Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Happy Birthday!

AND THE WINNER IS DEBB!
Congrats!!

 The fat quarters to be included in my birthday giveaway drawing on Friday, February 10th.
Tell your friends and comment with a sewing room organizing idea below. Thanks.


Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.




February marks many firsts in my life.
The most important is my birthday. Not a significant one this year, but simply the odd year right before the next big birthday (ending in a zero!).

The second is the first anniversary (or birthday) of my blog. This Quilting Mama blog has provided me great joy and the added discipline of thinking and writing about my quilt art. It has been a lovely year and only the beginning of this journey for me. I hope you all have enjoyed my small contribution to the world of quilting as much as I have enjoyed putting the pieces together and sending them out into cyberspace.

This year, however, I've decided to get organized. The concept of "A place for everything and everything in its place" has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I hope, however, to conquer some spaces in my home this year, as well as those ever multiplying "important" papers. The little book "Organize now!" by Jennifer Ford Berry (purchased at Lowe's) is my guide. (Link: Organize NOW!)
It helps the normal person to organize their entire life and space in a 52 week plan. Naturally, I skimmed  and skipped weeks 1-4 Organize your Mind, Schedule, Cleaning Schedule and Priorities respectfully deciding that those are life-skills and will take much, MUCH longer and went straight to the doable Week 20: Organize your Entryway or Mudroom. 

Here are the first attempts at this work:
 The foyer. You'd think we all had six or more feet!

A seemingly useless space in the kitchen which now houses a cork pin board for all the childrens' school work, papers and reminders.

Finally, this 3-6 foot closet system was used to help get a handle on our laundry room, seen below.
Behind the photographer is the washer and dryer and a window.  Now I can hang things to dry. Someday, I will have a horizontal surface for drying sweaters, until then, the top of the dryer will have to do.


Now most importantly, the little cupcake quilt seen here was created from Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland's book "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks: fun with free-form piecing." (See description and link here: Out of the Box ) This is not a book I would usually buy, but instead have enjoyed the free nature of the piecing and the 'no errors' method to fun wonky quilt blocks. Won in a free giveaway, I love this book and am glad to have been the lucky winner.

 

I'm celebrating this month of birthdays with a giveaway of my own. As you saw above my organizing had not yet included my quilting space. I already have a design wall and a way to organize fabric, but I would love to conquer the rest of the mess. To enter my give away, which will be 6 random fat quarters from the Quilting Mama's stash, please comment below with a tip which you've used to organize your quilting or hobby space. 

THANK YOU!  I will be posting progress later this year. The giveaway winner will be randomly chosen on February 10th.

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Description of "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks" from the Martingale Press Website

Using step-by-step instructions, learn to make out-of-the-box blocks, square them up, and fit them together in a dynamic border or quilt top.
  • Treat yourself to patterns for 13 whimsical blocks and seven colorful quilts
  • Make pictorial blocks, such as cats, shoes, ice pops, and letters, as well as wonky traditional blocks, such as Nine Patch and Stars
  • Enjoy confidence-building projects that anyone can make

10 comments:

  1. Dear Followers,
    So sorry about the jibberish which attached itself to my e-mail. Hope it is a random event. If you read the blog from the URL (http://thisquiltingmama.blogspot.com)the piece will appear whole and without that garbage!
    Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Happy Birthday and Blogiversary, Lynn! Good luck with the formidable undertaking of organizing your house! I have two tips for you, from two different times I attempted to organize my sewing room. Time #1: I bought a bulletin board and hung it on the wall over my sewing machine. I put inspirations up there and also pin instructions for what I'm working on. It's handy. Time #2: I bought an inexpensive free-standing clothing rack at the Wal-Mart and hang unfinished garments on it. I also use clippy-type (skirt or pants) hangers to hang big pieces of folded uncut fabric for quilts or clothing. It's easier to see that way than if it's lying in a pile. (Of course I can't store my whole stash there, but I can hang fabric for the next few projects.)
      Keep us posted on your progress.

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  2. Happy Birthday, Happy Blogaversary! Love the cupcake. Good luck with your organizing....something I strive to do yet never seem to completely succeed! My organizing tip is "I have never met a shelf I didn't like!"! I find shelves are my key to organizing everything.... (or a least attempting to...)

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    Replies
    1. Congrats Debb! You are my birthday winner! I will e-mail you tomorrow asking for your snail mail address and then I can get your fabrics in the mail soon there after!!!

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  3. Happy BIrthday and Blogaversary! Don't forget to do a little sewing/creating while in the mix of organization.

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  4. many happy returns of the day ... many more blogiversaries! have fun sorting for your organization project! you'll find lost treasures, create space and the desire to maintain the new order.

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  5. Happy Birthday and blogaversary!!Glad you used the book you won from my blog to make such a darling cupcake!! And your organizational spaces are just wonderful!

    One of the crafty things I did in my sewing room was to make my own sewing machine mat...free tutorial and patterns on my blog under sewing accessories. Not only did it cut down on the noise of the machine on the table but it gave me little pockets to hold my small scissors, seam rippers, needles, and a pen and pencil to use as I sew. Don't have to worry about where I put them..they're right there!

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  6. I love the cupcake! Might have to steal the idea for my next cupcake themed party. :) Hope you have a Very Happy Birthday, and I love the new word, Blogiversary, have a great one.

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  7. Happy Birthday Lynn! Very cute cupcake! When you are done organizing your house will you come do mine?

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  8. Happy blogaversary!! Loved reading about your organization tips and progress and thanks for the information on that book - took a look and decided I need one too! :)
    One thing I really loved in organizing my, VERY little sewing room was a cutting space: got TWO of those nine-cube shelving units sold in most stores (Target or any home-improvement store, like this one: http://www.target.com/p/ClosetMaid-9-Cube-Organizer-White/-/A-562700#?lnk=sc_qi_detailbutton
    and simply put them together, with front one not having a back wall - height is perfect for cutting (~36"), the top surface is EXACTLY the size of the cutting mat (24"x36") and it has so much storage space!! You can see how it looks on my blog here: http://marijasfabricreations.blogspot.com/2011/11/first-snowflakes-are-falling.html
    Looking forward to reading about your organizing progress and taking some inspirations for mine! Thanks for a great giveaway!

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