While I was there – a overheard this sentence ‘I will put it up on craigslist’….

My head immediately whips around and asks the owner -’huh? what? something on craigslist from the LQS?’

She had just replaced her cabinetry! Lucky Day! I asked to see the old stuff and it was out back under a tarp and I said ‘I’ll take it! How much would you like for it?’ She said, if you just take it away, it’s yours!

And so yesterday – I had it picked up and delivered by Earl from ‘Early delivery’ (cute, no?) and you may be thinking that it went in the studio – but nope!  I needed it for the family room! Yeah!!!

Somewhere to keep the kids crap! I mean, toys. No I don’t, I really meant crap.

Isn’t it perfect there? It needs a little lovin’ but wow – I am so pleased with it!!!

See the blue sofa off to the right? That was in that little alcove before the delivery.

Am I wrong to be proud that this is all I found underneath it?

I remember sitting at a common table, eating lunch, during a ‘sewing expo’ in San Mateo, CA, and having a nice lady ask me if I had a big fabric stash.

My response went something like this:

“Oh no, I only buy fabric for a particular project.  I have enough stuff from scrap-booking and I have learned my lesson – don’t buy unless you know what you are using it for!’

I know at least a half dozen people spitting coffee out of their nose right now because that is not exactly what happened…

It started quite innocently. I would buy several charm packs and think ‘such a good price, and they are small‘. Or the Fat Quarter sale at the LQS ‘ these are pretty small, too….’

And so to organize it in an already bulging craft room.

I had (and still have, because they are fantastic boxes) clear 12*12 boxes from the scrapbook store that I stored the fabric in by color and they fit neatly on some shelves. Need pink? Grab the pink box. {note: I will find out where to get the boxes if anyone requests!)

Need Black? Blue? Wow 2 boxes of browns!

Then I heard about Japanese Fabric. The adorable, cute (but not cutesy), and even nostalgic fabric that I COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT. (I am currently resisting the urge to see if sonatine is still an ebay seller – so I will not provide a link – and if they are – I don’t need to know!)

So we need an additional organization system because they simply could not be ‘mixed in with the colors!’ and I had to SEE THEM. (this need of seeing will continue as the stash evolves…)

I heard about (read about) these fabulous mini bolts that you wrap your fabric around. Awesome! The answer!

And so I wrapped. I wrapped the Japanese Fabric. And the Denyse Schmidt Fabric. And the Joel Dewberry. And the Heather Bailey. And the Amy Butler.

I added the cutest little hang tags with each collection and designer labelled on them! So cute!

Do you see what is happening here? I already know designers names. And the names of their collections. I am in big trouble now. Well on my way to the stash.

Now I do like the idea of wrapping fabric (I really do) but the problem with this idea is that I always need the fabric IN THE MIDDLE of the mini bolt. I would have to unwrap the whole thing – pull out the fabric I needed. Re-wrap it. And then open it up again to put the fabric away.

When I was disciplined and cleaned up after myself – it was just time-consuming. When I was not disciplined – it was a mess – fast!

Then we moved!

Bye Bye tiny craft room in the Bay – Hello Studio in Ohio!

By now – you can see that I am no longer pretending that I do not stash fabric.  I am a certified stasher and I have some fuglies to prove it!

It a long time to get from this pile of fabric

To this.

I used a lot of kitchen ware to add extra shelving for the precisely folded, glorious piles a reds, blues, yellow, greens (who knew I had so many greens?), and all of their color-wheel friends.

I had smaller pieces, just as precisely folded, tucked inside drawers absconded from Ikea organizing bits and bobs.

I used the ‘tried and true’ ruler-folding method for all of this fabric. But with a twist. Instead of using just the 6.5″ width of the ruler, I made plastic templates for the smaller sizes, such as these drawers, so that everything would be uniform.

Not sure what the ruler method is? I have a tutorial post on it. {edited to add – the link works now}

And then…

We moved again. Bye Bye custom built studio in Ohio and hello 800 square foot basement in North Carolina.

I have a whole slew of the ‘before’ pictures if you care to see them.

