A Great Start and A Final 2022 Stash Report

2023 is off to a roaring start.  I already have four finishes which also means four UFOs off the list.  Yay me!  

The first thing I finished this year was this Churn Dash baby quilt.  Sometimes, a simple, traditional block is the best choice for a sweet quilt.

These two quilts were started at a retreat last July, and I told you about them here.  They're going to a local group that makes quilts for St Jude Children's Research Hospital. 

The very last of the orange Tom & Jerry fabric (read about that here and here) was used up in this fun improv quilt.      

I struggled with this one a little, because of all the curved piecing and making all the pieces fit together, but I'm really happy with the result.  I call it "Tom and Jerry High Jinks".  It's also a St. Jude donation.  

I hope I can keep up this pace all year.  Wouldn't that be something!

DECEMBER 2022

Fabric Added in December -  0 yards

Fabric Used in December -  4.4 yards

Total Fabric Used in December - 4.4 yards

Days I sewed in December - 30/31

TOTALS FOR 2022

Total Fabric Added in 2022 - 86.7 yards

Total Fabric Used in 2022 - 222.8 yards

NET FABRIC USED in 2022 - 136.1 yards

Days I sewed in 2022 - 354/365

PERCENTAGE OF DAYS SEWED in 2022 - 97%

Hands 2 Help

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict hosts a quilt drive called Hands 2 Help.  Each year she offers the opportunity to make and donate quilts to specific, well chosen charities. For 2018 the chosen recipients are Little Lambs Foundation for Kids, Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo through Em's Scrapbag, and Victoria's Quilts Canada.

In March I completed two quilts which I made from Tom & Jerry fabric I had cut out to make pajamas for my grandsons -- about TEN years ago!  

The blue one .....

..... the orange one. 

Both quilts are going to The Little Lambs Foundation for Kids. They provide a little comfort in a backpack for children aged newborn to 17 who are transitioning into foster care or emergency shelters, or who have been hospitalized.

It makes my heart happy to think about the little lambs who will be receiving these truly special gifts. 


I'm Linking with Hands 2 Help.

Another March Finish and a Stash Report

Whew!  I finished my 6 & 6 in 2018 and my Scrap Attack March goals by the skin of my teeth.  Not really, I still have almost five hours left in the month, but I need to rest once in a while.  It did help that I was able to use the same project for both goals, but it's still two finishes this month, and I like it.  A few days ago I told you about the blue Tom and Jerry quilt I finished.  Today I finished the orange quilt.  

I backed it, quilted it, and bound it with yellow.  I thought it looked good with the cheese!

I had fun taking photos of this one, but I think I need a new venue.  It's getting harder to figure out how to get good shots in my courtyard!

Both quilts will be in the mail next week to Little Lambs Foundation for Kids.  You can see details of the quilt drive for Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge here.

And now for my March stash report.  I did okay even though I bought way more fabric than I wanted to.  My goal is at least 10 yards a month so I have a little catching up to do.

Fabric Added in March  -    4.5 yards

Fabric Used in March  -    17.37 yards 

Fabric Added Year to Date  -   8.5 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date  -   36.6 yards

Net Fabric Used in 2018  -  28.1 yards 

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  Pomegranate and Chintz, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Tish's Adventures in Wonderland.

One Down, One To Go

I'm "this close" to finishing my March Scrap Attack goal. About 10 years ago I cut out pajamas from Tom and Jerry fabric for my grands, and never got around to making them. This is the month I'm supposed to use these fabrics to make two donation quilts for Little Lambs Foundation for Kids.



















The blue quilt top came together well, but the borders not so much.   A lot of problems with quilt tops "quilt out", and things end up just fine so I hoped that would be the case this time.  It was. Whew!

I had the perfect thread in my thread stash.  (Yes, I know.  I may have a stash problem.)
























In no time at all it was quilted and ready to bind.....

..... and now it's finished and ready to donate.

There's hope for the orange quilt being finished before the end of the month, too.  I decided to do a simple snow ball block for the orange quilt.   What could be more simple. Stitching squares onto corners.....

..... trimming.....

..... and pressing.....

..... and done!

Well, not exactly.  It needed borders before it could be basted.

And, now it's basted and ready to quilt.  Fingers crossed the next three days will yield another finish.  

Blue Tom and Jerry Quilt

My Scrap Attack goal for March is to make something from the Tom and Jerry fabric I have had stashed away for almost 10 years.  It wasn't just fabric that was stashed away, though.  I had actually cut out two pairs of pajamas from it for my grands.  Then I stashed it away!  This week I pulled out the blue fabric to decide what to make.  The cut pieces plus the leftovers added up to plenty, so there's enough for a toddler quilt.

I decided on a simple "Over and Under" pattern with white for the sashing. 

Strip piecing made for simple sewing, and the blocks went together fast.

