Playing with stash and scraps

Do you believe that a finish entitles you to start something new? I see it as a reward for finishing something. Especially when the "something" is as big and complicated as Allietare was.

Last weekend I saw a great quilt online, done with different sizes and variations of the Barn Door or Churn Dash block.  The designer calls it Barn Dance and has a free pattern on her blog.  I kept thinking it would be great as a scrappy quilt.  Of course that made me start thinking about what I might have to play with.

There are plenty of cream/neutral fabrics in my scrap bin. And I have a small drawer full of autumn fabrics that have been collecting for a long time.  So this 24" block is the result of digging through those. This is actually the largest block in her pattern.  This could make a nice little table topper or pillow left just as is. But I may need to make some of the other size blocks too just for fun and see where it takes me.

Sometimes it's just relaxing and fun to make something with no real plan. But then again this is probably why I have so many UFOs and WIPs. My next REAL project needs to be binding my Traveling Stars quilt.

Sunday stash report - Feb 7

It was a slow week in terms of sewing. I bought a kit for (and made) a fabric snowflake that's now hanging in my sewing room, and I made a table topper for a guild donation project.  I also dropped off my Cottage in the Woods quilt to be quilted. And I hemmed up a new pair of slacks - does that count as sewing since I used a needle and thread? The first half of the month of February will probably be a little bleak in terms of sewing/quilting because my work schedule won't leave me much time except for maybe a little handwork.

I've corrected my "out" number this week after double checking the spreadsheet I keep. And yes, I must admit I'm so anal that I keep a spreadsheet. Now you know what a nerd I really am.

In this week: .5 yds

In this year: 5.5 yds

Out this week: 1.5 yds

Out this year: 18 yds

My stash is not winning so far this year. I'm realistic enough to know that I'll be buying more fabric but it's fun to be ahead for a little while. 

Sunday stash report - January 17

Nothing in this week and nothing out - at least no finishes to claim.  I've been working on the binding on the flannel quilt but since it is black binding I've limited my evening sewing on it.  I did work on individual blocks for RSC16 and Saturday Sampler, but that was about it. On Saturday I got my RSC16 column (row) put together. 

And Sunday sewing included making the last large block and planning my layout. The last appliqued floral block and the small version are left to make. Planning was complicated for this one, but finally I made some paper pieces to represent the 6 appliqued blocks, 12 large blocks, and 14 small blocks. Then I started rearranging them until I found a layout that I liked. I'm going to make some additional small blocks out of a coordinating print to go with the pieced ones. Next steps will be to play with the actual blocks.

In this week: 0 yds

In this year: 2 yds

Out this week: 0 yds

Out this year: 4.5 yds

So I'm still ahead of my stash, but not by much.  Yet!! Maybe by next weekend I'll have that binding done and can count the whole flannel quilt in the used column. 

A finish to report

Over a week ago I got the binding on this baby quilt but forgot to post a picture since I haven't been home much. This quilt is entirely made from scraps and stash. The lime green is actually left over backing from another recent quilt. 

The black dinosaur print, the blue, and the red are all leftovers from pillows I made at Christmas time for lots of kids.  It's always nice to have an extra quilt around when I need a quick gift.

Now that my work schedule is back to "crazy" I don't expect to get as much done in the sewing room. But I did get the binding made yesterday for a UFO that is ready to bind. No I just need to find the time and the mojo to sew that binding on.

More pillowcases

3 more pillowcases finished and 3 more yards of stash used. Well actually 2 yards of stash and 1 pillowcase kit.  Yay!

Design idea

Cobblestones - love the name.  For a few years now I've been cutting bricks (3.5" x 6.5") from leftover "kid" type novelty prints I used in quilts, pillows, baby burpees, or pillowcases. I have quite a big stack but wasn't sure what to do with them . . . until today.  Cobblestones.

The bricks will be alternated with black and white 4-patches, and each column is flipped so the 4-patches are either on the top or the bottom.  So simple and the little black and white blocks will make a great leader/ender project.  If you haven't heard the term "leaders and enders", check out Bonnie Hunter's designs. She has lots of great ideas for creating whole projects using these pieces that we can run through our machine in between other seams so we don't have to waste thread by clipping and starting again with a tail.

And the best part is that everything will come from scraps and stash and this will be a great way to put another dent into that stash and the scrap bin.  

I got this idea from http://wyomingbreezes.blogspot.com/2015/07/cobblestones.html.  Thanks Nancy!

Out of the stash

How appropriate!  My "scrap and stash" baby quilt is getting a backing pulled from the leftover backing drawer.  

This swirly print was a wide backing that I used on a quilt months ago. There was just enough left to use on this baby quilt if I pieced it.  So there are 2.5 yards more GONE from the stash. And there was enough of the green print for binding, so another 1/2 yard used.  I dropped the flimsy and backing off to be quilted yesterday.

Disappearing Hourglass

From a bundles of 6 fat quarters found in the stash this weekend - purchased several years ago - I now have 6 disappearing hourglass blocks and enough piano key pieces for a couple of borders. The only scraps left were little slivers so no wasted scraps ending up in my bin.

I'm not exactly sure yet how I'm going to lay these out but it may become a baby quilt. Right now I'm thinking 2 rows of 3 blocks with a border and then add the piano keys to the top and bottom to make it rectangular.  Any other layout ideas for me? I'm open to some creativity.

For more information on the Disappearing Hourglass blocks go to the Missouri Star Quilt Company website. They have video tutorials for several different "disappearing" blocks: 4-patch, 9-patch, pinwheel, and hourglass.  Very easy and usually have some interesting variations.

