It doesn’t look like much yet, but it the shirts for the new Disappearing 9-Patch that I’m making. I’ve pulled all the shirt fabric and now need to start cutting my squares.
See what others are doing by hopping over to Patchwork Times.
Stash Report
I started off the new year with a trip to the Goodwill Outlet store where I picked up all of these shirts for $7.12. I’m guesstimating there is about 19 1/2 yards of usable fabric. The thrift store run (and the one I’ll make later today) is to gather more shirts for yet another Disappearing 9-Patch quilt. I’ve already started pulling shirt pieces from my stash to cut the squares. This one will start with 39 unique 9-patches.
- Fabric Used Since Last Report: 0 yards
- Fabric Used Year to Date: 0 yards
- Fabric Purchased Since Last Report: 19.5 yards
- Fabric Purchased Year to Date: 19.5 yards
- Net Fabric to Stash: 19.5 yards
Do I have any goals for the stash this year? I want to work from my stash. Limit my purchases to what I need to finish what I’m working on and not buy fabric just to have something new to work on. The exception to that rule/goal will be if I’m buying fabric for a quilt that I’ve been commissioned to make — the shirt quilt is an example.
Looking at the first five projects I have lined up, with the exception of the Disappearing 9-Patch and the Turquoise & Green Strip Twist, I think I have everything I need to complete them – well, except for batting.
Hop over to Patchwork Times. to see if other took advantage of New Year’s Sales.
A New Year – A New List of Goals
Happy New Year!
It’s a new year, so time for a new list of Quilting Goals and plans on how I’m going to accomplish them. Although not every blogger who hosts a quilt-a-long/finishing party/goal setting linky has posted, these are the ones I’m planning on participating in this year.
- Sunday Stash Reports – hosted by Judy over at Patchwork Times.
- Design Wall Monday – also hosted by Judy over at Patchwork Times.
- UFO Busting 2016 – with Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber.
- UFO Parade – host by Aunt Marti at 52 Quilts.
- Various Challenges – hosted by Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts.
- 2016 Finish Along – this year it was hosted by Adrianne at On the Windy Side
I totally failed to get my December finishes sent into 52 Quilts last month – 4 quilts and a set of 7 pillowcases. They are all on my 2015 Finishes page if you want to see them.
Here’s my starting point:
There are 22 Tops waiting to be quilted. The list can be found HERE.
There are 30 Quilts in Progress. That list can be found HERE.
Then there are the kits I want to consider for this year.
- Tuscan Sun BOM from Jo-Ann’s from my Mom’s Stash
- May Pole – bought to make bags
- The Night Before Christmas – bought because I fell in love with the sample
- Triangle Frenzy
- Squedge Ruler Table Runner(?)
- “August 2013 Quilt A”
- Turquoise and Green Strip Twist
- Another Disappearing 9-Patch – this one with Blue centers
So, the count as of January 1, 2016:
Starting UFO Count: 52
New projects started this month:
Projects finished this month:
Current UFO count:
The Last Finish of 2015
This is the last finish of 2015. It’s my pink and black 4-Patch Stacked Posies. The top has been hanging in my stash of tops since 2007 waiting for the right time to be quilted. The time has come and I found both the batting and backing in my stash.
The length of green matches perfectly the green in the focus fabric – although it’s tough to tell in this lighting. It shows up better in the pillowcase.
I used the pantograph A Little Bit Of Fluff. The top thread is a Cotton/Poly T40 Variegated thread in Primary Explosion. I used Omni in a Green Turquoise in the bobbin. The batting is Soft & Black — a discontinued batting by Warm and Natural. Even though the batting is polyester, the quilt still shrunk a bit — it was 52″ x 68 prior to washing and now it measures 50″ x 64″.
This quilt was on my 4th quarter list for the Finish Along simply because I listed all of my UFOs. It brings my total finishes for the year to 18 quilts and 30 pillowcases and my UFO count is down to 52 – 22 tops to be quilted and 30 projects in pieces.
