Arrrrggggg I found some booty....

I was cleaning up last night. Technically I was searching for fabric to go with this quilt I finished up for my step daughter Gabby. I am looking to make a coordinating pillow case. It is hard to believe that with all the fabric I have, I don't have the right fabric. Or at least I don't have a large enough chunk of blue or red to make a pillow case. I am pretty sure I can find some in my stash but maybe I am being toooooo picky. I am getting no sympathy from my husband on my fabric stash woes. 

 So I was digging in the last couple totes of fabric and crafts that I haven't yet put away and I unearthed some buried treasure, or booty if you will. Some time ago Moda came out with charm packs that were 2.5" square, they called them candy. I got the bright idea to start a swap and call it I want candy. The idea was that you would get 5 partners and you would send each 50 2.5" squares that you had cut from your stash. In the end you would end up with 250 different fabric squares to play with and enjoy. About the same time there was a quilt floating around the interwebs called a scrap vomit quilt.

http://poppymakes.blogspot.com/2012/10/drunk-quilt-scrap-vomit-and-tova.html

Although this is not my puppy dog, it is a very cute English Springer Spaniel much like my dog Turkey. So anyway the craze for candy was in, I hosted a swap, and was cutting 2.5" squares out of all my fabrics. At some point the hype died down and I put the squares in a shoe box for a rainy day when I decided what to do with them. Yesterday I stumbled upon the box in question.

Holy scrap! That is a lot of squares! The timing couldn't be better as I am currently working on a triple Irish chain quilt, which turns out to be the basis of a scrap vomit quilt.

So I will be adding these to my quilt of scrappy goodness. But in the meantime I saw something shiny online and decided to try one or two blocks. It is a great way to use up my scraps that are less than 2.5"

Paper pieced Wild & Goosey Blocks. Just like that another WIP is born.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and TGIFF

The creature from scrap lagoooooon

I can't decide if I love this project or hate it. I have been cutting my scraps into 2.5" squares and using them as leaders and enders on my machine. I had no business starting another project with several still needing to be finished up. There are some old favorites in these blocks and some really ugly questionable fabric choices. A find walk down fabric memory lane. I am trying to make something useful out of all the scraps I have horded over the years. Maybe I should have picked a color scheme, but maybe the lack of structure is what makes it fun. The blocks patchwork blocks are 49 2.5" squares with no duplicate fabrics in each. The white blocks have 12 2.5" squares along with the white pieces. I am going to have to find a source for the large white squares outside of my scrap bin. Finished blocks are pretty chunky at 14.5" We will see how it ends up.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

The stars at night are big and bright....

Revisiting a long time WIP that I made some headway on this week. In cleaning and sorting fabrics I found a piece to finish a star that I was short on. I could not for the life of me remember where or when I bought the fabric and I was one tiny piece short. I had about given up when I found an old orphan block that had the missing fabric. Happy as a clam!!!! I started running out of quilt Pati's pieces so I had to start joining some stars.

 On the completed front I finished up the quilt for my step daughter Michelle. I have been trying to get a decent picture of the quilt but the weather has not been cooperating. My husband and I rigged up an interior quilt hanging rod for pictures. 

This quilt goes with this pillow case. One more WIP scratched off the list!

Linking it up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Crazy Mom Quilts , Confessions of a fabric Addict and My Quilt Infatuation

Week In progress!!!

I have had the good fortune to be home this week and not traveling. Needless to say my evenings have been spent in my sewing room. Here is what I am working on this week. 

 My weekly WIP is a pastel scrappy star quilt inspired by this Spring Cleaning Quilt. I originally intended it to be a quilt for our master bedroom. But at some point I decided it was not the direction I wanted to go for our bedroom. I still don't know what direction that is. I decided to make this a baby quilt. I have enough centers for 5 stars and enough of the other pieces for 4 stars. I bit the bullet this week and put one together. I will see how I like the size of the quilt with 4 stars and may add more. 

My finish this week is for Do.Good.Stitches Nurture Circle. The directions for the block can be found here. I find that I don't have as many solids in my stash as are needed whenever a project comes up. So I used prints that were as close to tone on tone as I had in my scrap bin. I also find that wonky blocks make me a little edgy. I think it is just the fact that I am left with a lot of little scraps and I haven't figured out what to do with them yet. This will be sent off to make a lovely quilt for My Very Own Blanket. Can't wait to see how it turns out. I am the quilter next month so I need to come up with a block quick! 

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Showing my stash who's boss.....

          When we moved back to Ohio and bought our new house I was able to snag one of the bedrooms for a craft room. Over the past year I have painted, decorated and selected furniture. I am now kicking my fabric organization into high gear. My husband said he is putting down his foot and I can't buy any more fabric until I get all my fabric unpacked and put away. The nerve!!!!

           In malicious compliance I spent most of the weekend folding fabric, adding to my scrap pile and putting it all away. My fabric addiction will not be stopped. I still have a long way to go but at least I am making progress. During my fabric folding fiesta I was taking breaks and cutting my scraps into a few specific size pieces. I've decided to fold fabric to 6.5" x 11" pieces. The only exception is large multi yard pieces that are too large to cooperate. Anything smaller than 6.5" x 11" goes to the scrap bin.

            From the scrap bin I have been cutting down 5" squares if the piece will allow, anything smaller than that I cut into 2.5" squares. So I have two growing piles of squares that will be easier to use for scrap projects. Anything that is smaller than 2.5" and larger than 1" goes into the bin I will be using for small scraps and strings. I figure this way I am more likely to produce projects if the squares are already cut.

     I am not sure what the 5" squares are going to be used for

These are headed toward a leader-ender project, eventually ending in a triple irish chain quilt. Some fabrics I love, some are so ugly I wonder how they ended up in my stash.

 The 2.5" squares get paired up and are used as leader enders

These squares will end up 7 squares by 7 squares. I am trying to use all different fabrics in each block. 

Other than sorting and cutting squares I have been working on the February block for my Do.Good.Stitches circle. This is a wonky block which is turning out pretty good. I am not so comfortable with the wonky process but I am trying to enjoy it more. The request was for solids but my stash is lacking in that area so I tried to pick prints that were tone on tone or at very least read as one color.

In the end the block should look like the picture below. The instructions for the block are here if you wish to make this block at home. 

Another project I accomplished while I sifting through my fabric this weekend was my first completed pillowcase. I am making these to package the quilts I made for my stepdaughters. I learned the technique on my last trip to My Very Own Blanket workshop. I still haven't put a pillow inside. I guess I should before I count this a success,

 Here is a detail shot of the cuff of the pillowcase. I find I have a shameful number of colors of this same fabric pattern. I love this Art Gallery fabric print!

 I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts