I hit the jackpot!

 

A couple of days ago, when the end of piecing my Irish chain quilt was in sight, I went searching for my quilting stencils.  Since I have just a small portion of the 3rd bedroom for my sewing space, I keep a lot of stuff downstairs in our storage … and that’s where I searched first for my stencils.  While searching through my quilting stuff downstairs, I saw that I had 2 big boxes full of remnants.  Yesterday, I decided to go through my remnants and see just what I had and see if I couldn’t somehow organize them … so one of these days maybe, just maybe, I could make a small, scrappy quilt from my leftovers. 

 

I couldn’t believe how much leftover fabrics I had!    Never in my wildest dreams did I realize that I had so much … that I actually have a stash (quilters’ term for their collections of fabrics on hand.  Many quilters deliberately add to their stash by buying fabrics that they love and/or anticipate using some day … some quilters have so much stash that they will never be able to use it all.  I, on the other hand, purchase only for specific projects … but because most of the quilts I’ve made have been made using traditional patterns rather than a pattern, I’ve never had yardage recommendations.  And since, for the longest time, there were no nearby quilt shops, I’d err on the side of caution and buy *plenty* … so I wouldn’t run short on a fabric and have to make another trek to the fabric store to get more.  Obviously I’ve been overly generous in my estimations … thus I’ve built a stash.)  I was so excited to see that I had so much fabric left!  I really felt like I’d hit the jackpot!

 

When I was making T#1’s baby quilt, I must have sat and stitched up the segments of the little 9 patches of all the strips I cut (and I must have cut them all because there’s no leftover fabric) before piecing the blocks together to make his quilt.  There are enough 9 patches (completed and segments) to make another baby quilt … maybe even two!  And if I bought some white to alternate the pieced blocks with solid blocks (in an Irish chain setting), I am sure that I could make two quilts, possibly even three! 

 

And I have enough strips cut from the fabrics for T#2’s big girl quilt to make at least one, maybe two, baby quilts.  I’m thinking that wouldn’t it be awesome to make the Ts baby quilts for their babies, using the same fabrics that I used for their baby quilts?    Unfortunately, I don’t have enough leftovers from T#2, T#3, and T#4.  But I could make them each a baby quilt (for when they have babies) from fabrics that I used to make quilts when they were little ones.  I think I’m definitely going to do that … when they’re old enough, I’ll give them the baby quilts that I’ll make.  That way they’ll each have at least one baby quilt made by Nana for their babies.  

 

And if that weren’t enough, I’ve got a ton of various dark blue prints and white already cut into strips.  I think I very well may have enough to sew into a full/double or queen quilt.  I’m thinking of making a log cabin quilt, using the white for the lighter colors.  I will need to buy some yardage of red for the chimney, but other than that, I should have enough fabric … and since I’ve not made a log cabin for DH and me, I think it’s about time I remedy that! 

 

I’m planning to baste together my blue and white Irish chain quilt top, the batting and the backing today so I could get started on the hand quilting (my favorite part).  But after yesterday (a thorough housecleaning in the first half of the day and sorting/pressing/organizing my remnants in the second half of the day), I’m still a little sore this morning.  I’ll get it done … just maybe not this morning like I had originally planned.