Monday Giveaway: Cottagewood Quilts

Congratulations to Jodi for winning last week's giveaway!

Large florals, prints, plaids, and ticking stripes that evoke a cottage feeling are used in 8 projects in this 40 page book - Cottagewood Quilts by Lynette Jensen for Thimbleberries. Quilts are simple to make, some have applique. A yo-yo-table topper is included along with bed quilts, wall quilts, curtain, tie-back, and pillow sham -- all in cottage style that give a room that feeling.

--To be entered in this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post with your name.

--Post a link to this giveaway on your blog and leave a second comment with the blog post url and you will be entered twice in the giveaway.

--Comments will be open until next Monday, April 7th and the winner announced that same day.

--This giveaway is only available to US residents.

--You must leave an email address in the comments or link back to a blog so I can contact you if you win. If your name is selected and there is no way to contact you, another name will be chosen.

--You have one week to claim your prize. If the prize is not claimed, another name will be chosen.

Be sure to leave a comment to enter and then check back here next Monday to see if you're the winner and enter in another fun giveaway!

This giveaway has ended!

Take a peek into my sewing room: Storing projects

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Click the video player to view the tour of my sewing room. It may take a few minutes to load. For those of you with a dial-up connection, you can "view" the tour by reading my description below.
This is a series on sewing room organization and storage, complete with videos! Over the next few weeks, I'll share ideas for fabric stash organizing, thread storage and cataloging embroidery designs. Be sure to visit my blog every week or sign up for my newsletter for the latest issue!
I'd love to hear the many ways you organize and store things in your sewing room, so leave a comment with your favorite sewing room ideas!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfinished projects and finished projects: how do you store all of them? There are many ways to store all these projects, but let me give you some ideas as to what I do.

Unfinished projects: Most of my unfinished projects I don't store in my sewing room because I have so many, but I do keep a few things I am working on or continually working on in my sewing room.

Remember those pizza boxes? They make great storage boxes for project! Large pizza boxes are 15" square and 2" deep. They are great for storing 10", 12", 14", 15" quilt blocks with the threads you are using and instructions. You can also store fabric sashing pieces, binding and other smaller pieces of fabric.

Label the ends with mailing labels and you know what is inside. I keep smaller projects in these and store the boxes above my bookcases of fabric. Many of them contain projects that I am always making more of such as potato bags.

You can go to your local Pizza Hut and ask for a couple large pizza boxes. Medium and small boxes also work well, but don't give you as much room. Cover the boxes with cotton fabric and your box is ready to be filled up. These boxes work great for keeping blocks flat as well as carrying projects back and forth to class.

The majority of my projects I keep in 6" deep totes. They are just the right size to store everything project related inside: fabric, batting, threads, embellishments and instructions. The easiest thing to do is keep everything related to that project inside so that I can grab that tote and start working on what's inside. That way I don't have to go looking for the instructions, threads or other parts and pieces to finish it.

The totes are easy to stack and easy to carry around. Label the end of the tote with what is inside and you'll be able to see at a glance where your projects are.

Finished projects: Granted, I have many more unfinished projects than finished ones. But, I do have finished projects as well. They definitely need to be stored in such a way that will preserve them for years to come!

Store your finished projects in pillow cases instead of plastic bags. If at all possible with smaller wall hangings and projects, store them flat. For larger wall hangings and quilts that can't be stored flat, roll them instead of folding them. This will keep delicate areas such as printed photos, embroidery and embellishments from being folded in the wrong place. Roll it so the embellished areas are to the inside, keeping the top of your project clean and protected.

For more info on storing finished projects, see here.

Stay tuned next week for a quick and easy way to cover pizza boxes using your iron!

How do you store your projects, unfinished or finished? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Donna's room "before" - Sewing room guest post

This is one of several sewing room guest posts I'll be posting in the next couple of weeks. If you would like to have some ideas and photos from your sewing room posted, just email me (info @ embtreasures.com - remove spaces).

Donna is a quilter and embroiderer from Arizona with such a sweet and creative personality! I was delighted when she posted her sewing room photos in our MJE online classroom. Here is a bit from her sewing room, the "before" images. Stay tuned in the weeks to come for some "after" images!

