WIP Wednesdays

THE BIG PURGE
So besides the BIG CLEAN UP that I was doing last week - aaah so clean - I also went through all my quilting magazines that have been lying around for ages and figured out which ones I want to keep (some have patterns I'd like to make someday) and others, while fun, I'm now done with. That was a pretty fun "task". ;^)

I also went and did something I've not ever done before. I went through my *entire* fabric stash and purged. I've got two grocery bags full of fabric ready for the curb. I might go donate them to Scrap since there's one close by. At least there I know they'll get used properly. I never know what happens to stuff that goes to Goodwill or similar. I guess I could bring it to a guild meeting but I don't know that I want it sticking around the house that long.

KALEIDOSCOPE QUILT
Besides that I've mostly been working on my sister's quilt:


I finally picked out the last of the last of the dark stitches and have been able to move forward with actual quilting (in the cream colored thread). Yay progress! I think I might want to sneak in some writing somewhere and not tell her, to make it fun. I'll have to wait to see how long it takes her to notice it. Heehee.

POSTAGE STAMP QUILT
In mid-fabric-purge I also went though the fabric I was getting rid of to see if any of it would work in my crazy-making postage stamp quilt. I know I've put this one down for such a long time but I'm still in love with the idea of making it so it was nice to go back and revisit it. I was able to match up a few more colors. Someday I might even be able to start assembling. I have a lot of cutting left as well.

Traveling, fabric and being single

Well, lookie there - two posts in the same month! I'm on a hot streak. lol

All sarcasim aside, our family recently took a little vacation out to the southern Washington State coast. The hardest time for me to resist buying fabric is when I'm on vacation. I'm a sucker for a new quilt shop or at least one I don't get to shop in but once or twice a year. While we were driving out to the beach last weekend we passed two shops. I made DH stop at both. The first one was in a little tiny town; the name escapes me. I also can't remember the name of the shop. I'm terrible! Anyway they were a very small shop and had a few interesting things. I bought a few fat quarters. I was thinking I might start stashing for a Christmas quilt but I really should just finish any one of a number of just regular ol quilts first, eh?


When we got to Astoria we had to drive past the only quilt shop in town. DH tried to drive by it but I made him go back around the block. He's fights it but understands how giddy I get and so indulges me. He waited with our daughter in the car. I know they were bored so I tried to hurry - except this is a fun little shop. It was hard not to linger over every little bit and bolt.


They had a nice collection of fabrics that would work with the Single Girl quilt I've been stashing for so I picked these up and tried not to buy more. ::g::


Not too bad overall, I only stashed 2 1/4 yards total. Could've been much, much worse!

Also a sneak peak of the first block of the Single Girl quilt. If you look closely you can see a few of the above fabrics worked in already. I don't remember exactly but the four quarters sewn together as shown makes about a 20" square block. I've had a lovely time so far working on this. I might even be motivated to knock this top out. Then again... I know myself. 0.o Here's hoping I don't peter out.

One last hurrah!

So my last hurrah on quilting goodies* came just before Christmas while I was visiting the in-laws in Greensboro NC. My MIL took me to Randy's Quilt Shop. I bought a few yards of really cute fabric for a bento box I'll get to later this year and one pattern. Normally I don't buy patterns because there are so many free ones out there or I can pretty much figure it out just by looking at it but I couldn't resist this modern take on the double wedding ring quilt designed by Virginia Robertson. I've never made a DWR so I wasn't sure at all how it was constructed. Glad I bought it.
Glowing Wedding Ring


I really want to make it for my sister. She's been bugging me forever to make her another quilt. I gave her the first quilt I ever made. It's uh... funky. Now she wants a nice one. ;^) Who could blame her? lol...

* New years resolution - buy no new fabric for one year! Work on making the fabric stash smaller.

Stash Story

I was reading a post by Caron Mosey: Michigan Quilts! in which she discusses the state of her stash. So I thought I'd share my stash with ya'll.

This is most of the cotton quilting fabrics* in quarters to full yards...

Yes they are folded neatly and organized by color. Yes it's a pain in the butt to keep it this way but on the other hand I don't want to get sidetracked by looking for fabric when I should be (want to be) quilting it! So I keep it up. It's not too difficult. I wrap the fabric around a long 6" wide quilting ruler and then fold it over. Nice consistently sized squares. Am I perfect? Is it always this way? HECK NO!

There is a pile of "scraps" that lives on the end of my ironing board.

Recently most of this pile (and more!) has moved into a large box so I don't have to look at it. I like things out of sight; I have a hard time working in clutter. I'm trying to keep the "pile" to the size of the box. These are all odd sizes usually ranging from 2" or so up to about a fat quarter but not much larger.

I used to take the time to cut these scraps up into predetermined sizes and put them into baggies: 2" squares, 4" wide strips, etc. for ease of use. This has come in handy but I'm finding it's almost too obsessive. I can just grab the random shaped bits and cut them as needed so I may discontinue this habit.


*Quilting fabrics are the majority of my stash but I also have other types of fabrics that are randomly mashed into large rubber bins that live around my sewing room. I rarely venture into them unless I need something for a Halloween costume or on the rare occasions that I'm making something other then a quilt.