I used five yards for donation pillowcases this week, and I didn’t buy any fabric.  I have more pillowcases ready to go that will count on this coming week.  Since I have a basket drawer where I keep juvenile/novelty/weirdo fabric that I want to use for pillowcases, I can really see the difference with this yardage pulled out.  I’m cutting up the scraps, too, everything too narrow to cuff a pillowcase, and it feels like I’m getting rid of it.  I know, one is never really rid of fabric.  It will keep popping up again in scrap projects, but at least that basket looks better.

I use this tutorial from Mama Spark, but its similar to many others, with no exposed seams. I donate mine to ConKerr Cancer.

This week: +0 yards, -5 yards
YTD: +113.25 yards, -184.75 yards
Net stash used 2014: -71.5 yards

How did you do this week?  Keep working away at it!
I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

Farewell October!  It has been a beautiful month here.  Its definitely over, though.  Beggars’ Night was last night, only because tonight is a big high school cross-county football game, and snow is predicted.

If you look strictly at my sewing goals, I don’t seem too productive, but there were a few bonus scrap quilts in there.

October Goals
1.  Finish those last few box pouches.  No.  I looked at them a few times.
2.  Cut scraps for Scrap-in-a-Box.  Yes!  All ready for January!
3.  Quilt and finish the Slow Quilt.  No, but I made progress.  Tabling it for now.

The weather did not hold me back this month, but my painful knees did.  I can sit comfortably at the machine (standing to cut is harder), but I’ve been so exhausted and achy from regular garden and house chores that I’m not feeling the mojo.  I put quite a bit of effort toward the Slow Quilt.  I pieced the back and batting (one seam each, but large to drag around).  I used soluble thread to sew a layer of poly batting to the back of the top for trapunto.  I am ready to trim it away, but I just don’t think I have the patience right now, and I’m afraid I’ll ruin it, so I’m setting it aside.  I will continue to mull over quilting ideas.

November Goals
1.  Finish those box pouches!
2.  Make something with curved piecing.  Maybe purple and lime?
3.  Make some pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer.
4.  Research quilting ideas.

How did your month go?  Hope you made all the progress you wanted.  Have a great November.

Here’s what’s going on with more of the Christmas scraps.  Its a little dark and busy for my taste, but I’m choosing to regard it as rich and cosy for the winter time.  What do you think?

The plaid centers completely used up a fabric remnant I’ve had for ages.  It’s truly beautiful, but I really don’t know what it was sold for, or why I bought it.  I was seduced by the gold threads, I guess.  It’s very thin (voile?), and when washed became a wrinkled mess, which ironed into a very crooked plaid.  After years of looking at it, I finally found the patience to cut into it.  I thought about using scissors, but I needed every inch of it.  After pinning it together every six inches, I was able to rotary cut it into mostly straight six inch squares.  Stabilized by the fabric frames, I think it will work okay in this quilt.

So what’s on your design wall?  I’m linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Nothing in and nothing out, but I cut out another quilt today, so that will soon change.  I feel virtuous for making progress on two of my October goals.  Not only did I finish the cutting for the Scrap-in-a-Box quilt along, but I ordered the batting for the Slow Quilt (Quilter’s  Dream Machine Blend, new to me).  Therefore, I decided to venture back into the Christmas locker for another scrap quilt while I wait for the batting to arrive.  As you can see, I shouldn’t be buying more fabric.

Except for backs! Some yardage may have been purchased this week during a batik sale at Hancocks of Paducah.  But I’ll think about that when it arrives.

This week: +0 yards, -0 yards
YTD: +95.25 yards, -161.75 yards
Net stash used 2014: -66.5 yards

Have a great week, and use that stash!
I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

Wow, the end of September already!  The year is racing along, isn’t it?  But I have good Stash progress and Goal progress to report.

Today I finished the Christmas Scrap Quilt, from now on to be known as the Christmas Bird Quilt.  Here is part of the top before quilting.  It’s in the dryer now, so I’ll post pictures in the coming week.

This week: +0 yards, -8.5 yards
YTD: +95.25 yards, -161.75 yards
Net stash used 2014: -66.5 yards

Goals

September Goals

1.  Finish Disappearing Hourglass quilt for QoV. (Assemble top, quilt, and bind.). Yes, finished!  So is its pillowcase.

2.  Clean out cabinet that backs against my sewing table.  If I lose unused craft supplies, it will be a good,dark place to store quilts.  Did it!

3.  Make two more children’s boxy pouches.  Well, no.

4.  Make a Christmas scrap quilt to sell or donate

Continue reading →

Yesterday I buckled down and cleaned out this cabinet that backs up my sewing table.  I really like that it supports the weight of the quilts while I’m quilting, and also gives an extra surface for cutting, but I didn’t feel I was making as good use of it’s storage space as I might.  Also, I had rolled up wall hangings stored in the open and I worried about them eventually fading.  And it was on my September Get It Done list.

So I cleaned out thirty years of craft supplies, and managed to reduce them to the bottom shelf so that the quilts can live on the top one.  I kept two knitting UFOs, some novelty yarn, a huge counted cross stitch project, paints and brushes, and Girl Scout things with which I’m not yet ready to part.  I donated a big bag of boring yarn, print making and chair caning supplies,  and many boxes of photo frame Christmas cards.  No, I never sent photo cards, but they worked well for paper pieced cards for special friends.  Whew!  Feeling lighter now.

I finished two small autumn wall hangings.

And I started pulling fabric for Scrap-in-a-Box, the mystery quilt that will be starting in January.  I hope some more of you will join us in this.  I’m not going to finalize or cut till at least next month.  I want to look at the colors for a while, and I should do other things that are on my September list.

http://www.freshlypieced.com/2014/09/wip-wednesday-color-and-more-color.html

Hope you are making the progress you want.  I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Finishes this week!  I finished the Disappearing Hourglass quilt, for 10.25 yards, and a couple of little wall hangings that totaled one yard.  And I didn’t buy a thing.

This week: +0 yards, -11.25 yards
YTD: +95.25 yards, -153.25 yards
Net stash used 2014: -58 yards

[Had to stop to check my spelling, totaled or totalled.  I’ve been hanging out with this international community for too long!  🙂  Went with the American version.  Yep, we are two nations (more than that!) separated by a common language. Not to mention the punctuation.]

Anyway, even with this, I better get going if I want to break 100 yards by the end of the year.  And I do.

Hope your stash is heading the way in which you want it.

I’m linking up with Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

Finally, the quilting is finished on the Disappearing Hourglass quilt.  Not very imaginative, but I hope it will look good. It’s bound now and in the washer.  I hope to get some pictures tomorrow.

Someone on Etsy asked me to put up a few more autumn leaf wall hangings, so I got out my fall fabrics.  There is an immense pile, in spite of the effort I’ve made to use it up.  I think it grows while it’s put away in the cupboard.

The other project on my mind is selecting a color scheme for the Scrap-in-a-Box Mystery Quilt (Scrapitude 2015).  Charlotte is leading us in a smaller quilt this time.  Here is the introduction on Sandy’s blog.  You really should join us for this.  There won’t even be any clues till January!  Loads of time to pull scraps and cut, then sew it during a less busy time.  It’s a lot of fun when we share on Twitter and Flickr.

Hope you are making lots of progress.  I’m linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.