Finishes #27 & 28

 It's amazing how fast I can finish quilts when they are all basted and ready to quilt!

This quilt was up on the design wall in February, when we hosted a family reunion. One of the cousins saw it and really liked it. She jokingly told the others that I was making her a quilt. She wasn't serious, and she wasn't asking for it, but she did genuinely like the quilt. I decided that when it was finished I'd send it to her. I got her address from her mom, who never gave her any idea it was coming. I finally finished the quilt last weekend, and we mailed it off on Monday. I've already gotten a thank you message from her, she was so surprised, and that made it really fun for me! 

I originally thought to put a border on the quilt, though I never planned on the designer's pieced border. When I got the center together, I decided it was large enough for the couch quilt I had planned, so I skipped the border entirely. The piecing is all done with men's shirts. I felt like this design was really busy, so I wanted to use calmer setting triangles, and I had just enough of a shirting fabric to get oversized setting triangles cut. If the center is busy, I like using oversized setting triangles to "float" the blocks a bit. 

Now that I got the baby quilt and this gift quilt finished, I'm just quilting my way down the pile of basted quilts, since none of the rest have deadlines. 

This was the next in the stack, and I got it quilted this week, and I sewed on the binding this morning. That's finish # 28 for the year. The next couple in the stack are smaller, so they should finish up quickly. 

I was supposed to babysit this week, but that got cancelled do to the family having a stomach bug (SO glad they didn't expose me!) I'm supposed to be hosting a birthday dinner for DD#2 this Sunday, but we'll see if everyone is healthy. With those two things going on, I decided to hold off on the Christmas sewing for another week. 

So what did I work on instead? I finished sewing up the blocks I was making with Bonus HST's, and I've got the quilt on the design wall almost assembled. I also started looking through a box of scraps I was given. 

Earlier this year, I was given a bunch of scrap fabric by a family friend. She's close to my mom's age, and I cracked up when I saw they had some of the same fabrics. I've had a really busy year, so after washing all the fabric, I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I just tossed all the wrinkled fabric in some cube storage bins. I didn't sort it, didn't iron it, just tossed it in the bins. To clarify, I tossed all the scraps in the bins, she also gave me some yardage, and THAT I put away correctly. 

Fast forward to this month, where someone else, also about my mom's age, also gave me box of scrap fabrics. Again, she had a few fabrics I've seen in my mom's stash. This fabric was much more quilter oriented, in fact, there was a quilt kit in there. I've never seen a quilt kit like this before. The price tag tells me it was purchased at the quilt shop closest to me, but I have NO idea when. The kit was in a large zipper bag, and it had an OLD quilt book in it, probably from the 1980's, primitive style. A page in the book was marked, and there were fabric amounts for that particular quilt in the book. They were labeled, sashing fabric, border fabric, etc... I've only ever seen quilt kits with individual patterns, never wrapped up with a whole book before. 

I looked up the quilt pattern, which I didn't care for, but I do like the fabric. It's all autumn colors, which are my favorite. I'm donating the book since none of the patterns inspired me, but I'm keeping the fabric. There was also a bundle of plaids, and another bundle of bright blenders, , plus several red and white prints. The box the fabric was in was really dirty, so I washed all the fabric, so now I have about two laundry baskets worth of other peoples scraps, all wrinkly and a mess. What to do with these? I don't want them languishing, and as long as they are a wrinkled mess, that's exactly what they will do, just sit there. I decided to take out all the scraps I was given earlier this year, and see if any of those scraps would play nicely with the new scraps I was given. 

I have all these plaids, mostly 1/4-1/3 yard pieces. A lot of them are pastels. I also have a bunch of solid scraps, most of which are really narrow. HMMM...I saw a YouTube tutorial the other day that might work really well with these scraps. I rewatched the video, and now I'm cutting up all of these scraps to go with that pattern. I need 1" strips of the solids, and 5" squares of the plaids. If I run short of the plaids, I'll raid my men's shirt stash, and I'll look through my 2" strip bins for more solids which I can easily cut down into 1" strips. 

As I go through the combined scraps, I'm seeing more color combinations. 

 

Most of the bright blenders are fat 1/8ths. I saw a jelly roll pattern, also on YouTube, that I think I can make work with the bright scraps along with some white yardage from stash. Next to the bright scraps are quite a few red and white prints, I may have to add some stash to that, but perhaps that can go into a red, white, and black quilt. I'm still mulling over a pattern for that. between both sets of scraps there are a lot of blues. I always have a ton of blue scraps, so I'm thinking I'll do a blue scrap quilt, and combine these scraps with mine for more variety. Again, I haven't chosen a pattern yet for the blues. 

See the big pile of scraps in the back, it has all the cream colored fabrics, along with anything that could possibly be autumn colors. Between both sets of scraps, there were quite a few fabrics I could toss in this pile, along with the whole quilt kit worth of fabrics. In the first set of scraps I was given, I had most of an applique panel.

