Next Project

Did you know that organizational products are expected to net a profit of $12.7 billion by 2023?  That's an amazing amount of money to hide one's stuff.  My fear is that "out of sight, out of mind" means I forget what I have and buy more stuff (this could be a vicious cycle).  Of course actually having things like fabric in full view doesn't seem to help either.  I just stop noticing it for the most part.

Case in Point:  These cabinets:  

Or specifically, the top of the cabinet:

I purchased two of these cabinets decades ago when my brother and I set up the sewing room.  The units were inexpensive and the top part is supposed to be for shoes.  I thought they would make a great place for fat quarters and fabric that was too big to be called scraps (in my world).  I'm going through these fabrics now...and laughing at myself and how long I've held on to some things.  The storage also made it easy when friends would stop by and ask "do you have a fat quarter in this color?"

About two months ago, I decided to make quilts for the kids in the family.  I wanted to use up novelty 4 patches that I had made a while ago.  I'm happy to report I used up quite a few and got 9 quilt tops out of my efforts!  Here's the first one back from the quilter:

As always happens, when I dug out the 4 patches, I found some other blocks that should be used and decided I would need to do some quilts in the square in a square pattern.   Here's a quilt (now quilted) that I think I made the original blocks for:

Whatever juvenile fabric I have left I've been cutting up to make some more of these quilts.  The strips around the squares meant making more 2.5 inch strips--I had used up a bunch of them over the summer.  So I hit the fat quarter storage units...and I laugh at myself everyday right now.

Some folks might be saying, "why did you buy so many fat quarters?"  I didn't.  About 60% or more of this fabric was given to me.  Friends who have family members who have passed (or friends of friends) sent boxes of fabric to me through the years.  I kept all the fabric that their mother or grandmother had held onto and it became part of my stash.  I'm (finally) determined to use up what I can with this latest project.

But some things hit me and even become sweet when I look at other women's scraps.  Many of these pieces still show the outlines of smocks or housedresses that the women originally made:

I find myself thinking what a pretty dress this or that fabric must have made for the ladies in question.  I am reminded that the many amazing boxes of fabric included so many other things--more buttons than I can ever use, lace collars, rick-rack, lace, needles, and even used zippers neatly removed from garments. Tomorrow I'll write about my theory on all these things.

Wishing you a safe and happy day!