ~1 hour.  Most of the install time is spent is checking to make sure you are tapping into ceiling joists vs just dry wall, the rest is pretty fast!

Again, this inexpensive quilt wall takes up minimal space in my sewing room.  As I don't have a free wall, this is placed close to my wall-to-wall cabinets.  I can slide the batting on the wire to get inside of most of the cabinets, but as I don't plan on leaving my quilt wall up all the time, I'm happy with the compromise between accessing my cabinets quickly vs limited space in my sewing room.  Plus, the cost was minimal.

What do you think?


Quilt in a Day also has a great tutorial to make 4'x8' quilt wall panels using sound boards, headliner material and other supplies.  I really like this type of quilt wall, but unfortunately my little sewing room doesn't have the space.  

You may also want to check out my prior post about Portable Design Walls.

Spring Cleaning 101: De-Stashing Part 2

Anyone that wants to do any Spring Cleaning of their sewing room, as well as those that want to add items to their stash, are invited to participate in this Spring Cleaning De-Stash activity.

There are those of us, like myself, that have more items in their sewing room than they feel they need. It might be that they have far too many project ideas to complete in a lifetime, their tastes may have changed, or they bought an item that doesn fit their current needs. For what ever their reason, they can benefit from some Spring Cleaning to make room in their sewing room for other projects. And, there may be some of you that are looking for items to add to your stash, may need a particular tool or pattern, etc. Thus, this is hopefully an opportunity that helps connect those that have more in your stash than you have room and for those that would like to find items to help them create beautiful projects, now or in the future.

Bloggers and non-bloggers are invited to share insights on what they want to sell or trade, but before you add a link to the linky tool below, please read the rules below in this post.

Here is a list of those that participated in the Spring De-Stash activity in February.  You may also want to visit their prior posts, to see if there is anything for sale or trade that you are interested in.

1.	Anita	9.	Carol
2.	Carol	10.	Barb
3.	Carol	11.	Carol
4.	Quiltingranny	12.	Carol
5.	Quiltingranny	13.	Terri
6.	Les Quilts	14.	Colleen
7.	SewCalGal	15.	Terri
8.	Carol

<><><><><><><>

URL:	(URL of your blog post)
Name:
Email:	(Not visible)
	Trouble linking up? Try here

Rules

1) Maximum of 2 links per person, per day, can be added to this linky. Bloggers can include more than one item in their post, but all posts need to be current (not pre-dated)
2) Your entry should clarify if you are wanting to sell vs trade, what the terms are and how you can be contacted.  
3) Please reference the link for this De-Stashing linky page in your notice, and encourage others to also check out what other quilters have to de-stash. To clarify, Please help promote awareness so more quilters will visit all the entries and also consider adding a link to items they may want to de-stash. Everyone is welcome to participate!
4) please mark your items as sold, or remove them. And, when the all the items on your page have sold, let me know and I'll remove your link from the linky. This will help ensure those shopping do not waste time visiting a link where everything is already sold.
5) Sorry, links to such stores as ETSY are not allowed (but email if you want to chat about PR opportunities).
6) This linky will be open to link up (add a link) for one month.

Best to have a photo of each individual item you want to sell or trade, determine how much you want for it, if the price will include shipping, etc. You may also want to share insights on why you want to get rid of it (e.g. your taste has changed, bought more than you needed, don't have time, doesn't meet your needs, etc.), to be able to help a potential buyer determine if it is a good fit for them to want to bring it home to their sewing room.


For Bloggers:
1) Be sure you understand how to add a link to your post, not a link to your blog (e.g. click on the title post of your post) and take time to verify it after you've added your link to the linky tool. If not, your link may be removed.
2) If your items sell, or you want to add more items, you can always update your post accordingly.

For non-Bloggers:
1) You will need to have a Flickr account (www.flickr.com).
2) Upload "one" photo to Flickr, batch organize, send to groups, select "De-Stash Spring Cleaning". While Flickr, limits the amount of text you can share in your description, feel free to share your perspective on this exercise and/or your past FMQ experience, if you wish.
3) After photo has successfully been loaded to the "De-Stash Spring Cleaning"" group, click on your photo in that group and copy the URL link to your particular photo entry. Add that link to the linky tool above, to officially enter this show.

Saturday, March 17th is International Quilting Day.  There is a lot of fun quilting activities happening this weekend to celebrate.  I'll be sharing more insights soon, but this is also a great weekend for you to take a look in your sewing room to see what you may want to de-stash. 

