How I Organize My Clothes For Transitioning Into Fall

We've had a few Fall-like days, so its time to organize my closet for the transitional weather we have this time of year. I'm done with some of my summer clothes until next spring. We'll still have hot days for the next month at least, but some mornings and some days will be cool.

So, I worked on organizing my clothes Saturday. I had at least 10 sleeveless tops hanging in my closet taking up space and hangers. I use these for layering year round or by themselves in the summer.
 

I learned from organizing expert, Alejandra Costello, to fold them in half twice and then roll them up.  They take up less space and are easy to see when opening the drawer, as opposed to just folding them and stacking them on top of each other.  If you have time, look at some of her videos for lots of organizing inspiration.

The other summer tops were switched out with some fall tops in the sewing room closet where I store off season clothes.  I kept some short sleeve tops in darker colors on the left side of the rod and some light weight long sleeve tops on the right side of the rod. 

On the bottom rod I placed some lighter weight jackets and sweaters.  I probably won't use these too much for a few more weeks.

This is the left side of my side of the closet where I hang pants, jeans, skirts and dresses.  There is also a hanging shoe organizer and a scarf organizer.  That little basket holds my every day underwear.  I think "life's too short to fold underwear", so I just toss them in this basket when doing laundry.   This way they still look neat and its so easy to grab a pair when getting dressed.

I still love this over the door shoe/sock organizer that I posted about last spring.

When I was in the off season clothing closet, I saw that I have plenty of winter sweaters.  When the weather changes over to cold in about mid-November, I'll put away the transitional fall clothes and get out the cold weather ones.

Also, on Saturday I found a few pieces of clothes that needed some mending and worked on that.

Going through clothes at the beginning of a season is a great time to figure out what you might need to buy or what you have plenty of.  I don't do too much clothes shopping, but when I do I'd like to know what I'm supposed to be looking for, instead of wandering around aimlessly.  I'm trying to look more "put together".

For example, in the past I often picked up a top that was cute, but didn't know how I was going to wear it.  I'm going to make another list of outfits, like I did at the beginning of the summer, complete with jewelry and shoes, so that I can get dressed quickly for work or church.  It seems I am always doing this at the last minute!

A Slice of My Life - Early September 2013

A Corner of the farmhouse.

The old school desk.

Guest room for NC State Fans.

Mama's table, Bible, book, teapot and doily. (lamp from Dollar General)

Mama's OLD electric clock.  I'm afraid to plug it in.

 

Had to get new tires and rims.



The tobacco of 2013 is history.  So glad its gone!

Beautiful Day.

Remnants of the raised bed.

Marigolds

Dining room corner.

Family Reunion at Rhodes Pond

The dam had broken, so the water was low temporarily.

The corn as been picked.

Decorating With Mama's Antique China Cabinet

We recently got Mama's antique china cabinet back from being refinished. It belonged to my grandmother and was then passed down to my mother and now to me. There is a matching side board/buffet, that my sister has.

I really did not think I had anywhere to put this piece of furniture, but we ended up putting it in the living room.  The kitchen and dining room are already full and it would be hidden in the hallway.  I am very happy with its new location.

On the top shelf the items are blue and white.  My mother had the one Blue Willow platter in the very back and the white with blue trim tea pot.  I found the blue willow tea cups and plates at a consignment shop and at a junk shop.  I already had the other white pitcher and bowl with the blue stripe.

On the middle shelf are some of my quilts and the bottom shelf has one of Mama's big bowls.  After looking on the bottom of the bowl and doing a little research, I learned that the bowl was made by McCoy Pottery.  I'm pretty sure Mama got hers in the early 70s.  She had three, but I only brought home one.   I found the matching cookie jar/canister at a consignment shop.  Its funny how collecting a certain thing gets started.  Now I will be looking for McCoy pottery and for Blue Willow china!  That's a battery operated candle in the bowl.  It looks kind of weird in the picture, but in real life its flickering looks very cozy.

This china cabinet has legs so there is a great place underneath to put things.  For the time being there is the very old suitcase found in Mama's attic and some baskets, etc.

I am enjoying leaving the china cabinet door open.  When it is closed you can't really see the contents very well.  Hanging on the door is a vintage linen dish towel that has fall colors on it.  Its not only decorative, but protects the cabinet.  Every time we walk by, our footsteps jar the cabinet and the door bumps against it.

On top of the china cabinet there is a wooden decorative piece on the front, so its a challenge to put things on top that can be seen behind it.  This tiered wire basket is tall, but even so, I had to sit it on top of a book.  I put some little pumpkins and fall leaves in the baskets.  At Christmas I can put in some shiny Christmas balls, little wrapped gifts and things like that.   All of the items on top of the cabinet are sitting on books to give them more height.   Another option would be to hang a picture on the wall above and behind the cabinet, instead of putting as many things on the cabinet.  I have one of Mama's large fall pictures that would be great for this.  But, for now, this is what I've done.