Now off to stitch the label onto the quilt — I got so excited that the quilt was finished, I missed the last step! At least the label is already made.
2015 Final Countdown Task Three
Shelly, over at PrairieMoonQuilts is hosting the 7th annual Final Countdown. It’s a chance to do a few things in your quilting space to get you ready for the new year. I’m not sure how long I’ve been participating, but whatever the challenge, it’s usually something which needs to be done in my space.
Get out of your quilt box!
Several ideas were thrown out as possibilities:
- Learn a new technique
- Use a different color palate than you normally do
- Take a leap and challenge yourself
- Join in on something you haven’t done before
I don’t like to think of myself as a naysayer or negative person (who does), but as I read this challenge all sorts of reasons popped into my head as to why I wasn’t going to be able to do this one.
- Learning a new technique would mean starting a new project and I’m doing my best to not start anything new.
- Using a different color palate would mean buying new fabric and I’m doing my best to now buy any new fabric except for what is needed to finish my UFOs.
- Take a leap and challenge yourself – if finishing 12 quilts (most twin size or larger) in 4 months is not a challenge, I don’t know what is.
- Join in BOM, Quilt-alongs means new projects and that’s in part how I ended up with as many UFOs as I have. I’m not currently part of a guild, but haven’t found one which works with my schedule, although I’m in several on-line groups.
Well, now that we know all the reasons why I “can’t” do this, lets see what I CAN do.
- I bought a Squedge Ruler a while back and haven’t taken it out of the package. I
needwant a weird size table runner for my table (12″ x 30″), so this should be quick to make and FINISH.
- I’m going to call using a different color palate done. Although nearly everything I make is scrappy, I seldom use a single line/designer in my quilts. I did however recently finish a quilt in all Kansas Troubles fabrics. But keeping in the spirit of things, I’ve dug around in my stash and found the following:
- The Night Before Christmas – I bought these fabrics in 2009. I fell in love with the sample quilt, but haven’t worked on the quilt. Is it because of the limited # of fabrics or the fear that I won’t remember which fabric goes where?
- MayPole fabrics from 2009 – Originally bought to make bags and wallets, I didn’t get it done, and now I’m concerned it’s “out of style”. The fabric as a group seems to be brighter than what’s in my stash.
- Tuscan Sun BOM from Jo-Ann’s who knows when. – My mom collected all of the blocks and setting kit for this quilt, but did not get it made. This is not a color palate I would put together myself. Maybe it’s time to make the quilt.
- The Night Before Christmas – I bought these fabrics in 2009. I fell in love with the sample quilt, but haven’t worked on the quilt. Is it because of the limited # of fabrics or the fear that I won’t remember which fabric goes where?
- Take a leap and challenge yourself – a few years ago I had several patterns published in an on-line magazine and the copyright has reverted back to me. I think this is the year I’ll see about getting them published for sale.
- Join in — for this one, I’m going to count going to a new retreat. I’ve gone to a few different retreats in the past, usually with my same group of friends. My sister and I are going to a new-to-me retreat in May.
Although I’m still trying to knock out my UFOs, a girl has to occasionally start something new. The key is to FINISH it so it doesn’t become a UFO. I’ll take some of these “kits” to the retreat this spring and summer (there’s another one in June) and combine a couple of things to get myself out of my quilt box!
Now back to Task One. Progress is being made. The stack on the left are those pieces which are really to big to fold like the ones on the right. I’ve also culled some fabric to chop up into my stash user’s system (no, I’ve not cut them, I’ve tossed them into one of the drawers of my ironing station — baby steps). Next I’m going to find the other box of florals and ultimately may decide to put these fabrics in the ‘color’ box instead of the floral theme box.
2015 Final Countdown Task Two
Shelly, over at PrairieMoonQuilts is hosting the 7th annual Final Countdown. It’s a chance to do a few things in your quilting space to get you ready for the new year. I’m not sure how long I’ve been participating, but whatever the challenge, it’s usually something which needs to be done in my space.
