new pattern sneak peek

Oh my goodness. I survived Easter vacation alone with the kids! If today is your first day at home without the kids too, can you feel with me? It was very nice having a bit of morning time back for myself. I did manage to work a little on a new pattern that I hope to upload to Craftsy by the end of this week. Here is your exclusive sneak peek!

Back in January 2014, I participated in a quilt challenge called "Wake me up to Kona - Color Essentials" using just solids. I seldom use just solids or just prints in my quilt designs, so it hurt just a bit to stay within the guidelines. I came up with an original quilt using 60° triangles and parallelograms called Linear Refraction. The pattern is for free and you can find it on my download page. All in all, it was a very rewarding experience for me.

This new design was inspired by that challenge. I know you are going to love this one just as much as I do. It falls in line with my philosophy - simple, easy, practical. Stay tuned, because this one is HOT!

doll quilts throughout the year

Last year I joined up with the Doll Quilt Monthly club where I was allowed to make little quilts for a great group of ladies. Every month we were given a theme. You could roll with it, or not. That all depended on your partner. So far, I have had very easy-going, uncomplicated partners that have made some very stunning quilts.

I wanted to share with you the beauty and warmth I have received. Here are a few of my favorites!

 Lynn - "Diamonds are Forever"

"Citrus" from Julianne

"Pieces of my Heart" from Sher

"Through my Window" 

from Paula from Mud, Pies and Pins

"Stars and Stripes" 

from Vickie at Creative Notions

These ladies really deserve a great round of applause! They made some very fantastic quilts that I will cherish forever! Thank you!

Now, I would like to hear from you. What do you like and dislike about quilt swaps? Please share you thoughts with us!

sorting your fabric

In preparation for Project: Sewing Room, I cleaned up my own sewing room and sorted out my fabric. I usually sort it out once a quarter or every six months. In the beginning, it is so nicely folded and organized. Do you know what I mean? When I start to dive into my sewing projects, sometimes (just sometimes), I get lazy and just start to throw things back in without folding and color coordinating. My fabric cabinet has doors for a reason! Out of sight, out of mind.

How to sort fabric? I have sorted by color, by size, by project, by collections. What is the best way? Honestly, I haven't found it out yet. I have read books about it and didn't really understand why one would sort out by color. I usually sew in collections.

Every time I sort, I seem to do it different to see what works better for me. The last time I sorted, I folded everything nice and neatly into about 3" x 8" fabric-fold stacks. This optimized my cabinet space to fit a lot more in and stayed relatively flat instead of towers of fabrics. This time, I folded my fabric into quarter bundles. I put all of my colorful fabric on the top shelf, where I will see it and use it more often. I also put the contrasting colors in front, because I like a lot of contrast. The neutral blacks, white, brown, grays got put on the middle shelf. I hardly use these anymore.

I keep the larger pieces separated - pieces 1/2 meter and more go into their own groups. You can see these at the bottom. I will usually use these for backing fabrics.

Honestly, it doesn't look like I have that much fabric looking at this picture! But I also sorted out fabrics for special projects I am working on. My Hasenbach, North Pole, Kitschy, and Mod/Mod Block Lotto all got new project totes. I bought these at our local home improvement store - Bau V-Markt; they fit great into my cutting table shelves. I also have a few smaller collections of fabric stored in plastic bags in the other cabinet. I store my scraps, other projects, batting and notions inside that one.

Now, I really don't think I have a lot of fabric, but who ever really has enough? How do you organize your fabric and why? I would love to hear from you!