Fabric Management Moves Outdoors

Hello!  It has been a fabulous spring day in Nebraska. The kind where I find myself itching to get outside. Luckily, this did not slow down my fabric management! Behind our house we have a shed. Most people keep gardening supplies, etc in their sheds. Ours happens to include bins of fabric. FIVE to be exact. So today, I tidied up the shed. Threw out broken pots, etc. Hung items vertically. Then pulled out those five bins. I hope to go through one bin each day next week and decide what to do with the fabric. So, because I was busy as a turtle all day, I didn't get any pictures taken. To make up for it,  I will just insert a few random quilt pictures to break up all those fidgety words.

When I sort through the bins of  fabric, my thought processes fall along these lines:

1)  Oooo....I still love it! Keep it!!  Those pieces will be folded up the way I described in Filing 101.

This quilt was a "I love it! Must have it!"

2)  It's really nice fabric, but I don't know if I will really use it. For example, I found several nice pieces of children's flannel. Those pieces I will be donating to my quilt guild. My guild is a quilt mission and makes quilts to give to sick and needy groups, including Linus Quilts. The guild puts out a lot of quilts every year for a small group , so I know the fabric will be put to good use.

A Close Up of My Quilt Find Of The Year

3) Umm...not so sure about this fabric. I will put this fabric in the garage sale I am having next month. Some other quilter may find it to be just what he/she is looking for to finish their quilt! I have been known to keep a small bit of this fabric...just in case...

Is that price right? $6.99? Yup...from Goodwill. 

AND FINALLY:

4) UGH! What was I thinking? This is that thin, scratchy, starchy fabric we have all been suckered into buying on sale tables. Convinced that once it is washed it will somehow magically turn into soft, luxurious quilt fabric. I no longer fall for those fabrics...no matter how cute the print is or how cheap the price is. NOT WORTH IT!!  This alleged "fabric" I will cut into strips and add to the animal bed filling that my guild makes.

Do you have similar categories? Am I missing one?

Deb,
The Cluttered Quilter who has been Busy As A Turtle

PS: Tomorrow I will share the WHOLE story of my Quilt of a Lifetime buy from Goodwill. It is an AMAZING story.

Until then, Elvis has left the sewing room.

April Showers Bring May Quilts?

My rainy, puddly back yard...with it's pond-in-progress

Hello!
A quilter can only spend so much time organzing his/her stash...eventually it needs to be used. This week, the grey cloudy rainy days motivated me to take time from organzing and get to using!  Part of that motivation came from these blogs. The Q and The U , I'm A Ginger Monkey, and  Thomas Knauers Sews. I decided to respond to Thomas's plea for help and send him some 2 1/2 inch squares. And, since he wants all the squares in his "Vomit Quilt" to be different, I thought "hey, I have 20 years of different!!".  After emailing him, he assured me to go ahead and send them. So, I have been  cutting squares of my '90's fabric and some other playful novelties.



My Stack of Wild and Crazy Fabric for Thomas



Hmm...doesn't look like much once chopped into a 2.5" square!

 I have cut the remainder into strips to make the Random Rail  Fence block described in The Q and The U's tutorial.

The seeds to a Mighty Random Rail Fence quilt!

 Oh...and then the scraps which are too narrow for the Rail Fence? Why, they went into a pile to make string quilts like my big sister, Karen over at Hazel Dell Quilts. Check out her tutorial.

Future String Quilt Strips....patiently waiting their turn

Wait...what to do with those teeny weeny bits of strips too small even for a string quilt? I put it in a bag and use it to stuff pillows for pet beds! I bring the bag to my quilt guild, Quilts from The Bluffs, and add it to the scraps already there. No WASTE!! 


These beds, stuffed with fabric love,  will be donated to local humane societies for homeless animals.


But, those are not the only blogs I have been hanging around. I was at Eat Sleep Quilt and discovered that Linda is having a greaqt give away this weekend. Go...check her out. But even better is her tutorial on how she makes "crummy" or "crumby" backgrounds.  A GREAT way to use scraps and add great depth and texture to backgrounds on quilts. I really like her quilts and her tutorial. I must admit...I love her pig quilt. My Mother collected pigs...figurines, etc and so I have a soft spot for a cute piggie!!

Time for me to get back to stripping! My teenage sons hate it when I say that...but it's so fun to embarass them...and it's such an innocent activity in the quilt world!!

Happy Quilt Days are ahead...I just know it!
Deb

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all my friends attempting to tame their clutter and/or just cheering me on in my efforts to tame my mountain of stash and quilt clutter. Easter is a time of renewal. And a time when I am taking a deep breath and attempting to renew my efforts to  have a REAL sewing space that is fun and organized.

 A place I can express my creativity. My creativity has been bustin' to get out...but has been stifled by all the stuff and disorganization.

I just have to remember the words of the Little Engine that Could:

Happy Uncluttering to You!
Deb

PS:  And I have to try to squash this fear: