Annual Report

 

Sewing Fabric used 2011:  1/2 yard, to make a cushion for Mr. B’s wheelchair.  It wasn’t comfortable enough and we threw it into the recycling bin and bought one from Amazon.

I also flung 37 yards of fashion fabric on Freecycle in December.  That was all from one shelf in my sewing room closet; it looks neater but not much emptier.  I have two shelves left and will probably be able to fling many more yards this year.

That means I still have about 300 yards of fashion fabric remaining.  Plus all that is packed away and didn’t get counted. 

Quilting Fabric used 2011:  about 15 yards (can’t find my note from the Stashbusters 100 yard Dash from the Stash database and the 2011 file has been deleted to make way for 2012).

This was augmented by the quilt I finished for my step-sister Sharon in Indiana. 

This was a UFO started back in about 2002.  I finally pulled it out this fall and quilted it for her.  Other than that, I think I finished one catnapper and made an apron and a tote bag for Mr. B’s walker using quilt fabric.

I did manage to fold and count yardage for two shelves of quilt fabric.  It amounted to 299.75 yards which did not include fat quarters, fabric stored with UFO and current projects, fabric stored in boxes (patriotic, chicken, and muslin), and scraps (many of which are 1/2 yard pieces).

I know that’s a lot of fabric, probably more than I can use in my lifetime, but it means that I can sew a quilt using fabric I already own (most of which was purchased for $2-5 per yard) instead of having to go to the quilt shop and pay the current price of about $10 per yard.

Thread spools emptied 2011:  12, of which 1 was a wooden spool.

Kind of pitiful for a full year but I lost several months to ill health – mine and Mr B’s. 

I’m currently working on Orca Bay which is Bonnie K. Hunter’s 2011 mystery quilt.  We started in mid-November and the final clue was published on New Year’s Eve.  I was behind the whole time and I still haven’t finished the top.  But I’m really enjoying the process.  Last time I posted I was working on her 2010 quilt Roll Roll Cotton Boll.  I managed to finish the top minus the borders just before Orca Bay started but now it’s going to have to wait a while.

I have also pulled some UFOs that are ready for quilting and plan to start basting this week.  More on that later.

Almost Spring

Not a lot of action in the Sewing Room the last few months.  Once again I let Procrastination take over which meant that I didn’t do the taxes until almost the middle of March.  Which meant that, in good conscience, I couldn’t get serious about sewing/quilting.  The dumb thing is I could have done the taxes the first week of February, and the really dumb thing is it only took me about 4 hours all told.
Oh well, that’s over for another year; so now we can get down to the real deal.

I did manage to make Mr. B a tote bag for his constant companion.  He isn’t a motorcycle fan but the fabric has our hometown on it.  This item busted one yard of fabric from my stash.  Woo-hoo!

I finished steps two, three and four of Bonnie Hunter’s Roll Roll Cotton Boll mystery quilt.  Actually, step three isn’t quite finished since I still need to remove the foundation paper from about 40 of the blocks.  I’m doing a few each day as it’s tedious work.  Step five involves 600 (that’s right, six hundred) 2 inch half square triangles.  Currently I’m at about 200 sewn but not pressed and squared up.
Little by little I’ve been refolding my quilt fabric stash using 8x10 cardboard and measuring the fabric as I go.  Up until this point I just kept a running total but since then I’ve been making a note of the amount right on the cardboard.

I have now finished folding the second shelf as well as some pieces that were in baskets.  No photo yet but the new grand total is almost 300 yards.  That doesn’t include a stack of fabric that hasn’t been laundered yet plus what is with projects I’m working on or thinking of working on.

The Original Five-Year Plan

I’ve been sewing for over 50 years and have accumulated a very large stash of fabric, notions, patterns, sewing books, etc.  Some of it I’ve bought and some was given to me by friends. 

  

These four shelves contain 371 yards of fabric.  Last year I went through all of it and made entries for each piece, noting yardage, width and fiber type, along with a small swatch.  I keep these pages in a binder and have found them very helpful when I want to sew something. 

 

Last year I made a kitchen smock, a couple of tote bags, a hat and apron for GD1’s school project and a small backpack.  This reduced my original yardage total but then I added some pieces from fabric that is stored elsewhere.  There are several pieces of fabric on the other side of the closet as well as a large box in another room.  There are also a few boxes stored in the garage. And a few boxes here and there with fabric meant for doll clothes.   As space is available in the primary closet, I will bring in fabric from these other areas and add it to my binder.

 

By the way, the bolt of striped fabric is not included in my total count.  It was propped up in a corner of the sewing room when I did the original count and was only moved into the closet recently.  One of these days I will unroll it and measure the amount so that I can add it to the binder.

My goal when I retired two years ago (has it really been that long?) was to whittle this collection down to just about nothing in five years.  I haven’t made much of a dent yet but I’m still determined to try.  I thought that, last year when I looked at each piece, I would be able to pull quite a bit for giving away, either to our local hospital thrift shop or on Freecycle.  But I found it very hard to let go.  I ended up giving 3 or 4 pieces to the shop and a jar of buttons to someone on Freecycle. 

For the last 15 years, most of my sewing has been for quilts and, in addition to all this fashion fabric, I have a large collection of quilt fabric – all 100% cotton of course.  I decided not to spend time measuring and swatching the quilt fabric, since a lot of it is on open shelves and I can easily see what I have.  Instead, I will count it as a I use it.  I don’t add the amount to my “used” total until I actually finish the quilt.  So in 2009, even though I went through about 30 yards of quilt fabric, I didn’t actually “use” any.  That’s going to change this year as I finish up all those quilts I started last year.  (Sure hope I don’t have to eat those words!)