You may want to bookmark this page and check back, as more linkys will be added throughout the coming 30 days. And, every participant can also update their blog post to add more items to it too!

Preparing for Spring Cleaning

Have you started doing any Spring Cleaning or started thinking about it?

It isn't my favorite activity, but I sure like the outcome.  I've been researching sewing room organization and have plans to make a major lifestyle change on how I organize my sewing room.  Don't expect any photos to be shared, but visualize chaos.  

All the experts tend to recommend that we start with de-Stashing.  There is probably a ten step program for this, but I'm thinking of taking it in a few major steps, with my first area of focus on what I'm calling De-Stash 101:

I'm a dumper.  When I go to a quilt retreat I come back exhausted and dump everything in my sewing room floor.  And I do the same thing when I take a workshop, or attend a sew-cial.  I'm taking a vow to better schedule time to put things away,  when I return home with projects and machine in tow.  But I also realize I have more "stuff" in my sewing room than I really use.  As such, I've decided to host a Spring Cleaning (and organization) ten step program that I'd like to invite you to participate in.

As I go thru my stash, I'm giving a serious evaluation as to what I really want to keep vs get out of my sewing room.  While I give a lot of things away, especially to charity quilting programs, there are some items that I want to sale, or possibly trade.  You may also have such items in your Sewing Cave too!

For the next couple of months, on the 15th of each month, I'll do a Spring Cleaning post and include a linky.  If you have something, from your sewing room, that you want to sale or trade, you are invited to add a link.  This will be open to bloggers and non-bloggers that have items that would like to get rid of.  And, of course, those that may not have enough stuff in their sewing room, or find something from these Spring Cleaning activities that they can use, are certainly able make a purchase, or negotiate a trade directly with the quilter that owns the item(s) they are interested in.

Interested?  Mark the date and start looking in your Sewing Cave for items that you are no longer interested in and want to get rid of, to free-up space.

Here is a list of some of the items I am planning on getting rid of, as I do some Spring Cleaning in my sewing room.

• Serger thread
• Janome Sewing Machine
• Fabric
• Rulers
• sewing & quilting thread
• portable quilt wall
• quilt frames (small)
• book:  "Facebook for Dummies".
• Bernina Artista Designer Plus 5.0 embroidery digitizing software (CD, dongle, manual, etc).

I'm also hoping I can find someone with a few items that I'm interested in, such as:

• quilting books published by Sharyn Craig

• All-in-One Quilter's Reference Tool, published by CT Pub

• Just about any book or dvd on free-motion quilting or precision piecing, or machine embroidery designs.

So, maybe you'll take a look at what you have in your sewing room that you may not be using, nor have plans to use, and would like to do some Spring Cleaning too.

Again, I'll post a linky to host then on the 15th.  Bloggers can write a post on what they have to sale, trade and/or what they want. 

Non-Bloggers can post images in  Flickr group called "De-Stash Spring Cleaning" to what they have to sale or trade and they will need to add a link to the specific item(s) they have for sale on the linky that will be shared on the 15th of the mont.

Best to have a photo of each individual item you want to sell or trade, determine how much you want for it, if the price will include shipping, etc. You may also want to share insights on why you want to get rid of it (e.g. your taste has changed, bought more than you needed, don't have time, doesn't meet your needs, etc.), to be able to help a potential buyer determine if it is a good fit for them to want to bring it home to their sewing room.

I do hope you'll come back.  I'll share more insights on my Sewing Room Cleaning and ten-step program.  You are on the ground floor, as I research and test this out. Of course, as I have absolutely no expertise in the area of Sewing Room Cleaning and Organization, I'm also eager to hear your recommendations.  And, my hubby is hopeful that one of my quilting friends will come over and help me de-stash. Oh my, does that thought make me shake.

Snapware Storage

While organizing my sewing room, I decided to buy another Snapware Storage container.  I love how I can keep a project in a stackable container, adding/deleting stacks to fit my needs for storing, space constraints, and taking items to workshops. 

Ok. I didn't buy just one.  Snapware storage products are a great price and value. And I lucked out to find these on sale.  With so many ways to use them, I couldn't resist buying more than one. 

 
















These storage containers go every place with me:  workshops, retreats, sew-cials, vacations, etc.   The handles and snaps are also very durable, unlike other brands (which I won't name) that the handles frequently break under the weigh of fabric.

And, they are so easily stackable that they really work great for organizing a sewing room.  Perfect for organizing fabrics, thread, patterns, novelties.