Use it up

Another quick stash project is done. Earlier this winter I "shopped" the stash of a friend who wanted to downsize her fabric collection. These 3 panel sections were in with the things I brought home. They are each 10" x 12" and were just so cute.

Sunday morning I was trying - unsuccessfully, mind you - to organize some of the stuff lying around in my sewing room. When I saw these Christmas panel sections I began to think they would make very cute mug rugs or minis to hang on a door. So I dug around in the stash and found a piece of gold big enough to use as backing, leftover pieces of batting, and a fat quarter of a red/tan stripe to use as a binding.  Perfect!

I just added a little simple hand quilting to each of these (while watching Masters golf on TV). Monday night I added the binding and they are done.  These might make good gifts next holiday season and they reduce my stash by about a yard of fabric.

Shrinking the stash

Over Labor Day weekend I pulled together and cut the pieces for more donation pillowcases.  One evening this week I pinned together the "tube" so they were ready to sew together using the tube method.  So now I have 7 pillowcases ready to sew the French seams on the bottoms and sides to finish them up as I find a little time to sew.  

The peach and navy ones were from fabric I bought locally last spring with pillowcases in mind.  The John Deere fabric was in my stash and had also been purchased within the year to make pillowcases. But the star fabric, the red and green cuff fabrics and those yellow and aqua piping fabrics were all from the "found" stash.  And it makes me feel so good to know that the abandoned unused stash fabric is shrinking a little every month.  

That means that I'll have room for more NEW fabric, right?

Taming the beast

Sometimes the mess in my sewing room just gets to be too much and I can't stand it any longer.  Guess I've reached that stage again with the scrap bins.  My scraps have begun to over flow the 2 canvas cubes and into one shopping bag.  These cubes are 12" square and hold a lot of scraps.

So I spent part of my morning and turned the shopping bag full of scraps into these . . . strips for my string blocks, 5" charms, 3.5" and 2.5" squares, and finally some 1.5" postage stamps.  Next step after lunch was to empty the canvas cubes and sort things into strips and chunks.  The large chunks went back into my stash. The small ones all went back into the cube to cut into squares - some other day.  And all of the strips went into the other cube to use for string blocks.  Much better organized so that when I work on string blocks those strips are all in one place and ready to use.

Once I had that taken care of I made 5 more string blocks with red centers.  I believe that makes 36 of them, so only 12 more to go.  And I cut and pinned together a new pillowcase from that stash fabric.  I'm determined to tame that out of control sewing room.

Sorted . . .

It took me over an hour to empty out that big plastic tub and sort out the contents.  Our pool table was the perfect size (and height) to use as I sorted and organized all of the fabric I found. I'm estimating about 30 yards total, with a lot of it in half yard or larger pieces. A bonanza!!!

I discovered a bunch of pastel strips left over from a log cabin quilt I made as a graduation gift for one of my daughter's friends - in 2002.  Those will work great in my string blocks.

I have piled all of the fabric that will work for pillowcases into stacks and it looks like I have enough to make about a dozen pillowcases for donations.

There are some large yardage pieces that I probably bought on sale to use as backs since they are fairly neutral. There is a bag with a new (OK - unused) queen sized cotton batting.  Two large blocks left over from a kids' quilt, some panels, and a lot of odds and ends were in this tub.  Plus I filled up a garbage bag with small scraps of smushed and wrinkled batting that I didn't want to deal with.

And the most exciting find?  I'll have to share that another day, but let's just say that it is a treasure from my childhood.

Now I need to find room to put this all away in my sewing room!

Lost and neglected

When we moved to this house 8 years ago I thought we had done a really good job of unloading all of my sewing room tubs directly into my new sewing room, which was the only finished section of our basement. But then we finished the remainder of the basement and things got moved around by the contractor during the process.  But I honestly thought everything went back into my space.

Well - I was wrong. This morning I was looking in our basement storage area for an empty tub large enough to store outdoor kid toys in the garage and saw this one. But when I tried to pull it out it was really heavy. So imagine my shock when I opened it up and realized it is packed FULL of fabric and a few small pieces of batting.  This is a really large plastic tub and it was full to the top so there is a lot of fabric here.  How could I not have realized this was missing?  

I haven't had a chance to dig everything out yet to see what I have, but my stash has just grown. It will be fun after work seeing what all is in this lost and neglected tub. 

More stash organization

This is another drawer from the same storage unit from yesterday's post.  This is the next one I'm working on.  Both contain mostly brights.  Bigger pieces will go back in after sorting and folding. Smaller pieces will be cut into strings, charms, or 2.5" squares and go into those containers.

It's like opening Christmas gifts as I dig deeper into this mess and find some fun things.

Blissfully buried in fabric

We had a wonderful time on the 2 day shop hop bus trip this past weekend.  10 Minnesota quilt shops in 2 days!  Exhausting - but fun, fun, fun with old friends and new ones.  My roommate Linda came all the way from Rapid City to join us.  That is dedication!

I finally had the chance early this morning to unpack my shopping bags and spread out the goodies I purchased (and won).  This photo isn't the best, but it does prove that I had success finding things to keep me "blissfully buried in fabric".  That is the quote on a small panel I purchased that is destined to become a wall hanging for my sewing room.

I'll share more about some of my treasures later this week.  Now - since I have the afternoon off, what should I start with?  Guess I really need to start by removing this pile from the dining room table and putting it in my sewing room where I can play with it.