No News Is Good News.



Ironing strips



My apologies for my long delay in checking in, however the time away has been well-spent. Progress is being made.   Slowly the dungeon is getting whipped into shape.  I've been going through more boxes and getting rid of fabric I know I will never use, which has been wonderful.  Freeing up boxes and more importantly space to allow for the existing fabric to flex and flow into the space.  It's liberating to allow myself to "throw away" fabric. 

Checking in on the Bonnie Hunter Scrap Users Project:


Less than 12" strips destined to be squares and bricks

 So far I am done with the 1.5" condos...all sixteen of them! I went through and took out the less than 12" strips and cut these into squares and bricks. I opted not to sort them by colour, only by size. The 2" condos have been started. 

Fleece:
No changes at this time, just finding more and more bits and pieces and trying to get them corraled.
Cotton:
No real changes, just keeping up with what is being found.  I pinned a couple quilts and rather than toss the scraps on the pile, I went ahead and cut them into the proper widths.  Good for me.

Stuff:
Managed to sort out my thread into hand quilting, sewing thread (vintage and new), embroidery thread and specialty threads.  It's great to go to the shelf and get exactly what I need without having to tear the house apart.  The rewards make the work to get to this point so much richer.

**** The pressing table has been created! ****



BEFORE



AFTER



I decided to sacrifice a solid wooden table and attach one of the leaves to make the topper long enough to cover the space. I used an acrylic blanket covered by a wool blanket to create the cushioning for the ironing board.  This was covered with a large piece of canvas washed but not dried to be folded under on the edges.  The entire thing was ironed until dry and I am pleased to share that this surface is PERFECT for laying out quilts, pinning, ironing and it's a great staging area for sorting stuff.  I delight in ironing on it everyday!

 

Throughout this whole process I am learning a lot about myself and my collecting tendencies.  For those who know me, I hail from the school of "Waste Not Want Not" and have the genetic predisposition for being a collector/obtainer.  Mostly because this behaviour is constantly reinforced by people asking me if I have a this, that or another and usually I do.  As a part of this whole process I have come to the conclusion I have entirely too much shit and too many hobbies.  But, what can you do? Life is too short not to enjoy it.

Each day I try to do a little, and after a while it really adds up to something big! 

Peach Out, Apricots.

heart, Morg

Operation Dungeon Do Over - January update

As promised, pictures:

Greens ready for trimming.

 Progress is coming along, across the top of the shelves are the more than a yard cuts.  These have been organised by colour or colour group depending on the amount of fabric.  I was pleased to find these file boxes at WalMart for a reasonable price.  They will serve me well. 

 My table is a mess in this picture but you get the general idea of where I am going with this mess.  The pop up laundry bin on the left is where I dump my scraps and when the polyester bag is full I sew it up and instant pet bed!
 

 
 The future pressing table is still a mess with stuff accumulating on it all the time.  It will eventually be cleared off and a large piece of lumber will be added.  I will probably use duck or canvas for the ironing surface and use some type of material for the padding, not sure yet, but when I get there I'll know what I need. 

 

Update Reports:

Fleece - I'll start with fleece today as there has been a little progress but nothing more than rehousing.  I am using the "special boxes" for fleece and after this past weekend have enough to contain all the cut stuff!  This is great!  I now have all the main cuts in labeled boxes even the mice and wedgies.  At last!

Organised Chaos.

Cottons - I just finished the Bin of Greens.  The bins are a group of plastic cat litter containers designated to hold my strips and scraps when I first started obtaining such fabrics from friends and strangers.  The number of bins expanded to about eighteen and now four remain unsorted.  With the completion of the reds I am going to tackle the greens.  I started presorting these into three piles:  more than a foot, less than a foot, bits and pieces.  Bits and pieces go straight into the trays for the applique scraps.  Less than a foot get subdivided by width and then get cut into bricks and squares.  More than a foot get divided by width and then are put away in the appropriate colour condos.

Still in progress is The Bonnie Hunter Scrap Users Project.  This is my official label for the process of going through the cut/sorted strips and making them into easily usable pieces.  As I break from bins and other organising I go through the cut strips and pull out the pieces that are shorter than 12" and cutting these pieces into squares and bricks (2x width in length).  So far I've completed the pinks and purples in all 4 widths.

Charms have been divided up into bins by colour groups.  The single box was bursting at the proverbial seams so it had to be done.  I am steadily filling these boxes as I work my way through the colour bins. 








It is such a delight to work through this organisational process.  As bins are emptied and banker boxes pile up in the corner I look at the work I've accomplished and smile.  Things are coming together "sew" very nice and neat.  

 Guess that is about it.  Hoping to get some more pet beds made with the confetti left overs.  I have plenty of polyester waiting to be repurposed!  ;)

Confetti leftovers destined for pet beds.

Peach out Apricots.
heart, Morg

2012 and the End of Days.

Okay, so 2012 didn't end on the 21st of December like the Mayan Oreo calendar would have suggested.  31 December does bring an end of my creative year and ushers in a new beginning full of promise and things to come!

In the month of December Operation Dungeon Do Over has been successfully embraced and I have managed to weed through all the cardboard boxes of cotton fabrics!  The contents of which have been measured, labeled, folded, cut or otherwise started in the "process."   I do have an abudance of fabric left to be cut and put into their respective shoe boxes according to strip width, but the greater lengths have been appropriately assigned to their proper containers. 

Cleaning last night revealed several hidden caches of stashes.  Including a cache of cotton strippets and bits of stuff that were promptly sewn into a couple pet beds.  Another cache revealed a generous helping of fleece confetti which is destined to become even more pet beds!  The big surprise was a bin full of cotton fabric waiting to be organised into my new system. I consider this the perfect opportunity to test my new system.  I still have the colour bins to sort through and repurpose, but there is light at the end of a long, dark, fabric tunnel.

Plans for 2013
Tame/Train the Fleece beast.
Cut less than 12" strips to usable sizes per Bonnie Hunter Scrap User's System recommendations.
Continue to process fabric as it is discovered/comes in.
Continue to organise The Dungeon into a usable environment (keep studying Teresa Rawson's space).
Get over my thing about Triangles.
Learn to do applique!
Learn to paper piece!
Learn to free motion quilt!
Blog more!
MAKE MORE QUILTS!

Slowly, as my Dungeon is being molded into a place I want to work and be creative this will be a good learning experience and a chance to grow and develop into the quilter I want to become.  In the meantime this will be a long, slow path full of trials and errors, but in the end it will prove to be a wonderful journey and one for which I will be proud.

Peach Out, Apricots! 
Morg