And now the available storage has changed again.

I no longer have built ins. I have pre-fab shelves from ‘insert big box x’ store.

{{side note: the built-ins in Ohio, while custom built – were not the right size. I had them built thinking about the 12*12 inch clear boxes that I had been using in the Bay. That is – 12 inches deep and 25 inches wide – and tall enough to fit 5 boxes….

I didn’t think about how I would store the fabric ‘currently’ which is always a consideration. }}

Pre-fab shelves can be hacked, though. I will show you how I added many more shelves than came with the unit in a future post.

But now – instead of using a ruler, a template, and a lot of time spent getting it smooth, and fitting it to the ‘T’ – I am using the comic book board method instead.

Of course, I still have the lovely Japanese fabrics set aside.

And the solids, as seen above.

But mostly I am sorting my color. It’s how my mind works. I realized long ago that I don’t always want to use a collection all together. I am digging the color matching or mis-matching, if you will between designers, collections, and even manufacturers.

Lest you think I am all finished with the comic book board re-fold empire – take note of the pile below. This is a spit in the proverbial stash.

I have already used 1,800 comic book boards at the time this post is written.

I wonder how many I will need!

I will link you to the original post where I learned of this myself as well as a few other crafters that have taken the plunge!

Smashed Peas and Carrots

The Ornament Girl

Feathered Fibers

That Girl That Quilt.

But I will be back with the details on my latest organizing fabric frenzy. I have been working with what is already folded and so I have a little insight into the ‘working’ side of the organizing equation. I mean, pretty and organized is great, but can it stay that way if you actually sew?

I will also be back on what to do with the scraps…. This picture below is a bit anal,  even for me!

And so I say ‘go forth and fold’.

Get your fabric out where you can see it, if that’s possible. I will add that my shelves are on the far back wall of the room – as far from direct sunlight as possible.

And the boards are acid-free and archival so they won’t eat my fabric. (heaven forbid!).

You can find comic book boards on Amazon – but I highly recommend googling your own town for comic book stores. The prices are much better!

Sandi, from Piecemeal quilts has had the same questions pass through her mind, and she is here today to share some of her own answers with us.

It is plain to see that she has taken a lot of time and care to write this piece for us – so please leave her a comment and give her a little lovin’!

***
Hi, I’m Sandi Walton, and I blog at Piecemeal Quilts. I was excited to hear from Allison about doing a guest post on fabric organization because I (fairly) recently completed a major reorganization and can only talk about it so much on my own blog…

I have mixed feelings about the word “organization.” On the one hand, the result is satisfying, even enjoyable. Looking at neat stacks of uniformly folded fabric sorted by color creates an “ahhh…” feeling. On the other hand, the process of getting to that point can be time consuming and frustrating.

I recently needed to move the bookshelf containing my fabric stash from one wall to another. Sounds simple, but since that bookshelf is almost seven feet tall and four feet wide, it required removing every piece of fabric from the shelves. The fabric was fairly well organized before then, but in the past year or so I started folding it a different way and since I was handling every piece of fabric anyway, I took the opportunity to sort and refold it. With help from my mom and aunt, it took two full days! It also meant fine tuning how I have the fabric organized. You can see a few before and during pictures here.

I am a stash builder, and I often buy one or more yards of fabric at a time. I have a few half yards and fat quarters, plus the scraps that we all accumulate. The smaller pieces disappeared on the shelf because they were so thin, so anything smaller than half a yard came off the shelf. Anything larger than three yards is very bulky when folded, so I pulled those fabrics as well. I went to the local quilt shop and JoAnn Fabrics and asked for their discarded bolts – they were happy to get rid of them. I rolled the larger pieces of fabric onto the bolts and I keep them on an out of the way but still accessible shelf.

