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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Moving Stash, and Moving Forward!

This is what I saw when I walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room/living room area this morning.  an OCEAN of brown, green, red and neutrals!

Each color  representing only HALF of what is in each cabinet, because I only needed to lighten the load by half for us to be able to move the cabinets one by one with a hand truck.

I got a big kick out of all the comments on last evening’s post when I was lamenting having to move all of this ---

But you know what?  All of this represents not just FABRIC.  ((okay, I am wondering just a bit how much $$$ I have sunk into my “collection”!)) But it holds my hopes, my dreams, my visions and possibilities of quilts to come.

You are right – I’m not a mall rat, I don’t spend my money on expensive clothes, shoes or purses.  I am an artist and my fabric is my paint, plain and simple!

I have to thank Lenore for sending me this slogan off of one of her t-shirts:

stashfunny1
PERFECTION!!

I am using mine all the time!  Just this week I’ve cleaned out 18 yards in just backings and bindings alone ---no guilt here!

So this is what happened yesterday when DH got home from work:

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The half empty cabinets got moved with the hand truck to the newly carpeted area.

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I have a strange zig-zag shaped basement – all the other “STUFF” got pushed to the far end where the back door and the freezer/extra fridge is.  Those postal boxes are what I use to take book orders to the post office,but last night they became stash haulers!  They will get back to their postal job on Monday.

house 047

This paneled wall is where the stash cabinets “WERE”.  There is one more left at the far end yet to be moved.  The open door goes to the “lawn mower” garage and DH’s workroom.  This is the side of the basement that has mostly been “mud room”.  It has no heating vents…just a hard, cold concrete floor –we are covering that up with the carpet tiles.  It gets very cold in this unheated side of the basement in the winter, so we are looking for a space heater or something to make it more user friendly.  For the past 5 years it’s just kept my fabric in cold storage during the winter!

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after applying a thin layer of adhesive to the floor with a roller, we let it dry for a couple hours.  When it was dry enough to the touch, we went down and started placing the tiles.  The pattern on the tiles is asymetrical, totally wonky, and I love the designs I can get while twisting and turning them.  It’s like a carpet string-quilt kaleidoscope!  It feels better under my feet already.

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A better shot of one corner of the section we’ve layed.  Lines do not always match up, they are very wonky on PURPOSE.  It makes perfection less of an issue, and I love the optical illusion!

We talked last night about painting those paneled walls and decided against it.  The cabinets hide most of that wall.  It would take much more time to paint the paneling – because then ALL THE WALLS in the basement would have to be painted .  We would rather leave it as is right now.  I use pretty much every inch of wall space, so the color of the walls down here is not that crucial to me.  This side of the basement isn't a living area, it's a storage area.

We did agree on the design wall idea, though!  So I am off to Lowes yet again today to pick up a couple foam insulation boards and some flannel sheets.

We’ll be working on the basement quite a bit over the weekend…..but here’s where QuiltCam can come in to give me a break ----DH *MUST* take time out this afternoon for the Boise State Bronco’s game that starts at 3:30pm Eastern.  I’m thinking I’ll be free to turn on the QuiltCam about 3PM today.  I know that’s an hour later than I’ve done on weekends before, but getting this basement taken care of is #1 priority!

I’ll send an update later to let you know if we are a go or not, but plan about 3pm!

38 comments:

  1. I have a wonderful design wall that I covered with white flannel I purchased. Batting went on first and then the flannel. When it gets too thread covered I use my dirt devil and give a quick vacuumn. It is so nice to have. Your carpet tiles are amazing. Nice job.

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  2. Love the floor tiles. I am moving and have just loaded the car with part of stash. Can't lift so have to take it in bags or armloads. Seriously re-thinking that downstairs bedroom I was planning. Maybe a sewing studio so I don't have to carry it all back UP the steps. Coming down was bad enough. :) Don't work too hard you definitely will need that football/sewing break! Unfortunately, I will be on the road and won't be able to tune in. Then have to wait for Frankenstorm to arrive in central VA Thanks for sharing!

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  3. A friend of mine went to a workshop by Kaffe Fassett recently. he recommends using a taupe coloured design wall because when arranging blocks on a white design wall, the white shines through the cracks between the blocks and can throw off your block arrangements. the taupe background tends to blend more and not interfere with the design. I think this makes a lot of sense and when I make my design wall, I will be using taupe.

