Sunday, January 17, 2016

January sewing plan

Alright ... So my room was clean, my needle and bobbin area replaced and cleaned out ... I spent the last 2 weeks working on my January stash class ...
How cute is this?  I really had a lot of fun making this quilt.  It went together pretty fast.  It was a challenge matching all those intersections, but one I enjoyed for sure!  The strips are cut 1 1/2" wide in this block, so precision in your piecing is really key with smaller pieces.

Last year I made a Christmas in January quilt, so I decided to echo that idea and do it again .  I bought a few Christmas pieces in November and they worked well with other fabrics I had.
I love this gray fabric with the snowmen on it ... You lose some of it because the pieces are narrow, but I think it still worked.
The fabric in this top block is a new one, but the fabric in the bottom block is an old Whimsicals fabric ... It was a challenge to use because it was directional and had a fairly big print, but I like the way it came out.

My stash is now at the point that I am struggling at times to find enough of something when I need larger pieces.  When I got to the sashing I couldn't find anything that worked ... I was thinking black, then red, then gray ... Nothing looked right.  I got frustrated ... But I figured I could raid my friend's stash!  She went right to it and pulled out  this brown and said what do you think!?  I loved it!  You know how when you look at something too long it stumps you ... Sometimes all you need is a fresh eye!!  I spied a very small piece of red with bright green dots on it and knew that was my cornerstones.  I just loved how it brightened the sashing and made everything come together!!  My first finish of 2016 ... Yay!!

Now to make a back and make some binding for when it's ready for the quilter to quilt it -- haha -- me!!!!  I really didn't want to add it to the stack of what needs to be quilted, but I had to get it into the store to hang for my sample ... Only 2 weeks til class, so the quilting will have to wait!

Now that my project is done, it's time to make some plans for 2016 ... I have a big pile of scraps that need to be cut and sorted so I can get that off my desk/floor.

I'll be back later to walk you through how I do that.  In the meantime, go through your fabric and find those scraps ... Anything smaller than a fat quarter or 1/4 yard gets cut up and goes into scrap bins.  Get that pile together and press everything so it's ready to cut.  I know this is not a fun project ... But you're going to feel so much better when it's done!!


2 comments:

jayne said...

Love it!!!!! Can't wait to see it in person :)

Susy said...

I think it's great Colleen! Over the past year or two, you have really shown that you can use your scraps to make beautiful quilts. Gives us hope! Giggle.
Love what you wrote too, you're right on when you talk about precision when you have small pieces. When you having a lot of seams, you have to pay attention.
Thanks for sharing,
Susy