Monthly Recap and March Goals

Judy reminded me yesterday that she needed a little inspiration on my blog.  I haven't posted because I haven't really done much sewing lately (besides at the retreat).  I had hoped to make a little more progress on my projects this month.  I was 2 out of 5 for my goals this month.  I am going to focus on the positives

I finished one quilt from the UFO parade.  I managed to get it quilted.  I have no idea what that shadow in the middle of the quilt is, but trust me I do not have a big stain on the quilt.

I did play with the blue scraps.  I also added a little brown and green.  This quilt will be 5 blocks long.  I am about 1/3 the way done with the blocks.  I have lots of pieces ready to put together.  

I am moving my other 3 goals that I did not complete to March.  

1. Quilt 2 customer quilts (they are ready to go!)
2. Bind my projects from January- binding is picked and ready to be made.
3. Work on the t-shirt quilt
4. Finish the blocks for the blue quilt
5. Continue to work on my scrap-cut-a-thon.  I have 6 of the bakery trays lined with scraps. Instead of using these trays for projects, they have been filled with scraps.  It's time to cut them up and get them ready to sew.

It's hard to believe, but I have made a lot of progress in cutting my scraps this month.  In the process, I think I have cutting stations in almost every room of the house.  I don't think my family (mostly my husband) is a huge fan of my big messes.  Feel free to grab a scrap bag and cut along with me.

I have learned one thing about my scrap storage system.  I don't mix brights with other colors (country or reproduction) in projects.  I now have a bin for brights.  It is easier to merge these brights with the more muted colors if I need to than to sort them out.  I generally don't make a bright quilt with only one color, so I am going to let all my brights live happily together.

I am not cutting for a specific project, however, I have another pixelated project planned and also kitting together greens and neutrals for a Carolina Chain.  I love this quilt set on point.  It is a great scrap quilt as it takes 6" (3X 2" squares) or 11" (2X 2" square and a 2X3 1/2")  of fabric.  Since I just finished my log cabin quilt with 2" strips, and my blue/brown/green quilt is with 2" strips...I have plenty of leftover pieces.

I tried...I really did!

I tried to let this bucket go to the trash bin without browsing.  I walked by many times.  I never reached down to peek in.  I moved it around the room.  The truth of the matter is, when I went to dump it I had to look (You probably know the rest of the story).

I sorted it.  That's just what I do.  Is it the Mom in me?  probably so.

I created this pile for my neighbor girl who received a sewing machine for Christmas.  She has just been burning up thread since she received it.  Since she is 8, these are already pre-cut.  

 This is the pile of goodies I saved for myself.  There are several nice quality pieces in there.

This pile of bits and pieces I didn't think were the best quality went to the trash.











So I admit it - I was a trash picker.  I did not dumpster dive on this excursion, but I won't say that is beyond me.

Last night I "TACKLED" some backings.  I made 3 backings in preparation for more quilting.

1. I made the backing for my brother's log cabin quilt.  I found a 4" X 30" scrap in my bin that gave me just enough of the fabric I needed to complete it.
2. I made the backing for my bright 4 patch quilt.  Dottie had gifted me a yellow fabric with butterflies during the scrap gifting Christmas party.  I had just enough to make it work
3. I made the backing for my green and black swoon quilt.  I did not have enough of any of the fabrics, so I had to get creative.  I think it is just perfect.

I don't have any finishes to report today, but perhaps I get get the batting cut for the next 3 quilts so they are ready to load.

I have a weekend retreat coming up on Friday, so I better start planning some piecing projects.  Perhaps I should tackle the applique on assorted projects in the UFO pile.  Each one has a tiny bit of applique.

Quilts with 2 1/2" strips

 My friend Tina came over this weekend and cut a mountain of scraps.  By mountain, I mean an entire trash bag.  It took her 2 ironing sessions just to get them all straightened out.  She cut them all in 2 1/2" strips.  Some of them were of the less than beautiful variety and some were leftovers from old projects.

This inspired me to go through my mountain of papers laying in various piles around my studio, and several binders where I had previously placed patterns and organized them. This was quite a task.  A task perfect to do while watching football.

When I first started quilting I saved patterns that interested me.  Some of them have been made, and others no longer interest me.  So I started several categories.

• Patterns that I don't like any more (taken to quilt group to gift or recycle)
• baby quilt patterns (of course these could be made larger)
• modern quilt patterns
• patterns for precuts
• scrap patterns
• seasonal patterns (have a whole binder of just Christmas)
• purses/bags/pillows and accessories.
• quilting ideas

I realized really quickly that most of the patterns that didn't interest me any longer were the ones made where all the fabrics matched.  I have been saying this for years....

"Once you go scrap, you never go back"

I think this is true for me.

I noticed that most of the patterns for precuts were also scrap patterns.  I decided to keep them separate for now, but I may merge them in the future.  I have several precut bundles so I wanted to keep these together.  I am hoping this system will work for me and I will use the patterns I have saved.    

My most important observations was that I must think I am going to live to be 1000.  In the future I will be more selective on which patterns I decide to print.  Killing trees is not making me sew any faster.

I have "tackled" my mountain of patterns!!