The half yard to three yard pieces make up the bulk of my stash, and a VERY bulky stash it is. If it isn’t well organized, I’d never be able to find anything. Regardless of how you choose to sort it, you need to fold the fabric as uniformly as possible so you can see everything when it’s stacked together. If pieces are folded to different sizes, the longer ones can cover the shorter ones. The folding method I use is very simple and doesn’t require any special tools, so I can do it right at the fabric store. That way when it comes out of the bag it can go right on the shelf. The added benefit is that it takes half the time at the store because the clerk doesn’t have to fold a piece before she can move on to cutting the next one. If you’ve ever been frustrated when you’re stuck behind someone with twenty bolts of fabric to be cut, you’ll certainly appreciate that!

The half yard is the basis for my fold. A half yard of fabric is 18″ wide, so first I fold it in thirds, overlapping the sides to the center, to make a piece that is approximately 6″ wide.

I then fold it in half, end to end, so the final piece is approximately 6″ wide and 11″ long.

If you want, you can use a 6″ ruler as a guide, but with a full half yard of fabric it really isn’t necessary. The ruler comes in handy when folding pieces that aren’t exactly 18″ wide.

I always try to enclose any cut edges into the center of the folded piece. They’re less likely to catch on this and crease or distort. When folding a yard of fabric, first I fold it in half to make it 18″ wide, then I continue exactly as I did the half yard. It’s a little bulkier, so I smooth the fabric as I go to keep it flat and uncreased. For two or three yards I fold it to a yard, then to 18″, then thirds, then half. Larger pieces get quite bulky and it’s hard to avoid creases at the final fold.

I used to fold my fabric to the same final dimensions, but I folded it in half first before folding it in thirds. This made sense for cutting, but it wasn’t as easy to see the fabric when it was stored on the shelf. By folding it in half last you can see a greater portion of the fabric at the folded edge, compared to my old way of folding it.

New way of folding

Old way of folding

Fat quarters are also folded uniformly. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I’ve been known to iron a fat quarter before refolding it, just to make it lie flat. A fat quarter is approximately 18″ x 22″ – a bit longer with the selvage left on. I lay the fabric wrong side up, then fold it in half, cut edge to selvage.

I fold it in half again the same way, so the piece is approximately 18″ x 6″.

I fold each side to the center, then fold it in half.

Again, this keeps all cut edges contained in the middle. I store my fat quarters and other smaller pieces in drawers, and I try to keep the final fold up for easiest viewing. I’ll be honest, I don’t get quite so picky about keeping the smaller pieces uniform. I keep the drawers neat, but they are far from perfect.

What I call a scrap, you might call yardage and someone else might call garbage. I’ve tried to cut back on keeping really small pieces, but I do save pieces as small as 2″ x 4″. That size comes in handy when paper pieces or experimenting with new blocks or techniques. I store my scraps, sometimes strips and rectangles, sometimes odd shaped pieces, in plastic shoe boxes.

They’re sorted by color to make it a little easier to find things.

If I have a strip the full width of fabric I’ll sometimes roll it up and tie it with a piece left from squaring up. (Those skinny strips are also handy for tying together fabrics you’re saving for a future project.)

I do keep very small pieces if they’re squares cut to specific sizes left over from other projects. These pre-cut squares, along with left over half square triangles and other subunits, are stored separately to keep them neat.

I have squares as small as 1 1/2″ – they’ll make fantastic mini blocks or centers for log cabin blocks.

I also use a plastic shoebox to keep the assortment of orphan blocks I can’t bring myself to get rid of, including a handful of eight year old test blocks in red, white and blue from my very first quilting class.

Most of my fabric is organized by color. The yardage is further sorted by value, so if I need a light aqua or a dark red, I can go right to it. I used to have it sorted just by color, but I found that value is actually more important. For a time I considered sorting it all by value, regardless of color, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. This is my compromise. In the Skill Builder Series that Grey Cat Quilts and I are doing, we talk (at great length!) about fabric selection. I enjoy pulling a variety of fabrics for projects, so this arrangement makes sense for me. I can easily see what I have by color and value. If you prefer to use fabrics from the same line, it would make sense for you to group fabrics by line rather than color.

I have a few “in progress” projects – the Test Your Skills Sampler and my Dear Jane quilt, in particular – that need to be kept out of the main stash. I have a rolling cart with wire baskets that works well for keeping the these projects separate but still visible.

