Before life ran away from me (again), I said I’d add more pics of my new quilt storage.   Previously, the quilts had been flat on the bed, which was great for the quilts but not so good if you wanted to use the bed (which meant moving about 30+ quilts I think…I really ought to count how many I’ve made, shouldn’t I?).  Anyway, remember the tubes which I covered with batting and muslin?  Next, you roll your quilt on the tube; For most of my rolls, I have two or three quilts per tube:

Quilt rolled on tube

Next I made a muslin tube/sleeve  (I just used the serger, left the seams on the outside).  I cut 1 1/2″ wide strips of pretty fabrics (or rather, the “why did I buy these 14 years ago? fabrics”), folded them wrong sides together and serged to make ties.  I placed a tie about 4 inches down from either end of the tube/sleeve, and spaced about 14-16 inches apart down the center.

Quilt in musling sleeve, tied

Slide your rolled quilt inside the sleeve; it is easier if you place a plastic bag over the end of the tube that goes in first.  Since both ends of the tube are open, you can just slip the plastic bag off the end once the quilt is inside.   I cut the muslin the length of my tubes (54″) plus about 2-4 extra inches (for gathering at the ends) by about 22 inches wide.  If you have 40-44 inch muslin, just cut down the center to whatever length.  The completed tube is large enough to accomodate several quilts rolled on one tube.  Once inside, make a tuck at the long seamline to fold excess muslin neatly and tie.  For the moment, I have safety-pinned a post-it-note with the contents of each roll to the end of the muslin tube so I can identify what is where…I’ll do something nicer eventually.

Under the bed, I have two tall-lamp-moving boxes (only one in this picture, added the second one later), plus some under-bed storage boxes from Target.  The quilts that are rolled on the tubes are in the lamp-boxes (in this picture, just to the right of center) and over on the far left.  The second lamp-box went on the far left.

Rolled quilts and boxes under the bed

You can see swimming pool noodles, which are great for shipping quilts rolled–lightweight, soft, cheap if they are lost.  The blue thing on the far left is a long-skinny bag I made from canvas to carry my make-shift PVC-pipe quilt display stand (too heavy for air travel, but was cheap and works great for anywhere I drive to teach or lecture).

On the right you can see two storage boxes; there are two even larger ones in back.  I bought these for about $15-18 each (ouch!) at Target.  The largest boxes (in the back, not visible) are 42 inches long on the inside, meaning that some of my quilts that need to be carefully folded and not rolled (the Bijagos Warrior quilt, for example, is padded and thick, so doesn’t roll well, and the Autumn on the Village Green has cut copper leaves on it!) can fit inside with only horizontal folds.

My teaching samples are on the small side–26 wide or narrower.  I made several carrying gizzies (I’ll do a post on them some day….) and roll my class samples on them.  They are all in one box for easy access when packing to teach.  Finally, small quilts like my journal quilts (both the smaller 8 1/2 x 11 inch ones and the larger 17 x 22 inch ones) also fit inside these boxes.  I asked the conservators and textile specialists on the quiltart list, and the consensus was that as long as the actual quilt doesn’t touch the plastic…line with acid-free tissue or cloth…and you open the boxes periodically to refresh the air… that it is fine to store in boxes (which will also protect them from smoke damage should there be a smoke incident).  And when the bedskirt is down (not tucked up under the duvet), I don’t see the stuff!

Some day I’ll have my dream studio with a massive wall-long closet.  The doors will be design walls, I’ll have storage rods on the back for the quilts, and all sorts of cool things. And I’m going to make laminated tags using business card software with a picture of each quilt to replace the safety-pinned post-it note with the roll contents.  In the meantime this works quite well for me.  I’ve been under the weather (number one son brought home evil germs and shared…), and yesterday I luxuriated in lolling on the bed in my sunny studio with a book…for about 20 minutes. Sigh.  It was nice while it lasted.  Then I got to play mom-taxi.  Several times.

Once again, I have not fallen off the face of the earth…instead, I’m FINISHING UP the manuscript.  There is a ton of tedious paperwork and such, so I’m liable to be scarce for a few more weeks, but I’m here.   So, I thought I would share what I did to store my quilts.  They used to be stored in a fabulous place:  on top of the guest bed in my studio, under the duvet.  This meant they were flat, accessible, safe (sorta) from cat hair (it migrates EVERYwhere).  But, it also meant that no one could so much as sit on the bed, let alone come hang out in my studio and rest on the bed.  And Joyce came to visit in December and needed to SLEEP in the bed.  That meant the quilts needed to move.

