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Tricks with Tragic Fabric Part III

I think of all the fabrics I found in my junk shop bag this multicolor doll print is the worst. I've disliked all dolls my entire life. They creep me out, especially the staring eyes that don't blink. Despite this my mom spent most of my childhood giving dolls to me as gifts, because in that time they were the appropriate toy for girls. I handed them off directly to my little sister, because I wanted Hot Wheels and a red wagon and a pet Hamster, not a plastic baby that stared at me even in the dark.

Safe to say I don't love this fabric. :)

That doesn't make it unusable; I could hand it off to another quilter who can use it, that's always an option (best to ask first.) I could use it as reusable gift wrapping furoshiki style, make binding out of it, or sew it as lining into a tote, too. It also works as backing for something I don't have to flip over or look at the back, like a table hot pad.

For this I'm going to use some thrifted patchwork as the front. This I like, and it isn't novelty or seasonal. For my home I prefer to make things that work year-round.

Cut to the size desired and stitch the two right sides together, leaving a small gap for turning.

Line with a piece of heat resistant thermal batting like Insul-Bright. I whip stitch this into place so it doesn't fold over when I turn the piece, then press and stitch closed the gap before I hand quilt it with cotton perle thread.

Here's the finished hot pad. Simple, usable, and I can't see the creepy staring dolls -- perfect!

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Other Stashes

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In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to...