Long Arm Studio Organization

The past year brought about my owning of a used Innova long-arm, and repurposing 1/2 the garage for my She Cave. I'd love to share some of my organizational ideas to perk up the place. To deal with comfort, lighting and temperature I purchased interlocking foam mats from a wholesale club, carpet tiles from a garage sale, linkable shop lights from Harbor Freight that I run using through Alexa using a smart plug and an Echo Dot, as well as a Dyson fan. As for the rest of my ideas, it reads a bot like a love letter to Target, Dollar Tree and Fat Quarter Shop. I can't help it, those are a few of my most favorite stores.

A critical storage consideration is how to keep your favorite threads handy. After taking over the garage, my conquest was the workbench pegboard. I got some long hooks and hung my Aurifil Forty3 (yellow spool) cones. Forty3 is 40 wt, 3 ply so it is perfect for long-arm quilting given its extra strength plus the benefits of the original 40 wt. It comes in 73 colors. The lovelies below are 2021 Natural White, 2843 Light Grey Green and 2615 Aluminum. A spool of 50 wt (orange spool) 2324 Stone snuck in there too.

On my workbench table, I have an OLFA Folding Mat, a Sewline Large Ironing Pad, and an Oliso Mini Project Iron.

When my Oliso Mini Project Iron is not in use, it can be wrapped up on its trivet and hung on the pegboard next to a magnetic board where I've placed instructions that I need handy.

In addition to my Forty3 threads, I have a colorful selection of large spools in 40 wt for custom quilting on a rack hooked to the pegboard.

To store notions, I outfitted a shoe rack with baskets from the dollar store.

I use a first aid kit from Target to store smaller rulers. These handy storage cases typically come free with the purchase of three packs of Band-Aids.

And now, I'm back to more Dollar Tree baskets. These hook onto the pegboard.

With the help of my label-maker I can identify bins (from the Dollar Spot of Target) containing Aurifil threads for individual quilts.

A Pamper Chef Tool Turn-About for kitchen utensils works just as well for marking pens.

I purchased an Arrow Storage Cube. It has wheels and can hold a good amount of thread, fabrics, and notions.

My Lipper Bamboo Tray Organizer is a favorite, due to the adjustable compartments and a depth that my long-arm can clear when it sits on the frame's table.

Cubical bins can hide a multitude of fabric sins. I now use the Room Essentials 11" ones from Target, as the Dollar Tree ones did not have sufficient durability. For a higher volume of concealment, I use the 13" Threshold or Pillowfort ones.

My local Modern Quilt Guild, ABQMQG, has a long-arm special interest group. We discussed organizational strategies. Below are the expert ideas I heard. 

*To store Red Snappers, use a section of capped 4" PVC pipe attached to the frame's leg with zip ties.

*Put threads in a specialty box.

*Rolling wooden, plastic, or metal carts are helpful for storing fabric or notions. 

*Repurpose other furniture. For example, use a tv stand for a pressing table or office tables for a cutting station.

*Place tubs under the long-arm for storage.

*Store smaller items in a rotating make-up organizer.

*Use a letter sorter to contain rulers.

*Separate each project (quilt top and backing) with shoe drawers.

Thanks for joining me on my little tour. What are your favorite organizational strategies for your sewing space?

Gridster Bee Rise Quilt

I finished putting together a long-awaited Gridster Bee project, and simply neglected to share until now. 😊 However belated, it's such a fun quilt; and I appreciate all the wonderful blocks my friends from afar contributed. I'm going a little backwards here, but I'm showing off the full reveal and then the components.

I used a solid white for sashing between the balloon blocks. I refrained from picking a blue background, as solid blues tend to vary; and I prefer a more synchronized look. I quilted with swirls. 

For the back I had a hot air balloon fabric, Suzy's Minis by Suzy Ultman for Robert Kaufman. I used for color inspiration. As for the binding, I chose a bright red blender with text pertaining to ballooning, Adventure Awaits by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics.

The balloon blocks I received follow. The block patterns are from Alli of Woodberry Way's Rise pattern.

More or Less Quilt

Way back, a long, long time ago, when the world was normal and all...I taught classes in person at UNM Continuing Education.  One of my favorite courses to teach, save free-motion, was Quick Quilts. Hopefully, I'll be able to get it scheduled again. In the mean time, I've quilted up this pastel sweetie on my new-to-me Innova. That was before I started snowballing into a mess of "newbie" foolishness. (Really, really, don't put the needle in backwards. And don't try to bend the thread guides, which it turns out are made of plastic. SNAP! And if you take off the tension knob, don't drop it into your bottomless bin of UFOs. And if you don't have an anti-backlash spring in the bobbin, that's an issue. And if your needle is going into the side of the hole instead of the middle, your head isn't on straight. Whether you consider the head to mean yours or your machine's---in my case, both apply.) Thankfully, I have a dealer close by, and a 24-7 technical help phone number. But isn't she a beauty?

I did a radiating floral meander as an overall design using Aurifil. I love the textured softness it creates.

I titled this one More or Less, since it uses Plus and Minus blocks. It's composed from strip sets, so it comes together quickly. You can pick up the More or Less Quilt Pattern here.

I picked up the fabrics at an Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild destash sale. (The annual fundraiser garage sale that you swear you're going to utilize to free up sewing room space, and then you accumulate MORE stuff instead. Or is that just me?)

I planned to bind this one by machine. That was the case until I stitched the binding to the front first, rather than the back. Since  I didn't want a line of stitching next to the binding on the front of the quilt, I ended up hand stitching it onto the front. Do you guys stitch from this direction? Most tutorials I see show the reverse orientation, but having the binding nearest to me and the bulk of the quilt extending away feels more natural to me.

I used original, large-scale Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets in Peach for the binding and backing. There are some advantages to aging. For one, my fabrics have become collector's items. 😉