I have chosen my one thing (word) for the year and it is: FOCUS. I am no longer going to multi-task or try to. It only leaves me feeling flat when I don't get everything accomplished. This year I am going to focus on each task fully while I am working on it. It was very interesting that our church sermon touched on almost the same topic. That to make a change in your life pick one thing to improve for 2015, get specific, and focus on that. 

This weekend I spent most of my time straightening and organizing my supplies in the studio. I am ridding myself of those things that I no longer use or have even attempted to use in 2014. I will bless someone else with those supplies. I will donate to a local charity or give my artist friends an opportunity to replenish their supplies or try something new.

I have gotten a huge start on getting my magazines back in order, my books on the shelves they belong on and the little odds and ends organized and put away. My goal is that by the end of January the room is completed.

What is your 2015 word of the year? Do you have one or do you have a list of goals.

This is a short slide show video on how I block my quilts. I wet them in the washer on the delicate rinse/spin option. This is the best way I found to remove the excess water before pinning the piece to the design wall. I have a top and left hand line marked on the wall to get my first two sides square. I check to see if I have markings for the size I need. If not, I add those to my design wall.

I normally pin 1 -2 inches apart after I get my initial two sides pinned.  Running your hands from the pinned edges can get your quilt to "stretch" if you are a little undersized. If my quilt is a little too long in either direction (not usually my problem) I will pin the corners and then ease the excess along the total distance of the edge.

As a last check I use a carpenters square to verify that I have the edges pinned along a straight line and 90 degrees to each other.

On our video page is a short video of the process with the same photos, but text over each step. Let me know if you use my technique or if you have a better way.

David and I arrived at the Scripps Ranch Library to set up for our first trunk show. We titled our trunk show "One Studio, Two Views". We shared not only our quilts, but how we work together in a room that we converted into a studio. 

This was our first speaking gig and we had a lot of trepidation about whether we had enough or too much and if we would be of interest to the group. From the comments and questions we were successful with our talk and pieces shown.

We had a great time. The Villiage Quilters guild was wonderful and David and I got a lot of positive feedback. David and I also realized that we have at least three different topics we could speak on. Brainstorming on the way home (with the help of a Starbucks Frappuccino) we came up with technique specific talks as well as how to use art principles in traditional as well as art quilts.

Several of the guild members were interested in workshops on our techniques. We are going to seriously think about the possibility. Diane, the current president, said we could use their guild as a test bed for any workshop we would like to present. How nice is that?

Diane and several of the other members went out to lunch afterwards and we enjoyed talking and getting to know everyone better. David and I had a great time and hope to speak to this group again in the future. The Saturday meeting fits into our schedule perfectly. Anyone in the San Diego area should check out their upcoming speakers and workshops. Village Quilters have some interesting events on their calendar.

I want to thank Janet Beyea for extending the initial invitation, Carol Goodhue Shull and Diana Foster for the continued encouragement to come speak at their guild. Carol did a great job doing the phone interview for the newsletter and helped us finalize topics for our presentation. We truly enjoyed ourselves and all the great members we met.

Village Quilter's guild has a Facebook page. If you are on FB, check them out by searching for Village Quilters Guild.

So here I am wasting time on things I should not be doing and avoiding those things I should be doing. I am checking emails, looking at Twitter notices, but I am staying away from Pinterest. Today I should be dragging the quilt bins back out to the living room so I can get them in order for our upcoming talk. The house got cleaned on Friday, so it was a put everything away to clean. Now to bring the quilts back out so David and I can get them in order for our talk and decide on the final quilts that will be hung on the display racks.

While I was avoiding and going through all my email, I found this great quote:

Money can't buy happiness... 
But it can buy fabric and that is pretty close to the same thing.

I have a LOT of happiness and I know for a fact that several of my friends and my older sister do too. I label my bins so that I know what style or color of fabrics are inside. I keep one bin just for the current project I am working on.  

I have had a couple of designs swirling around in my head lately. I need to get them down in my sketch book. I am also getting ready to start quilting on my main show piece for the Textures Fiber Arts show in October.

If you are in the area, come see our trunk show at the Village Quilters Guild in Scripps Ranch, San Diego, Ca. We are speaking on May 10.

As everyone is into re-purposing I thought I would share one of my very easy projects. All I had to do was haul it home and load it with thread.

I work for a company that has been in existence for decades and has a lot of computers for the offices staff, engineers, etc. Almost everyone has access to at least one computer. As such, there have been a multitude of storage requirements for floppy disc storage through the years. Now that everything is on servers, the cabinets previously used for housing the discs are no longer needed. As old equipment is retired, employees are given the opportunity to purchase or are given this old equipment.

I was able to bring home a cabinet that used to house 3.5" discs. Since the company kept "history" discs we had to have large cabinets to store them. This cabinet has two pull out drawers. The upper drawer still had the boxes that the discs were stored in. These are perfect for for the Hemmingworth threads that we own and they would hold taller cones. I have labeled them by color and group them in the boxes. This is helpful for David since his partial color-blindness can be an issue for him when choosing thread colors.

The lower drawer holds a selection of our larger cones and spools. This cabinet was originally designed to be stack-able and is sturdy. I am able to put more thread cases or other items on top. This maximizes my storage area. You might be able to prowl the thrift stores or used office supply resale stores to find your own.

I would love to hear what you have re-purposed for your studio.