Pink care quilt tops

 

I am not running out of pink fabrics anytime soon.........

Over the last years I have been going through my fabrics more than once. Since before Covid, I have not been buying much, and what I have bought I have bought because I really really love it and plan to use it, not save it.

I have always had a soft spot for fabric on the red spectre - from pink, through most shades of red and to orange. 
I have also used a lot, but not enough to keep up with the buying, apparently 🙈 
I am trying to use as much as I can, to make care quilts / charity quilts. 

The first quilt top above is made entirely from my scrap boxes - every piece cut 2" by 3,5"
The second quilt top above is made from my collection of lighter pinks fabrics.

I am part of a charity quilt group, where we all can do what we enjoy the most. I enjoy making quilt tops the most, so that is what I do.  Others like to do machine quilting the most, so I can keep on making tops as much as I like.

Compared to when we lived in a house, the storing space here is not much to talk of. 
I want more space in my sewing room slash guest room. 
I have a plan for that, which includes several charity quilt tops on a regular schedule.

Hanne

That feeling!

I just received this fun photo from a friend who attended a class with me a week ago.
When I see it, I know why I am a quilter!
It is a passion - a passion for fabrics, for colours, for shapes, for creating and for enjoying!

I have been waiting for this pattern for a couple of months - it is hot off the press and by one of my favourite designers, Anni Downs.
It has it all - piecing, applique and stitchery!

I will wait a while before I start it - I have some Work In Progress to take care of here too, and I am not stuffing my WIPs back in the boxes right now - would be a waste of my already used time, right!

I do also enjoy having something special to look forward too :-)

Yes - I am in this for the passion and the fun - definitively :-)

Hanne

It’s hard :-)

Yes, it is hard to pull the ribbon and open a beautiful kit!

I bought this kit in Shipshewana in April, 2008, at Lolly’s, and it has pleased my eyes ever since.

But - today is the day, and the ribbon is off, strips cut and blocks started.
These Civil War fabrics are so beautiful - life is good :-)

Hanne

Fabric, fabrics

On Thursday evening I showed my DH Patti's photos from her new sewing room. He really liked the look and asked if I would like such cupboards in our master bedroom, where I store my fabrics and books.
We live near Ikea, so after work yesterday we went and bought the cupboards and DH put them up in the evening.

Here is how it looked before - last summer.

Since then I have also been gifted with fabrics for charity quilts, so I have had some fabrics in a box in the cloth closet and the shelves has been a little more filled.
Wanting to be able to reach fabrics without completely re-arrange everything, I will not fill the shelves to full, so all in all about 2/3 of my fabrics is now on the new shelves, with all my books and magazines, about half and half.
It would have been nice with one cupboard of each, but I am to short to use the higher shelves for fabrics comfortably.
I am only 5'3" and am often using a small ladder, but carrying it from the kitchen to the bedroom every so often is not tempting.


These boxes are full of scraps to small to be on shelves. The answer must be string quilts and scrap quilts galore the rest of the year ;-)

The bed roller is under the bed with a couple of the other boxes and the rest in on the cloth closet floor, so the appearance of the bedroom is light and tidy. The new cupboards gives 4" more floor space. It does make a great difference in a small room.
DH is smiling ear to ear!

A lot of the scraps are 10 years and older - time to use them and get them out of here.

I have been fairly good with the fabric diet so far this year, and I have used far more than I have bought, but I still need to be dieting for a long time.
A little snack here and there will be nice, with emphasise on little :-)

Come the new year I will take another photo to see my own progress. It is nice to be accountable. I have made a note in my calendar for 2008, February 18.
I recognize that I have fabric shopped a lot over the years and I know I have the backbone to cut back too :-)
I know that compared to some my fabric collection is not very big and compare to others it is. However, it is over my comfort level since I do not have my own sewing room, and I also know the best way to organize a fabric collection is to use from it.

I intend to have fun using from these fabric and scraps. You know me - I am in this for the fun. The minute it is a heavy duty I will take a break, promise!

I will start a double 4-patch quilt in brown and cream - coffee and cream - this weekend. We have been invited to a friend's 40th birthday in 2 weeks. A lap quilt will be a nice present and a bite of the fabric collection elephant.
You know how to eat an elephant, right ? One serving at a time :-)

Oh, lead me not into temptations ......

