What an insanely busy couple of weeks! Three quilts finished
in one week! A definite first! The first two were featured in my last blog, and
I’m very pleased to say the recipient was as happy as I was with the finished
pieces, they do look perfect on her sofas!
The third quilt is my Hazy Hexy quilt, which I intend being my first
quilt pattern for sale, hopefully more on this next week, but here is a sneak
peak…
Then last weekend I ran a quilting workshop for Doughty’s in Hereford, on how to make my Louden Whirldwind of Colour quilt. As this was my
first class, I was a little nervous – actually more nervous than I realised as
I was completely shattered afterwards! Thankfully, it went really well, mostly
down to the ladies being so easy to teach and a lot of fun to sew with.
Unfortunately we were having so much fun I forgot to take a photo of all the
hard sewing being done! Hopefully there will be more classes to come, it was
such a joy to pass on sewing tips and quilting tricks and to just spend time
sewing with like-minded people.
So this week, after all that sewing, I decided it was time
to sort out my stash. Obviously as I was at Doughty’s I had to buy some fabric…
but rather than just dumping it in a box not to be seen again for at least 6
months, I decided it was high time I got my stash out on display, if for no
other reason than just so I can sit there and gaze at it… I just can’t help it!
Through my adventures around Pinterest, I had come across
various methods of displaying fabric, but this one caught my eye from Angela Pingel of Cut To Pieces, who recommended using comic backboards. Now, unlike my
sis and her boys, I’m really not into comics, so I had to do a little research,
and who would have known it, Forbidden Planet sell them, and I have a shop just
around the corner! Amazing! That’s Christmas presents sorted!
Anyway, these boards are just medium weight card, approx. 7
x 10”. Unfortunately my shop were actually out of stock of this size, so I
ended up getting the slightly bigger size and cutting them down, so hardship
with a paper cutter. I won’t go on about how I folded my fabric, I’ll leave
that to Angela’s great tutorial, but I also went on to dig out a pile of unused
A6 card blanks, cut them in half, and folded my fat quarters around these also.
So now I have my very own colourwall, so happy! I also managed to pinch some
full size boards from Doughty’s for my metreage of backings.
I have to say, it really does surprise me how my tastes have
changed over the years. When I first started quilting, and then worked for
Doughty’s, I loved the soft greens and browns, akin to a William Morris palette
I guess, and I have plenty. However, now I seem to like the bright modern
designs, vivid greens, yellows and reds, and of course grey! I’m hoping that by
putting all my fabrics in colour order, some of my recent purchases will liven
up my old pieces, if not, they’re gonna have to go! Eek!
I’ve been quite ruthless throughout this process, putting
anything smaller than a fat eighth into a scrap pile, which I am now working on
cutting up into 5”, 2½” and 2” squares – I can now finally get my Scraptherapy
– Cut the Scraps book out and have a play!
I hope my colour wall inspires you to get that stash out on
display, if you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you. For
even more inspiration, please go and have a peak at some great blogs over on
Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash.
that's an impressive fabric collection and you probably spent quite a bit of time getting it all organized the way you have. It looks great and will probably save you time in the long run. Beautiful quilt at the top, too.
ReplyDeleteColleen @ piecemakerquilts.wordpress.com/
Thank you! Yes, it did take quite a while, still cutting scraps up now, it'll be worth it in the end :)
DeleteNow that is a nice display of perfection! One day I hope to have a dedicated space for all my fabric! Great job on organizing!
ReplyDeleteOoo, I like that, thank you!
ReplyDeleteYour display is amazing. I also cut up my scraps as I create them, and it is amazing how useful it is to have ready-cut small pieces of fabric.
ReplyDeleteHello. Visiting here via Molli Sparkles. I read a few months ago about comic boards being 7x10 inches. I measured my cereal box and found the outside to be 7x10 so now I save them and make them into boards, by folding them flat and stapling the edges. I have about 20 so far, so hope to start putting fabric around them soon. Love your fabric collection :)
ReplyDeletePS - just watched the fabric folding video link you shared - I guess my idea is not so good if I should be using acid free boards - oh well :(
ReplyDeleteHi Lesley, thanks for stopping by, I really don't think cereal boxes will damage your fabrics, you'll just have to use them up faster! I also used some normal card for the smaller pieces as I had so many, I think we'll be ok :) happy seeing x
DeleteSuch fantastic fabric organization! I also wrap my fabric on the comic book backings, but mine are kept in file boxes instead of out on display because I simply don't have anywhere to put them out. I wish I did though - then maybe I wouldn't end up buying duplicates of fabric because I've forgotten what I have!
ReplyDeleteThank you, I've had lots of practice sorting colours In my old job! It is very inspiring having all on show, I just hope I don't get overwhelmed! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is something I SO need to do--both being ruthless with small cuts and sorting the fabric I have. I struggle with what to do with scraps, but I'm guessing the sizes you're using are fairly standard. I'm new (ish) to quilting, so I haven't put any large scale entirely scrappy quilts together (yet). I may be nearing that milestone, though, so perhaps it's time for me to learn some tips! Scraptherapy--Cut the Scraps... I think I may have to look up that one! Visiting from Molli's Sunday Stash :)
ReplyDeleteHi Kitty, thanks for visiting my blog. I have to say, if you are newish to quilting, I suggest you get sorting your scraps out as you go, I really am losing the will now :) I'm nearly through the larger pieces I took from my stasth, but still have a HUGE box from past projects, really wish I scrapped as I went! That book is great, once you decide what size to cut your blocks down to, just look for projects featuring those sizes, and throw out anything else! It was scary, but well worth it. Enjoy!
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