Monday's With Marcus ~ Red Crinoline Quilts ~ Paula Barnes & Mary Ellen Robison

 Oh, Happy Marcus Monday, everyone!!  Today, we spotlight my dear friends, Paula Barnes and Mary Ellen Robison of Red Crinoline Quilts!   This dynamic duo create some of the most gorgeous traditional quilts of our time.  I love their work!!  Paula designs historic reproduction fabrics for Marcus and I've been a fan for a very long time.

Did you buy a kit ahead of time to sew along with them?  I hope so!  I can't wait to check out their video and see what hints they have to offer.  I've taught with Paula several times and have learned quite a bit just from hanging around her, so I'm sure you will, too!  Be sure to LIKE/FOLLOW/SHARE on the Red Crinoline Facebook and Instagram pages for a chance of a giveaway of some of Paula's fabric.

Do the same at Monday's With Marcus Facebook and Instagram pages, too.  Have you seen all the fat quarter bundles Marcus has given away already?  Don't miss YOUR chance to win!! 

Sewing Room Make-over Update

I'm almost done with moving everything back into my sewing room.  I work on things a couple of hours in the morning, taking my time, and deciding just how I want to handle storing things.  What I'm talking about are UFO's, projects in-the-works, scraps that have been starched but need cutting, and scraps that need starch.  All the odds and ends we have.  

I want to keep my space pretty and functional.  So, I'm trying to come up with ideas to store things in attractive ways.  I have plenty of storage space.  Before, the cabinets were just jammed with years and years worth of stuff....I didn't even remember what was there, to tell the truth.  Now, I have open shelves!  So exciting!  

In the photo above, I bought two pretty storage boxes from Michael's to keep the fabric for two larger quilts together.  I used to put it all into clear plastic bags so I could see what was in there, but it all became a mountain of bags that slid around and made a mess.  Now, all the stuff I need is in the box, and it all looks really nice.

I've had these photo boxes for years, and they sat empty.  (DUH, Pam!)  Now, they hold fabrics for smaller works-in-progress and fit inside a cabinet.  That keeps the clutter off the floor and out of sight.

I have a few mini projects going and all those boxes were just way too big for the tiny little pieces of the mini quilts.  During my purging, I came across this adorable box that I received while taking a class years ago.  My kit for this cross stitch sampler came in it.  It was perfect for one of my mini projects.  But....I need a few more of this size box, so I decided to play!

I have a bunch of these paper boxes in the basement....not doing anything useful.  Well, I'm about to change that!  This is a 5 x 7 box, but they come in a wide variety of sizes at the hobby stores, and they're very inexpensive.  

I had this bottle of paint handy, and using a sponge brush, painted a thick coat of paint to the bottom and top Saturday morning.  By the afternoon, it was dry.

My friend, Karen makes the most adorable cards, and I loved this one and saved it.  This sweet picture would be perfect for my box.  I cut the back of the card off.

I happened to have this product from Paper Source on hand, but good 'ol Modge Podge works well, too. 

I applied the first coat under the greeting card, to the top of the box only, to glue the card to the top.  I allowed it to dry a few hours.  Then, later in the afternoon, I covered the entire box and allowed it to dry overnight. 

This was my gift in the morning!  Isn't it so cute!!  

I'd much rather look at these pretty boxes than a bunch of plastic bags.  And....they're functional.  They fit into my cabinet and clear my counter top for whatever I'm currently working on.  

I'm thinking they would be so fun to make for tucking Christmas gifts inside, and the box is a gift as well.  Save your cute greeting cards, photos or other paper memorabilia and decorate a box.  It took minutes to make (hours to dry but I was doing other fun things) and costs pennies.  And, I was totally playing - it was fun!!  

Hope this idea is something that you can use in your life.  If you have pretty storage ideas, I'd love to hear from you!  I have a few more things cooking in the sewing room to share in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.  

I encourage you to follow me on Instagram and Facebook for behind-the-scenes posts that don't appear here on the blog.  

Be well, my friends....keep on stitching!