These are autumn colors, and I even have some of the ones that were cut out loose in the fabrics. I think I'll use fusible raw edge applique, fuse these onto the cream fabrics I have in the scraps, and then alternate the applique blocks with 16 patches, or 25 patches or whichever size blocks I need. If I cut all the autumn colored scraps into 2.5" strips, I can make the pieced blocks easily, if I have a lot leftover, I could do a piano key border on the quilt, and anything left after that would easily mix in with my scraps. 

I still have some scraps left that don't fit into any of these categories, but by grouping what I have a lot of, I've got it sorted into several projects. I'll start by cutting these projects now, and they can be my leader/ender projects for next year. Once I've gotten all of these scraps cut for specific projects, I can much more easily tackle the remaining scraps and cut them up to go into my scrap user system. The amount of scraps that don't fit into these categories is much more manageable now, and not overwhelming. I really did sort most of the scraps into these piles. 

I've seen amazing quilts made from scraps, really amazing show stoppers. I've also learned that not all quilts are meant to be show stoppers. It's a lot of fun to play in other people's scraps, and I'm blessed to have been given them. That said, I was given these scraps because people knew I would USE them. If I choose some simpler patterns but get them sewn up into quilts sooner rather than later, I think I'm doing what the women who gave them to me wanted. There will be at least five quilts going to charity from these scraps, maybe more. The important thing is that they are used, not that they are intricately pieced. By mostly sticking with sizes that work with my scrap user system, any leftovers can easily integrate into my scrap stash. 

Now that I've got a scrap plan, I'm pressing fabrics during breaks during the day, and I'm cutting fabrics at night while DH and I watch TV. I'm making myself some fun pre-cut quilt kits, that I can work on next year. Taking the time to make a plan can really bring you from being overwhelmed, to productive and excited! 

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! 

Goodbye's, a Basting Spree, and Finish #25

 DD#1 and family are now at their new house halfway across the country from me. 

It was a bit easier saying goodby because I honestly believe this was a good move for them. I will miss them, and holidays will be tough without the six of them in the mix, but I think good things await them in their new home. 

DH was helping them move, so I took the opportunity to take over the living room, rearrange the furniture enough to put up two 8' tables, and baste some big quilts. 

Even with two 8' tables, king sized quilts still hang off quite a bit. My cutting table in the basement (which is awesome) is 4' x 6.5' I usually baste everything twin sized and less on that. King sized batting drags the floor if I use the cutting table though, so I like using these folding tables for queen/king quilts. 

 I finally found the right sized risers that work well with the shape of the table legs. Most risers don't work well with this table leg shape, and the first ones I tried that did work were only 4" risers, which wasn't quite enough height, and they weren't stable enough. The risers I have now (5" tall) worked great with this leg shape and were completely stable, no wobbly tables here! 

So far this week, I've basted nine quilts, two king-sized, two full-sized, and the rest throw-sized or smaller. The smaller one is the baby quilt I'm making for a great-nephew due next month. My basting goal was 10 quilts or until I run out of pins. I've taken down the folding tables now, and gotten the living room back in order, and I'm basting on my cutting table in the basement since I'm not out of pins. I've got a throw-sized quilt number ten laid out ready to baste, and I think I'll have enough pins to baste one more after that. Yes, I have a LOT of basting pins, but they were purchased over several years, and I do best when basting in bulk, then FMQ them over the next few months. 

I've not done much sewing this week. I finished the Lady of the Lake blocks I was making, so now I need to cut the sashing and setting triangles for that quilt. I've mostly pieced backings or sewn on borders so I could baste the quilts I wanted basted now. I'll finish up my basting spree either this afternoon or tomorrow, then I'll work on some misc. projects this weekend and next week while I have two of the grands. After this batch of grandkids, I'll have a break from watching the grands, and I will deep dive into Christmas sewing! I love spending time with my grandkids, so watching them isn't a problem. It does have me a bit behind on my Christmas sewing though, but at least I've done a lot of prep work for the things I will be sewing. 

Before I started the basting spree, I did finish a baby quilt. 

It should be a fun quilt for a baby boy, lots of I Spy stuff in those fabrics. That's finish #25 for 2024. I'm doubting I'll get to my goal of 40, but it's still been a good year, especially when you consider the machine I FMQ on was in the shop for over 6 weeks. 

I'll get back to FMQ an hour per day once I am out of basting pins. At least now I've got a stack of quilts ready to FMQ! 

I'm starting to declutter a bit too. I even made some decisions about my batting scraps. I don't mind piecing cotton batting scraps, but I hate piecing poly batting scraps. I decided if the poly batting scraps aren't at least 12" in the smaller dimension, I'm passing them on, and my sister wants them. This weekend I'll be going through all of my batting scraps, which is really a lot after this basting spree, and I'll be sorting them into the stuff I'm passing on, and the stuff I'll keep. I'll still need to be looking for a time I can dedicate to piecing batting scraps into larger battings, but getting rid of the smaller stuff should ease the pressure a bit. I have a lot of 6" strips of poly batting that will be moving on. I won't miss them, and my sister will actually get to using the scraps, instead of them languishing here. Win/win! 