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  4. I have a very large room for my sewing space that we added on to our house. I used 2 foam core boards from Home Depot duct taped together then covered in 2" gridded flannel I got at a quilt shop. Gives me an 8' square design wall and I love it. The gridded flannel was also duct taped to the back around the edges. It has only straight pins nailed into the wall around the edges holding it up and has done great for 6 years now. Will hold a very large quilt. I use a lint roller occasionally to remove threads. And to add to the comment above about Kaffe Fasset, took a class from him in Houston a few years ago and he asked us each to bring our own small design wall in gray or taupe flannel. I bought a piece of gray flannel for that class and never used it since. Love my white gridded flannel huge design wall. I would not like that big of a space to be gray or taupe. Personal preference. Packing today for a week in Houston!!

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  5. Love your choice of floor tiles. Beautiful. That is a huge job, moving all that fabric, but look at how nice it looks, and how warm it will feel under your feet. And, you got a design wall too...a win win situation! Hope to be around at 3:00.
    Grace
    gmp505@aol.com

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  6. Your floors look GREAT,Bonnie. I'll probably miss quilt cam as I have three acres of leaves to rake up and only the weekend to do it, lol! The bad part is, there are still just as many leaves on the trees that haven't fallen yet!

    Gail :)

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  7. P.S. Bonnie, just noticing that you have some lovely antique furniture in that corner of your basement!

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  8. The important thing is making it work for you. Funny how even though we all share this hobby our spaces are different and we organize differently but it works for us. Stop by and see my sewing room sometime (scroll down to the second sewing room post for the room). It works for me but certainly wouldn't for everyone. I'm excited to see it when you're finished.
    Cindy

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  9. Bonnie I am so jealous of your stash.... but I am working on mine... I am loving the color of the carpet you are putting down,, it is beautiful... looks like a quilt...any way I am also enjoying your quilt cam very much new to your blog too,, my first comment though,,, I have a blog just have not posted in a while,, will have to do that soon... can't wait to see the finished studio....

    Hugs;
    Alaura

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  10. Bonnie I am so jealous of your stash.... but I am working on mine... I am loving the color of the carpet you are putting down,, it is beautiful... looks like a quilt...any way I am also enjoying your quilt cam very much new to your blog too,, my first comment though,,, I have a blog just have not posted in a while,, will have to do that soon... can't wait to see the finished studio....

    Hugs;
    Alaura

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  11. We have three Eden Pure heaters that we use to supplement our propane space heaters and they do a very good job. You even have an authorized repairman in Asheville that sometimes has refurbished ones for sale. If you have webcam this afternoon I will be sewing along.

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  12. I love your stash and I wouldn't apologize for one piece of it! Your basement is going to look really great - love the carpet tiles. I have a big design wall that my DH made for me and boy, is it handy. I used to use a cream flannel, but after a visit to Primitive Gatherings, I changed it to black flannel. That's what Lisa had used at the retreat house and it really makes most blocks pop. I like it much better than my old one.

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  13. It's looking really good Bonnie. I'm sure that your feet will love you for the new "strings" you've added!

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  14. This is a big job!!! OY! But it'll be great once it is finished. I'd love a design wall but the only place I have to hang it is in front of a sliding glass door that gets the full afternoon sun...I'm afraid blocking the heat against the glass would crack it. Maybe I'll figure another way someday. PS LOVE the stash photos!!! If Sandy knocks our power out, stash sorting is on my to do list!!!

    Lori in VA

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  15. Hi Bonnie, I've had to move my stash 3 times this year. Good luck with yours. My husband and I travel alot so I use a portable hanging design wall made from a plastic table cloth. The back fuzzy side out. My blocks and pieces stick to this wonderfully. See you on quiltcam.

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  16. Wish I coulf sew with you this afternoon, but attending DD's graduation. On the plus side I now have a daughter with a BA

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  17. those cupboards are freaking awesome! aren't you afraid of threads taking over that carpet? Do you have a super-duper sucking machine? I love the pattern you chose, but I know with beagles, sewing, and my general lackadaisical cleaning habits what that would look like in my house within a week ;-)

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  18. We did that last winter and hubby says NEVER again! If we move, I'm either having sale or we're hiring movers.

    I had my sewing studio in our lowest level, and hubby had his office in a spare bedroom. I had my cutting room in another spare bedroom. Seemed like we spent all night in our "rooms" and ignored each other. (he's in sales and does his bookwork at night) Soooo... we decided to move my sewing up to those two bedrooms, and have our other rooms together down stairs.

    Our house is a goofy 4 level, so we had three half-flights of stairs to carry all my fabric UP. I have a picture of it all in a pile, it's not pretty, very hoarders looking that way! It measured about 12'x12'x4' high :0 (See why I bought your books!) I stacked my folded fabric into kitchen size trash bags, and marked them with location, so I didn't have to re-stack my... *cough...15 cabinets. We weighed one bag to see how much it was, about 30 lbs! So I have a ton of fabric..oh my! All going UP stairs. The big furniture coming down was no fun either!