...... I go there myself :-)

I have been teaching the last evening in my year long, bi-monthly Dear Jane class tonight, and I guess you believe me when I say I am ending up paying for teaching - or should I rather say trading for quilting goods ?
I used more money than I made today though, but who counts ;-)

The Japanese block book - translated to French, is a real beauty.
May Britt made me aware of it in March, and I ordered it then, and got it today. It is both a coffee table book and a good work book. I was not prepared for how thick and heavy it is. A really special book to be enjoyed and thumbed again and again.

The fabrics - 1 meter of the light fabric and 4 x 12", full width of fabric - the last pieces of those fabrics actually.

A stitchery pattern could not be passed either.

Temptation - your smell is sweet and your taste is anticipation !

Seems like a totally white month fabric shopping wise is very hard, but instead of shopping mindless I have plans for what I buy, in the very near future.
I do not shop for saving anymore - I shop for using and enjoying - now :-)

Absolutely overwhelmed !

Today I am celebrating 2 months since my surgery :-)
I have increased my physical activity a lot, and I am really enjoying my new life. I still get tired easily, but I am increasing my strength day by day.

I have not been leaving many comments around the ring lately, as I have been feeling tired, but I promise to do so very soon. I have been enjoying the photos but not been reading very much.

I am now allowed to lift more than 1 kg (2lbs) again - since Tuesday this week.
Off course I lifted some of my fabric boxes - but - I am overwhelmed by what I own - a feeling I was not prepared for........

You might think I have a sewing room full of fabric ?
Here is what I had in July last year. It had increased by 2 full drawer in my wardrobe and a big plastic bag.
This shelf is in the master bedroom, and I have a sewing corner in a corner of our living room.

Why so overwhelmed ?
During my reconvalescence period I have had only a few projects to work on - my red and white NI blocks, the AD applique blocks and stitchery + the x-stitch embroidery.
I have had what I needed here at hand, in my corner,
and what I see it that I have not missed anything much.
Meeting with my fabrics again I find that a lot of them are outdated for my current taste, from a couple of years back and back, to the time we moved here, 10-12 years ago and some older.

The 2 drawers + the big plastic bag of fabrics has been given to me to use for care quilts, from the estates of 2 diseased quilters + from my aunt who had to give up sewing due to an eye injury. She still knits and do wonderful embroidery.
I have already made 4 quilts from their fabrics - also the 2 care quilts in January.

How to tackle this fabric over-abundance ?

First I picked all the Christmas fabrics out of the given-to-me-drawers and took it back to the guild board that generously gave it to me together with the fabrics from one of the estates because they know I make care quilts. As far as I know I am the only one around here.....
I do not enjoy to use Christmas fabrics, and these were curtain quality, and not very suitable for children's quilts. Maybe someone else will use them to back placemats or something else. It was many meters in 1 and 2 meter cuts. 1 yard = 0,9 meter.
I must add that all of this lady's best fabrics were already sold when I got this full box.... It was what we call here a mix of Lobster & Canary - rather on the canary side if I may say so.....

Then I took the full plastic bag of sheet quality coloured muslin and dropped it off at Salvation Army drop off point. The good pieces I have already used as foundation for string quilts.
The pieces in the bag were very usable for curtains, one colour cushions, school or kindergarten sewing, and I am sure it will find new good owners.

Next I said no thank you to more fabrics from a friend, and from now on I will sew from my own fabrics only!

All this happened in one day - Wednesday this week - as well as starting the above string quilt from the one donation drawer left - adding a few of my own purples.
It took me 3 days to finish the blocks and the backing, and I can see it made a dent in the purple fabrics.
I have pieced the backing too, from my own fabric collection. Nothing fancy, just 1/3 meters full width of fabric pieced together.
I will add a narrow purple border to the front and I hope to join these blocks and have it spray basted and started machine quilted this weekend.

More care quilts will appear through the year and very few purchases will be done.
I promise myself to do few purchases for the rest of the year, and only fabrics I will wash, cut and use at once!
I want to empty the last given-to-me-fabrics-drawer and make a visible dent in the rest as well.
I have already given this promise, but now with an absolutely stronger motivation!

So far in March I have purchased 10 meters of fabrics - 4 meters of quilt fabrics and 6 meters of muslin.
A good friend over the big pond sends me Ecology Cloth from her bolt and I just received 5 meters. It is so lovely, and way above everything we can get here.
The 1 meter of muslin bought here is already used in the string quilt and I have cut in to the meters of quilt fabrics too and have specific realistic plans for all of it :-)
I do not use Ecology Cloth for string quilts, as it is quilt top quality.