Blocks of the month, especially 12″ or smaller blocks, fit nicely in plastic folders meant for scrapbooking.

A group of family and friends get together once a month at our house to sew, and we need to keep the space super-organized or we’d never be able to cram that many people in here. It’s a big space, but when you add 8 or 9 people with sewing machines, then find space for ironing and cutting, it gets crowded. I have a couple of old vanities (dressers with a space to sit like a desk) that make wonderful sewing spaces. They have the added benefit of lots of drawers, each assigned to a different person so they can leave some basic supplies here instead of carting them back and forth.

The extra drawers are perfect for storing charm packs and jelly rolls.

Believe me, I know how lucky I am to have this much space for my quilting addiction! But even with all this space, I need to stay organized. If it gets too cluttered or I struggle to find things, the creative juices dry up and I stop sewing. Even though the process can be boring, it’s worth it to go through and organize when things start getting jumbled.

I have been inviting guest bloggers to hop on board and share some of their best organizing tips for FABRIC! Yes, we are starting with the fabric because it is usually the most plentiful thing in the room and so, it takes up a lot of space both physically and mentally.

So while I keep looking for the camera, I am so pleased and excited and proud to present to you Monique from ‘Sew Fun by Monique‘! I first came across this awesome gal through my newest heartthrob, pinterest, when I saw her absolutely drop dead gorgeous storage unit called ‘the selvedge dresser‘.

She also has an Etsy shop under the same name, where she sells ready-made and custom order quilts, blankets, bags, baby items, and entire CRIB SETS! She is extremely talented and I am so happy to let her take over this post!

**

Hi, my name is Monique Reynolds and I’ve had my Etsy shop for about 3 years and have been sewing for about 20. I love doing custom work, but that means I need to have lots of fabric choices to pull from. About a year ago we decided to add a sewing room to our house because I ended up moving out of my 10×10 room and into the dining room. My finished room is 13×19 and I use every inch of it!

As we were planning the construction I dove into every Studios and Where Women Create magazine to get ideas as well as the web. Both offer lots of creative and beautiful solutions.

The local Borders bookstore was closing and a friend told me about their bookshelves that they were selling for $25. They were perfect!! They have a depth of 7.5″ and worked well for my organization. I purchased 4 of them and they cover an entire wall of my sewing room on the wall where the door is.

When people first come in, they like the colorful space I work in, but when they turn around and see the wall of fabric they say “Wow! That’s a lot of fabric!” So, I nicknamed it the Wall of Wow.

There are so many ways of organizing fabric, and I think it depends on how much you have. Since I have so many different fabrics I chose to organize by fabric designer, then fabric line, then color (in most instances) I also have a section for just a particular color.

I sew many quilt using 8″ squares, so I purchased by yard sale or new plastic drawers and then I write the designer name and color(s) on the outside of the drawer.

I have toyed with the idea of taping a fabric color to the outside of the bin. I only think it works if you have one color in the drawer. It looked too messy when there were 3 colors.

For my various pieces of rectangles & squares I use ziploc baggies and mark on the outside the sizing. All pink 6×6′s have their own bag, 4×6 pink another, etc. I store those pieces in my selvedge dresser. (Which is grossly overflowing and actually many baggies are stored under my sewing table. I hope to put them in a destash section of my shop someday). I try to cut all my scraps into certain sizes so that if I have a project in mind, I can easily use what I’ve prepared. I have baggies of 1.5, 2.5, 3.5″& selvage strips. (Again, overflowing!) It takes longer when you are working on a project to do this, but your scraps become usable and accessible and less waste is a result. You just need to decide what size you want to keep on hand, and just stick to those sizes. I keep a pile of all the cut pieces and ‘file’ them later. They also make great gifts for your friends that sew!

Finally, I also use clear, plastic bins to store things like novelty fabrics that I don’t use as often and also for smallish scraps by color.

Since I have a fair amount of space to work with, I can spread out the organization. If your space is small, you could just condense things. Hope some of my organization helps you get your fabric in order!

**

Please leave a little love for Monique in the comments here and definitely check out her blog as well.