I took pictures of my sewing spaces, which span 3 rooms. It will make you gasp! It will make you cringe! Look if you dare!

From the doorway, you can see that I have just carved a walkway to get through the room!



Just a little of my stash.



In this armoire, and in other areas, I have projects set up in plastic containers. Each contains the pattern & fabric.



This area shows my "regular" sewing machine & work space with all my jewelry supplies as well.



This is my desk area, or "cockpit" as I think of it.



This bookshelf houses my embroidery designs and paperwork.



Here are all the books and yet more bins of fabric and accessories!



For times that I need more room, I've set up 2 plastic tables that have my serger and embroidery machine.



Fabric, fabric everywhere!

Thanks for sharing your "before" pictures of your sewing room, Donna! We will look forward to the "after" pictures as well!

Monday Giveaway: A Rainbow of Quilts

Congratulations to Jane, Morgan's Mom for winning last week's giveaway!

A Rainbow of Quilts is a collection of quilts from every color of the rainbow!

The one-color quilts found in this book, quilting a Rainbow of Quilts by various artists/authors, make selecting fabric so easy that you may decide to make all your quilts of one colors. There are 9 quilts to stitch, one for every color or the rainbow and more!

--To be entered in this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post with your name.

--Post a link to this giveaway on your blog and leave a second comment with the blog post url and you will be entered twice in the giveaway.

--Comments will be open until next Monday, March 31th and the winner announced that same day.

--This giveaway is only available to US residents.

--You must leave an email address in the comments or link back to a blog so I can contact you if you win. If your name is selected and there is no way to contact you, another name will be chosen.

--You have one week to claim your prize. If the prize is not claimed, another name will be chosen.

Be sure to leave a comment to enter and then check back here next Monday to see if you're the winner and enter in another fun giveaway!

This giveaway has ended!

Yes, interruptions do occur...

While videotaping my class lessons, interruptions do occur. Like this one:

Finished! :)

After this fiasco last week, I was able to finish stitching this design!!!

I was ever so glad to see the "design successfully finished" message!!! :)

Sign up now for April MJE class!!

The days are flying by and there's less than two weeks before we start our MarJen for Error online quilt class. If you haven't signed up yet and would still like to participate email me (info @ embtreasures.com - remove spaces).

• Receive detailed instructions every month!
• Download videos so you can actually "see" how to do each technique!
• Email me at any time with questions or if you need any help with your quilt!
• Join our online classroom to chat with other class members, share ideas and upload photos!

More details here...

Quilts featured on CBS

If you missed the CBS Morning Show last Sunday featuring quilting, The Quilt Show and Ricky Tims, you can see the whole interview online. Go here and search for quilts for sale and a video link will pop up that you can watch.

Screws & nuts; The overlooked factor in machine embroidery

A well digitized design, correct stabilizer, proper stabilizing methods and quality fabric and thread are all keys to a great stitched embroidery design. But there is one very important factor that often gets overlooked - the hoop screw and nut. If all the above are achieved, but the screw or nut in your hoop is stripped or close to it, your design is not going to meet your expectations or meet disaster before it's finished stitching.

Like mine did last week.

With the constant tightening and loosening of that little hoop screw, it will get striped over time. If you reach a point where you tighten your hoop, but the screw keeps slipping or the inner hoop just never seems to tighten enough to keep your stabilizer taunt, check the screw and nut.

Many times either the screw or nut will be stripped, not both. Most commonly it is the nut. Slip a new nut on the screw, checking to be sure the threads are not stripped. If it is still slipping, then check the old nut with a new screw. Put the new screw or nut into the hoop and tighten with stabilizer to be sure your hoop is ready for stitching.

If you start stitching a design with a stripped screw or nut, the stabilizer and fabric is not going to be held tightly as the design is stitching. Not only will you end up with puckers galore in your fabric, you run the risk of the inner hoop popping out of the outer hoop and therefore - disaster!

