Monday, January 3, 2011

All Those Strips!

Good Morning! Our first weekend of the New Year was quiet. I hope yours was a good one. I thought today I would dig out my stash of prepared quilt strips and pass a little tip your way. It's been awhile since I have done anything with fabric, but the desire is there to play around with it and see what develops. I don't know how many of you get the "itch" to do something new every few days, but I do. I use to think I was crazy, but now realize that this habit of having several unfinished projects is only normal for me, and does relieve boredom and monotony. I like to think of it as making me well-rounded. And, can anyone tell me why it is that when you are creating something and you see what someone else is doing.......ya just wanna drop everything and join in on their fun??? I swear, when I went to visit Lucy ( her blog is attic24), I saw her lovely Christmas ornaments and the next thing I knew I was digging out all my colorful yarn, even though I was in the midst of making all these winter scarves. I had so many bags of yarn around my chair in the living room I boxed myself in. There was yarn piled on my footstool and my hubby said I was blocking the tv, lol. See how I am, I started out talking fabric, then I went straight to the yarn.......now, for my little hint..........the following pics are of some of my prepared quilting strips. Some of you may do this, others of you may even have a better way, but I have found when storing quilt pieces for future use put them in plastic containers where they can be kept clean and organized any way you want. Maybe you prefer to do it by size, color, or design. Everyone has their own ideas. The best thing I have found are the plastic shoe boxes that you can find at any discount store. I found mine at the General Dollar Store for $1 each. I bought 10 and what a great buy!

Notice the little green post-it tags located at the end of the boxes. I wrote the width of the strips on those and placed them inside the container. That makes it easier to locate the size strip I want when the containers are stacked. I suggest storing containers out of direct sunlight to prevent fabric from fading.

Strips can be used for any number of quilt patterns. The long rolling plastic tote (stored under the bed) is filled with more strips. On top of the cutting mat is an extra sewn 9 Patch piece. It was also made from the cut strips. A great time saver is when you prepare your fabric ahead. Back in my mother-in-law's day they didn't have rotary cutters. They had to cut each individual piece by hand. Rotary cutter was one of the best inventions made for the quilter. If you have a hint to share with me and any visitors please don't be shy. It is great to learn something new! We can all learn and help each other.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Susanne! Thanks for visiting me at the Yankee teapot. Your boxes make me think of my Mom, amongst other crafts she quilts bags and blankets and does a beautiful job of it. Her sewing room has lots and lots of those boxes FULL of fabric. I like your quilts, very cosy. Gail

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  2. And I thank you Gail for stopping by and seeing me! Show me a quilter and I bet she shows you her stash of fabric. Your mom sounds like every quilter I know. I would love to see her bags and blankets. Come back again, anytime. {{HUGS}}

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