I belong to a very active chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. The members of the Melbourne MQG branch are a lively bunch who meet regularly and have some of the funniest Facebook chatter that I've ever seen. Along with the entertainment comes stacks of helpful advice and some very insightful conversation about modern quilting. It's good stuff.
This morning, one of our guild members put out a call asking for advice on what gadgets and gizmos she should add to her crafting arsenal. She is woefully under-equipped. Volleying off the discussion, I've dropped my drawers. Shameless, I know.
I've put it all on display for everyone to see...
The top drawer holds my goto goodies. These are things the things that I use all the time and often misplace. These are the things I reckon everyone needs.
- one pin cushion with no pins
- one needle box with spare rotary blades, but no needles
- one box of Clover binding clips whose numbers are dwindling
- one small Clover hera marker - it's larger cousin is AWOL
- two super cheap seam rippers
- a pencil and a ChakoAce marker
- a pair of tweezers
- a half empty box of Clover applique pins
- a mostly empty box of Clover glass head pins
- a bit weird magnetic wand. It's purple, but I can cope
- $3.80 in American cents -- you never know when you might travel
- a measuring tape and hem gauge
- a dozen or so basted hexagons from a 2009 swap
- a Clover fingerpress
- 472 Japanese yen -- you never know...
- some Clover gold eye needles
- one wad of lint
Things get more exciting in drawer two - nominally referred to as 'the template drawer.' In that drawer are more templates than I could ever possibly use. I've purge piles already, but the depth of day-glo plastic seems never ending.
- square rulers - 2 1/2", 4 1/2", 6", 9" 1/2", 12 1/2"
- two fast2cut 67.5 degree triangle
- two small 63.5 degree triangles
- one 60 degrees triangle.
- ...if you need something in the 60-70 degree range, I've probably got it covered...
- three sets of Victorian textile templates for quilt blocks I've never made
- two sets of Material Obsession templates that I've only mustered a block or two of each
- the Margaret Kirby mixed template set
- a Dresden ruler
- four never used elongated hexagons
- at least a half dozen template sets for blocks I designed and never put in production
- more lint
- a 6" rotating cutting mat
- a pincushion without pins
- and one doubly cracked 6" x 24" ruler
Drawer three is something new. Until a few weeks ago, the rotary cutters and my one pair of scissors lived in the day-glo drawer. I raised my hand to do some product reviews though, so this drawer is currently known as the "I need to get busy on April's blog posts" drawer
- a whole lot of scissors to test
- and a whole lot of rotary cutters
- scraps of fabric
- one market apron with pockets full of lint
Drawer four holds the spools. Drawer four let me down last week when I ran entirely out of white-toned thread. Drawer four is a bit like Hal from 2001, a Space Odyssey. He's often heard saying, "I'm sorry, Amy. I don't have that color."
- a dozen plus cotton Aurifil spools for piecing and quilting
- a couple of dozen polyester spools for clothes and toy making
- four pincushions with a grand total of six pins between them
- a magnet pin holder which has collected everything metal including some pins
- skeins of Perle 12
- new to me Superior thread
- linen thread for toys and elastic thread for crochet
- around 20m of double fold binding crammed in the back mingling with our rubber stamp tools
- and yes ... lint
The bottom drawer is my office. In 2015 we don't need much in the way of office supplies, but I hoard them anyway just in case. If World War three breaks out, it will be good to have Sanderson wallpaper scraps, right?
- two boxes of stickers that say ticket all printed with the same numbers, I think?
- one sheet of magnetic adhesive
- random bits of colorful paper
- old business cards
- tapes of my grandpa and I
- a chunk of wood from a neglected project
- a two hole punch, Australia's clearly inferior technology
- ...and one red stapler. Milton would be proud
That's it for me. What's your in your arsenal? Show us what you've got on Instagram or at your blog. I'd like to see! #dropyourdrawers please.
How tidy your drawers are and can I add, half empty. I'm afraid I'm a gadget person and my drawers are full, full, full.
ReplyDeleteI had a destash last week and sold some supplies which helped clear a little space. When they are packed to the brim, I can't never find what I'm looking for. This is almost a manageable amount for me!
DeleteWOEFUL?? Brutal! Although probably accurate in comparison :)
ReplyDeleteTell me about square rulers - how are all the variants useful? I'm gravitating towards a smaller ruler as vastly easier to use for small trimming, but so many people seem to love having multiple sizes of squares. Can you not just use the 6" to trim smaller sized squares as well? Is it easier with a smaller ruler to visualize final sizing when fussy cutting? Is smaller just easier to use? Is this question equal in annoyance to someone asking me why I need 30 rolls of washi tape when clearly my usage only justifies one?
Sorry to but in.... but about rulers - I use a 6x12" ans a 3x9" for most of my trimming and find them invaluable. x
DeleteIf I must be honest, I don't use many of the smaller size rulers. The 2 1/2" one came with the 6" rotary cutting mat. The 4 1/2" came from a vendor. I use the 6" one often as it first perfectly my spinning cutting mat. That 6 1/2" is probably a more useful quilting size. Not many blocks finish at 5 1/2". You can use the 6" one to trim any size, of course. The advantage is that you don't have to pick up the small one and move it to cut the opposite sides, you just spin the cutting mat without lifting them up.
DeleteMy favorite rulers are my 9 1/2" square and my dresden. I use the 1/4" edge on the dresden all the time when trimming foundation piecing. I could probably live without the rest.... maybe...
BTW #dropyourdrawers #hashtagoftheday
ReplyDeleteI have much, much more. Maybe 20 pairs of scissors--and I'm not a tester. I have a few Gingher, but lately have moved to Kai--these are really great.
ReplyDeleteI have two drawers of templates, small rulers--and a whole selection that I nail to a wall. I can cut every known shape in the universe.
I move to a cottage for almost 6 months of the year and this is how I justify my multiples. But I bring most of it home for the winter so things don't go rusty.