It really is green, hence the name ‘Green Card’ I suppose.

Green Card without picture. Property of US Government (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And I got one! Hoot. Holler and carry on I tell ya’!

PODCASTING???

Can I just tell you that I so enjoy listening to all of the quilting podcasts and that I would really like to start up again. If only there weren’t so many hurdles in the way! I wish they were a ‘push this button and poof you are self hosted and all your old stuff is all there and can upload your shows directly to your own site’ instead of going through middle men that are hit and miss at best.

And while I may be ‘all that and a piece of cake’ social media maven for C&T Publishing (tongue deep in cheek – I pinch myself everyday that they haven’t caught on to me yet…) I did not have to do anything ‘techy’ to get it set up, I just roll with it – you know?

So here is a proposition of sorts… Does anyone want to be that button? I pay handsomely in praise, goodwill, and I have quite a lovely stash of fabrics, notions, and books that I would barter for the button in a heartbeat….

I have so much to tell you guys!! And let’s face it, I never was much of a ‘blogger for withinaqaurterinch’ (don’t tell my boss! ha!) I was a podcaster, and I want to be one again.

Oh and here is something that has me quite intrigued…

A quilt along hosted by Sara from SewSweetness  for Tula Pink’s book, 100 Modern Quilt Blocks – I just ordered it from Amazon. As Sara says in her post, I missed the whole Farmer’s Wife Quilt Along and this one seems a lot more attainable in any case. (oh and – this is not a C&T book, so no affliliation!)

Off to the clinic ($87.00 copay).

Tamisil (like the morning after pill but for the flu – I swear I have no better way to put it! and it curbs that monster but good) $67.00.

Sunday. Mom takes ill.

Monday. Sarah home from school. Max late for school. Mom calls in sick.

Tuesday. Sarah back at school. Max in school. But they are both late. Mom calls in sick on her deathbed. Dad comes homes with Stomach bug.

Wednesday. Sarah at school. Max gets picked up from school with 103 fever. Mom still on deathbed. Dad still… well, you know, it’s the stomach bug.

Max goes to clinic. Mom goes to clinic. $87.00 copay for two today, please. Tamisil for one. (the morning after not the morning after the morning after….)

Thursday. Max is home. Sarah throws up at school. Mom still on deathbed (but a deathbed that drives, mind you). Sarah at home.

Friday. We give up – no one is even trying to go to school this day.

Saturday. Today. Mom is coughing so much that her can picture her head splattering on the walls. Well, maybe not. But ouch.

Today: wash 4 loads of ‘for your puke only’ pillows, sheets, towels, clothes, snuggly friends, and perhaps toss a small pillow with a waffle print away that we all know was a goner.

Today: vinegar and water on the sofa where ‘maybe’ Maxie threw up on Wednesday and ‘maybe’ his mother put down a towel and said, ‘there there dear, go back to sleep’ (I’m pleading insanity from the 102 fever of my own that day)

Today: Max wakes up with pink eye! $87.0o co-pay $20.00 drops

Give me a break already!

Today: the first day of 12 days off for the kids. Thank goodness because I swear it’s like I never see them anymore. Dripping. With. Sarcasm. (but you knew that)

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

And if even 1 person says in a comment “so why didn’t you go to the clinic for yourself again right away to the tamisil…” Famous last words!

Luckily they do understand nervous and let me rephrase!

We were interviewed for 2 hours — Can you imagine me on my best behavior for 2 hours? Yeah, me neither, but somehow, I ‘think’ we pulled it off.

Apparently, while the officer had the physical file, the electronic version had not been transferred from Texas to Durham yet and so not action could be taken! Government at its best – wait 2 years for the interview and they aren’t ready…

So – the dude said ‘if you don’t hear from here me in a couple of weeks then its good news’ – to which I replied ‘I don’t plan on answering the phone…’ See? I told you, nervous!!