Keep an eye on your hoop screw and nut. If you do lots of machine embroidery, you will need to change it every 6 months to 1 year. I keep extra screws and nuts on hand so when I notice my hoop not tightening my stabilizer as it should, I can insert a new set. With my hoops, I usually have to change my nut or screw (most often it is the nut) every 6 months. Ask your machine dealer for extra screws and nuts.

You may not have to change yours that often, but you will notice when your hoop starts to lose its tension. If your inner hoop is not securely inside the outer hoop, the best digitized designs, perfect stabilizers, greatest stabilizing methods and quality fabric and threads won't do you a bit of good!

Recycled fabric swap update

Boxes and packages full of swappable fabric are moving about the country! I haven't received any emails recently to those who have received or sent the fabric swap package on, so if you have your package or have mailed it to the next person, please email me (info @ embtreasures.com - remove spaces)! Thanks!

Here is the most recent update according to my knowledge:

Smorgasbord envelope - Lynn, you should have received the package. If you haven't, email me and I'll get back in touch with DeAnn. Be sure to email me, Lynn, when you mail the package to Karen.

Solids envelope - Sandy should have the package and should be mailing it on to Cleary.

Smorgasbord box #1 - This box of fabric seems to have been lost, so I mailed out a new box today, March 17th to Sue. You, Sue, should be receiving the box in the next couple of days. Let me know when you get it.

Here's the new box contents for box #1:

Smorgasbord box #2 - Patricia should have the box at the moment. Let me know when you send it on to Ruth.

Thanks, everyone for your participation! There's nothing more fun than to receive a package full of fabric to shop from in the mail! It just makes your day!

Just be sure to email me when you send on the package as this makes it much easier for me to track it if it comes up missing and in answering emails to those further down the list. Appreciate it so much!! :)

Our next fabric swap starts in June! Discover more details here! Check out our new International swap and Fat Quarter swap! You won't want to miss out!

Connie's thread rack - Sewing room guest post

This is one of several sewing room guest posts I'll be posting in the next couple of weeks. If you would like to have some ideas and photos from your sewing room posted, just email me (info @ embtreasures.com - remove spaces).

Connie is a clever quilter and embroiderer from New York and created this wonderful thread rack that I just loved and thought was so unique!

She received a gift from a friend that happened to be wrapped in a small crate. She found two more creates and glued them together to create the thread holder that sits on the table behind her embroidery machine.

With two yardsticks, she formed the uprights and thread guide at the top. In the top yardstick, she screwed 18 small eye hooks, 1 1/2" apart. The hooks guide the thread to the machine and keep the threads from getting tangled up with each other.

She can have all her colors threaded through the hooks and ready to go! It saves so much time!

Thanks for sharing your thread rack with us, Connie! What a fantastic and useful tool to keep in your sewing room!

Monday Giveaway: Shades of purples fat quarters

Congratulations to Dee for winning last week's giveaway!!

Lavender...lilac...grape - the color shades of purple in seven fat quarters!

These luscious pieces are from Holly Taylor's Natural Garden collection and they would fit beautifully into any quilt! Another great addition to your fabric stash!

--To be entered in this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post with your name.

--Post a link to this giveaway on your blog and leave a second comment with the blog post url and you will be entered twice in the giveaway.

--Comments will be open until next Monday, March 24th and the winner announced that same day.

--This giveaway is only available to US residents.

--You must leave an email address in the comments or link back to a blog so I can contact you if you win. If your name is selected and there is no way to contact you, another name will be chosen.

--You have one week to claim your prize. If the prize is not claimed, another name will be chosen.

Be sure to leave a comment to enter and then check back here next Monday to see if you're the winner and enter in another fun giveaway!

This giveaway has ended.

The Quilt Show to be on CBS Sunday Morning Show

Quilting will be taking front stage as the CBS Morning Show interviews Ricky Tims from The Quilt Show. The tentative date is set for Sunday, March 16, 2008. Be sure to set your VCR or DVD to record so you don't miss this great event!

When disaster strikes, not once, not twice, not three times, but four times!

Oh...I had such great plans for today(and thankfully the day is not yet over)! Since I had a bunch of computer work caught up yesterday, today my plan was to sew and embroider all day! Exciting, yes I know! Until the first disaster struck...

