Stash busting

No big news here, but I, like others, have too much fabric. Which actually, I don't know if I really believe that. What exactly is too much fabric? I've already gotten rid of everything I don't want, and I really can't bring myself to part with the rest of it. Unless of course, its sewn into quilts, and even then sometimes I'm hesitant, ha ha! 

So anyway, I've been busy cutting strips from nearly everything in my cabinet, in an effort to ease the crowdedness in there, and hopefully create a little space for something new. Which is what we all want, right?

I thought I'd make a few Log Cabins.  First, while cutting the strips I kept all the colors separate and put each color into its own zip bag. Then when I decided which colors I wanted to use, I sewed long "snakes" out of the strips. This made sewing the blocks so much faster, and without any waste.

 

I like how this one turned out, but it was a mistake. Notice how there's more blue than white? That's because I added an extra blue log to each block. The reason I did this is, my sister called me right as I was starting to sew so I put her on speaker phone and I was distracted, and began sewing my blocks with blue around the center instead of white. Which means they would end with white, and I really didn't want that look. So I added an extra round of blue logs. The resulting cabins are a little off-kilter, but that has the added effect of making the red centers "dance" across the quilt, giving it motion. Which I like. And an added benefit was making the blocks 6" instead of 5", which makes the  quilt the perfect size for the VA requirements. I'll call it serendipity.

I decided to use all the colors for the one above, but still used the snake method for each color. For some reason, maybe its the red and yellow centers, it reminds me of a circus. 

 

Here's the start of the latest one. Same method. You can see the effect of the scrappy pieced logs (via the snake method) more clearly in this picture. 

I took a break from stripping and sewing logs to finish this darling little mini my mother-in-law sent home to me when hubby visited her last month. I'm going to cheat again, and use this as my Montly Mini for May. Montly Mini's are hosted by Wendy, who you can find here, along with links to others who participate in this fun challenge.

 

I machine quilted all the ditches, then did some simple big-stitch quilting (which I'm finally getting the hang of) through the blocks and in the border. Its now hanging in my sewing room. 

Lela (my MIL) also made the one on the bottom right, which she gave to me when I saw her in September. I love it, and it goes perfectly with my own quilts.

OK back to the log cabins. Here's the brown one which I just now completed and put some borders on. 

I gave almost no thought to the placement of the blocks except to avoid two of the same fabric lying next to each other. I'm liking the quirkiness that true random placement sometimes creates. Not quilted yet, but I'm already auditioning dark brown for the binding. Also lap size like the blue one, destined for either the VA or someone else who just needs a quilt.

I now have a backlog of tops that need to be quilted. I better get busy! 

love,

Sandy