Hello Old Friends

Whew, has it ever been awhile since I've posted on Webs of Threads!

I still haven't turned my sewing machine on (except to mend a pocket) since December 2017 when I last worked on En Provence, and the week prior on my Bow Ties.

So what have I been doing? It would seem to be not much, though we did do the kitchen remodel as shown at Duck Out of Water though I don't think I posted about the finish which was at the end of May, and I won't bore you with that now...getting things back in place with sometimes reshuffling has taken awhile. I have some sciatic and other back issues which make the process slow. It's perfectly functional and I'm loving it.

I also did my annual summer trip up north. My aunt Irene flew down and stayed two sleeps, then we drove north about four hours and spent a night at a cousin-in-law's. The next day we drove up beyond the border but instead of staying on the interstate we diverged east and stopped at a quilt shop in LaPine, OR. It was five minutes before closing, but the lady graciously allowed us in and we shopped a little. From there, we went to Sisters, OR and spent the night then had breakfast with another cousin who lives near there. The restaurant was great, and we felt obliged to leave a more than generous tip as we hung out for about three hours. We didn't take the time to go to the Stitchin' Post but before breakfast stopped at the bakery and each of us got a couple of their dinner plate sized apple fritters, oh they are so good! From there, we headed on to my aunt's home a couple hours away, where I spent the next couple of weeks.

When it was time to head south, my sister had planned her vacation at my home so she met me at our aunt's and we drove down in tandem spending one night north of Sacramento, CA. She stayed for about 10 days, I helped her with a project she was just beginning, though my heart wasn't really into it. She hasn't quilted before but is retiring in the spring (maybe) so is planning to do some craft-related things. She would say all I wanted to do was play Minecraft (don't judge, lol) and she might have been right, but really, I only played a couple times while she was here and that was when she was sitting at a table I'd set up for her so that we could be in the same room while she learned or while she was working on personal stuff on her laptop. Last year I helped her with a quilt-as-you go block which she wanted to use for pot-holders. This year was quilt-as-you-go table runner.

I've done some "remodeling" in my Creation Station. The upper cabinet originated in the lower bathroom, was removed 7 1/2 years ago with that remodel, used temporarily in the kitchen prior to that remodel and has again found a new home. It's housing office supplies mostly. The bookshelves (both the above and below images) mostly lived in the pre-remodel dining room beneath an 8' window. We replaced the window with a sliding door, so no place for the bookshelves. The plan was to use one of them in a corner in the new dining room area, but between the baseboard and the extension of the countertop, the bookshelf was about an inch too wide and wouldn't fit. We purchased a new unit, which left these two up for grabs. I'd been wanting to replace the pseudo-bookshelf that had been there for a long time, so this seemed to me to be the solution - stack them along with that cabinet. The upper shelves have my color-coded scrap tubs and tubs of projects or pieces and other miscellany.

The lower one has a tubs for selvage trim, patterns, and plastic bags I use in sorting scraps. On the bottom-most shelf is just more office supplies. The Creation Station doubles as my genealogy work room, so I need lots of folders and papers as I use a color-coding system for it as well. This is the first time I've been able to see the top of my sewing machine table in a very long while, and still sitting there is En Provence and Bow Ties. It's pretty much the first time I've been able to sit in that chair in months!  Barely visible on the left is the book case where I have all my books, some of which I decided I'm getting rid of, not all quilt-related. I'll probably hold them to see if my sister wants any of them. I also went through all my old quilt magazines and pulled out patterns of interest and tossed the rest into the recycle paper bag. There's only so much a small room can hold, and the excess clutter needs to be dealt with - in all rooms of our house. This is a start.

My friend Panda just sent me a message to say her machine needs to go to the hospital and asked if I'd like to ride along...there's a quilt store only a block or two away, and we'll get lunch out, so yeah, time to get ready.

Maybe my next post will show some progress on that two year old mystery since we're getting close to the colors reveal for this years. Can you believe that's only a month away? Time is absolutely passing at light-speed!