I hooped my stabilizer, noticing slightly that my hoop screw was starting get stripped and my stabilizer was not as quite as taunt as I like it, but deciding it would be ok to stitch one more design. I stuck my fabric down and started stitching my rose design.

The first couple of thread colors stitched and I noticed more puckers than normal in the fabric. I smoothed down the fabric eliminating a few puckers, saying to myself that it will be ok and I can press out those puckers that are there.

I'm on the 9th color and there are more and more puckers and ripples in the fabric. I'm now thinking, "It will be ok. I just have to make it to the end of this design." Here's a glimpse of the puckers and they are 10 times worse seeing the actual fabric verses a photo.

With each stitch the machine is taking, the inner hoop is getting looser and looser inside the outer hoop. I know what could happen and keep hoping it won't: the inner hoop popping out of the outer hoop right in the middle of stitching!

Just completely ignore the fact that my sticky, dirty hoop
is in desperate need of cleaning. I can't believe
I'm actually posting this photo!

I'm keeping an eye on it, checking it every few minutes and finally breath a sigh of relief when it's on the final color. The last color outline starts on one rose and as it moves to the opposite end of the hoop it happens...

...the inner hoop slides right out of the outer hoop and the machine just keeps on stitching...

I should interject at this point and mention that this is the 9th design on this one panel of fabric that it has a total of 10 designs, so I'm almost done. And each design has over 30,000 stitches and takes over an hour to stitch. Ummm....there is no way I want to start over with this piece of fabric....

As soon as I saw it, I stopped the machine and knew at this point, it was not going to be ok. I had to do something. Ever so carefully I shoved the inner hoop with stabilizer/fabric back into the outer hoop ring, hoping it would somehow, be somewhat close to where it should be.

See where is started stitching before I
snapped the fabric back into place?

Thankfully the last color is shading so the slight movement of the fabric would never be noticed. If it were an outline, I would be in trouble. And thankfully I caught it before the machine had stitched too much to the fabric without actually being attached to the hoop.

Puckers galore to press out of the fabric! See the puckers on the front and back? Your design should never look like this if the hoop is correctly tightened!

I was more than relieved to finally have the design finished, but knew some massive pressing would be needed to get the fabric to lay flat with all those puckers. As I started pressing, I soon discovered that I hadn't cleaned my iron from my last project and now I not only have puckers in my panel of fabric, but also little brown marks - disaster #2.

Having pressed the puckers and taken care of the brown marks, I decided that the worst was over and I could stitch the 10th and final design on this panel. I changed my hoop nut which was stripped and keeping the hoop from tightening as it should, hooped my stabilizer, stuck on my fabric and started stitching.

Oh...so much better without all those puckers forming with every stitch! The worst part of the day is over - hooray! Until I get to the 9th color and realize that I stitched the 8th color with the wrong color of thread - disaster #3. To make matters worse, I had already done that once earlier in the week.

Taking the hoop out of the machine, I ripped the tiny little step stitches of color 8 and started stitching that same color with the correct color of thread. I moved onto color 9 and disaster #4 strikes. With less than 1 minute left and only a small space yet to stitch, I run out of thread.

And the really sad part is that if I would have stitched color 8 with the correct color of thread in the first place instead of the thread for color 9, I would have enough thread! That's the really disastrous part!

I hope, really hope, that there is not disaster #5 lurking about somewhere in the rest of the day.

So now that you've heard about my wonderful, disaster-filled morning, how was yours? Hopefully your day of stitching was not quite as eventful as mine! :)

A few links of interest

Spring is on its way and with that comes the annual Spring cleaning and guess what?! That also includes your sewing room! Janet from about.com shares some of her favorite tools to keep the little things organized. She makes mention of throwing things in baskets intending to sort them later and says "later has a way of turning into much later." I can agree and identify! :)

The International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska is opening March 30, 2008. If you are unable to visit, you can view the 2,300 quilt collection online. They have a quilting library available and quilting classes that will even give you college credit!

You've got to take a look at these neat embroidered diaper bags at Lazy Girl Designs! The embellishment is so cute and of course it's machine embroidery!

