Organizing organizers

When I was in college, I spent my summer and winter vacations sewing for a company that made ladies fashion tee shirts.  It is there that I learned the value of sewing in an assembly line.   Tee shirts would arrive from the cutters in big bundles.  Sewers in the back row would start by binding the neck edges then passing the bundle on to sewers in the row ahead who would bind the sleeves.  Other sewers would sew in the sleeves and yet others would sew  the side seams and  finally the bundle would make it to the hemmers.  The goal, of course, was to move as many bundles from the back to the front of the room by day's end.

I use this assembly line method when making quilt blocks and I am currently using it to make organizers.  I received several orders recently and decided I could sew more efficiently this way as opposed to making them one at a time.

I cut out all the fabrics for the organizers and bundled them.  I also cut all the fleece and interfacing that I would need.

Here are the covers with fleece ironed on and ready to quilt.

And the lining and pockets with interfacing ironed into place.

Now I can start sewing by color--all the ones that can be sewed with red thread, for example, then with blue and so on.

OK, now onto sewing!  Talk at you later! 

Germ Blaster

Hello Friends,

    It seems that anywhere you go nowadays there are bottles of hand sanitizers out.  Well, with H1N1 and the the ol' run of the mill flu and cold germies floating about you can't be too careful.  I prefer to wash my hands with soap and water but what to do when out and about with no sink in sight...
I was forever digging into the bottom of my purse to find my little bottle of hand sanitizer.  Well, gang, I got tired of that and decided to do something about it.  TaDa!  My solution.

I made a holder for my 2 oz bottle of Purell.  The bottle is inserted upside down so the flip top pokes out through an opening.  No need to wrestle it out of the pouch when I need to use it.  Decorative button on the flap hides a velcro closure. Fully lined and with a hang loop on top.

Now I can hang it on my bag and it is easily accessible.

Winter yuck

I am sooo sick of snow and winter in general!  Spring cannot come fast enough! Uggg...

Here is Daughter Lucky helping me shovel our driveway.

There were a few bright spots in my day yesterday though.  Stephanie of Loft Creations invited me to a lovely lunch at her home.  I didn't bring my camera but you can see all the yumminess at her blogsite.  Thank you Stephanie! (and Abby too for all the wonderful puppy attention I got!)

Daughter Lucky invited me to the ballet last night.  The Columbus BalletMet put on Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream.  We braved the cold and had a wonderful time.

Lastly, we got a Valentine's day card from our son and his lovely fiancee. The front of the card has a puffy frog with googly eyes.  Well, as you can see from the torn envelope that the card went through some wear and tear at the post office. Apparently those googly eyes were poking the envelope just enough to get caught in whatever mechanism the post office shoots mail through.  Both eyes were ripped horribly off poor froggy.  I found one in the envelope and precariously layed it back in one eye socket but the other is no doubt rolling around on the post office floor somewhere.  Now you know the dangers of sending animals (or amphibians in this case) through the mail!

Remember me?

Hello friends,
      It seems like forever since I last posted.  Thank you to all who sent good vibes my way while I took a break to help out my folks.  My dad completed cancer treatments and hopefully will receive good news at his follow up appointment with his doctor.

I haven't really gotten much crafting done.  Sometimes the "engine" is slow to start up after a long period of disuse. Before I show you what little I have done, let me show you my poor little sweetheart Farrah.


She also had a second bout with cancer and had to go in for surgery.  Hopefully, it will not come back a third time.  Doesn't she look pitiful in her pink party hat? 

OK, on to some crafty bits.