I'm On A Mission...

...to complete projects and reduce my stash, especially my scraps.

Before I talk about that here are a couple of projects that don't fit in that category.

One of my quilting friends asked me to finish up a couple of knitted ponchos she had started a few years ago. For one I just needed to finish a couple of rows and stitch it together. The other needed completely redone. The yarn is bulky and knit on large needles so it didn't take long to redo it. On the last sew day I passed the completed ponchos to her cousin who lives almost next door to her. However, the recipient has been out of town so I haven't heard from her. I hope she is happy with the work I did.

I didn't think to take a photo of the finished ponchos, but the pattern shows how they went together.

Next, I started work on a baby quilt for my young neighbors who are expecting their first baby at the end of January. They are big - BIG - Disney fans so, of course, I need to make a Mickey Mouse quilt.

It took a few tries before I decided on how to arrange the Friendship Star blocks, which finish at four inches. I tried six-inch blocks but decided that was too big.

The top is finished, but the piece of fabric I have for the back, shown on the right, is just a smidge too small. I have been pondering how to make it bigger. I hope to figure that out and get it quilted this next week. I will bind it with the blue batik used on the front.

Then I saw a cute idea for using Christmas cards. Really, any greeting card would work, but I had been thinking of a way to use Christmas cards. They are just too pretty to throw away.

A YouTube video to make these Pillow Boxes from Sew Very Easy can be found here. There is a template in the links below the video that can be printed. I enlarged the template to 125% to make it bigger. I also used double-sided scrapbooking tape instead of glue. I made these five in less than two hours. I found that a package of Olfa rotary blades would fit if the top part is folded down. I think a gift card would fit nicely, too.

On to finishes and stash busting.

I finished the Disappearing Rail Fence scrappy quilt.

I decided to try, again, to do a machine sewn binding. I used a big zig-zag stitch.

I'm not crazy about how it looks, but it is acceptable. I haven't decided if I will keep this one, pass it on to someone or donate it. Speaking of donating I need sources to donate to. Any suggestions? I am in north-central Illinois and would appreciate the names of specific places.

I have two large shopping bags in my sewing room. They are were FULL to overflowing with fabric scraps.

I generated a lot of these scraps, but my quilt friends have also added to it a lot. Every time we are together some of them hand me baggies full of scraps they have saved for me. Quilters are so generous!

While I do appreciate their donations I have decided that I just will not use them all so I am going through and getting rid of the tiniest ones. And, it's taking much longer than I anticipated.

I'm sorting. 

And pressing.

And, trimming.

I am sorting out the HSTs and pieced units. 

I decided that 2-inch, 2 1/2-inch, and 3 1/2-inch are the sizes I want. After I decided on a pattern I discovered I need 4-inch squares also.

As of today I have this much left in one bag, less than half full. The other bag is empty.

I am getting a lot of this work done during phone conversations with Son.

EDIT: It has taken me a couple of days to write this post. As of this morning, my bag looks like this.

It's empty. Woohoo! But...

I am not quite finished. I still have this pile to finish up. That should happen today, hopefully.

In between all that I am piecing HSTs and squares together.

Then 4-patches.

Then 8-patches.

Then 16-patches and pinwheels.

The pattern is 16 Patch and Pinwheels by Mary Johnson. 

My blocks are smaller since I am using 2-inch squares.

I will work on these long enough to get them to the 8-patch and HSTs stage. Then it will be a good project to take to sew days if we get to continue. We meet at a local library that is also in a school. We have to follow the guidelines the school follows. They only recently were allowed to have groups up to 15, masked. That may change again with the Omicron variant increasing. 

We'll see.

To see what other quilters are up to go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Stay safe and well.

Happy quilting!

I have

 made a decision and I have a plan!

I'm talking about my scraps.

I have a 10-drawer unit and 2 large shopping bags of scraps. There is more, but we won't discuss that right now.

Anyway, I decided that sorting by color and not cutting into sizes would work better for me. And, save me some time and work. So I pulled out the drawers and sorted them by color. Then I pulled out the bags and started sorting them. 

Triangles are in their own pile to be used for ... something. Any piece big enough to cut a two-inch square from goes into a pile to be put into a fabric basket. Anything smaller than two inches goes into a separate pile.

I am making a fabric basket, one for each color, using this pattern Pink Penguin. I am making mine the larger size.

So far I have made a green basket. 

Each basket will live on top of my stacks of fabric which are sorted by color on a shelf.

This has been a good stash-busting project. Each basket uses 24 three-inch squares of print fabric. For the bottom and inside handles I am using something that I have had for a while. It looks like muslin, but heavier, but not quite a canvas. The lining is a white-on-white stripe that I just couldn't seem to like for a quilt but works great for this project. 

The pieces smaller than two inches will all live together in one of those large shopping bags for now. I am saving the small pieces for small paper piecing projects.

I have already made one of these, Diamond Log Cabin by Cindi Edgerton. I have a few more of her patterns, too. This finished at 22 inches. I plan to make at least three more to be set together into a bigger quilt.

You can see that the pieces needed are very small!

I will keep working to make more fabric baskets. Once the drawer unit is empty of fabric, I will probably store my card-making supplies in some of the drawers. The triangles/HST units will probably go in at least one drawer, too. This is a work in progress right now, so things could change, but at least I have a plan and am working towards being organized in a way that helps me be more productive.

Stay safe and well.