This is another of my treasured dishes from Mama.  I love the wheat design.  As with the Blue Willow dishes, there is only one piece remaining from what I assume began as a whole set.  It looks great for Fall decorating.  At Christmas I can temporarily replace it with a Christmas plate.  I think I have one of Mama's that I can use.

The great thing about decorating is that if you don't like something, its not set in stone.  I can change all of this in just a few minutes if I decide to.  I'm pleased with its slightly Fall touches and with the fact that many of Mama's things are incorporated into the design.

In My Sewing Room

I snapped a few pictures in my sewing room recently.

This is a picture that hung in my mother's house.  Its perfect for a quilter's sewing room.

I think the heart is made from an authentic "old" quilt, but I'm not sure.

This sunflower wind chime was a Mother's Day gift.  In my experience wind chimes always end up being destroyed by the wind, so there is no way this one is going outside.  I love it hanging in front of the window.  One of my favorite things is when the sun shines in this window in the morning.

This basket is where I throw scraps as I am sewing.  The plan is the organize them, but the basket keeps getting more full and I just keep sewing on new projects.

The African Violets bloom constantly in the sunny window.

This one was rooted from the one in Mama's Nursing Home window.  I've rooted several more, but they are very tiny.  Love them.

Here's my most recent sewing project:

 

 I spent some time organizing in my sewing room last night. Somehow it always gets back into a big mess! I brought home two old sewing machines that belonged to my Mama, as well as all her sewing supplies and some fabric. The machines don't work and there is way too much stuff in there.... but I love it all. I now have 5 non-working sewing machines, including the old treadle machine that sits in our living room. I would love to have all the machines repaired some day.

Christmas Sewing - Co-worker Bag Number Two

I'm in the process of making three quilted tote bags for my co-workers for Christmas gifts. Here's number 2. She likes doughnuts a lot! She knows where the best doughnuts can be bought and if a church member comes by the office selling doughnuts for a fundraiser.... she always buys them. So when I saw this fabric in a bag of gifted fabric, I knew I would make something for my doughnut friend.

Here are two of the bags.  The first one was for the chocolate lover!

 

I've made so many bags using my REUSABLE FABRIC GROCERY BAG TUTORIAL, that there is no telling how many.  Years ago, I made a fabric pattern that I use over and over that does not require any pinning. 

 

1/2 yard of fabric is enough for the bag and the handles.

 

 

I've already finished the third bag, which is made from NC State fabric, but haven't taken any pictures yet.  I'll show it soon.

Some Weekend Highlights....

Our oldest grandson is six! He's doing great in first grade and his reading skills have taken off. He loves watermelon, dill pickles and cheese pizza. There's a little golden haired girl named Holly who has caught his eye.

 

 

Grandma gets creative with birthday decorations!

Eli is growing too.  He's six weeks old now and I'm sure he was smiling and almost laughing at me and his Pa Pa J.

Sweet Eli Toes.

My daughter has bounced back from pregnancy and delivery and you'd never know she just had a baby. 

Its back to work for me this morning! Have a great Tuesday.

Pull Over Towel Bibs

Sometimes I get a sewing or quilting project on my mind and I can't stop until I make an attempt at it. So, here are the results of one of those project ideas. Pull over the head towel bibs.... Eli isn't really big enough for this one yet. Its almost as long as he is, but he will grow into it!   I added the little strip of fabric on the bottom to make it extra cute.

Walt is 7 months old, so he is big enough to start using this type of bib. These were made from towels with strips of fabric already sewn across the bottom.  They were in the summer section at Dollar General and were on clearance.  I love the bright colors, and the lemons, limes and cherry themes work well for a bib.  There were lots of these towels to choose from and I plan to go back to get more, especially if they are marked down further.

I didn't have any of the ribbing fabric for the neck, and there are no stores around here that sell it, so I made a trip to a thrift store to see if there were any little shirts that I could use the neck from. This little dress was only 50 cents.

Not only did it have the right kind of neck, the rest of the dress is stretch knit that could be used.  I carefully removed the neck and then made strips from the skirt part.  It was also nice that the colors were blue and white, perfect for little boys.

A plain dishtowel, hand towel, or one that already has an embellishment on it, like this one, would work.  I had to cut these dishtowels down and hem the cut sides, since they were too big.

 

The embroidery machine comes in handy for these kinds of projects.   The personalization makes them so cute.

I'm off work today for Labor Day and have other bib ideas in my head.   There are other things I should or could be doing, but making bibs is so much fun!