Scrappy Strategy

One thing I noticed after cleaning out three bins of scraps from my fabric stash is that I am good about saving scraps, but not about using them. Rather than keep my old habits, I decided to do some new things with the scraps I collect after I finish one project rather than toss them in storage.

This project bag is made from most of the scraps leftover from summer's art tote. I fused them onto an old cloth napkin, stitched the edges down, and used a big scrap leftover from the lining fabric to make the handles, back side and lining.

To keep from spilling coffee in the mornings (I'm not too steady in the hands when I first get up) I thrifted a bunch of these Starbucks reusable coffee cups. They're great, but they get hot, so I'm making sleeves for them. Two old bookmarks and scraps from the art tote made this batch.

I do use mug rugs all the time, so it doesn't hurt to make a few more, especially when they match my cup sleeves. :)

I'm considering making a quilt just from fabric scraps, too. I don't like using fusing web for quilts because it makes them stiff, so I'll check out some other techniques and see what I can find that will work better.

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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.

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...

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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