Nita

Retired Teacher - I like the idea of making a "row by row" quilt, using fabric scraps and orphaned blocks. The strips that separate the rows give the eyes a place to rest and ties the otherwise random scrappy rows together. I'm going to keep this idea in mind when making stash-buster scrappy quilts.

joe'smom

retiredteacher, what a fun and interesting quilt. Congratulations on the finish!

Beautiful backing fabric, Teen!

Iceblossom

Well hubby went back to work on Thursday, so yesterday I stripped the bed and washed all the germy sheets and pillow cases and remade it. Still have a blanket or two left to wash, but I did layout the Not Quite Y2K quilt border units and have pinned those to their appropriate blocks. Haven't started stitching it together yet, but after a week of the hubby home I did make progress yesterday, yay me!

Also prewashed and ironed a bunch of fabrics yesterday, I don't always think to do it but typically I like to throw in a couple of fat quarters or whatever with the regular color sortings. Last summer (well before I joined the fabric moratorium this year!!) I bought about 50 pounds of fabric from an estate sale, been chipping away at using and washing those, almost done now.

Went out the other day after my last post with retail therapy on my mind but the thrift stores were kind and didn't tempt me too much. I did get two pieces of yardage, both $4.99 each. One was a bold Cranston diagonal stripe that I'm pretty sure I made a top out of back in the late 70s/early 80s, might have been another fabric from the same collection. I think it would make a great back or maybe borders for one of the ladies in my small group, I'll offer it to her and otherwise it will go in my "pieces big enough for a back" stash -- which is the smallest collection I have.

I wasn't sure on the other piece but when I got home it failed the burned test, I think just a small amount of poly in the fibers -- enough to make the burned edge crisp but not have those little balls of melted plastic so maybe 10%. It's a huge piece of yardage, narrow stripes with a large floral and striped border print. I really like using those border prints as backs (and I really liked them in dresses back in the early 80s or so, it was sort of a retro look with those shirtwaist dresses with the full skirts). The first two feet or so of the fabric has a printing error but the rest of it seems fine. According to the original stickers still on it, there should be about 8 yards and at some point it was tagged/sold at Kmart for $1.39. Usually I give the poly blends back to the thrift stores but I think it will be wide enough for the not quite Y2K quilt and I rather like it. I think with a super thin batt and just basically utility quilting to hold down the blocks it will be a good summer weight quilt.

The Daisy Kingdom bunny fabric scraps turned out to work well as 10" finished squares, which doesn't work well with 9-patches but does with 16-patches or other alternatives. I have cut (12) 10.5 squares and have enough yardage and scraps to have options which could include another set of rows/columns, borders, or sashing. I pulled out a bunch of coordinating "reads as solids" in those Easter pastel colors. Currently thinking of alternating star blocks with snowball blocks and deciding between each ray of a LeMoyne Star a different print or just a basic Ohio type star of one fabric per block. I thought about pinwheels or broken dishes but really want to cut the corner off the large blocks to make them as snowballs and that isn't working as well as stars.

My own Easter quilt is one of my unquilted tops. It is bright solids made into pieced baskets with that large floral sort of turquoise egg print with the gold embellishments inside the baskets and alternating squares. I'm really trying to not make this one have baskets in the alternate block but I may give in... I have a woven rattan looking fabric that would make great baskets and since there is a grandchild coming maybe I should go ahead and plan on keeping this one for them.

petthefabric

Yesterday, I was in Fresno with nothing to do. Did spend money----on plants, mostly veg/herbs. Also a rose bush and dahlias. Came home and planted until exhaused. Today it's raining so won't get any further.

No fabric this time.

Belfrybat

Great going, everyone. I think if this challenge helps us to cut down on impulse purchases it serves it's purpose.

Connie - great use of orphan blocks and scraps. Gives me an idea for prayer quilts.

Iceblossom - I use cotton/poly blends for my quilts as long as the cotton is at least 60%. I've never had a problem.

elly66

Love the borders you used on your quilt Connie. Really ties the blocks together.
Almost made it 3 months without a fabric purchase going to stash. I bought a year of Bluprint and got a kit as well. Not planning on sewing it as a kit though so 14 yards into stash.

