Scrap-a-palooza day 37 and year end wrap up

I didn't have much time to cut scraps today, but I did do a bit of a sort and found lots of strips and squares in the blue bin. I will check the sizes and stack them neater tomorrow.

I always like to count up my quilting thread yardage and get an idea of how much I used for the year and how much I have on hand. For 2020, I used 31,000 yards of quilting thread and I estimate I have 87,800 yards on hand. I made 16 quilts this year varying is size from baby quilts to a king size.

I also made almost 500 masks in 2020. My fabric usage was 132 yards, but I bought 57 yards which still reduces my stash by 75 yards. Overall, I feel pretty good about what I accomplished. Happy New Year to you all! Be safe!

Scrap-a-palooza day 36, pin basting, and the blue bin

I got after the white scraps left in the bin. Got them all cut and found one piece of backing that is big enough for a lap sized quilt. I put that piece in the backing pile.

Next I decided to pin baste another baby quilt I had sitting around. It is all ready for me to start quilting it tomorrow.

I moved the ceramic Christmas tree so I could empty the bin of blue fabric scraps the tree was sitting on top of into another bin to take back down to the studio. I am not quite ready to take the tree down; I just wanted to cut the blue scraps next. Here is the blue scrap bin. To say the least it is packed!

I have one more bin of scraps I want to cut after this. I still have bins with vintage scraps, homespun scraps, and flannel scraps so the saga will continue!

Scrap-a-palooza day 35

I had a busy day getting files moved on the computer for work. I have a bit more to do tomorrow and then I will be ready to have the boss lady fill in some gaps that I cannot answer. I did get to cutting that pile of whites. Here is what I have done. I cut 3.5", 3", and 2.5" pieces. I ended up with a lot more than I thought I would.

There were a couple pieces of backing in that pile so I moved those the backing pile and piece those together for small quilts. I still have the bin to go thru, but I am happy with getting this pile cut.

Scrap-a-palooza day 34, cleaning, quilting

I got all the print fabric cut from the black and grays bin. Here is what I got.

There were also some cream and tan fabrics in that bin. I seperated them from the black and gray scraps and here is what i got.

I took all the white and black solids that were in the bin and toss them back in. I will eventually cut these into the sizes I need to go with all the scraps I have been cutting.  I have two bins left I would like to get cut up.  The one that is under the ceramic Christmas tree has blue scraps and the other bin is a mishmash of everything from novelty prints to batiks and it is packed!   Both are going to take more time than the three days left this year.    

I needed to clean up the fabric storage room. It was a mess! I did pull out all the white and black fabric pieces and sorted them into what I wanted for future projects and what I would cut up for using with the scraps. I had a lot of pieces! Here is what the shelf look like before - it is the top shelf on the left.

Here is what it looks like now. Much better!

Here is the pile of black and white pieces I will cut for the scrap quilts.

There also is this pile of pieced blocks that I had made as demo pieces when I gave a couple lectures. There ought to be enough here for a quilt top.

Here is another corner of the room before and after. Geeze how did it get so bad? LOL!!!

That baby quilt is all quilted and is now ready for binding.

Scrap-a-palooza day 33 and quilting another quilt

I spent most of my day cutting scraps from the bin of black, grays, and creams. There is and was a lot of scraps in that bin. Here is what I got done today.

I plan on continuing cutting scraps thru the end of this year which gives me four more days. I will see what I have left to cut and reevaluate where I am at. Meanwhile, I needed to take a break from cutting scraps. I had a baby quilt pin basted so I decided to work on getting it quilted. I will be revising my UFO list so I don't want to have to add this one to the list for 2021. I am almost halfway done with the quilting. This will be added to my stash of baby quilts.

Christmas is over, Scrap-a-palooza day 31 and 32, and snow

Where do I start? Here is the quilt. It fit the bed perfect and the color was spot on. My brother who lives in Texas called me and couldn't believe I got the thing quilted and bound in 9 days. I was surprised too!  The walls look black in this picture, but they are the dark teal just like in the quilt. 

Here is my Xmas present. In case you don't know whose picture is on the candle, it is Jon Bon Jovi. What a hoot!

I received a postcard from Vicki today. SO pretty! I will add it to the design wall to be displayed year round for me to enjoy along with the other postcards I have received from Vicki over the years. Thank you Vicki!

I stayed overnight at my son's house so when I got home yesterday late afternoon the first thing I had to do was shovel snow. Overnight we had received 6" of snow. I think one of my neighbors had used a snow blower on my driveway, because there was only around 3 - 3 1/2 inches left for me to shovel. Thank goodness. By the time I got done it was dark. The temp was down to 1 degree with the wind chill. Burr!!!! I was so tired by the time I was done all I could do was to sort scraps into piles of pieces that were the same size.

Here is what the snow looked like from my studio window this morning. It was just too cold to go outside. Tomorrow it is forecasted to get up to 41 which will seem like a heat wave!

I did work on scraps today. Here is what I have gotten cut so far.

16th Finish for 2020, Scrap-a-palooza day 29 & 30

Yeah! The DNP is done, in a box and wrapped. It shrunk a lot when I washed it. It was 110" x 107" and now it is 100" x 102". It is still a big quilt! LOL!!!

I hauled up this light from the garage to the living room to try and get enough light to take a better picture, but only one light worked and it still didn't give me the light I was looking for. I guess there is a big storm coming in so there is zero sunshine to help with taking pictures. The wind howled all night and is still gusting at times.

Here is the best detail shot I could get.

I usually don't wash my quilts before I give them away, but I found this stain on the back. I think it came from my table when I was pressing the quilt sandwich together. The steam must have lifted some of the wood color. It is all gone so that good. I had to run the quilt thru the dry cycle at least 4 or 5 times. I would have to unball it and shove it back in the dryer. I finally laid it out on the big table and let it finish air drying overnight.

I only got a few scraps cut between yesterday and this morning because yesterday I was busy baking.

I made 4 pies - the chocolate one was in the fridge when I took this picture - and three different kinds of shortbread cookies. Packed up cookies and gave them to two neighbors, and my next door neighbor got the extra pumpkin pie to go with some cookies.  I baked the pecan pie in my recently acquired cast iron pie pan.  I will be interested to see how it came out once I cut the pie.  

I whipped up a mask this morning with Christmas fabric.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season!

Scrap-a-palooza day 28, a scrap correction, and DNP status

I carved a bit of time out today to start cutting the black and gray bin scraps. Here is what I have so far. Elle asked the question about the sizes I am cutting. Elle, you are a no-reply blogger so I will answer you here. The 3.5", 2.5", and 2" squares can be used in a lot of different designs. The 3" wide strips I will pair with a solid color to make zig zag quilts. The 4.5" x 16.5" will be for chevron quilts, and the string pieces will be for string blocks.

When I went upstairs last evening to unplug the ceramic tree I realized that I forgot about the bin of scraps I used to prop up the tree. So, I am down to three bins to cut up, including the black and gray bin, and that bag I showed yesterday. I feel I have put a pretty good dent in getting the scraps under control even with finding that third bin.  

I now have only 17 inches of the binding to sew on the DNP quilt! Tomorrow after I get that little bit done I will slap on a label, wash it, and stick a fork in it because it will be done!

xx xx xx xx