Notes from the Patch

Spring cleaning tip

I love the fancy gas stove that came with our beach house but I could never get the grates that cover the gas burners really clean. No amount of scrubbing would remove the cooked on spots that dotted the heavy iron grates. I had resolved to live with them the way they were until I found this cool cleaning technique on Pinterest.

You'll need a resealable plastic bag large enough for the item you want to clean, about a quarter cup of ammonia, and a brush or scrubber.

Place the item into the bag. Add the ammonia and seal. Set aside for twelve hours.

Remove from bag and brush the dirt away. They say it's the fumes from the ammonia that loosens the greasy stains, not the actual liquid.

Here are my before and after photos. You can repeat the process for super stubborn stains, but it really works!

Just thought this is something you would want to know - the cleaning technique, not how bad my stove used to look. Yikes!

Encourage one another,

It's a good thing

For some reason I've been obsessed with tags and labels lately. Please don't confuse an obsession with tags and labels with an obsession with organizing - they are very different things.

As I walked through Staples the other day a sales clerk asked if he could help me find anything. 

I'm looking for the Avery labels by Martha Stewart, I said.

Martha Stewart is all the way in the far back corner, he replied.

I chuckled as I made my way to the back of the store - Martha does have a reputation for being difficult and apparently even in a office supply store she needs to be off by herself.

Have you all seen these?

 I  was in label heaven.

 

 

Chalk board labels

 

 

 

 

                                                     Natural  paper labels

Many of these adhesive labels can be printed by using a free on line template and your printer. I don't know why it's taken so long for someone to do such fun labels. Leave it to Martha to think of it.

I may or may not have gasped and said out loud you've got to be kidding me as I came across these.

They're metal label holders with sticky backs that you can affix to drawers, boxes and furniture. No need to drill screw holes. Brilliant!

Tags with reinforcements in fun colors and bakers twine ties.

Next time you're in a Staples check out the Avery Labels by Martha Stewart. (They'll probaby be all the way in the back corner).  = )

It's a good thing.

Encourage one another,

Getting organized

I hope this post doesn't come off as know-it-all bragadociousness. It's just that it has taken me a whole lot of years to figure this thing called organization out and I feel the need to share!

Since recently completing a creative space makeover I have discovered firsthand how powerful a well organized space can be. It becomes not only a place to display and organize supplies, collections

and things we've made and love, 

but more importantly becomes a quiet, pleasing retreat where we can go for inspiration and reflection.

Who knew? That after all of these years of working in cluttered chaos

I could find inspiration and serenity in organization!! (Yes, two explanation points!)!  = )

Organizing a workspace is such a personal thing. Some of us want to see everything out in full view

while others want the tranquility of an uncluttered space with supplies neatly tucked away behind closed doors and well labeled drawers.

Some, like me, find inspiration from a combination of both. Whatever the preference, a creative studio should inspire us. It should be a place where when we walk though it's door it says, Welcome. What shall we create today?

I have long been a fan of Where Women Create.

I bought Jo Packham's first book in 2005 and remember how I felt as I perused its pages; soaking up inspiration from every artisan. I remember the relief I felt when I discovered I wasn't the only crafting/fabric pack rat out there. What I also discovered was that I needed to organize my space better so that when I walked in I'd feel inspired instead of overwhelmed.

I have a friend who calls her studio her Happy Place. I humbly suggest that if you don't get that warm and fuzzy feeling when you walk into your creative place that you do something about it.

It can be life changing!

We preordered Jo's new book at market in May and it finally arrived on Friday. What an inspiration!

Nearly 180 pages of great organizing ideas (mostly pictures) by over 50 outstanding artisans - jewelry makers, quilt makers, painters, knitters, scrapbookers. It doesn't matter what we make, we all seem to have a lot of stuff and this book shows us creative, often inexpensive ways to organize it.

No matter if you're sewing in a converted dining room, garage, spare bedroom or free standing studio I think you will find inspiration here. 

I encourage you to join me in getting organized!

My name is Suzanne and I iron sheets

Okay. I admit it. I iron my sheets (shocking, I know). Well, not really sheets, but sheet. Top sheet only... and pillowcases. It takes about twenty to thirty minutes and I find the whole process very relaxing and rewarding. So there!

I never used to iron sheets, but then I found this

and thought, hum wonder what it would do to my sheets? Oh. My. Gosh. If you've never slipped your tired body into a bed of freshly starched sheets with just that hint of lavender you haven't lived. It's just that simple. Heavenly.

When I sell a bottle of Best Press to someone for the first time I always feel like I need to give a disclaimer. Caution: Using Best Press can be addicting and may cause an unexplainable urge to iron linen.

Raise your hand if you use Best Press. I know I can't be the only one who's addicted because they make this!

Encourage one another,

Stain removal, It's all part of the Biz

               

... or how to remove red wine (and other stubborn stains) in one easy lesson.

Oh, no I didn't. But one of our customers did and after trying everything she called me to see if I had any ideas on how to remove wine from her just finished quilt. (No, tears do not work).

Now I ask you why on earth would I come to mind when it comes to removing red wine from fabric?! Hummm...

Well, it just so happens that I do know how to remove red wine and almost any other stubborn stain for that matter, and thought I'd share my powerful little secret.

 

                       

 

                                                  That's right it's Biz.

I learned this trick years ago when I was attending weekly flea markets and noticing how white all the antique linen vendors got their old pillowcases, tablecloths and antique christening gowns. When asked they all said they used Biz. Some really stubborn stains may need to be boiled in the stuff and some quilts will need a paste applied directly to the stain (see box for instructions), but it works like magic and leaves no harmful residue behind because Biz contains no bleach.

So now you can get out whatever you get into! Well, at least when it comes to your fabric. LOL