Umpteen years ago I took a class with Heather Waldron Tewell, co-author of one of my favorite books on quilting line and design, A Fine Line (written with Melody Crust).  She described her storage:  upstairs, under the eaves / in the kneewall…. you know on second floors how you get a sloping roof that comes down to the floor, so builders will drop a short wall that is maybe 3-5 feet tall, then there is a space behind it?  Well, she put in doors instead of drywall and made a device similar to those used to display home dec fabric, which is sold on tubes (not bolts like quilting fabrics).  She stored her quilts rolled on tubes, covered in a sleeve, then the tube slides on a rod (like a closet rod) that sets into “U” shapes cut into some 1×3’s at either end of the closet. I’ve wanted something like that ever since.

Of course, I don’t HAVE a closet to make such a lovely storage space.  So I improvised, but first I made the rolls.  I’ll share the second part of this info in the next post….  Anyway, the rolls.  About five to six years ago, I worked for an interior designer doing high-end home dec sewing.  I was able to snag about a half dozen sturdy cardboard tubes.  So I FINALLY got around to making them suitable for rolling quilts for storage.  The cardboard in the tubes is very acidic, which of course isn’t great for quilts, so you need to cover them.

To cover the tubes, I wrapped them first in a round of batting, then used an inexpensive cream cloth (some was muslin, some was an inexpensive but nice cream cotton).  For the first few, I used hot-glue to glue the batting to the tubes, but had forgotten that hot glue leaves a hard line.  For later ones, I simply used a basic glue stick!

Addendum:  Carol Ann Sinnreich told me that she learned from others to wrap the tubes first in aluminum foil, then do the batting and muslin.  This prevents outgassing from the yucky stuff in the cardboard tubes.  I’ll do that on any future ones, and may think about peeling these apart and adding the foil at some point…just not too soon! Too much to do….

I cut the cloth about 5-6 inches longer than the tube, and the circumference of the tube plus about two inches.

Fusing Misty Fuse to the edge of the tube-wrap-cloth

On one long edge, I applied Misty Fuse, a heat-activated fusible web (and my favorite fusing product by FAR), then trimmed the edge with a zigzag cut.

I wrapped the cloth over the batting, then fused it closed with the iron.

In a couple days I’ll show you the finished tube, the muslin dust-sleeve, and where I’ve got them stashed until I win the lottery and build that dream studio!

PS—please excuse any weird formatting.  My webhost has changed the WordPress software, and it isn’t cooperating very well.  The photo loading stuff is different, I can’t find instructions anywhere, and formatting is all goofed up…sorry!

Well, if the President as head of the executive branch can give a State of the Union address, and since as quilters we are ALWAYS a bit curious (OK, almost voyeuristic) about other quilters’ studios, I thought I’d let you see what I’ve been up to this past week.

I have done a TON of paperwork on the book, writing to get permissions to use quotes, and so on, so seriously needed some creative time. Plus, Jan and Dwight P. (Jan is a friend and quilter, Dwight is her hubby and photographer) and I are having a small show at Zoot, the cool coffee house in town. That means I figured I needed to make some pieces for there that are not expensive (as in might actually sell and generate some much-needed income). When I finish one thing I tend to need to have a tidy attack and clear the surfaces so I can function. Then stuff piles up as I work. I guess I’ve been working. Here is the work table:

Here is the overflow (Gramma’s toaster table, immortalized in my Flying Toast quilt):

Here is the sewing machine cabinet:

And the doorknob:

Yes, busy. I have one more 6×6 piece to fuse up and quilt, then I need to paint all the canvases, mount all the pieces, add hanging sleeves to the ones that will not be mounted, add hanging apparatus, label them, take photos, re-size the photos for use on the website, price them (duh!), and be ready to sell them! I’ll blog them here and on my website galleries (think I’ll make a “small works” gallery for most of the ones mounted on canvas which I can then delete once the pieces have mostly sold). Even though they will be for sale at the coffee house, I’m definitely open to purchases that require shipping [grin!].