Finish #24 and Spontaneous Combustion

 I've got four of the grands this week, and it's bittersweet because next week they move halfway across the country. We had a tea party yesterday, and there are craft supplies everywhere, because I've been letting them make whatever they like while they have access to Nana's craft supplies. Since they live on a farm, visiting will be on us, and I already know a visit in 2025 won't be happening. We've got to make memories while we can, but I'm really thankful for all the methods of communication we have available these days. 

I have gotten little bits of sewing done here and there. I've had all the units done for Lady of the Lake blocks for ages, and I've managed to assemble several blocks this week.

All the small HST's are bonus HST's from another project, but I made the large HST's for these blocks. 

Before the kids arrived on Sunday, I managed to get the binding sewn on my 24th finish of the year.

These blocks were leftover from a quilt I made several years ago. It was about time they ended up in a finished quilt themselves. 

I'm out of basted quilts, but I do have one needing binding. Next week I'm hoping to have a big basting spree, and get enough quilt tops basted to last me at least a couple months. 

I've been thinking about my quilt and sewing supplies, and although I am very consistent about decluttering the rest of the house, I am very hesitant to declutter quilting stuff. I've always thought of my stash as my retirement account. The fact I have so much will allow me to quilt long after DH retires, even on a tighter budget. Seeing how many UFO's I have, and realizing how long it's taking me to "catch up", has really highlighted the fact it's not supplies I'll run out of, it's time. Everything takes so much longer than I think it will. 

I have donated quite a bit of fabric over the past few years, but I've also bought quite a bit of fabric over the same time. I have been much more mindful of what I bring into the house now, so my purchases have either been basic solids and blenders, or something I need for a specific project. I've curated a working stash, and I have plenty of the "boring" stuff to let the really pretty stuff shine. I don't need fabric very often now. 

All of that said, I still have too much stuff crammed into my sewing and fabric rooms, and I've been thinking how to deal with it. I think next year my sewing focus will not be quilting. I'll be quilting for sure, it's my passion, but I've been looking around my fabric room and I have some great fabrics that I don't want to make quilts out of. I think next year I'm going to do a deep dive into non-quilt related sewing projects. I know one thing I want to make next year is pillowcases. I've got some great kids prints that would make fun pillowcases, and how fun would it be to see some of those being used instead of sitting on the shelves? 

Some of my stuff may just be decluttered though, not made into anything but passed on to someone else. I've listened to so many decluttering podcasts, watched decluttering videos, watched decluttering TV shows, read decluttering books, and done a good job in some parts of my house. I've learned a lot. 

This week I was thinking about so many of the decluttering questions I've learned about. Does this item spark joy? I'm sorry, that question doesn't work for me, I hate vacuuming but getting rid of my vacuum cleaner is not the answer. That question may help you go through your wardrobe, but not your stash. If you only keep the gorgeous stuff, you won't have enough backgrounds left to make a quilt. 

Have I used it in the past year? Not a perfect question. I have finished UFO's this year that are several years old, and I have more of similar ages. Just because I haven't touched it this year doesn't mean I won't. I have things for entertaining that I don't use all the time, but they are invaluable when we have a big event, and too expensive to replace all the time. This is a great question to use when decluttering your kitchen drawers, but not your quilt studio. Just because I haven't made a tumbler quilt in the past year doesn't mean I should ditch my tumbler die or template. 

My daughter sent me this question. If an object got poop on it, would you take the time to clean it up, or throw it away? It's a funny question, but doesn't work for me. I raised five kids and used cloth diapers, plus had multiple dogs over the years. I've cleaned poop off of all kinds of stuff. Unless it was destined for the trash anyway, I'd probably just clean it. 

This week, I heard a new decluttering question, that may actually help me in my quilt studio. If this object spontaneously combusted, would you immediately replace it, or be secretly relieved? Let me give you a couple of examples. If my seam ripper (any of the half dozen I own) spontaneously combusted, I would immediately replace it, even though I have others. Why? Because I like to have a seam ripper at every sewing machine, plus one that stays in my sewing travel case. If I have to rip out a seam, I'm already irritated, and I don't want to waste time searching for a seam ripper. There are some fabrics that I would feel no loss if they spontaneously combusted, and others, say my bolts of solid black or white, that I would immediately replace. Here's another one, batting scraps...I have three containers full of batting scraps, I've made dozens of quilts with frankenbatting, and batting is so expensive I feel like I have to use every bit of it. BUT, I would be secretly relieved if the batting scraps spontaneously combusted, so I didn't feel like I HAD to take the time to use them. 

I'm going to be thinking about this some more, but which of those questions resonate with you?