Note: Works-for-Me-Wednesday is hosted at an alternate location today, because it’s usual mistress is away in Africa!

Thanks to comments from Kim and Kristin, I was able to finally come up with a solution for storing quilting stencils. I ordered binder rings from the States (I had to order a box of 50 to actually get someone to ship them here! No idea where to find them here, but they seem to be readily available at office supply stores there. Sheesh!). I already had a flat Rubbermaid tub that’s big enough to lay most of the stencils out flat on the bottom and I used four or five of the rings to group the stencils by size and type.

When I need a stencil, it’s easy to flip through what I have and then just open the ring and pull them off. Someday maybe I’ll even have the time to make some snazzy embroidered tags so that I can easily tell which group I need to pull out of the box when I’m looking for a certain stencil. They’re flat, they can’t get dusty, and there’s plenty of room for more! Thanks ladies, for all your helpful suggestions!

Have a WFMW tip you’d like to share with the blogosphere? Find out more about Works-for-Me-Wednesday at WFMW headquarters at Rocks in my Dryer! Basically, the idea is that on Wednesday you post a little tip you’ve learned on any topic–anything that has “worked for you” in making your life easier. Visit Rocks in my Dryer for great tips on everything from kids to money on this Works-for-me-Wednesday!

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I’m back in my Bookmarks folder today to bring you another Melange on this happy Monday. More quilting bookmarks:

StenSource International, Inc.—I found this place in 2004 when they had a booth at the Houston show. Home of the Creative Iron, fusible, laser cut fabric appliqués. I’ve yet to make something with these appliqués, but it’s on my list of to-dos. And check out these coordinating stencil sets that you can cut apart; they have all the stencils you’d need for a quilt, big blocks, small blocks and borders, all on one stencil. I suppose you wouldn’t even have to cut them apart, and then they’d be all together when you need to use them.

Red Rock Threads—This place is my favorite to buy threads! Based in Pahrump, Nevada (near my Las Vegas hometown), this nice lady has LOADS of different brands of thread in stock, all the time. She does one thing, thread, and she does it very well indeed. (Okay, she has some needles and embroidery supplies, but she does them well too.) Shipping is extremely reasonable; it used to be free, and just after she was forced to change policy due to rising Postal Service fees (long after the fees actually rose, btw), I talked to her on the phone and she actually apologized and said she felt soooo bad that she’d had to start charging shipping. If only other mail order businesses were like this, right? There’s lots of extra, free info on the site about threads, as well as conversion charts. Quick ordering, quick shipping, great customer service, what more could you ask for? Well, I could ask for YLI Soft Touch, which seems to be the only thing I’ve ever wanted that she didn’t have!

The Quilters Quarter—I have no idea why I bookmarked this one, or when for that matter, but I am happy to see that they have YLI Soft Touch cotton thread! I have a heck of a time finding this thread online for some reason. I use it in the bobbin for machine embroidery, though I’m not sure why I started that either. Somehow it just seems to make sense to use cotton thread if I’m doing embroidery for quilts; you know, that “cotton fabric, 100% cotton thread” thing. Quilters Quarter has a pretty nice selection of other quilting items, and I see a good selection of stencils there. Read the rest of this entry »

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WFMW (Works-for-Me-Wednesday) is a “blog carnival’” hosted by Rocks in my Dryer (great name for a blog!). Basically, the idea is that on Wednesday you post a little tip you’ve learned on any topic–anything that has “worked for you” in making your life easier. I liked the idea, and I thought I’d give it a try with a bit of a quilting slant every week. This week happens to be the “Backwards theme” week at WFMW, so instead of sharing a tip that has worked for me, I’ll throw out an issue or question that has stumped me, and hopefully you’ll all leave some super suggestions to help me (and anyone else who reads this and has the same problem) out!

So here goes: I have about a bazillion plastic quilting stencils, and I can’t figure out a good way to store them so that they’re sorted by type (small block, large block, border, etc.), easily accessible, and not bent or mashed into un-usability. Tall order, isn’t it? They’re all different sizes, some of them quite large and others really small, though they do usually have a hole or holes at the top for hanging. Short of mounting a giant piece of pegboard on my wall and hanging each one of them up (we absolutely don’t have wall space for that), I’m stumped. How do you store all your quilting stencils in your sewing room? Help me out here people, please!

Then head over to WFMW headquarters at Rocks in my Dryer for great tips on everything from kids to money on this Works-for-me-Wednesday.

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