Thanks again Monique!

**

Do you remember the Seams of Opal quilt? That I posted about and did tutorials one, two, three and four about? I also had an update about it here.

Well – this is the grand finale of updates!

When my nephew ‘baby Jack’ was born – I knew this quilt had to be his.  It is the perfect ‘throw on the floor and add baby’ quilt – lots to look at and tons of texture.

Originally 100 6 inch squares large – it had been made smaller because somewhere between Ohio and our final landing place I lost 6 blocks! And really – I didn’t feel like going back to the beginning (see massive tutorials above!) and he is just a small baby (and he isn’t a twin!) so how many square feet does he need? AND my mommy is going to take some of the (now) extra blocks and make him a big floor pillow to go along with it!

So without further adieu (and I really need to paint that floor – add it to the studi-O-rganization)

Here it is! I LOVE HOW IT TURNED OUT! If there is a repeated fabric in here – it was an accident! So much to see and ‘spy’ and if each block is 6 inches plus about  2 inches of sashing then this quilt is about 62*62 inches (or about 5 feet square). Plenty big for lots of activities!

And the back ain’t no slouch either! This quilt is a quilt as you go ‘a la Allison’ (again, see tutorials above) and each block has a different backing fabric and therefore it is a reversible ‘I Spy quilt’! Can you say ‘greatest Aunt ever is forgiven for  not having this ready for his birth???’ Hey, I can try, right?

A closer view of the front.

A much closer (and slightly out of focus) view of 1 block. Each block has a different free motion quilted motif in the center square and then the rest is ditch quilted.

I used my prized  Bias Tape Maker
for this quilt and really, I can’t say enough about this machine! I love it! It spits out perfect bias tape every time!

I hope this little guy loves it (the quilt, not the machine) as much as I love him!

Oh and YES there will be an organizing post very soon! Starting with Fabric:)

My studio is huge. My stash is huge. I never met a gadget I didn’t ‘need’ and I am a sucker for taking on just ’1 more hobby’! So it is reasonable that my list of items is also huge.

Some of these may apply to you – some of them won’t. And some of them may confirm that I am a cuckoo clock bird looking for a home!

The point is – take what pertains to your situation and leave the rest.

HOWEVER – my own experience has shown that even though I may need to organize spaghetti and the lady is talking about pencils – they are both long and thin and so I may just pick up an idea or two from the spaghetti lady and apply it my pencils.

So keep an open mind and think of shapes, uses, and of course, the items themselves when searching out systems that may work for you.

I remember about 7 years when I was really into scrapbooking but the industry hadn’t caught on to the storage needs yet. We were all trying a zillion clever ways to store our 12″ by 12″ paper because there was NOTHING ready made that was meant for it! Let us remember our creative sides that led us to quilting and sewing and will guide us in our search for the organizational methods as well!

So about those categories:

{and please note that as I add posts to the blog regarding these categories or any others – the page called ‘studi-O-rganization’ will always have updated links to each post for easy access}

Categories:

• Fabric
• Rulers
• Pens/Marking Tools
• Gadgets (think ‘the angler‘)
• Cutters/Die-Cutters/Go!/Digital cutters (like the silhouette or the cricut)
• Embroidery (machine)
• Embroidery (by hand)
• Thread
• Scissors
• Patterns (physical and digital)
• Books
• Notions
• Templates
• Sewing machine feet
• Batting
• Cutting for garments
• WIP’s and UFO’s
• Paper Crafting
• Painting
• Upcycling
• Kid Zone in the Studio
• Odd sized items like rolls of fusible webbing and such

Have I missed anything? Leave a comment and let me know!

I have heard again and again – know your audience. What are they hoping to get out of the class/lecture/podcast/blog/challenge or whatever!

Are you CURRENTLY a messy crafter? Be honest – this doesn’t mean you are spending more time searching for your stuff than using it (although it may) because you could have one of those minds that ‘just knows where it is’.

