Purple Stash

http://www.projectleasa.com/sewmystash2015-kickoff/

Sewing my stash is going to take some serious work.  In addition to working on finishing some UFO's this year, I need to start (and complete!) some new projects in order to use some of my stash.  So this week I pulled a project -- a purple project!  I took my purples.....

.....and cut some squares.

Then I found some really pretty ivory pieces left over from a quilt I made in 2008 as a wedding gift. 

I cut the ivory pieces into strips.

Then I cut up a bunch of little ivory squares to make blocks like this --

Hmmmm, now that I look closer, I can see that I need to rip this one apart and restitch it so that center looks better. 

Anyway, with some sashing and cornerstones, I think this will make a cute quilt.  I'll have to add some borders because, so far, this quilt is only using up about 3 yards of that stash.  See what I mean about this taking some serious work?

Sew My Stash 2015

Not only is this going to be the year of finishing UFO's it is also going to be the year of using my stash.  I am joining the fun at Project: Leasa and planning to Sew My Stash this year.   (I think I need to start getting up earlier in the morning if I'm going to get all this sewing done.

First things first.  I have to show you my stash.  Gulp!  These are the cabinets in my sewing room in which I keep my stash.  Looks are deceiving, though, not every one of those cabinets has fabric in it.

I have quite a few batiks.

Actually, looks ARE deceiving.  There are two stacks on that shelf, the stack in the front and the stack in the back.

These are batiks too, just larger pieces.

The Black & Whites are normally in nice neat stacks but I have been digging through them lately, so they are just in a pile now.

I have an awful lot of novelty prints and brights.  Yes, stacks in front of stacks again.

Christmas prints and other holiday prints don't take up too much space.

Five shelves are organized by color and then there is a shelf for Asian prints, floral prints, and patriotic fabrics.

This shelf is just stacks and bundles I bought not knowing what I wanted to do with, so they just sit there ......... waiting.  I see a stack of backings I bought for baby quilts there, too.

This shelf is just ..... well ..... I'm not sure what.  Odds and ends, I guess.  There are some Loony Tunes fabrics, a few things I ordered from the Fat Quarter Shop and, Valentines fabric, super-hero stuff, and fabric from Uganda.  Yes, that's odds and ends, for sure.

These fabrics are sitting on my cutting table, pillowcase fabrics and solids.  I guess I ran out of space in the cabinets.

Now that I've taken all these photos, I realize I have a lot more stash than I thought.  Even if I pull a project once a month I won't make a dent in it. Maybe instead of getting up earlier I should figure out how to get by with no sleep at all.

Quilts for Savannah and Sahara

When I was in St. Louis last summer I made it a priority to stop by one of my favorite quilt shops, Janie Lou to buy something.   I chose this book by Camille Roskelley and some great fabrics (Storybook by Moda) for twin baby quilts.  We had twin great-nieces coming in October, and I wanted to be ready.

Even though the pattern has Flying Geese blocks, which I really hate making, it was a fun pattern with which to work.  These components.....

.....turned into this block.....

.....and the blocks turned into these quilts. 

Most of the time I hand-quilt baby quilts.  

This time I waited too long to get started, and I really didn't think about how much quilting there would be.  By the time I finished quilting them my fingers were really, really sore.  I will spare you that picture!

My sweet friend, Penny, made these beautiful embroidered labels for me.

I had trimmed the corners off the Flying Geese blocks.....

.....so I ended up with enough Half-Square Triangles to make a couple more baby quilts.  These are just the blocks from the peach quilt.  I also have the turquoise blocks to use.

Don't these precious babies look like they need to be covered up with some nice warm quilts?

I was so happy to have the opportunity to take the quilts to them in person.  SO much more fun than mailing them!

Hoping for Another "Lovely Year of Finishes"

A new year, new motivation, new goals.  I didn't complete as many of my goals as I would have liked in 2014.  Sometimes it was because I set a way-too-complicated goal.  Sometimes it was just that life got in the way.  It is time to start again.  I am setting as my goal for January -- Finish this quilt. 

I started it in 2011 when a friend of mine had a 50th Birthday Party/Quilt Retreat.  She chose the pattern and I shopped in my stash.  (I can't convince Hubby that this means it didn't cost a penny!)

The pattern is called "Root Beer Float" by Hyacinth Quilt Designs.

The blocks were fun to make.

It didn't take all that long to put together.  I even made the binding ahead.

I really have no idea why this ended up in the UFO stack.  It just needs to be quilted and the binding put on.  So that is my goal for January.  

I am linking up with Fiber of All Sorts for the Lovely Year of Finishes January goal setting party.

December Goal Accomplished

Ending the year with another "Finish" feels good.  It feels even better knowing I have kept a promise to my nephew, Josh.  He asked me a little over a year ago to make a wall-hanging based on the 1980's video game, The Legend of Zelda.  Last month it was all basted and ready to go.  




















I made it my "Lovely Year of Finishes" goal for December to complete the quilting and to get the binding on it.  So I set to work -- quilting!

Here are some close-ups of the quilting from the back --

I set to work again -- binding!

This is one of the quilts that actually looks just as good from the back as it does from the front.  It almost looks like a second quilt.

So, now that it's finished I need to figure out when to get to St. Louis to give it to Josh.  I think it should be sooner rather than later.  He seems pretty happy with the photos, but I bet he's ready to see the real thing and hang it in his home.

I am linking up to Fiber of All Sorts for their December Finishes Party.  I was Goal #20 at the beginning of the month.

December Goal for "A Lovely Year of Finishes"

This is my last opportunity this year to set a goal with "A Lovely Year of Finishes."   In August I started working on a Legend of Zelda wall-hanging for my nephew and talked about it here.

Recently I got the backing put together, using up a lot of odds and ends of whites in my stash.  It's interesting how different they all are.  I've decided that from now on I'm going to buy one brand of white --- and buy it by the bolt!

Then I found some black batting in my sewing room and got the quilt top basted.

I've been having fun quilting it this week.  Instead of doing an all-over stipple I've been playing a little bit with the designs.

When I finished quilting the "Potion" bottle something about it bothered me.  The more I looked at it the more I realized I would have to rip out some of the quilting.   The problem was I had quilted in the black area where I was supposed to be able to see through the bottle.  That would never do!  It looks much better now.

So, my goal for this month is to finish the quilting and put the binding on the Legend of Zelda Quilt.  That will not only be a finish, it will also be getting a UFO checked off the list!

I am linking up with Fiber of All Sorts for their December Goal Setting Party.