Organize ALL our UFOs
This task is easy for me — as I’ve been tracking them since 2009. I’m now down to 30 quilts in progress and 23 quilt tops.
I have a spreadsheet with multiple tabs. One tab lists the quilts in progress.
The WIP_UFO tab lists each project, a code for the current status/type of project (C – still cutting, Q – Partially Quilted, P – Still Piecing, S – Swap Blocks, L – Leader/Ender Project, B – Needs Borders, H – Hand Piecing, A – Applique Project, I – Inherited Project), where it is stored, who it is for, when I started it, when I need it and a few notes.
The location is PB for Project Boxes:
3 is for the UFO box on the shelf:
Another tab contains a list of all of my quilt tops.
It lists the quilt top name, when I started it, when it became a top, when I need it, a few notes, whether or not I have the backing and binding, what size it is and how I plan on quilting it.
The tops are in two boxes. The box on the floor contains the tops which have quilt backings.
The box on the top shelf are those which need backings.
This past summer I culled my UFOs. At least one BOM only had a few blocks made, so the fabric was put back into the stash and the blocks into the Orphan Block Box. Two sets of blocks were used together to create a couple of donation tops and a couple of tops waiting for borders or to be quilted were re-worked to a size for donation. So, my UFO/Tops are in pretty good shape.
I guess that sends me back to Task # 1.
2015 Final Countdown Task One
Shelly, over at PrairieMoonQuilts is hosting the 7th annual Final Countdown. It’s a chance to do a few things in your quilting space to get you ready for the new year. I’m not sure how long I’ve been participating, but whatever the challenge, it’s usually something which needs to be done in my space.
Take a good hard look at your fabric stash
To be honest, my stash is what it is. I can’t remember the last time I bought fabric just because. For the past couple of years, any fabric I’ve purchased has been for a specific use — not that it always gets used as expected. Case in point – just a week ago I purchased fabric to use for the cuff of a couple of pillowcases. When it came time to make the cases I opted for a different fabric from my stash.
My storage system is by color/theme in bins on the left set of shelves. The right set holds my Scrap User’s System and recycled shirts.
The music fabric is in the chest of drawers with overflow neutrals.
Oh, and then there are the “scraps” in various boxes/bins stacked on the floor on the other side of the room and the auxiliary shelves which is holding the overflow.
Not to mention under the cutting table.
Generally, for the type of quilting I do, the main storage works for me. The issue is that between the scraps I’ve accumulated and have not appropriately dealt with and my stirring in the boxes the fabric is getting piled up. Also, over the past couple of years, what once took a whole box/drawer no longer does (music, blue) and other colors are now taking more than a half a box (green/floral).
So, what is my plan? At the moment it’s only half-baked.
For Christmas my husband made me this ironing station with lots of storage. Those drawers are 7-1/2 inches tall, 18″ wide and 40″ long. These drawers will play a part of the organization, I’m just not sure how yet. Possibly possibly part of the Stash User’s System.
But I think the #1 thing I need to do is refold and sort the fabric in my ‘theme’ boxes. Right now, to find anything, I have to pull everything out. Although there are other boxes which are overflowing, I think I’m going to start with the floral box. It has morphed into two boxes and I think it will all fix in a single box.
Clearly working through the stash is going to take a while. It will be interesting to see what I get done by January 4th.
What’s On My Design Wall
I thought I would use this last Design Wall Monday post of 2015 to recap the projects that I’ve worked on this year. The pictures above are all of the quilts and a couple of groups of pillowcases not associated with quilts that I finished this year.
In addition to completely finishing the quilts pictured, I reworked and/or assembled the following tops.
My leader/ender project for the year started with the postage stamp quilt, which is nowhere near complete, then in July, I started the Tumblers, which also has a way to go. My hand project – Star-A-Day I kept up with through March. I have 113 stars, so I’m about 1/3 of the way to completion.