I thought I had one of those brains. I knew I had an ‘add an 1/8 ruler’ because I just used it (ok, in a different house and a different year and I don’t mean 2011) but still. I could picture it in my minds eye but every mind and eye was incorrect and after a half hour I gave up and used the add a 1/4 ruler instead. No biggie – the project still worked out – but I still WONDER where that 1/8 is!?!

Or are you already quite organized and looking for inspiration for different options of creating the organized super studio that you already love and are quite proud of? Thread is with thread. Hand needles seperated from machine needles… But you are a sucker for the eye-candy of the creative space and that is where you attribute some of your mojo?

Or are you really like me? An eclectic mix of the uber-organized and the throw in a corner or a bin or a bag?

My thread is organized by color but not by tone and yes, this really bothers me! Or {gasp} are your different thread weights are all mixed together?  My hand needles are with hand needles. My sewing machine needles are all together too. But the Microtex is mixed with Universal and can you believe there is a ‘wing’ needle in there, too? I know! Crazy stuff!

Half of my fabric is beautifully folded and findable. The other half? What other half – I can’t find it!

Some of my scraps are stuffed in a bag and some are so sorted my head hurts a little when I have to choose between ‘triangle’ and ‘half-square triangle’ when putting them away. I tend to get a little through the forest, and the trees, and right down the leaf.

My goal is to be organized enough to find the 1/8 inch ruler but no so over the top that I can’t even clean up! Not saying it is going to be easy – but I’m game if you are!

Take the poll and let me know, who is my audience??

J’s Grandmother died  this year (at 90!) and his Grandpa is a ‘snow bird’ (winters in Florida) and he is lonely.  We love that man so much. At 92 he has such vim and vigor and such a dirty mouth that he is fun to hang out with! We decided that we would drive down to Florida to visit him for a few days. He has a condo on the beach so we are looking forward to it! (yes, I live at the beach and we go every weekend when the weather is nice but being on vacation at a beach is always better! and being on vacation at the beach without the kids is like being on a honeymoon!)

For the first time in a loooong time I don’t have to pack snacks in little single serve baggies, or a cooler filled with bottles or juice or milk. I don’t have to pack ‘car’ activities in little packages that I dole out from the front seat and I don’t have to keep picking up the stuff they drop on the floor! What I can do it work on my grandmother’s flower garden quilt! It is my car project and I really can’t wait to get back at it.

The plan is to have a king size quilt one day. But I think that will require a few more road trips!

But you want to know THE most exciting part of this trip???!!!

I am going to meet Brye for the first time in my life! We have been friends and business partners for years and tomorrow, we will finally ‘meet’. Wow!!! And I talked J into spending the evening ‘relaxing’ in the hotel spa so we can just gab and chatter about any old thing that comes to mind… Oh I can’t wait!

So get ready – because when I return (and maybe even before that, depending on grandpa’s internet connection? unlikely!) we will officially begin our Studi-O-rganization Challenge!

I wondered – should I post something like that? What would I say? It’s been so long – would you even care? But then I thought (and no offense) that I really don’t care if you care – because I care and this is my blog. so there!

Looking back at 2011 is pretty easy, actually. Because one word (well, 2 is you want to get technical) sums it UP pretty well. Yes, you know where I am going with this one.

SeamedUP swallowed 2011.

Oh I was happy to feed it, of course.

What a wonderfully fun little project. And by little I mean all encompassing, huge, and over the top in terms of brain power required.

And by fun I mean awesome, life changing, and addictive.

Working with Brye has been a treasure and treat. She is fun, funny, seriously talented, and so smart she makes my brain hurt. She is also matter of fact, to the point, and on task.

Thank goodness because while I would like to think I possess some of those necessary traits, let’s fact it, I am much more of an ‘idea girl’ than a follow-through girl. SeamedUP is teaching me to be both though, and that is definitely life changing!

But enough about that.

2011 also included these little people who keep a me on my toes and my house a mess. (I figure I can use them as the excuse for a less than pristine home for at least another 20 or so years…)

Just a regular day

Max is so wonderfully child-like.

He still giggles at the most silly things like when I say ‘momma love Maxie yeah yeah yeah’ or when we play the ‘blech you’re kissing me’ game.