Designs Sew Fine has some cute embroidery designs that might perk your interest. I have not personally stitched these designs, but they seem to be quality designs.

Tipnut shares how to make a notebook and pencil holder from One Red Robin. Cute, neat, but also very practical!

Take a peek into my sewing room: Bookcase fabric covers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click the video player to view the tour of my sewing room. It may take a few minutes to load. For those of you with a dial-up connection, you can "view" the tour by reading my description below.
This is a series on sewing room organization and storage, complete with videos! Over the next few weeks, I'll share ideas for fabric stash organizing, thread storage and cataloging embroidery designs. Be sure to visit my blog every week or sign up for my newsletter for the latest issue!
I'd love to hear the many ways you organize and store things in your sewing room, so leave a comment with your favorite sewing room ideas!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because I have my fabric stored on shelves in an open bookcase, I needed to create some kind of cover to keep my fabric clean, keep it from fading and keep it hidden at times. The fabric covers I made are just like roman shades. They pull up with a cord, bunch at the top when open and then are let down by releasing the cord. I really enjoy them because I don't have open doors in my way when I'm looking through my fabric.

My fabric covers are made from 100% Kona cotton fabric. It is a double layer of fabric to provide great durability. The width of the cover is the width of the bookcase plus a seam on each side. With wrong sides together, I stitched the two side seams and then turned the fabric to the outside and edge stitched the two sides to finish the sides of the cover.

The length of the cover is the height of the bookcase plus several inches for attaching to the top and 10-15 inches for the rod pockets. There are five rod pockets for the length of the cover. The pockets are 1 1/4", which means that I needed an additional 2 1/2" for each rod pocket.

A flat wooden rod that is 3/4" - 1" wide easily fits into each rod pocket. The wooden rods give the fabric support as it is pulled up and let down. The wooden rods are slightly shorter than the width of the cover.

On the back of the cover, on each rod pocket, I stitched a 1/2" plastic ring. There are three rings spaced out on each pocket: one in the middle and one on each side. These are just hand tacked to the back of the rod pocket only, not through the pocket or the rod would not be able to be inserted. In addition to the rings being on each pocket, they are also at the very top of the cover.

The plastic rings guide and hold the cording in place. There are three rows of cording. One row of cording through each set of rings down the length of the cover. The cording is securely knotted in the bottom ring and then strung through each ring going straight up the cover to the top.

At the top the cording joins together to one side and needs a very secure knot to hold the three rows of cording together. I placed a cord holder on the side of my bookcase to wrap the cord around to hold open the cover. All I have to do is release the cords and my cover will drop back down to cover my fabric.

The cover is attached to the bookcase by overlapping the fabric several inches on top of the bookcase and then stapling the fabric to the wood. It works great!!

click to enlarge

Click here for printable directions.

Monday Giveaway: Let's Make Triangles

Congratulations to auntie-c for winning last week's giveaway!

A brand new book by Billie Lauder - Let's Make Triangles!

In this book, Billie starts you out with her quick techniques for sewing half square and quarter square triangles. Next a little practice with Churn Dash and Pinwheels. Now on the Shaded Nine Patch and variations. Learn her Off With Their Head technique and variations on the Wonderland. Finish with her Pop Quiz Sampler.

This is a fun little book with valuable quilt block techniques!

--To be entered in this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post with your name.

--Post a link to this giveaway on your blog and leave a second comment with the blog post url and you will be entered twice in the giveaway.

--Comments will be open until next Monday, March 17th and the winner announced that same day.

--This giveaway is only available to US residents.

--You must leave an email address in the comments or link back to a blog so I can contact you if you win. If your name is selected and there is no way to contact you, another name will be chosen.

--You have one week to claim your prize. If the prize is not claimed, another name will be chosen.

Be sure to leave a comment to enter and then check back here next Monday to see if you're the winner and enter in another fun giveaway!

This giveaway has ended.

Q & A Fabric storage: How many yards are in there??

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Caution: If you really don't want to know how much fabric you are hoarding in your stash, you better skip reading this post. Because if I tell how much I have, you have to tell me how much you have hidden in your sewing room! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How much material does one book case hold?