Judith1005

Wow Teen. Pretty fabric. Looks like it was meant to be.

Iceblossom

Well as it turned out the lady in my group did love the Cranston print so while purchased it did not end up in my stash. The group ladies helped me finalize my purple quilt choices, had three possible fabrics for the border and a couple other lingering design decisions to make.

I headed out to visit my mom and stopped by the thrift stores out there. I found the strange shaped cord to fit the Hubby's battery charger (he can't tell me what happened to the cord he used to have...). It had double-round ends, there are lots of round/square, and flat top/double round ends, but it's been a lot of looking to finally find this one and only $0.99. Then at the other store there was some lovely fabric. I almost drooled, but I was determined to only spend cash on hand which was $5 and some change (and we have a 10% sales tax). Without this thread, I probably would have come out with about $25-30 worth. All yardage, high quality fabrics, a brown batik, a couple different Northcott Quilt for a Cure line, some bags of good looking scraps.

My small group is going to be making a comfort quilt for someone with medical issues, there was a really warm and happy not-quite-primary print with a golden yellow background that I selected. It is about 4 yards for $4.99 and I have a good eye -- it turned out to be Makower but the way it was folded I couldn't read the selvedge before I bought it.

But the real point of this is at my mom's that night I had a big think with a little breakthrough It is true, I covet that fabric. But in the end, those Northcotts were just nice florals and I have a lot of nice florals. That strange pale piece was lovely but what on earth would I ever do with it?? There is nothing wrong with collecting fabric but I've made the decision to downsize. It was ok to lust a little and appreciate and move on. And someone else is going to snatch them up -- good for them whether or not they know/appreciate or just got a good deal.

Judith1005

Well done Iceblossom. Just keep telling yourself that over and over until it works like magic.

I fell from the farm cart yesterday. I bought 8 FQ's off line to freshen a scrap quilt I'm cutting pieces for a leader ender project. They will be cut up completely for several different scrap purposes. So, they will not take up residence in my fabric drawers. I guess, technically, it really doesn't meet the "no stashing" guideline. So, to me, it counts as a fall until it's actually used. hmmm, I wonder how fast I can get it used before anyone notices it. oops, silly me, it hasn't even been delivered yet.

Do you ever just get tired of what you have. Sometimes, I find I buy the same fabric over and over and over.(Its a vicious circle!) After I make a few scrappies out of it, I get down right bored with it. If it matters, I have taken like 5 Walmart shopping bags (filled to overflowing) to the thrift store in the last couple of weeks. It's funny after reading Iceblossom's post. Because, I always go back a few weeks later to see if it's still there. And, most of the time, there isn't a single piece of it there. So, someone else found a use for it. And, I'm glad. (I only donate to a hospice run thrift store. ) I know there is still one more full bag that needs to be taken also. But, I am not done filling the bag up yet. I wilted a little on the purge. I got nervous that I actually had holes to fill. (I don't want to fill holes.) I only want fabric that I love and that I will use. I'd like to eventually get down to half of what's left. which gives me plenty to play with. Room for my fabrics to breath a little. And, not so much that I feel overwhelmed. (I'm almost there.) For me, I will never quilt fast enough to sew my way through all I have. So, I donated a lot to help me be able to breath and not feel overwhelmed. I know someone else will put it to good use.

grann of 6

Well, I got forced into some purging...my sump pump malfunctioned and got the furnace side of the basement wet. So after running out to buy a wet/dry shop vac and some wonderful help from my friends,and a visit from DS we got the wetness cleaned up and the sump pump fixed. Some boxes of batting scraps got wet, and a box of fabric left from trimming up quilts, so the batting got thrown out, and the wet fabric got washed and some pitched. So I have spent a good part of the last couple days cutting scraps into layer cakes, charm squares and jelly roll strips. So far I have a 4" stack of LCs, 6" stack of charms, and myriad lengths of JRs. Once I get all the scraps taken care of the time will come to use up the precuts. I figure I can make a bunch of charity quilts with what I cut. Some of the fabric I came across went into the "What was I thinking category" so out it went.