Tracking Fabric

I was reading at Quiltville's Open Studio (Facebook page) an inquiry by Vireya, about wanting to track how much fabric and thread she uses during 2019. Someone else posted a link to this site, In Color Order... from 2017, and I noticed similarities in my own tracking system, which I developed initially around 1999. I may have occasionally made reference to it in prior posts, but thought I'd share my system. Below is an image of how my own spreadsheet looks followed by an extensive detail of how it works. I've narrowed the columns in order to fit it in a screen grab and selected 'large'. I tried 'extra-large' and 'original' as size options but both extended too far beyond the Blogger-allowed space to view. I hope it opens large enough to see. If not, you'll have to visualize in your minds.

Disclaimer: I use standard features within Excel, pretty basic ones actually, but if you're not familiar with Excel, I won't be your teacher! You'll have to learn it by some other means; I had a few computer classes for my job back in the day, and that's been close to 25 years ago! Just clearing that up here at the beginning.

I'm not directly addressing Vireya's question/comments, and I would not expect anyone to utilize my system but if it is of interest to anyone and you think it would be helpful, please feel free to use and link back to this post. I also would not expect anyone who has been collecting fabric (like me) to go back into their stash and log in every fabric...unless you're one of those who likes to count beans along with me. It would be a lot of work, not to mention most people don't keep receipts like I do. But if you're just starting out, and find this appealing, go for it. Adjust it to what works for you, as simple or as complex as you like. 

If like Vireya, you just want to track a year, I can see that creating a blank sheet with any or all desired columns, and logging in as you use a fabric could work. I write about this just to show how I've been tracking my fabric for nearly 20 years. Feel free to ask questions if I'm confusing anywhere (I'm sure I can be!).

Column A: "#" I assign numbers to all my fabric. I allow four spaces plus I can use a decimal point. In Excel, you can add a comment within any cell. I add a comment in the primary cell for any given fabric notating which project I used that fabric in. Some have been used in many different quilts as the remaining pieces become strips, squares or other scraps.

comment within a cell, designated by the red triangle. Hovering over will make the cell pop up or you can right-click and select 'edit comment'.

Columns B and C: Date of Acquisition and Provider - should be pretty obvious. 

Columns D through G: "D" is the purchased length, before washing (I'm a fabric washer). This is not the place for short-cut or over-cut by the provider for length of fabric, or for shrinkage after washing. 
"E" is the width, selvedge/selvage (you decide how you spell it - I had old-school teachers who seem to have had British spelling habits) to selvedge/selvage. I can be lazy, so I haven't always measured this on yardage, and often use what I've found to be fairly typical with 42" as the norm. 
"F" is the square area of the fabric. In this cell I've placed a formula. This is a function within Excel that can be used if you know how to do it. Re-read my disclaimer. The basic math is D x E = F. Once a formula is in this cell (doesn't show except in the space where you might see a URL on a webpage - see, I don't even know all the terminology so how could I teach Excel?) you can drag the formula through every cell in that column and you don't actually type into it. Entering the length and width, Excel now does the calculation which shows up near-miraculously.
"G" is the approximate yardage equivalent. This column has a formula built into it which is the F ÷ by the number of square inches in a yard** = G. OK, a note here. The number of square inches in a yard is the length of one yard (36") x the width of one yard (42") which is 1512 square inches. Another disclaimer...I don't do metric - that's on you to figure out if you do. I also say 'approximate' because I don't measure perfectly all the time, and because my settings extend to two beyond the decimal which anything beyond that is rounded up or down by the formula & settings. And also, I don't change the 1512 square inch in the formula even if my yardage is actually a 36" x 36"  or 36" x 58" piece. My yardage equivalent is based on if the fabric were the fairly typical 42" width. I can't be bothered with changing it for a single cell here and there. The amounts in D through G are never changed - they stay the same forever. 

You will probably notice that there are some zeros in some of the D - G columns. In some cases these were fabrics which I obtained early on before I started my tracking sheets. Though I had kept most of my receipts from my purchases, I was not able to ascertain which fabric matched which purchase and my memory did little to assist. 

Others are because, and you'll note that there are the same numbers with a .1 or .2 after them, I may have made one purchase of several yards of fabric. It is a single line item. From that yardage and after using some of it, perhaps some full width piece remains along with smaller pieces, maybe a fat quarter, or a pieces that aren't full width. I don't again add it to the original amount because it's already included. Instead, I create a separate line, with the .1, .2, etc. placing zeros in the original columns and the dimensions of the piece(s) in the remaining columns, adding as many lines as needed to account for all pieces. Some of these will eventually be cut down to strips or squares for scrap quilts.