--Val

Good question! Being as organized as I am and try to be, you would think I know about how much fabric I have sitting on my shelves. Ummm.....the answer is no, I really have no idea! I have not counted the yardage stacked behind those green fabric covers.

When I read Val's question in my Inbox today, I knew a counting yardage party was in order. I too, am curious to see how much I've got!

As I started on one stack of fabric, I estimated what was in each piece. Some of them I knew how much I had because I can recall my fabric buying guidelines at the time I bought it. I came up with one pile of fabric on only one shelf being around 50 yards.

That can't be right, can it? 50 yards? Ok, so being the perfectionist person that I am, I took every piece of fabric from that pile and measured each one. Amazingly I came to the same result: 50-60 yards.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? If one pile of fabric on only one shelf is 50 yards and there are three piles of fabric on five shelves multiplied by two bookcases, can you imagine the amount of yardage?

Let's do the math:

50 yards per pile x 3 piles for one shelf = 150 yards
150 yards per shelf x 5 shelves for one bookcase = 750 yards
750 yards per bookcase x 2 bookcases = 1,500 yards

Yes, you read that correctly, 1,500 yards! A conservative number.

But.....if you consider that two shelves of flannel take up a bit more room than cotton, so those shelves would loose a little yardage and not every shelf is full, then I might be able to reduce the yardage to 1,000.

But.....when you consider that I have about three piles of fabric from my stash that are 16" high sitting on my cutting table that were not in that original count, I might as well say I have, at the very minimum, 1,500 yards.

And that doesn't count my most recent batik buying splurge last week which is still sitting in a gigantic sack just waiting to be added to my shelves.

Keep in mind that this is my personal stash of fabric. Having an online fabric shop, I have a full inventory of fabric, but this is not that. This is just my very own, personal stash I've built up...very high, apparently.

Oh my, oh my, I think I need to reevaluate my fabric buying guidelines to read as follows:

• It's a piece I love and can use it in various ways, 0 yards.
• It's something I like and don't have anything that is similar, 0 yards.
• I absolutely love it but don't have any idea what I will use it for, 0 yards.
• It's unique and different, but not my favorite, 0 yards.
• It's on sale for a fantastic price & can be used in a hundred different ways, 0 yards.
• I'm using it for a project right now, 0 yards - use something from my stash!
• It's a solid, marbled, textured, or tone on tone print that can easily be used to stitch embroidery designs on, plus many other uses, 0 yards.
• It's a novelty fabric, floral design, kid's theme or Christmas print and I love it, 0 yards.

Basically my new rule is: zip, zilch, no, 0 new yards of fabric!

I'll...um....see how long that lasts and let you know....

Ok, so this has me curious!!! I told you my secret (hopefully no one in my family is reading this!), so now you can tell me yours!

How much fabric do you have sitting in your sewing room? I challenge you to estimate your stash yardage and leave a comment (if you dare!) with the number! Please don't tell me I am the only one with a massive stash of fabric!!

Take a peek into my sewing room: Fabric storage

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click the video player to view the tour of my sewing room. It may take a few minutes to load. For those of you with a dial-up connection, you can "view" the tour by reading my description below.
This is a series on sewing room organization and storage, complete with videos! Over the next few weeks, I'll share ideas for fabric stash organizing, thread storage and cataloging embroidery designs. Be sure to visit my blog every week or sign up for my newsletter for the lastest issue!
I'd love to hear the many ways you organize and store things in your sewing room, so leave a comment with your favorite sewing room ideas!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are many ways to store and organize your fabric collection. The most important thing is that your fabric is protected from the light, kept clean from dust and organized in such a way that you can find what you need.

I store my large pieces of fabric, larger than a 1/4 yard, in my two bookcases with fabric covers. Above these two bookcases I have two totes where I store small and large scraps.

Inside my small scraps tote are small scraps of fabric and various quilt blocks that are leftover from projects. They are perfect for applique or color reference, but none of them are larger than a 18" square. The second tote is labeled as large scraps. These pieces are bigger than the small scraps such as fat quarters and pieces of fabric that are less than 1/4" yard.

