Sorting and Thinking

Figuring out what to make from my thrifted fabric requires a bit of sorting first. I separated everything into possibility piles like this one. The colors work together, and there's already enough to make a decent-size lap quilt.

Ditto for these fabrics.

Each of these prints would make a pretty accent for a Yellow Brick Road pattern lap or baby quilt (I like adding one or two prints to solids when I make those.) They'd also make nice bags.

Those were the easy piles; onto the tough ones. These three fabrics might work together colorwise, but I'm not sure the prints do.

These prints, which for different reasons didn't want to join the other piles, are probably the least inspiring. I'm not terribly fond of kiddie novelty fabrics, red prints or camo. I might use these as backing fabrics or bag liners.

The two oddball scraps will likely become journal covers or backing fabric, too.

I think I have enough to make at least two quilts, possibly three, along with several bags, pillows, placemats and runners. I'll probably start with a quilt and then juggle the projects according to size. The goal is to try to use up as much of the fabric as I can, so stay tuned to see how I do.

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Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...

Valerean

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