It didn't take long to get the rows put together.

Getting all the rows into a top didn't take long either.




















It needs a plain white border, right?  That's the easy part, right?  Hah!  I think I spent more time on the border than I did on making all the blocks and putting the whole thing together.

I didn't want any seams in the borders, but a width-of-fabric strip wasn't long enough.  (Or I messed up.)  I decided to just put squares in the corners.  It didn't work.  (Or I messed up again.)  Then I decided to put a filler piece on each side.  I cut them wrong.  (Yes, that means I messed up yet again.)

Every quilter knows to walk away when things are going this way, right?   The time to take a break is actually when things first start going this way.  I kept working and finally finished, but I am definitely not happy with the results. Maybe if I put enough quilting in the borders it will look better.  Right?

Finding the perfect backing fabric in my stash saved the day, so tomorrow will be basting day.  Then quilting.  Then done.  

After all the fussing I really do like this quilt.  It will end up going to the 2018 Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge.  If you're a quilter you should definitely think about joining the challenge.  This year they've chosen three charities to support with quilts - Little Lambs Foundation for Kids, Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo, and Victoria's Quilts Canada.  Little Lambs is the perfect place for Tom and Jerry for sure.  I'll have it ready to mail before you know it!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

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Scrap Attack 2018 - February Report

February did not go anything like I thought (or hoped) it would.  Between having the flu for 8 days, recovering for several days, and playing catch-up with cleaning and laundry, I didn't get into my sewing room much at all.

My February Scrap Attack goal was to cut up my green stash into useable pieces.  This was a much bigger goal than I had set last month which was to cut up the blue stash, and I didn't have a lot of time to do it.  This is what it looked like before.

As with my blue stash a lot of the pieces actually looked like this .....

..... so they definitely needed some attention.  Not loving attention.  I didn't really have time for that.  Just your every day run of the mill attention.  It seems like cutting was all I did last month.  You can see in the first photo a lot of the fabrics in the back row were really those between-green-and-blue shades .  When there were only a few days left in the month I tried to convince myself I didn't need to bother with them because they weren't really greens.  I couldn't do it, though.  I had to do what I had to do.

These are the squares, strips, and bricks I ended up with.

This is what is left of my green stash.  (And those between-green-and-blue shades.)

At one point I had actually become so tired of cutting that I pulled out a few greens and made some pillowcases.  No. That is not cheating.  That is stash-busting.

It's time to pull a slip from my handy dandy Christmas gift bag of goals. I'm really hesitant.  The last two were not fun, and I don't know if I can handle cutting up any more scraps. Okay.  Here goes.

Whew!  I am so relieved.  I get to make something out of the Tom and Jerry scraps.  My grandsons used to love watching Tom and Jerry cartoons.   I think the DVDs we bought were just about worn out when they outgrew them. I had bought Tom and Jerry fabric to make pajamas for them, and even cut them out as you can see, but I never got around to making them.  It looks like maybe they were about 1 year old and 6 years old at the time.  Maybe 2 and 7.  So, they outgrew the PJs as well as the DVDs.   (I hate to admit this, but they are 12 and 17 now.)

I should be able to make a baby quilt or two from this.  Hopefully, this month will go a little more smoothly.   Fingers crossed!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict Scrap Attack. 

Scrap Attack!

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict has put forth a Scrap Attack challenge for 2018.  Here's how it works.  I have chosen twelve scrap projects for the coming year, written them on slips of paper, and put the  strips in a little gift bag in my sewing room. At the beginning of each month I'll pull a slip from the bag and that will be my scrap goal for the month along with whatever else I'm working on at the time.

Here are my twelve.

1.  Make something using some of these 2.5" batik strips.

2.  Make a string quilt from my strings basket.

3.  Use up all the strings in these large containers, then recycle the containers. 

4.  Make at least one baby quilt from these Tom and Jerry prints.  (I cut out pajamas for my grandsons about 9 or 10 years ago and never made them!)

5.  Make at least one quilt from my overflowing supply of novelty prints.  (Yes, there are stacks behind the stacks!)

6.  Use these leftovers from Savannah and Sahara's baby quilts in a project.  (You can see their quilts HERE.)

7.  Use strips to make a quilt like this one on Carmen Geddes Quilts Facebook page.

8.  Make something with these fat quarters given to me by a friend.

9.  Cut up green scraps into squares.

10.  Cut up blue scraps into squares.

11.  Cut up pink scraps into squares.

12.  Cut up yellow scraps into squares.

All this is in addition to my plan to finish Josh's T-shirt quilt, finish Debbie's batik quilt, make Aaron a rag quilt, and make A.J. a black quilt.

Whew!  I think I should probably ask you to wish me luck. Looks like I'm going to need it!

I'm linking up with Sarah's Scrap Attack 2018.