Our lawyer emailed us yesterday to say that she received notice that our file was being electronically transferred, so we are hopeful that he is moving forward on our case!

Last night began Channukah, and unlike last year, there will not be 8 nights of gifts, talk about a) expensive and b)they just wanted to know what was coming next… Made us feel like not giving them anything at all!

As we were at a Channukah party last night – we are starting our family celebration tonight and it shall last all of one night! (we’ll light the memorah for the next week but all gifts will be exchanged this evening)

And I have been waiting for the magical year when my daughters age matched the age on the box of the kid section sewing machine and it’s here it’s here!!!!

She LOVES to make things and has been saying things like ‘I guess when I’m like 18 you will let me sew on your machine?’ Yup, that sounds about right, actually, but she now has her OWN machine to play on!! I hope she likes it.

Many things have changed since I last poked my head in to look around. First of all – SeamedUP is closed! We gave it a fair (2 years) shake and decided to know when was ‘when’. Building a site of that magnitude was a programming nightmare and every time we thought we had it right–we didn’t!

Brye and I fell out of love. It happens. (but not with each other – I love you Brye!)

But good things come from everything!

SeamedUP put me ‘in the action’ — I learned about all of the social media/marketing aspects of running an online company. Did I become an ‘expert’ – no, I didn’t– but I did get to be pretty darn good at coming up with ideas and (mostly?) seeing them through! I really loved the marketing part of the site, building contacts, talking with people (lots of people), and decided that that was what I wanted to ‘be when I grew up’.

Just around that time; the ‘work card’ from INS showed up–we have been in the process of applying for a green card for about 2.5 years and as part of that process, I could not work as a dependent on my husbands visa until the magical card came in the mail. (side note: TOMORROW morning at 7:30 is our green card interview – anything can happen, sh***ing bricks as the saying goes, wish us luck!)

So it was time to go back to work. The twins were starting Kindergarden (I know!?) and while sitting around eating bon bons all day is a good life (please read the sarcasm in there) another paycheck would definitely help!

But darn it all – I have a total accounting background, from post-graduate degrees to 10+ years of industry experience in pretty fancy schmancy positions. The thought of getting up early — getting the twins off to school – getting myself ‘readied’ – driving to work – juggling a high pressure career with my littles who really know me as ‘momma’ – and still being the one who takes care of everything household related because trust me, magical changes in that department were simply not going to be appear — made me weary.

So I started calling all of those nice folks I met through SeamedUP and put the word out that I was looking for a job! And wouldn’t you know, the lovely Karen Johnson (director of marketing for Martingale) pointed me towards a linked in job posting for C&T Publishing – they were looking for an ‘interactive marketing specialist’ read: if its online – its yours- and I typed up a cover letter as quickly as possible and sent off my accounting resume with SeamedUP right at the top and hoped for the best.

I have been working at C&T for just over 4 months now and I have the best job in the world. I work with creative, smart, kind, talented, and funny people who value what I have to offer. I work from home so I am not running around like a maniac in the morning. I am here after-school (although we did hire an after-school nanny because the thought of after-care sounded like a really long day for 6 year olds and especially for Max!) so I get to see them during the day and hear about who their best friends are today and see the projects they made before they are too tired to care to show them to me. I can put a load of laundry in — but let me dispel the myth right here and now — people who work from home are actually working. So just as you sit at your desk and think ‘as soon as I finish this I will pee’ and then 2 hours later you remember ‘oh yeah, I had to pee’ it happens to me at home! I cannot tell you how many dinners I have BURNT!

But it’s a good life.

Who would have thought that at 41 I would have a complete career change!

From the accounting to the marketing department. It is pretty handy that I have those skills because you gotta know that I am running the numbers a lot – but the numbers just represent different things. Instead of dollars they are site visits!

So that’s what is going on around here.

And no, my husband did not magically turn into a more contributory partner in the household department but we are considering hiring a housekeeper — anything to keep the peace! And the kids are still learning that even though I am home, I am working and the other end of the conference call doesn’t necessarily need to hear them saying ‘I want a snack’!

