So, Did I Run Out of Pins?

 

Run out? Not exactly, I had six pins left after basting 11 quilts! I certainly didn't have enough pins to baste any more quilts though!

Here are ten of the quilts I basted all stacked up. The bottom couple are actually in the tote, but obviously ten quilts aren't going to fit into one tote, so I just kept stacking them. The 11th quilt was already on my sewing machine to be quilted, and now it's finished.

I may not enjoy the drag minky causes when FMQ, but I sure like how it looks quilted. I told DH minky makes me look better at FMQ than I actually am. This is finish #26 for the year. Now that I've got this quilt finished, I've got pins again! 

My goal while DH was out of town was to do the basting spree, as well as work on the quilting closet which you couldn't even walk into when I started. I finished the basting spree on Friday, and I worked on the quilting closet most of Saturday, and part of Sunday. I forgot to take a before photo, but here's the after photo.

I used to have a very shallow set of shelves on the right hand side of the closet, and it was handy, but I decided it just made the closet too narrow to walk in easily, so I removed it. It's leaving the house completely. I used to store basted quilts in the black laundry basket, but larger quilts really didn't fit in there. I've been using minky as a backing more and more often, and minky is too slippery to stack well, so I moved all my minky into the green tote and black laundry basket. I'm quite happy with that change.I think after thee next basting spree all the minky will fit in just one of those. I went through all my batting scraps, of which there were a lot more after that basting spree. I have one hamper of cotton batting scraps, and I still have two of poly scraps, but now the poly scraps are at least 12" wide. My sister already took two trash bags of smaller batting scraps, and I have another bag about half full that I haven't given to her yet. 

As you can easily see, I have no shortage of more quilt tops. On the top shelf in the back are my king sized quilt battings, plus a bolt of Insulbright. The Insulbright is about to take a big hit with Christmas sewing. The second shelf is all fleece, but that used to be two shelves, so this is improvement. The third shelf is quilt backing, as the right side of the floor, and those bolts on the right are all 108" quilt backing. That set of shelves in the very front left hand side of the closet also has three shelves of 108" wide quilt backing. 

Some wins for the week- I used up all the leftover flannel yardage from last year's Christmas PJ's sewing, I used it in two quilt backs. I got all the newest quilt tops actually hanging in the closet, no more piles of quilt tops. I used up quite a bit of fleece in quilt backs as well, so that stash is going down nicely. I finished off two rolls of batting, of which I had spare rolls, so those are restocked and the storage room is looking better too. 

I've been trying to move any stuff that is mine out of the storage room and into my sewing spaces. Some of our storage room is normal household stuff, luggage, coolers, extra folding chairs for entertaining, etc... DH has a bunch of scooter parts in there. I used to have a bunch of vintage sewing machines in there, but now I don't, most I've gotten rid of. I think I only have one machine in there now, plus a couple cases for vintage machines I have on display as decorative items. I've got a big pile of stuff to be donated as I clear things out. Some things I'm working on using up, others I'm moving out, and there's always organizing of what you want to keep. I'm hoping I have a lot of years left to quilt, so I have no plans to ditch my stash, but I am trying to keep in mind what I will actually use, what I actually WANT to use, and what is better off being passed on. 

I'm also reminding myself on a regular basis that I am no longer in the accumulation stage of life. Some things that I now have in stash, I don't want to keep on hand anymore. King sized batting is a great example of that. I bought a bunch of king sized battings when a supplier was going out of business. I'm glad I bought them, and they were a fantastic price. I have about the correct number of king sized quilts in the works to use up all the king sized batting I have on hand. I just basted two king sized quilts last week. Once all the king sized quilts already started are finished, and my top shelf is empty, I only plan on buying king sized battings as I need them. I normally make twin sized quilts and smaller, so I just don't need a bunch of king sized battings on hand. I'm glad I have the ones I do, because I've already got quilts started for them, but knowing how long it takes to make a king sized quilt, I can just buy them as I need from now on. 

One thing I am getting rid of is a really nice bobbin winder. I was going to try selling it on ebay, but when I looked, there are now a bunch of cheap Chinese ones on there for $30. The one I have was neither cheap nor imported, but I no longer have a longarm or size M bobbins to wind. This bobbin winder can wind most bobbins, not just M bobbins.

If any of you are interested in it, let me know and we can see how I can get it to you. It's a great bobbin winder, I just don't need it anymore. I really liked that it can wind bobbins off the large thread cones. 

This week I've got two of the grandkids, so it's not quite as productive, but I did finish the baby quilt, and I've got the Janome ready to start FMQ another quilt tomorrow! I'm glad to have the grandkids here, and SO happy to have DH home again!