Columns H through K: These columns are handled exactly the same as D - G, except they do change as I use my fabric. Here also is where I'll put the actual size of fabric that was cut over/under or after shrinkage because the totals in columns J & K will let me know how much of that fabric I actually have. Helps when I'm following a pattern that calls for a yard of fabric and I only have a 35" length...could be a close call if I decide to use it.

Column L - N: "L" is straight-forward. The cost per yard paid. 
But, you can decide what you want to track (whether actual costs before or after any applied discounts) and if you have trouble remembering your decision, add a comment in the column header explaining your 'cost' as a reminder. I typically use what I actually paid for a fabric before taxes (we have state sales tax added to all purchases - it changes year to year thanks to voters and government). I'm more interested in what my hobby/craft is costing me, but some may care to have the higher value for insurance purposes, or some other reason only you might know.  It also helps with knowing the truer value of what the materials cost for a given project. 

If I was gifted or otherwise given the fabric, I usually don't put a cost in, or I might use $1 per yard, just to show it has value. The fabric I purchased at the Fain Yard Sale (see sample page)...I bought a huge box of scraps & yardage of mixed fabrics for a set price...I've no idea what it broke down to so entered as zero cost. I may have added a split-value elsewhere for a bigger piece of yardage from that purchase.

The formula in "M" simply multiplies the original yardage equivalent times the cost, whereas  "N" uses the remaining yardage equivalent times the cost. To help me keep them straight, I color-coded them and their respective columns.

Column O: Here is my designation for how the fabric was originally purchased, whether yardage (Y) i.e full-width by whatever length, fat quarters (FQ) ~18"x~22" purchased/received as such, or scraps (S) which typically were given to me rather than purchased.  I don't purchase pre-cuts aside from FQs so I have no designations for those things - do what fits best for you.

Column P: I mostly use shelves and bins. I try to group my yardage on the shelves with a specific way of folding keeping color families close together. Shelves usually house full-width yardage regardless of length up to but under 4 yards. Four-yards up to but under 5 yards are folded slightly differently but still shelved. Five yards and over are folded along the length and placed on hangers (just those with the cardboard tubing to prevent a crease) so that the selvedges then meet. Generally, anything that isn't a full width is folded and placed in bins. I will say, that sometimes things don't get done according to 'my own rules' and are out of place. Scraps are cut and cleaned up and placed in color-family small shoe box size bins. I wrote under the heading "Well, Looky Here" (with pictures) how I do this, though I don't use the open bins for the FQs now, and now all the yardage has been folded the same way. Going for consistency here for my system to work, but it seems there's may still be some minimal tweaking to do.

In this column, I've also started placing an indicator for when I have designated that fabric for a specific project though it may still be on the shelf. I make the same note on the form I pin to that fabric so I don't accidentally use it. Why keep it on the shelf at all as opposed to a project box? Because I may have bought considerably more than the amount for the project. My notes will tell me how much I might be able to use otherwise.

Column Q: Here's the fabric description, often taken from the selvedge, or if from JoAnn's the number from the receipt too. More recently I've started taking a photo of the bolt ends - much easier than writing them down since sometimes the cut is shorter and doesn't get the selvedge's description. I'm not really good at describing colors, like what's the difference between mustard, straw, dark cream, beige, tan, ecru - they all start jumbling, so I also keep a fabric swatch book with correlating fabric number and a 1 3/8" x 1 1/8" swatch glued in. I used Excel to make that sheet too, but use printed copies to put in a notebook.

and lastly,

Column R: I don't consistently use this; it usually extends beyond my screen size and I forget it's there. It's also a more recent addition, and a single word can be used in the front of the description in the same way. Such as: Solid: XYZ Fabrics, deep purple. Other descriptors: T-o-T, W-o-W, Batik, Christmas, Novelty, Children's, you get the idea.

