Here is my current work in progress. It's going to be a baby quilt. I was intrigued by the
McKenzie by Dena Designs fabric since it used black with pastels. I think that will be an interesting contrast.
I'm also trying to step out of my bubble and mix fabric lines. I was thinking about it and I think I tend to stick with one line per quilt because I don't really have a great LQS nearby. For those of you who freely mix fabric lines, do you have a local shop or are you buying online? How do you get over the fear of things not matching when you buy them online? Or is that just a good way to build stash? haha!
Another silly question. How do you store your pins? Why do they make the boxes so the pins will never fit back in?? I'm not a huge fan of these pins, they are a little fat for my liking. But since I'm sewing in "public spaces" now I need to be able to find them when they drop. And these red heads do not want to fit nicely in the box. What do you use? Is your pincushion big enough for a whole box of pins?
11 comments:
LOL...my pins look just like yours......
Well, I've got three LQS's nearby, but I'm not a huge fan of any of them really, although I do browse in them. I mostly buy my fabric online. I tend to buy up my favorites in a fabric collection, and then try to blend with other things in my stash. I'm turning into a serious fabric collector, much to my husband's dismay! It can be hard to mix fabric lines, but I think that's one of the things that's so interesting about quilting, are the choices we make with color and such. Have you seen Elizabeth Hartman's new book yet? She speaks to the whole selecting of fabrics in a beautiful way... :)
:) I have pincushions everywhere! One on my cutting board, one on the ironing board, one next to my sewing machine, and even a few in between. Thats a little embarrassing to admit haha :)
My basting pins I keep in two little tupperware caddies, my flowerhead pins I keep with my bobbin holder (it has a magnet in the center to hold pins) and I also keep some of them on my pincushion/thread trash holder thingie (I don't know what you call it).
I bought a big magnet to help clean up dropped nails/pins/etc so my doggies don't step on them when they wander around the sewing room looking for things to chew on.
Those are great baby quilt fabrics!
Pincushion first. I have two just alike. They began life as magnetic paper clip holders, but they're great for pins. If I don't drop them from too high, they don't fall out. I'm the same about finding pins, but mine are white glass heads and very fine. I've only ever made one quilt where all the fabrics came from one line. Other than that, I mix freely from everything cotton, as long as the color is right. My mentor taught me several years ago how to mix my own colors and I've read and studied until I usually get things right, although not always on the first try. Lane
This is kind of a cheater way of mixing fabric lines, but I LOVE the Custom Bundles from fabricworm.com. They mix the lines for you! : ) I agree, it's very difficult to mix lines when you can't see them in person - they may look great together on the screen, but in person they're awful! You can also look around on Flickr to get an idea of what lines might go together. And as Elizabeth said, once you get enough fabric in your stash, you can start mixing from that. I'm finally just getting to that point!
Thanks for linking up with WIP Wednesday! Come back next week! : )
Oh, I also have the big magnet for my pins, and in fact I just keep them right on the magnet, instead of having a pincushion. It's not as cute as a pincushion, but it's SO much easier. The pins practically jump from your hand onto the magnet, and they're so easy to clean up.
I have a large cushion that one of my girls (they can't agree on who and I don't remember) made (either in girl scouts or school depending on who you ask). Its felt and about 5 inches by 8 so it fits all my pins.
On mixing, I am a stash builder and collector... I gather and stack different fabrics from the shelf... more than required... then take a picture to get a different view and start to edit to come up with my choices.
I made a pincushion for mine after knocking the box off the table for oh, I don't know, the MILLIONTH time! Now if I drop the pincushion it's no big deal because they stay put!
I have two of the magnetic pin holders which are just little shallow plastic dishes that have a strong magnet under the dish part. I love them and have been using them for over thirty years! If I happen to drop any pins, I just go over the floor or carpet with the pin holder and it snaps them into place! http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?CATID=cat3431&PRODID=prd34038
sadly i keep my pins in a little tupperware container. i have small kids and like that the cantainer has a cover that fits tightly. than i don't have to worry about them getting to the pins or spilling them all over the floor.
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