    Of course we had to shampoo rungs while the rooms were emptied, and decided to put wood floor in one bedroom before I moved in. Funny you said that about painting walls, we had the same thing and decided why bother if it's all covered up? So in all it took us about 2 months to get finished.
    Some day, my kids are going to hate me!
    Deb

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  20. Hi Bonnie, it's great to see your stash, everytime when my husband thinks that my stash is big I'll show him yours of someone elses with a large stash. He only says "WOW"
    So thanks for the pictures, have fun rearranging everything. It's going to look great.
    Henny

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  21. Every time I buy fabric for my stash, I think of it as an investment in my retirement fund. The fabric will be there for me when I retire and it will keep me very busy until I retire as well as after I retire!

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  22. I love how the tiles work in the room :D I'll be moving sometime in the future and I LOVE my current sewing room. It's a converted garage to a room, and I have soooo much room. I have throw rugs over a wood floor and it' easy to keep up (or should be if I paid more attention to it!) My stash mirrors yours LOL

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  23. Such a neat carpet Bonnie. I'm so happy for you. I used quilt batting on my design wall and it lasted for as long as I had it, but I guess flannel sheets would look nicer. Maybe if you wash them, they will fluff up, I've never used a flannel sheet. Will be interesting to see. It will be pretty. Well, you are sure getting your workout doing this project! Don't overdo, take care of yourself. My hubby is watching the GA/FL game today. I'll plan to sew along with you.

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  24. Bonnie, are you anywhere near the path of Hurricane Sandy?

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  25. i love my design wall...it is my favorite part of my studio! cant wait to spend some time with you and our fellow quilters all over the world this afternoon!

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  26. I just wish I had a space as big as yours for my quilting stuff, carpet or no. I was thinking though that while plain dirt might not show up on the carpet, threads & lint will. Probably Sadie hair too. You need all dark-haired pets. :) Let's face it, SOMETHING always shows not matter the color of the flooring. The design wall is a great idea.

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  27. Love the carpet tiles, Bonnie. Like the "wonky" design too! Ummm... we won't talk about stash .... I just moved over 50 large storage tubs (56?) gallon from NY to NC .... :-)

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  28. As to your stash....at the price of fabric nowadays it's money in the bank!!!

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  29. Love the new flooring! Re: Stash... Try rebuilding a stash now with fabric at 11$ a yard, and you'll appreciate your stash all the more! I spent $300 at the quilt shop yesterday,(Gulp!) for two quilt projects. I didn't get the deal on Bali fabrics you did in Bali! Your just living the quilters dream gal! We salute you and your stash!

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  30. Anonymous3:07 PM EDT

    Bonnie, the floor is looking great! And your *stash* is not a *stash* it is your *working tools*! lol
    I'm ready to join rows together so will look forward to sewing *with you* in a bit.
    Karen

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  31. Love the carpet tiles you have picked out. We painted our paneling in the basement a cream color and what a huge difference it made, looked beautiful! Good luck, so glad I am not the one moving all that stuff, although one day I may be!!

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  32. Hi Bonnie! Missed Quiltcam (asleep) but just had to say the basement looking fab! Stash is good! We all have to have one! Be thankful you don't live in Australia ..... We pay $20-$25 a metre (about 3" bigger than a yard) and the Aussie dollar just about has parity with the USD. But don't worry we still buy!! Ha ha!

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  33. I use the spare bed for my design wall...and pack it all away the four-five times a year we have guests.

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  34. It's Sat night a little after 8pm,CST, usual time for your quilt cam, and I don't have today's email yet. I don't understand~~it's been coming in after the q-cam already started, but today didn't show up at all. The only way I'm seeing this Sat blog is by clicking on the suggestions at the bottom, and surprise! one was Sat's~~I realize you probably can't tell why this is, just letting you know why I missed Quiltcam today, Boo Hoo! Sure would be nice if I knew ahead of time, the way you send, rather than having to check yesterday's post each time - but don't know what to do about it, just have to check hourly or sooner, anyway! I'll try that Sunday, never want to miss out on it! Thanks! Carol

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  35. Hi again - just about the time I published that last comment, my quips for today came in: 830pm CST. If there was an update, guess it will be here even later, but certainly not early enough to know when the Qcam was! I wonder if it's the local server that I use? This is the time they usually come in, cause I'm here waiting for it to see if there's a live chat - but you usually send them later, too, wasn't this sent early this morning? Very confusing!
    Carol

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  36. As soon as I saw the carpet tiles, I thought to myself, they look like Bonnie String blocks!!! It is soooo you!!! Love them.

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  37. That carpeting design just speaks a quilter lives here. Cool.

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  38. A number of dependable and efficient movers, who charge reasonably, are available all over New York. Most of these van lines are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
    Movers New York

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