You might also notice a couple lines where the print is grayed. This indicates there is no longer any of that fabric in my stash, except maybe the smallest of a scrap not worth logging. If you're wondering why my spreadsheet is high-lighted in all blue it's because a few years ago, I wanted to combine several sheets I had with different numbering designations. I had kept yardage, pieces, scraps and a couple other listings separately even if of the same fabric, but found that annoying and cumbersome, so began a revamp and clean-up of my stash closet, shelves, bins, drawers and the lists. I had to have two work-sheets open on my screen to compare, and used the high-light to designate which was done. I still have a few stragglers that I need to finish and the blue is easy on the eyes, so I've left it.

Initially, my numbering system was xxxx.x for yardage and FQ, and Pxxx.x for pieces, etc. I'm no longer using the P, but will not be converting the existing P #s to straight numbers. I also am still using Sxxx.xx for scraps, but am seriously reconsidering the smaller pieces of scraps and may give that portion over to non-OCD behaviour, living free of numbers.  My current numbers are at 1336.0, E64.2, J127.0, P293, and S649 indicating the number of different fabrics for each numbering code. The E and J numbers designated specific individuals/purposes of fabric and are no longer used but will not be changed to my standard numbering convention.  

You may say "Why spend so much time doing this, and for what purpose; I'd rather sew." And that's fine, as I said, this is my system; it helps me and calms me knowing what I have and where. It's a tracking method. We all create and work differently. Some are willy-nilly and others are more anal and both work great for that individual. So, if it, or any variation of it work for you for any purpose, whether for just a year, or for a lifetime, go for it...or don't :)



 

Wednesday What's Up?

I'm still plugging along on trimming up the scraps my aunt passed along to me this past summer. It's quite tedious at times and slow going as there were so many scraps, and I have to break from it to fit in household chores and tend to other necessary duties.

I sure hope some of them fit the color scheme for this year's Quiltville mystery quilt, though like last year, I may only follow along.

The greens have been the focus over the last too many days, interrupted by a couple days of "sofa rest" as my back decided it was anything but happy - much better now though! Here's a shot of just a few of those greens or mostly greens. 

Funny, through the camera these are more blue than green - contrary to how my eyes view them here, and granted these could be in either group since there is teal, and blue. Maybe I'll switch them to the blue bin. I suppose it's a matter of personal choice. That lime green is definitely green though!

I'm cutting mostly into 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3", and 3.5" strips or squares, and anything less is a string or a chunk. Some of the scraps were already triangles so I'm just trimming off all loose threads and storing each fabric with all it's pieces into individual zippered bags before putting them into their respective bins. My bins are nearly full, so I really need to get my quilting mojo back.

Scraps, Scraps, and More Scraps

I'm thinking I just may have enough scraps to last until the next century arrives! Of course, I won't live that long, but if I don't get busy, whomever inherits this stash, will have a lot of fun, or frustration.

While I was up north during July and August - I was gone for four full weeks - I was gifted two plastic trash bags of scraps by my aunt. I went through them one night while still there and stacked the pieces flat and orderly - had to see what was in that treasure trove, right? - and with doing that was able to condense them into one brown, handled, paper bag, and a smaller paper bag. 

Once home and after unpacking my suitcases, catching up on cleaning up after Marty's and Nick's four weeks of life without a feminine presence [read as maid, cook, housekeeper, etc.] I was able to tackle the sorting process.  I did that while my sister was visiting. She came for a week, and wanted me to help her make potholders from a block that we saw demonstrated while I was up north.

bagged scraps hanging out at my machine

Above and below are photos of the sorted scraps.

a full box of bagged scraps

And more sorted scraps....these below are just some of the pinks.

in the pink ready to trim

In the small bin are more of the pinks; along with pinks that I already had, and a box with reds.

ready to store

 Since I didn't go to the trouble of prewashing any of the scraps she gave me, I'm putting them all into zippered bags before storing.  I'll decide when I go to use any of them if I want to "prewash", and if I do, it'll probably be just a quick swish in the sink kind of thing. 

Before storing, I'm trimming down into the various size strips and blocks, a la Quiltville's Bonnie Hunter's method...mostly, but I'm not consistent.  I've tossed out a few that by using the burn test, were not cotton.

I'm hoping at least some of these scraps will be used in the annual mystery quilt. Also hoping I have the motivation to do it this year, as I did not do last year's and have not finished the one from 2016.

cottoncuts monthly gift

And these I wrote about back in May, ahem, my most recent post here at Webs of Thread prior to today. They are a gift from my sweet daughter.  She originally subscribed for three months for me, but with my birthday having been in July, decided to renew the gift for another three months, so there are now five, with one more due the middle of next month.

