Off the Wagon

I made myself a ridiculous new year's resolution that I would not buy any fabric before April 1. I excluded needing to buy thread or apparel fabric, as I plan to make my daughter an Easter dress. I was so good for an entire month. In case you are wondering, will power is not my strong suit. Fabric & ice cream are my absolute vises.

Now, I don't think that I have a super killer stash like the awesome 1km Emma, but then I don't have the time to measure mine. And part of me really worries how much is here. I am in the process of another round of organizing of the scraps into bins. There are 6 more bins awaiting my attention. There's one for each color, one for strips for log cabins, etc - mostly left overs from cutting borders and bindings. The fabric cubbies need some tidying as well, removing some of the smaller pieces.
This box is all 1-1.5 yard cuts that I was bequeathed at a Project Linus function in November. They are all nice fabrics, and there are 2-4 pieces of several fabrics, which is awesome for the backings. That said, many are not ones that I would personally select for my projects, but I am using them for my Linus quilts quite happily. The shelf off to the left has precut blocks, some extraneous blocks from all of my projects, unfinished flimsies, etc. The shelves to the right have a 6 yard section of fleece for backs and the Linus quilts made this month (6).I also acquired this box of fat quarters. Some are bold and very kid-like, some are flannel. Again not really my choices, but good for many uses.

As far as stashes go, it's not enormous, but it's pretty healthy. When I started making the linus quilts 2 years ago, it was partly to use up much of the scraps I had. In that process, many of my friends & family donated their scraps, and this never-ending vicious cycle began - I can never have less than I had when it comes to fabric; there are always more that I want/need!

And so this ridiculous resolution of mine is better stated, that I am trying hard not to buy rather than saying that I will not buy! I needed (yes, needed!!) 12" of black for an inner border on my Black & White challenge quilt. I will post progress on this very soon, as I just realized I have not in quite a while. The three quilt pannels are an afternoon from being ready to quilt. I did well at only buying the 12", but failed when I saw this next Alexander Henry print...it is so awesome in real life. I can hardly wait to fall off the wagon again and order some Kona Solids to sew with it!! Maybe after the taxes are done...

And one last thing...I am tentatively hoping to enter a quilt in the Maine State Quilt Show this summer. I may enter Sophie's Little Dresses (assuming the hand quilting is done before the entry deadline) and another (which I need to design and sew). The second one will be a big fat orange cat, since that is after all, the quintecential cat to me! I beefed up my brown, orange & amber batik stash a little with 12 measly fat quarters. That one on the right is clearly the wrong color. Oops...

So I have also been trying to get a good picture of said fat orange cat (AKA Henry) to use for this quilt (in their special coon cat or cat display section). My model is not so cooperative though. Once I get the 4SQS5 piece wrapped up, I will think more about this endeavor. I may even do it fused raw edge applique (despite how much I loathe this process when it is done poorly!). It will facilite good detailing.