hi SusieQ- yes I did have it out on Jan. 4 and am now on the mend. Yesterday was the first day I felt up to spending the entire day in the studio.

sorry to hear about your Mom- I hope she has a speedy recovery! Now that she’s in rehab and doing well I hope you get a chance to get some well needed rest!

Rob

Hi Rob, so glad it's behind you, yay!
Thanks for the good wishes. I'm much more awake after sleeping a lot this weekend! Everyone will benefit by this haha :D

I have an upstairs list and a downstairs list. Upstairs is my sewing room, downstairs is my hand sewing. As I leave each area I write down where I am in the project and what is left to do. Then when I return I can start immediately.

I do need a composite list that would move me forward on all projects. Rob, yours sounds like a great idea.

How does everyone handle their left-over batting scraps? I just realized I kind of have them everywhere:

- if they are too small to use, I cut them into bits for dog beds
- if they are at least 7" or so "wide", I will roll them on a cardboard tube
- larger ones, I stitch together to make enough for a quilt batting and then roll them on a different cardboard
tube

I also have a plastic tote full of them, a little box of them cut into 5" squares and 3 completely new rolls.

How do you move thru your leftover batting? It's expensive enough that I don't want to just toss it, but I also realize I don't have a "good way" of managing it until I can use it.

Anyone have ideas? My sewing room looks like there was a massive explosion somewhere in the middle of my sewing room.

Rob, hope you are back to 100% soon! And your mom too, SusieQOH!

I have to admit I have felt intimidated to open this thread, because I don't consider myself very good at organization. The very word strikes terror.... :D HA! But I felt empowered by my activity yesterday, taking down all the Christmas decs and tree and putting the house back in order... and bagging up tons of old clothes to either donate or toss. I was a whirlwind! (Not sure what got into me.) Now I need to take some of that into my sewing areas too.

NoraB, I too snip up batting too and use it as stuffing, scraps under 5 inch width mostly. I make coaster sets to use up scraps and scrap batting, 5 inch squares, then I jump to placemats, again scraps of fabric and batting. Then I make table runners, scrap batting, some scrap fabric from time to time, but I usually stitch up a pattern. I try to discipline myself to do this regularly and keep ahead of my scrap batting.

Thanks,SBG, for the well wishes for my Mom. She's doing well so far.
NoraB- I just thought of something for your scraps of batting. Can you put them together between old fabric to practice machine quilting? That's what I thought of doing. A lot of teachers tell you to have squares nearby to quilt before you start your quilting. This advice comes from seasoned quilters. It makes sense to me to "warm up" before you actually start.
I hope this makes sense as I'm still catching up on sleep :D

Rearranging the backing yardage by color and pulling piece for scrappy back that has been a leader/ender for almost two years (2"X3.5" rectangles). Found open top rectangular basket and designated it the small UFO station. Took all three scrap baskets and emptied on a long office size table. Sorted into strings, thin strips for clothesline baskets and the rest are being cut (1 hour per day until gone.

This is what I do too. I have several placemat sized 'sandwiches' ready to test out quilting patterns. They are good for checking your stitch length and balance, too.

I save my scraps that are big enough to make 13" squares to use in QAYG. Also the narrower strips... they are good for inserting in the sashings when you QAYG with sashings instead of narrow joinings. In the mean time, I keep old batting bags to stuff the pieces in so they won't be all over the place.

Nora, I have some clear plastic zip bags that bedding cake in & keep batting scraps in those. I make quilted totes occasionally & use long narrow strips for the handles. I piece small pieces for the bag bodies. I hadn’t thought of coasters, though. I used some smaller pieces for mug rugs & I've made practice sandwiches for QAYG.