Another Month Has Passed

The quilting mojo just has not yet returned.  I tried, by putting my bowties up on the design wall, and while they are nice to look at, I'm just not yet of a mind to start sewing.  I've been close a couple of times.

I picked up the paint chips for Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery Quilt, but I lack many of the chosen colors in my stash.  I'll follow along but it's not likely I'll do it this year.  I ordered the special rulers...just in case, though she stated it isn't necessary to have them, but what the heck, I'll have them for next time. Right? 

My friend Panda is planning to do it so she went fabric shopping and I tagged along.  While I didn't get any fabric, I did pick up some Insul-Bright.  I've had it on my shopping list forever as I thought maybe I'd make some new potholders.  I've been using ones that are pretty worn out and stained; most are 21 years old or older...time for some new ones!

Panda saves her scraps for me, and had given me a bag or two that night, so I have culled through them and sorted them by color.  She tends to use brighter colors and different prints than I would, so it's nice to have some new variety in my scraps...

Bag of scraps

....now, to get back to a sewing mood.

Design Wall Monday - 31 Oct 2016

Allietare just hung around on the design wall for a few days while I started gathering my supplies for En Provence.  As promised yesterday though, I have a photo or two of the progress I've made in getting blocks sewn to rows.

Half of Alllietare.

With the blocks sewn into rows, it is already looking less busy.  My neutrals lean heavier toward white, than cream and my gray is a lighter medium. 

Pinned Allietare rows.

Waiting to be sewn are the remaining rows.  They were all pinned just this morning.  It's a busy day for me, so wanted to get them done at least to this point for a photo.

Not much to see, but for En Provence.

This blue bin above, holds all the yardage, FQs, chunks and strips I've pulled for En Provence.  That does not mean they will be used, but they are contenders.  As the first cutting clue won't be for nearly a month, I don't know what size strips will be used for any given unit, but pulled what I have available anyway.  They can always go right back into the strip bins awaiting use in their forever quilt when that day comes.  

I'm sticking with this year's colors, and neutrals, which are about all that can be seen in the bin because they were the last to be pulled.  I think I'm a bit shy on neutrals and/or may want more variety.  I could cut into true yardage, but I usually start with the smallest bits of fabric and work up to the larger hoping that some day, all the "scraps" will dwindle.  Who am I kidding? :)

Linking at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

Stash Report Week 24, 2014

Since I'm on my computer and just finished a post for Saturday (it's still Saturday), I thought I'd get a jump on getting my Stash Report ready for Sunday...but you won't see it until Sunday...so I guess it IS Sunday, got it?  

Used This Week: 0 yards 
Used Year to Date: 0 yards  
Added This Week: 37.5 yards  
Added Year to Date: 0 yards  
Net Used for 2014: -38.60 yards                  
Linking @ Patchwork Times

While I was still up north in the wet land (could use some of that here in the south right now), my aunt and I took a day away and traveled up to Tillamook.  In Tillamook, there is a wonderful quilt store called Jane's Fabric Patch.  This store is one of my favorites. I thought I'd written about Jane's in an old post over at DOOW, but see that I only mentioned it as a comment in a photo here. It has a huge amount of fabric.   One room is books and magazines, another is Christmas and other holiday themed fabric.  A large, well-lit room is used as a class room, but also has fabrics, many of which are discounted to $3 / yard!  There's an area dedicated to DMC floss and embroidery - might also have had some knitting stuff in there, but since I don't knit I didn't pay attention.  It's all housed in an old two-story house that is now (as it was then) painted hot pink - sorry I didn't get a picture. 

Additions from Jane's

These days, when I shop for fabric, it's mostly keeping in mind what I might use to enhance my scraps or what I can use as backgrounds or what I can use for neutrals, or whatever just jumps out at me at the time.  Jane's requires multiple visits because frankly, I think too much is missed in just one.  Upstairs is the "clearance" area with books, magazines, fat quarters, etc.  There is a bathroom on each floor.  Just thought I'd add that in case you were wondering.  At Jane's, I found 10.5 yards of fabric that came home with me: FQs, 1, 2, 3-yard pieces and a 2.75 yard piece that was a finish-the-bolt.

