Sunday, February 28, 2021

You saw the pile of scraps on my cutting table yesterday. When I finished for the day I went downstairs and glanced out the back door. There was a little package on the deck; it looked like someone had just thrown something over the gate. When I picked it up there was a bag of fabric strips and a little box of triangles. I was confused but narrowed the list of suspects down to three. This morning I got a message from Jessie (one of the Thursday stitchers) and she confessed.

As I sorted through the bits my mind was imagining all the things I could do with the fabric. There were bits for strings, some larger pieces (but nothing larger than 2″ wide) and all of those triangles. The nice thing is that they are all fabrics that are new to my stash. So what did my mind come up with? I think I’ll incorporate the triangles into my postage stamp quilt. I’ll make up some HST’s and put a pinwheel in the centre of each of the blocks. I already have some blocks started (I was using them as leaders and enders) but nothing is so far along that I can’t incorporate this idea into it.

Speaking of leaders and enders, my basket for them is empty. I finished the last of the 100 blocks needed for my May quilt. I’m a little tired of that project so I’ve moved it to the bottom of my list; next time it comes up I’ll piece the top.

I’m going to finish the afternoon with some reading. I have a Cranberry Hall Coffee House to attend (virtually) tonight but while my camera and mic are off I hope to catch up on some paperwork.

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Since yesterday’s cleaning up went so well I decided to tackle another corner today.

This fabric storage corner is always a mess. Even with a cabinet and bins to store fabric in everything is always a jumble. Behind that bulletin board is a small wicker trunk that held scraps that I used for cards and calendar blocks. The open bin was for my novelty fabrics; I’m not in that bin very often but I pulled out fabric for Alex’s masks from it. What you don’t see is a cabinet on the left and one drawer in it was for larger pieces of fabric sorted by colour. The bottom drawer of that 2-drawer bin held all the bags of scraps I found; obviously I hid them away so I didn’t have to deal with them.

All tidy now – or at least hidden away. I moved all the scraps from the bottom drawer of the bin and filled it up with novelty fabric. The bin that had contained my novelty fabric now has larger bags of fabric sorted by colour. The drawer now holds my card making fabric and the wicker trunk holds the batting that I use for cards. All the extra fabric has been put away and I even managed to close the doors on the glass cabinet.

What doesn’t look so good is my cutting table. I’ll take a day to deal with all of those scraps – but not today! Most of them will sort into the bags and/or bins I already have designated but some will probably be cut small and go into the cabinet I keep my various-sized squares in.

Friday, February 26, 2021

I had such a mess from the last two days of mask making that I decided it was time to do some cleanup. So why (oh why) did I start cleaning in a spot that wasn’t even pulled apart all that badly?

I use batiks for one of the layers in my masks and I have a drawer and a bin where I store them. The drawer holds bigger pieces of fabric and the small bin holds strips and strings that I purchased at a yard sale several years ago. When the drawer is in place and the lid is on the bin they both look quite tidy.

Today though I chose to focus on these two batik areas. I have squared up and cut down larger pieces, I have refolded the yardages I have, and I sorted out small pieces into bags where all the pieces are the same size.

The bin of strips was quite a mess (even if the lid fit). As I started to pull them out I noticed they are of varying widths; some of them will be okay for the project I have in mind. There are enough strips in the bin though to make at least two scrappy quilts when the original project is done. I’ve done a bit of a sort; the project I have in mind uses dark and light so that is more or less the way I rolled them up.

So everything is neat and tidy again (except for the floor that is covered in bits and pieces of fabric and thread) and back in place. For one foolish minute I thought I could combine the two units but that didn’t work out. The rest of the sewing room is the same messy state that it was this morning.

I’ll have to start using the batik for miscellaneous projects – my tendency is not to like sewing with batiks but I’ll have to get over that.

Thursday, February 25, 2021

I made nine more masks today. Once the fun of picking the front and back fabrics is over they tend to be a bit boring. At the end of the process though I also get to pick threads that will match the fabrics so that adds a bit of interest. It doesn’t take much to amuse me.

I made a quick trip to the fabric store looking for some specific fabrics. They didn’t have either of the themes I wanted, but I managed to pick up some fabric for another project I have on my list; I may get to it next week so I want to be prepared.

I’ll get the masks in the laundry now and have them out in the mail tomorrow.

I have a Zoom meeting tonight and I’m hoping I can do a bit of sorting out in my sewing room while it is going on (thank goodness you can turn your camera off). After digging through several bins of fabric everything is a mess. On the plus side though I found several more bags of scraps – as if I needed any more but they’ll add some variety to the ones I already have.