SO – here’s hoping that everything doesn’t go to shit tomorrow. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be approved but man it is really scary to think that we may have to move back to Canada! Not that Canada is scary but you know what I mean!

I will keep you posted.

Oh and on the quilting front – SO MUCH TO SHARE WITH YOU!! please come back:)

A wee bit of De-Stash for some items that need new homes:)

Prices are on the photos. Prices INCLUDE SHIPPING.

Everything is from a smoke-free, pet-free home and they have been lovingly cared for while under my domain!

If you are interested – please email me mail@withinaquarterinch.com SUBJECT LINE must be the name on the photo (example J1 refers the Jelly Roll with J1 on the photo).

First to email AND send payment (paypal required) will get the item.

THANKS everyone!

Above: Miss Jump’s Scrap Bag Jelly Roll

Above: Shangri-La  Jelly Roll

 Above: Mother Goose and Friends Jelly Roll

 Black and White Jelly Roll

 Whimsy (by Fig Tree Quilts) Layer Cake

ABOVE AND BELOW: Same Fat Eighth Bundle on Tone on Tone shades of green and gold – lovely!

Filed under: quilting

Kind of like this one.

And they leave a blue mark? Because they are supposed to. Which is great because I marked it for a reason.

But I don’t always want to ‘wash’ what I have marked to remove it. And I don’t have a sink nearby in my basement.

Aqua Do-Doo to the Rescoooo! (max calls it do-doo and I see no reason to correct him).

Aqua Doodle (for those without young one’s and therefore no idea what I am talking about) is a kid activity thingie where you fill this ‘pen’ with water and the write on their special (read: pricey) surface and it changes color when wet and goes back to blank when it dries. Hours of entertainment. Or heartache when they try non do-doo pens…

but I digress.

This little toy is GREAT for removing the blue pen marks without washing the item you marked! I am so pleased with myself about this one – I really am. Never mind hours of entertainment for them, I now have minutes of sheer pleasure for me:)

(ps – I have seen these pens sold separately from the kid activity thingie at stores like target and wal-mart)

5 inch squares of 55 different novelty prints such as these are heading my way.

Here is my offering.

These green apples have been in my family forever! I had a beach cover-up in this print when I was about 5! I really thought that this was the end of it (with a bit of sorrow, actually…) but I found a heap more as I continue to fold my fabric around cardboard!

Speaking of fabric and cardboard – I have the photos ready for a post and just need to get it written. Soon, I promise!

While I was there – a overheard this sentence ‘I will put it up on craigslist’….

My head immediately whips around and asks the owner -’huh? what? something on craigslist from the LQS?’

She had just replaced her cabinetry! Lucky Day! I asked to see the old stuff and it was out back under a tarp and I said ‘I’ll take it! How much would you like for it?’ She said, if you just take it away, it’s yours!

And so yesterday – I had it picked up and delivered by Earl from ‘Early delivery’ (cute, no?) and you may be thinking that it went in the studio – but nope!  I needed it for the family room! Yeah!!!

Somewhere to keep the kids crap! I mean, toys. No I don’t, I really meant crap.

Isn’t it perfect there? It needs a little lovin’ but wow – I am so pleased with it!!!

See the blue sofa off to the right? That was in that little alcove before the delivery.

Am I wrong to be proud that this is all I found underneath it?

I remember sitting at a common table, eating lunch, during a ‘sewing expo’ in San Mateo, CA, and having a nice lady ask me if I had a big fabric stash.

My response went something like this:

“Oh no, I only buy fabric for a particular project.  I have enough stuff from scrap-booking and I have learned my lesson – don’t buy unless you know what you are using it for!’

I know at least a half dozen people spitting coffee out of their nose right now because that is not exactly what happened…

It started quite innocently. I would buy several charm packs and think ‘such a good price, and they are small‘. Or the Fat Quarter sale at the LQS ‘ these are pretty small, too….’

And so to organize it in an already bulging craft room.

I had (and still have, because they are fantastic boxes) clear 12*12 boxes from the scrapbook store that I stored the fabric in by color and they fit neatly on some shelves. Need pink? Grab the pink box. {note: I will find out where to get the boxes if anyone requests!)

Need Black? Blue? Wow 2 boxes of browns!

Then I heard about Japanese Fabric. The adorable, cute (but not cutesy), and even nostalgic fabric that I COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT. (I am currently resisting the urge to see if sonatine is still an ebay seller – so I will not provide a link – and if they are – I don’t need to know!)

So we need an additional organization system because they simply could not be ‘mixed in with the colors!’ and I had to SEE THEM. (this need of seeing will continue as the stash evolves…)

I heard about (read about) these fabulous mini bolts that you wrap your fabric around. Awesome! The answer!

And so I wrapped. I wrapped the Japanese Fabric. And the Denyse Schmidt Fabric. And the Joel Dewberry. And the Heather Bailey. And the Amy Butler.

I added the cutest little hang tags with each collection and designer labelled on them! So cute!

Do you see what is happening here? I already know designers names. And the names of their collections. I am in big trouble now. Well on my way to the stash.

Now I do like the idea of wrapping fabric (I really do) but the problem with this idea is that I always need the fabric IN THE MIDDLE of the mini bolt. I would have to unwrap the whole thing – pull out the fabric I needed. Re-wrap it. And then open it up again to put the fabric away.

When I was disciplined and cleaned up after myself – it was just time-consuming. When I was not disciplined – it was a mess – fast!

Then we moved!

Bye Bye tiny craft room in the Bay – Hello Studio in Ohio!

By now – you can see that I am no longer pretending that I do not stash fabric.  I am a certified stasher and I have some fuglies to prove it!

It a long time to get from this pile of fabric

To this.

I used a lot of kitchen ware to add extra shelving for the precisely folded, glorious piles a reds, blues, yellow, greens (who knew I had so many greens?), and all of their color-wheel friends.

I had smaller pieces, just as precisely folded, tucked inside drawers absconded from Ikea organizing bits and bobs.

I used the ‘tried and true’ ruler-folding method for all of this fabric. But with a twist. Instead of using just the 6.5″ width of the ruler, I made plastic templates for the smaller sizes, such as these drawers, so that everything would be uniform.

Not sure what the ruler method is? I have a tutorial post on it. {edited to add – the link works now}

And then…

We moved again. Bye Bye custom built studio in Ohio and hello 800 square foot basement in North Carolina.

I have a whole slew of the ‘before’ pictures if you care to see them.

And now the available storage has changed again.

I no longer have built ins. I have pre-fab shelves from ‘insert big box x’ store.

{{side note: the built-ins in Ohio, while custom built – were not the right size. I had them built thinking about the 12*12 inch clear boxes that I had been using in the Bay. That is – 12 inches deep and 25 inches wide – and tall enough to fit 5 boxes….

I didn’t think about how I would store the fabric ‘currently’ which is always a consideration. }}

Pre-fab shelves can be hacked, though. I will show you how I added many more shelves than came with the unit in a future post.

But now – instead of using a ruler, a template, and a lot of time spent getting it smooth, and fitting it to the ‘T’ – I am using the comic book board method instead.

Of course, I still have the lovely Japanese fabrics set aside.

And the solids, as seen above.

But mostly I am sorting my color. It’s how my mind works. I realized long ago that I don’t always want to use a collection all together. I am digging the color matching or mis-matching, if you will between designers, collections, and even manufacturers.

Lest you think I am all finished with the comic book board re-fold empire – take note of the pile below. This is a spit in the proverbial stash.

I have already used 1,800 comic book boards at the time this post is written.

I wonder how many I will need!

I will link you to the original post where I learned of this myself as well as a few other crafters that have taken the plunge!

Smashed Peas and Carrots

The Ornament Girl

Feathered Fibers

That Girl That Quilt.

But I will be back with the details on my latest organizing fabric frenzy. I have been working with what is already folded and so I have a little insight into the ‘working’ side of the organizing equation. I mean, pretty and organized is great, but can it stay that way if you actually sew?

I will also be back on what to do with the scraps…. This picture below is a bit anal,  even for me!

And so I say ‘go forth and fold’.

Get your fabric out where you can see it, if that’s possible. I will add that my shelves are on the far back wall of the room – as far from direct sunlight as possible.

And the boards are acid-free and archival so they won’t eat my fabric. (heaven forbid!).

You can find comic book boards on Amazon – but I highly recommend googling your own town for comic book stores. The prices are much better!

Sandi, from Piecemeal quilts has had the same questions pass through her mind, and she is here today to share some of her own answers with us.

It is plain to see that she has taken a lot of time and care to write this piece for us – so please leave her a comment and give her a little lovin’!

***
Hi, I’m Sandi Walton, and I blog at Piecemeal Quilts. I was excited to hear from Allison about doing a guest post on fabric organization because I (fairly) recently completed a major reorganization and can only talk about it so much on my own blog…

I have mixed feelings about the word “organization.” On the one hand, the result is satisfying, even enjoyable. Looking at neat stacks of uniformly folded fabric sorted by color creates an “ahhh…” feeling. On the other hand, the process of getting to that point can be time consuming and frustrating.

I recently needed to move the bookshelf containing my fabric stash from one wall to another. Sounds simple, but since that bookshelf is almost seven feet tall and four feet wide, it required removing every piece of fabric from the shelves. The fabric was fairly well organized before then, but in the past year or so I started folding it a different way and since I was handling every piece of fabric anyway, I took the opportunity to sort and refold it. With help from my mom and aunt, it took two full days! It also meant fine tuning how I have the fabric organized. You can see a few before and during pictures here.

I am a stash builder, and I often buy one or more yards of fabric at a time. I have a few half yards and fat quarters, plus the scraps that we all accumulate. The smaller pieces disappeared on the shelf because they were so thin, so anything smaller than half a yard came off the shelf. Anything larger than three yards is very bulky when folded, so I pulled those fabrics as well. I went to the local quilt shop and JoAnn Fabrics and asked for their discarded bolts – they were happy to get rid of them. I rolled the larger pieces of fabric onto the bolts and I keep them on an out of the way but still accessible shelf.

The half yard to three yard pieces make up the bulk of my stash, and a VERY bulky stash it is. If it isn’t well organized, I’d never be able to find anything. Regardless of how you choose to sort it, you need to fold the fabric as uniformly as possible so you can see everything when it’s stacked together. If pieces are folded to different sizes, the longer ones can cover the shorter ones. The folding method I use is very simple and doesn’t require any special tools, so I can do it right at the fabric store. That way when it comes out of the bag it can go right on the shelf. The added benefit is that it takes half the time at the store because the clerk doesn’t have to fold a piece before she can move on to cutting the next one. If you’ve ever been frustrated when you’re stuck behind someone with twenty bolts of fabric to be cut, you’ll certainly appreciate that!

The half yard is the basis for my fold. A half yard of fabric is 18″ wide, so first I fold it in thirds, overlapping the sides to the center, to make a piece that is approximately 6″ wide.

I then fold it in half, end to end, so the final piece is approximately 6″ wide and 11″ long.

If you want, you can use a 6″ ruler as a guide, but with a full half yard of fabric it really isn’t necessary. The ruler comes in handy when folding pieces that aren’t exactly 18″ wide.

