Thursday, February 08, 2007

Working on UFO's

After taking Judy Neimeyers class (Raindrops - at Quilts By the Bay in Galveston) I am no longer afraid of Paper Piecing! It finally clicked. So, I finished up 10 ( of 30) of the large rings, and then decided to work on the CONESTOGA STAR paper piecing project that was really eating my lunch at the retreat last fall.

I worked on the wedges last night and the day before. I now have 84 of the little puppies done. (need at least 100 to do 25 blocks). My goal is to finish piecing the wedges before the retreat March 30-31.
However, I do need to be working on my customer quilts, as we have our quilt show March 9-10 and I imagine that they would like some time to put the binding on before they have to turn them in. So I will get my butt in gear and work on Gail's StashBox quilt.
Also added more projects to my lists at the side. They are not necessarily listed in order.


Sunday, February 04, 2007

Admitting the problem!

As part of my resolution to reduce the stash, I've started listing the UFO's and project ready to quilt in the sidebar. These are the one I could think of right off.

I'm breaking them down into 4 categories for now. More if I feel the need.
1) WIP - Actively working on
2) UFO - Unfinished (for awhile)
3) RTQ -Ready to Quilt
4) HST - Haven't Started Yet

Tomorrow (Monday) is a new week, and a new routine. Last week instead of working on customer quilts, I did clean my studio. Wish I had taken a before picture, but . . . maybe I'll take an after picture. Still have lots of ideas of ways to store more stuff. Hmmm, isn't that part of the problem? I have too much stuff??? LOL.

Already broke some of my good intentions. Not my fault though. I signed up for Judy Neimeiers "RAINDROPS" class last fall, and I bought the fabric at Festival in Nov 2006. This was a GREAT class last Friday at Quilts by the Bay in Galveston. However, it resulted in another project underway. WAIT, I get to move it from HSY to UFO!!!

Saturday was a Birthday Quilt Adventure for Ann, and we visited 2 quilt shops that I had never visited before in Montgomery TX and a great store in Conroe TX. Didn't buy as much as I usually do! Ooops, I did buy a tablerunner kit.. Darn it, need to add that to the HST list. :(

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Stashbusters! Long Overdue!!!

Recently joinged the Yahoo group Stashbusters. I stopped counted my UFOs as I neared 100. We recently moved, and I have fabric and projects in rubbermaid containers, boxes, bags and in every nook and cranny.

My New Year resolution was to get more organized and get control of my stash and UFOs (UnFinished Objects).

Well it's now Feb 1, and I've made some progress; but have a loooonnnnggg way to go.

I've ramped up my eBay store and have started putting together some Fabric Kits for auction, starting at .99 each. We'll see how that goes. Mostly I'm starting with flannel, in kits that will make nice lap size throws.

Cleaned up and organized my studio! Wow, was that an undertaking! Found a lot more stuff that I plan to auction off as well. Look for some nice LOTS of cross stitch items. Already sold several lots of longarm thread. Still have a couple to go. Think they would do better if I didn't put them all out at once.

Reorganized the eBay room! Have found all sorts of new quilting supplies that I just didn't have time to list, and am now getting those listed. Most of these are listed at about 10% off. Have you ever noticed that all the 'How to sell on ebay' reports tell you to sell things, but not how to do it efficiently? Maybe I'll write an ebook on how to do that! LOL

Next room to tackle is the Master Bedroom closet. Basically the whole floor is covered with shoes. I'm going to IKEA and see if I can find some shoe racks and clear those out. Then I'm going to use those Space Bags that I bought several years ago, and actully put stuff in them! (Not a lot of need for wool clothes here in Houston!). Also, since I've been losing so much weight, I'm going to purge those clothes that are getting too big.

To reduce (or limit) the growing stash, I'm really going to limit the new purchases of fabric. That INCLUDES buying BOLTS of fabric for personal use!
Here are the new rules:

1- I will SHOP my stash first!
2- I will stop browsing the vintage quilt tops on ebay
3- I won't be afraid to use the 'last' of a fabric.

Whew!~ that's enough to start with.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Busting my Stash!!

A new year, and a new routine. No longer working at the 'day job' and can now focus on my home business full time. In addition to being able to spend more time on quilting for others, I can now expand that business to include some natural offshoots that I haven't had time to do before. Look for news and pictures to come!

Meanwhile, I have been ramping up my ebay store. Adding lots of new inventory, and many new auctions. Think I have the first copies of the 3rd in the series of Turning Twenty! It's called Turning Twenty around the Block. Uses focus fabrics, or you can fussy cut a block or make a photo quilt! Check it out!

Well, back to Turbo lister!