From Jane's, my aunt knew of another store that she'd been to in the past.  This one was out of town, near Cloverdale, and also housed in a house, but operated entirely out of the basement, while the upper floor is a residence.  We had to use Garmin to find it, and from the highway, you drive up a narrow, graveled single car wide 'private' road.  Charming!  This store is BJ's Fabrics and Quilts and a write-up can be found here.  I enjoyed this store as well.  They have a great selection of fabrics and offer (at least at the time we were there) a free pre-cut of fabric with the purchase of two pre-cuts of fabric.  The pre-cuts were located throughout the store and were of various sizes from FQs to over a yard.  At BJ's, I found a total of 10 yards of fabric to bring home and add to the mix.  The ranged from FQs to two-yard pieces.

Additions from BJ's

After our quilting purchases we continued traveling south having passed Pacific City, into Lincoln City where we had lunch from a wonderful little stand called Jay's Fish & Chips, and on down past the Newport bridge where I had to drop off a VCR tape at my step-sister's.  We then went back to Newport where I located the cemetery where my grandparent's are buried and located their headstones.  We stayed long enough to snap a couple of photos before heading back.  

All the while during our day away, we had wonderful weather of sunshine and clouds but no rain or drizzle, and very little wind - just enough to see some kites flying along the beach and with temps in the upper 60s.  Very pleasant.  The next day in the valley, it poured rain a couple of times amidst the scattered showers.

Additionally, my aunt gathered up all her fabric scraps and passed them my way.  I've laundered them, and dealt with the thread nests created with smallish pieces.  They now fill a large round fabric tub, and there were a couple larger pieces which were measurable, and those amounted to a just over 1 yard piece plus four pounds of pieces.  

Scraps

Scraps

Scraps

Some of the scraps were cotton/poly so those had to be eliminated.

Trimmed off nests of threads from those scraps after laundering.  This may become my new header background if I can remember how to change it.  It DOES look like Webs of Thread :)

Now, if I calculate correctly, having weighed a yard of fabric at around 4 ounces (some heavier ones are 5 ounces), divided into 4 pounds (16 ounces per pound) that comes out to more than 16 yards of fabric in scraps!!  I suppose I should add that in my numbers too!   That sure adds to my stash :).  She has also sent me a notice that she's found some more to send my way!  I'd better get some flimsies done so that I can show something USED and DONE this year.

While in the Northwest, I had a very real opportunity to go see Bonnie K. Hunter (Quiltville) when she was in Portland, but I lacked the courage to drive that far for an evening in an unfamiliar area alone.  Yeah, I know, me, who travels alone 890 miles each way every four weeks or so.  But the key is, it was unfamiliar with total strangers, and I am still a bit shy, so long story short, I missed my opportunity to see her presentation in person and yes, I'm kicking myself in the backside.  Well, maybe she'll return some day or I'll have another opportunity.

Stash Report - No. 3 - 2014

Reporting in for my usage/additions of fabric for this third week of January. I haven't done much sewing all week with my attempts at organizing and cleaning things up a bit.  In doing that here in the Sanctuary, I came across a fairly small piece of fabric in my stash and decided it really just isn't suitable for quilting.  It is so thin that I don't think it's usable in much of anything, and it only amounts to .15 yard, so it's out of my stash, and into the trimmings bucket that will either be used as stuffing for a pet mat or donated to someone who does such things here in my guild. 

You can see the size of that trimmings bucket, it's nearly as big as the grocery bag (recycled paper trash) and my regular trash bin.  I've lined it with a plastic bag so that when it's full I need only pull the bag out rather than attempt to dump it into a bag and get cotton dust all over the place.  I'm very happy to be caught up on cutting up my scraps into strips and squares.  My strips bin is almost full again, so I'll have to plan another log cabin.  I left some scrap pieces in big pieces and will cut them later if I need them, to whatever size the need is.

Used This Week: .15 yards 
Used Year to Date: 0 yards  
Added This Week: 0 yards  
Added Year to Date: 0 yards  
Net Used for 2014: .15 yards

Linking up at Patchwork Times.