Hi everyone. I can see so well out of my left eye now after the cataract surgery last Monday that it is amazing. I am probably going to go ahead and have the right eye done in a month or thereabout afterall. Working on my fabric art this coming season is really going to be fun. Unfortunately, I can also see that the house needs a real cleaning, which I really couldn’t see before.
Well, first things first…and that’s the preparation for the sewing, quilting, fabric painting, and both free motion and in-the-hoop embroidery. I’ll be using all kinds of threads, because I enjoy that part of my fabric art so much.
Sew I have made a check list and am going through it and straightening my studio at the same time. My studio is not in bad shape, because I have found the reorganization I did with my friend Anita’s help several years back has held up pretty well. Basically, I just need to put things back where they belong and do a quick check to see what I may need to replace or give away.
Here’s my check list, making sure I have:
— A sufficient supply of sewing machine needles in the following sizes and types:
a: Assorted Superior titanium top stitch needles
b: Assorted Schmetz Super Non-Stick needles
c: A couple of packages of assorted Schmetz universal needles
— Yards of Pellon SF101 lightweight woven interfacing (I buy a bolt usually and back many of my quilting fabrics with this), and a generous supply of other weights and types of interfacing (especially since I use this for clothing too).
— Generous supply of the blackest quilting cotton, because I use a lot of black in my quilts. I love how colors play against the black.
— A nice selection of stabilizers, I particularly like OESD Ultra Clean and Tear
— A supply of blades for my rotary cutters
— Look critically at the rulers and cutting mats for knicks and cracks and toss and replace if needed
— How are my pins? (everyone has their own preferences here, so I am not adding a link)
— Check all the bobbins to make sure they aren’t warped or some such. The B880 bobbins have a silver paint on them that can wear off and make the bobbin unreadable for the machine. So I need to toss them when they get bad, but I generally do that along the way, and the more recent bobbins seem to last longer than the earlier ones.
— Test the threader on my machines to make sure they don’t need a replacement head or something, I just replaced the one on my Q20, and because this is a weak point in my Q20 I keep a spare on hand.
— Carefully clean my machines, oil if needed (don’t oil if not, because too much oil is as bad as too little).
— battings. I like to have on hand: Thermore super thin polyester (good for quilted clothes). Hobbs 80/20 , Hobbs Tuscany wool, and Hobbs Poly down. Since I seldom make bed-sized quilts, I buy a crib or throw size of those if available. If I am going to make a larger quilt I will buy the batting then. This way I usually have available what I need.
I will shop my stash and buy the fabrics I need to make them work as needed, so all I do here is make sure they are in their right places and more or less folded somewhat neatly. I labeled all the drawers and shelves where I keep them. Occasionally they sneak into the wrong drawer somehow. I can’t figure out how. LOL
I will do the same thing with my threads, because I have a large thread stash to go with my large fabric stash. I love both Superior threads and Wonderfil specialty threads and I have a wide selection of colors, weights, and fiber content. So I make sure they aren’t tangled in a nest and are in the right drawers or on the right pegs behind the door (I don’t store them where they get sunlight).
And last of all I dust and wipe down the tables, cutting mats, and outer parts of the machines, and dust and vacuum the studio. I wipe down my Q20 Koala table with Sullivan’s silicone spray, being sure to cover the bobbin/bsr area with blue painters tape (which I also may need to replace) so it doesn’t get into the works. It is such a great thing to be able to have things all stocked and ready to go for future projects and this usually takes me only a few days.
Now! Let the fun begin! First up is my 2 birds project, and then a couple of Holiday quilts, one will be a wool applique and embellishment by machine for Christmas and then something else for the Holiday season.
Sew happy everyone! Get ready to have fun in your studio!