I always try to enclose any cut edges into the center of the folded piece. They’re less likely to catch on this and crease or distort. When folding a yard of fabric, first I fold it in half to make it 18″ wide, then I continue exactly as I did the half yard. It’s a little bulkier, so I smooth the fabric as I go to keep it flat and uncreased. For two or three yards I fold it to a yard, then to 18″, then thirds, then half. Larger pieces get quite bulky and it’s hard to avoid creases at the final fold.

I used to fold my fabric to the same final dimensions, but I folded it in half first before folding it in thirds. This made sense for cutting, but it wasn’t as easy to see the fabric when it was stored on the shelf. By folding it in half last you can see a greater portion of the fabric at the folded edge, compared to my old way of folding it.

New way of folding

Old way of folding

Fat quarters are also folded uniformly. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve been known to iron a fat quarter before refolding it, just to make it lie flat. A fat quarter is approximately 18″ x 22″ – a bit longer with the selvage left on. I lay the fabric wrong side up, then fold it in half, cut edge to selvage.

I fold it in half again the same way, so the piece is approximately 18″ x 6″.

I fold each side to the center, then fold it in half.

Again, this keeps all cut edges contained in the middle. I store my fat quarters and other smaller pieces in drawers, and I try to keep the final fold up for easiest viewing. I’ll be honest, I don’t get quite so picky about keeping the smaller pieces uniform. I keep the drawers neat, but they are far from perfect.

What I call a scrap, you might call yardage and someone else might call garbage. I’ve tried to cut back on keeping really small pieces, but I do save pieces as small as 2″ x 4″. That size comes in handy when paper pieces or experimenting with new blocks or techniques. I store my scraps, sometimes strips and rectangles, sometimes odd shaped pieces, in plastic shoe boxes.

They’re sorted by color to make it a little easier to find things.

If I have a strip the full width of fabric I’ll sometimes roll it up and tie it with a piece left from squaring up. (Those skinny strips are also handy for tying together fabrics you’re saving for a future project.)

I do keep very small pieces if they’re squares cut to specific sizes left over from other projects. These pre-cut squares, along with left over half square triangles and other subunits, are stored separately to keep them neat.

I have squares as small as 1 1/2″ – they’ll make fantastic mini blocks or centers for log cabin blocks.

I also use a plastic shoebox to keep the assortment of orphan blocks I can’t bring myself to get rid of, including a handful of eight year old test blocks in red, white and blue from my very first quilting class.

Most of my fabric is organized by color. The yardage is further sorted by value, so if I need a light aqua or a dark red, I can go right to it. I used to have it sorted just by color, but I found that value is actually more important. For a time I considered sorting it all by value, regardless of color, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. This is my compromise. In the Skill Builder Series that Grey Cat Quilts and I are doing, we talk (at great length!) about fabric selection. I enjoy pulling a variety of fabrics for projects, so this arrangement makes sense for me. I can easily see what I have by color and value. If you prefer to use fabrics from the same line, it would make sense for you to group fabrics by line rather than color.

I have a few “in progress” projects – the Test Your Skills Sampler and my Dear Jane quilt, in particular – that need to be kept out of the main stash. I have a rolling cart with wire baskets that works well for keeping the these projects separate but still visible.

Blocks of the month, especially 12″ or smaller blocks, fit nicely in plastic folders meant for scrapbooking.

A group of family and friends get together once a month at our house to sew, and we need to keep the space super-organized or we’d never be able to cram that many people in here. It’s a big space, but when you add 8 or 9 people with sewing machines, then find space for ironing and cutting, it gets crowded. I have a couple of old vanities (dressers with a space to sit like a desk) that make wonderful sewing spaces. They have the added benefit of lots of drawers, each assigned to a different person so they can leave some basic supplies here instead of carting them back and forth.

The extra drawers are perfect for storing charm packs and jelly rolls.

Believe me, I know how lucky I am to have this much space for my quilting addiction! But even with all this space, I need to stay organized. If it gets too cluttered or I struggle to find things, the creative juices dry up and I stop sewing. Even though the process can be boring, it’s worth it to go through and organize when things start getting jumbled.