Creative Spaces Blog Hop, Week Three, Day 7

UFO’s

I wish I could say that I didn’t have any UFO’s, but you know that’s just not true. I have some significant UFO’s. But I learned how to keep my UFO’s organized when I organized my studio. I keep each project in its own box, with all of the fabric, threads, and pattern so when I grab a project to take with me for a Finish It Friday, I have everything I need. If the pattern came out of a book or magazine, I copy the whole pattern and put that in the box, then shelve the book/mag. Each box has a label of the name of the project that I can see at a glance – so no guessing.

One thing you can’t see that’s in the box is an idea that I read in an old Quilter’s Newsletter magazine: I have a file card with the name and contact information of a dear friend or family member that I intend to have the UFO go to when it’s finished and/or when I am gone. That way, my family knows who to give it to if I’m not there to tell them. Now, before you say “oh yeah, I’d want someone’s unfinished project!”, think how cool it would be to be gifted that quilt and be able to finish it — so that we would have made a quilt together. That’s how I think of it.

2. My little kit bag

I love this bag, which I found in a Beauty Supply store. It may look similar to the ones that were found in quilt shops but it’s wider and longer and holds more. And travels with me in my carryon bag when I travel and sits beside my sewing machine when I work at home.

I separate out my items into categories and then put them in a designated pouch, like this:

Pouch #1 – travel sewing machine feet (usually 10 of them), neutral thread, bobbins (3 types for loaner machines), machine accessories (screw drivers)

Pouch #2 – boxed pins (ballhead, fork pins), seam ripper, stiletto, tracing wheel, thumb drive, measuring tape, small ruler, rotary cutter, thread snips, two Rotary blade boxes – one marked “new”, one marked “old”, and an adaptor to hook my Mac up to a projector

Pouch #3 – supplies for hand stitching (glue pen and refills, needle threader, needles, thread conditioner, thimble, two pairs of small fine scissors, appliqué glue, emery board, wonder clips

Pouch #4 – marking tools (pencils – chalk, lead, blue and white lead), Sharpie ultra-point pen, Micron pens – black and brown, highlighter, fine white marking pen, pen refills, a magnet-pen, hera markers

Basically, the essential items that I need when I travel and teach so if my students need something they forgot they can borrow mine, or what I might need to demo a technique.

3. A design journal

I’ve been making my own design journals for about twenty years now. I was always a journal keeper growing up and it just made sense to me to use them when I started designing my own quilts.

This is how I use them:

I paste background fabric and focus fabric on one page.

I cut 1 1/2″ squares of each fabric I’ve selected for the quilt and paste them on the opposite pages, each color way from light to dark. Adding the fabric I’ve chosen for the binding and backing. I also write notes like where I’ve bought my fabric, how much yardage I bought, dates, project name, etc.

Then, I can take that book around with me and shop for additional fabric, if needed.