This year has seen him learn to jump with 2 feet, throw a ball ‘forwards’, ride a bike, and push HIMSELF on a swing (can we get a hallelujah?).

He talks to himself all the time. I love to listen to his conversations. He makes jokes to himself, and then laughs at them! It is also the only time he doesn’t stutter.  Oh how freeing that must be for him.

For him I wish that 2012 brings him the ability to write his name (which he desperately wants to do), more fluent speech because I know he has so much to say, and the ability to build real friendships. It’s hard being Max. and also so terrifically easy. No real worries for him. child-like, right?

Totally talking to himself!

And Sarah.

Oy.

Sarah is a little girl through and through.

She wants everything and she wants it now. But then she doesn’t. She laughs until she decides it is time to cry (for real) and then she says things like ‘I’m not looking at you anymore!’ Gotta love her!

She is also the most cuddly little kid in the whole world – I wrap her warm little body into mine and feel genuine peace. And then she says ‘I always wanted a momma like you…’ and all of the5 year old drama is forgotten.

She is a wonderfully talented artist. Seriously. She stays IN THE LINES! She can write her name, all of our names, the names of her friends, and random words like ‘princess, love, and cute-pie’.

She writes!

She constantly asks how to spell words, does her best to READ new ones, and is serious when it comes to homework

{pre-school homework which is so stinkin’ cute and frustrating at the same time because they are twins and have the same homework and one struggles so much and then throws a major fit and the other one wants me to ‘watch her get it right!’ so homework has become a divide and conquer affair and they are only FIVE how many more years of this??}

Sarah does not like to stay in bed at night. She will come back downstairs at least 10 times. And who can argue when it’s because ‘she just wants a little more love?’ She plays me people, she really does!

For Sarah I wish that 2012 helps her bring those terrifically volatile emotions a little more under her OWN control. Oh, yes, I know that fits of frenzied ‘what the???’ will only continue and grow right up through her teenage years – but I wish that SHE can understand them. I also wish that the quest for knowledge continues to flourish and that she sits on my lap at the sewing machine. (ok fine, the last wish is more for me than for her…)

2012 also brought a new little person into my life! Baby Jack.

My sister’s little boy who is so delicious and almost a year old! I must finish his baby gift before he turns one because I am a seriously bad quilting aunt and did I mention that SeamedUP swallowed 2011???

Now that I have started writing this post – it is kind of hard to stop – but I will.

FOR NOW.

ONTO 2012 NEWS…..

I have a little plan for 2012 that includes making this total disaster area of studio

into something a little more like this…

The 2012 Studi-O-rganization CHALLENGE is on like donkey-kong to the break of dawn my friends!

Grab a button and hop on the studi-o-rganzation band wagon.

<a href=http://withinaquarterinch.wordpress.com/studi-o-rganization><img src=”https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-pRk0AHoX56A/Tv4kFt9wmnI/AAAAAAAAAQI/buZLyJDL2T8/s240/studio1.JPG” width=”200″ height=”175″ alt=”studi-o-rganization” /></a>

(thanks to my newest partner Jenny for fixing the ‘grad a button’ code for me!!)

Details to follow – but aren’t you totally digging the New Year tradition of organizing? I know I am!

There will be specific homework tasks, (like inventory, another new year tradition, let’s not forget that I am an accountant after all!), and fun projects (windows need curtains, right), and of course, a ton of ideas for keeping all of your delightful delights where YOU need them!

{and my wish for me??? let’s wait and see!}

Which is why Brye and I decided that SeamedUP needed a podcast of its own! The first episode is really about the site – why we started it, what it is, etc.

The second episode has a co-host which will be a continuing theme. The beginning of the show is about quilting! Because we love it so much! We have co-hosts that are quilters and we get to ask them lots of questions. Then there is a little site update because (see first sentence of this post!).

The co-host on episode 2 is Jaye Lapachet from http://artquiltmaker.com/blog

You can find the podcast by searching for ‘seamedup’ on itunes or listen online.

As always – we welcome feedback and if YOU would like to co-host just let me know:)