Additionally, I started Allietare, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery, although I’ve not gotten very far on it.
I worked a bit on the Green & Cream Swap Quilt. I’m afraid I handed out an IOU for a UFO for Christmas. It will be the first quilt I complete in 2016 — right after I get my machine back from getting cleaned. It’s developed a squeak that I don’t like.
But before I take it in, I will finish one last quilt. I still have a bit of repair work on the 4-Patch Stacked Posies.
I didn’t get everything done on my Crazy Challenge II list, but I didn’t miss it by much. After all the original challenge was 12 quilts in 4 months, then the list grew. 🙂
Check out what others are working on by following the links over at Patchwork Times.
Black and Bright
This is Black & Bright. The blocks were from a May 2007 swap I participated in. The blocks then sat for several years waiting for inspiration. At one point I wanted to set the blocks with applique (yes, I know I say that’s a 4-letter word) flowers.
I went as far as taking an on-line class to learn applique and quickly decided that wasn’t going to work. So, I took the class blocks and made this wall hanging in 2010.
I didn’t like the original border with the wall hanging, so came up with this layout with the plan to use it on the quilt when I got that far.
The quilt top finally got finished in April 2013 at a quilt retreat. It then sat in my stash of quilt tops to be quilted. This summer it was on of the quilts that was picked to be quilted as a thank you for the help in the yard (Aiming for Accuracy, Orange Crush and Nifty Thrifty were the other 3 quilts).
I found a bright green fabric on clearance to use for the backing. I also used it as the body of the pillowcases.
It was quilted on both the longarm and my DSM. I had a plan for the black borders and quickly realized I wasn’t able to execute it well — especially in the bright variegated thread I was using (Superior’s So Fine #40/3 in Crickey!) So came home and ripped out the top border and did a simple cable. It was either Wednesday night or Christmas Eve morning I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough thread — I was using Crickey! in the bobbin as well. So, I had a design opportunity.
The ‘inner’ black band between the pieced border and the blocks is narrower than the ‘outer’ black bands, so I did a simple diamond in those two borders and used black thread on the top. Finally in the turquoise of the pieced borders I did a simply s-curve and used turquoise thread. I think I have less than 1/2 bobbin of Crikey! left.
I picked the green from the border to repeat in the binding. “Susie’s Magic Binding” is my go-to binding when I need to do a fast binding. There’s no pinning and the entire thing can be done on the machine.
I used Hobbs’ Heirloom 80/20 black batting in the quilt. It started out at 103″ square and after washing it measures 98″ square.
It was finished Christmas Day, just in time to leave for Christmas dinner.
It was part of my Crazy Challenge II and on the 4th Quarter Finish a Long list.
Stash Report – Final for 2015
My sister gave me a 3 yard length of this Nutcracker fabric for Christmas, it is the last of the yardage to be added to my stash for the year.
Week before last, I was given a bag of scraps – some with batting still attached. I finally sorted the bag out and have a lovely pile of fabric.
The binding for the Black & Bright quilt, plus the pillowcases, is the last of the yardage that is used for the year.
Overall for the year I think I did very well. I personally only bought 59.448 yards of fabric — the rest , another 172.017 yards was either given to me or I won it. You truly will be amazed at how much fabric there can be in a bag of “scraps”.
Total fabric brought into the house this year: 231.465 yards
Total fabric used this year: 177.859 yards
Net fabric in my stash: 53.606 yards
How did you do with your stash this year? Do you anticipate a different outcome next year? I know I do. I avoided the thrift shops this year, but I’ve been asked to make another quilt from recycled shirts, so will be bringing in more shirts after the first of the year – at 1-1/2 yards of fabric a shirt and at most only using 1/4 of a yard from each shirt, I expect to have plenty of fabric left over. I’m guessing nearly 60 yards.
Hop over to Patchwork Times to see how others did with their stashes.
