January sewing plan

Alright ... So my room was clean, my needle and bobbin area replaced and cleaned out ... I spent the last 2 weeks working on my January stash class ...

How cute is this?  I really had a lot of fun making this quilt.  It went together pretty fast.  It was a challenge matching all those intersections, but one I enjoyed for sure!  The strips are cut 1 1/2" wide in this block, so precision in your piecing is really key with smaller pieces.

Last year I made a Christmas in January quilt, so I decided to echo that idea and do it again .  I bought a few Christmas pieces in November and they worked well with other fabrics I had.

I love this gray fabric with the snowmen on it ... You lose some of it because the pieces are narrow, but I think it still worked.

The fabric in this top block is a new one, but the fabric in the bottom block is an old Whimsicals fabric ... It was a challenge to use because it was directional and had a fairly big print, but I like the way it came out.

My stash is now at the point that I am struggling at times to find enough of something when I need larger pieces.  When I got to the sashing I couldn't find anything that worked ... I was thinking black, then red, then gray ... Nothing looked right.  I got frustrated ... But I figured I could raid my friend's stash!  She went right to it and pulled out  this brown and said what do you think!?  I loved it!  You know how when you look at something too long it stumps you ... Sometimes all you need is a fresh eye!!  I spied a very small piece of red with bright green dots on it and knew that was my cornerstones.  I just loved how it brightened the sashing and made everything come together!!  My first finish of 2016 ... Yay!!

Now to make a back and make some binding for when it's ready for the quilter to quilt it -- haha -- me!!!!  I really didn't want to add it to the stack of what needs to be quilted, but I had to get it into the store to hang for my sample ... Only 2 weeks til class, so the quilting will have to wait!

Now that my project is done, it's time to make some plans for 2016 ... I have a big pile of scraps that need to be cut and sorted so I can get that off my desk/floor.

I'll be back later to walk you through how I do that.  In the meantime, go through your fabric and find those scraps ... Anything smaller than a fat quarter or 1/4 yard gets cut up and goes into scrap bins.  Get that pile together and press everything so it's ready to cut.  I know this is not a fun project ... But you're going to feel so much better when it's done!!