The two bookcases that store my fabric have five shelves each. They 6' tall by 30" wide with the shelves being 12" deep and the space between shelves varies from 12"-14". I have three piles of fabric on each shelf. If I fold my fabric lengthwise into a 10" width and then fold it in half across the fabric width, it fits perfectly on the shelf with the folded edge facing out.

One bookcase holds my solids, marbles, tone on tone pieces and Christmas fabric. I do also have some polyester ultrasuede and felt, which I use for stitching embroidery designs on the top shelf. Otherwise all of the other fabrics are 100% cotton.

The fabrics are sorted by color - whites, blacks, ivory & tans, pinks, purples, yellows & golds & browns, maroons & reds, blues and greens. Each pile of color is sorted by lighter to darker shades. The bottom shelf holds my Christmas fabric which consists of reds & greens, ivory & golds and blues & whites.

The second bookcase holds all my prints and flannels. Flannels are on the bottom two shelves. They are grouped by solids and prints. The next shelf holds two piles of novelty prints such as butterflies, apples, leaves, quilting, hearts, etc. The third pile on this shelf holds baby and kids prints such as bears, bunnies and Noah's ark.

The fourth shelf has a pile of western & farm prints, a pile of geometric, stripes, checks & borders and then starts my pile of florals. The fifth shelf holds the majority of my florals sorted by color: purple, green, ivory & white, blue, red and yellow.

I love my fabric covers that cover my bookcases because I can raise them and keep them open while I am looking for the fabric I need or I can stuff everything inside and close the shade and no one can see my vast collection of fabric!


How do you store your fabric? What are some of your favorite storage ideas! I'd love to hear your comments! :)


Stay tuned next week for how I made my bookcase fabric covers!

Doreen's sewing room - Sewing room guest post

This is one of several sewing room guest posts I'll be posting in the next couple of weeks. If you would like to have some ideas and photos from your sewing room posted, just email me (info @ embtreasures.com - remove spaces).

Doreen is a creative quilter and embroiderer from Canada. Here is Doreen's sewing room:

Look at this clever ideas for hiding storage areas! She put sticky back velcro on the edge of the shelves and stitched the other side of the velcro the the quilt blocks/wall hangings. The storage area is covered up and it's a great way to display quilt blocks and wall hangings.

Doreen has lots of light peeking into her sewing room with the large glass windows. Lots of light - great to have! And her colorful drawers holding her threads are conveniently located next to her sewing machine and table to easily get to things.

This is her book storage area with treadle sewing machine nearby.

And a quilt draped over some seating area for visitors to drop by and say hi! Just look at all those windows with all the light they provide!

Thanks, Doreen, for sharing your sewing room and creative ideas with us! The ideas are abundant that we can share with each other, so let's share thoughts and ideas! Email me your creative sewing room, no matter whether it's large or small!

Monday Giveaway: Moda reds & greens

Congratulations to Grams who won last week's prize!

Get an early start on Christmas with these beautiful reds and greens from Moda Fabrics.

These luscious pieces are from Holly Taylor's Natural Garden collection and they would fit beautifully into any quilt! A great addition to your fabric stash!

--To be entered in this giveaway, just leave a comment on this post with your name.

--Post a link to this giveaway on your blog and leave a second comment with the blog post url and you will be entered twice in the giveaway.

--Comments will be open until next Monday, March 10th and the winner announced that same day.

--This giveaway is only available to US residents.

--You must leave an email address in the comments or link back to a blog so I can contact you if you win. If your name is selected and there is no way to contact you, another name will be chosen.

--You have one week to claim your prize. If the prize is not claimed, another name will be chosen.

Be sure to leave a comment to enter and then check back here next Monday to see if you're the winner and enter in another fun giveaway!

This giveaway has ended.

Fusible batting tutorial from Cherry House Quilts

Have you used fusible batting on some of your quilts and wall hangings and been either happy or disappointed in the results? Fusible batting has been something I've stayed away from for larger quilts for the main fact being that I'm concerned of the wrinkles that can happen when fusing on batting. But I've used it on smaller projects and been pleased with the results.

Here is how Cherri from Cherry House Quilts uses fusible batting and it looks to be quick and easy. I will have to give it a try!