I came across these great scrap quilts and I thought I would share.  I love the king size version, and perhaps I would be able to shut my 2 1/2" square drawer and my 2 1/2" strip bin if I made it.  After I get to 20 finishes I want to start a new scrap pattern.

No post gets any views without pictures, so I thought I would post a picture of the quilt I am working on.  I am still deciding if it needs more quilting and what it needs.  Sometimes viewing a picture of it helps.

What do you think?  More quilting?  More lines? more of another design.  Decisions, decisions.
  

Sort and pet

It seems like forever since I have been able to hang out in my studio.  I am thankful today for a sort and pet day.  I picked out a pattern in the new Quilty magazine that is calling me.  I am starting to sort and cut so I will be ready for Christmas vacation.

Design Wall Monday

I am happy with my progress this week.  I am still working on quilting this tree skirt, but I did get my star quilt pieced.  I found the perfect fabric in my stash for the inner border.  I had a fat quarter which left me with just 2"x22" of scrap.  

I went ahead and pieced the backing while I was motivated.  I had some odd ball shaped pieces and it was time for me to get them used up.  The trouble is now I like the back as much as the front!  Is it wrong when the back of the quilt has more pieces than the front?  Perhaps I should just make this a lap quilt.  Just something to ponder.  I hope to get this quilted over Christmas vacation so I can hang it after the first of the year.                                                 My design wall is still full of the flannel scraps from 2 weeks ago.  Hopefully I can make some progress on that this week as well.   Thanks for visiting.  Check back with Judy and see what others are working on this week.

My Humble Studio

Subee asked me some time ago to post pictures of my studio. I felt even more compelled to do so after she revealed all the bolts of fabric she had in her possession. I hope you enjoy the tour. I did clean up before the pictures, but It still has that lived in look. This is the view as you enter my studio. The room is approx. 16' x 28'. I love having the glass doors to let in additional light from the main part of the basement. This is the view to the right of the doors as you are looking in. You can see that my large design wall is full and inviting me to finish a few things. The pink and red pattern is a mystery pattern that Bonnie Hunter hosted. I kept up with the mystery (2 or so years ago), but the quilt has been in rows ever since. The larger portion of my studio houses a second design wall a cutting mat, my Accucut, and the every important "resource center". It is a walkout basement, so I do get natural light. The last picture is what I have stored under my Gammill. All the drawers are labeled and sorted with various projects and lots of "scraps"

This is about as clean as it gets. I can never seem to manage to get all the piles organized at once. If you have any questions or design suggestions please let me know. The flooring is a remnant of carpet from another room. I am still undecided after 5 years on what I want for my flooring.

Scraps, Scraps, Scraps

While talking with Subee, she mentioned that she has all her bolts of fabric from before scrap quilting. I began to think about whether I would ever emerge from scrap quilts. It all started when I found Bonnie many years ago. I don't know if I can go back!! At first it was a goal to use up all the fabric that I had organized in my scrap bins. Well folks, I have been sewing with only scraps now for about 5 years. I don't see my scraps depleting any and I am OK with that. When I look at planned quilts, they generally don't appeal to me. I may emerge from this at some point, but I don't think it will be any time soon.

I have been pondering something Bonnie said about keeping the scrap bin "fresh". I was failing miserably at this one. There were some real "ugly" fabrics in there that I never seem to grab when making a quilt. These were mostly from my pre-quilting days and before I discovered the wonderful feel of quilt shop fabric. I decided it was time to purge. My children already took care of purging my 1 1/2" bin, so I moved on to the 2" bin.
This is what my 2" strip bin looked like before I started. It was organized, but it was full. It was full of fabrics that were given to me a very long time ago. There were also a lot of fabrics from my rescue mission that I blogged about some time back.





This is the bin after I went through and pulled out all the "what was I thinking fabrics" and "gee where did this come from" and the"wow I don't think I can cut this small enough to be pretty" It is hard to see a reduction even after I pulled out the "not so pretties". Does it look any emptier?

Next I went to my tub of fabrics that I had pulled from my stash.

These were leftover fabrics from previous charity quilts, fabric purchases from before I really knew what I was doing, and perhaps some clearance items that didn't work out so well. I know everyone has these whether they want to admit it or not!

I took this yardage to the cutter and cut it all into 2" strips. Have I mentioned how much I love my Studio cutter!! There was at least 10 yards in this pile. It is amazing how things add up. I decide to make a toothbrush rug with my 2" strips to replace the rug in my kitchen that is starting to show some serious wear. I don't know how far these 20 yards of fabric will take me, but they weren't doing me any good cluttering up my scrap bin. I like to have something portable to do when I am playing taxi mom (currently 6 days a week). At some point this rug will be too large to be portable, but I have it started! Sydney commented that she thought I was going to make a "pretty" rug. Her idea of pretty is color coordinated. Maybe I will be able to convert her someday! I think it will look fabulous in my kitchen. Here is the start. It may take me a year or so to get it completed, but the one I made with my 1 1/2" strips went really fast. I don't want my rug as large as the current kitchen rug. This rug was given to me by my sister when she remodeled her kitchen many years ago. It has had a long and good life.

One 40" strip does about 6" of length on the rug. I'm not sure how far this yardage will take me, but I am sure I can find more to cut up. If I was buying yardage for this rug, it would be quite expensive.

I feel confident that everything in my 2" bin is now usable.