Charity sewing

I'm not sure why I feel it's my mission to use up every little scrap of fabric, but I do know that I'm tired of moving this stuff around and I'm tired of seeing it and I'm tired of it niggling away in the back of my mind.

It's time to get this stuff used up and then onto the fun stuff. Don't worry - I'm still doing some fun stuff in between, but I really, really want to get this scrappy stuff used up. And it's going to happen. Remember how I said I wanted the cold storage room and the furnace room finished by the end of the year? That might just actually happen. I'm on a roll.

I had a class to teach yesterday but when I got home, I got to work. I finished cutting the fabric that I had washed to make pillowcase kits for our massive sewing day on December 3rd. The cause is Ryan's Case for Smiles. The goal for that day is to have 100 pillowcase kits ready to sew. I'm on track to make that happen. It's still 30 days away and I've cut ¼ of the kits.

Kits for the pillowcases sewing day

There are 19 kits ready to go. There are 7 pillowcase bodies and 6 bands ready to be paired up with an appropriate fabric. I did underestimate a wee bit of what I would get from that fabric I pulled. I got 26 pillowcases, not 40, not 30. But then I had to cull some of it because of the directional print on it.

The scraps got put back in the licensed character basket and this is what the basket looks like now.

Basket of character fabric

What did it look like before I pulled the fabric?

BEFORE I pulled 26 pillowcases from the basket

My god - it barely looks like I pulled anything from that basket. Oh boy - we have a major problem here. Excuse me - before you judge - you'd better check your own stash. You see why I'm happy to donate this stuff to this great cause? There's so much fabric in those baskets that I could - well, there's a lot.

One of the students in yesterday's class brought me a present. Thanks to Sophie, I got this HUGE bundle of fabric that she's donated to the pillowcase cause. Even better? It's washed and pressed. Thank you Sophie - I LOVE YOU!!!!

Sophie's donation to the pillowcase sewing day

I believe she said there was enough for 35 pillowcases. I'll be getting some more fabric tomorrow. After cutting this and what I get tomorrow, I'll go through my stash and find stuff for missing bands or bodies and then wash enough to make up the remainder of the 100 kits. It's going to happen. I'm so excited. I can't wait for the day!!!

I have some people signed up to sew for the day or part of the day. If you're interested, I'm still taking names. Don't know how to serge? You'll learn that day. And you do not need to bring a sewing machine. Everything will be set up. I just need operators!!! E-mail me if you're interested.

So several years ago, I made a plea for scraps to make pet mats. Why? I generate enough of my own scraps. Well, not to worry. Those bags of scraps have gotten shuffled a couple of times and I've had it. Time to get that stuff cleaned up!

By the way, we need to find a way to tastefully get rid of those upholstery fabric samples. They are a menace to our landfills!!!!  There are so many of them and what do we do with them? Same thing with all fabric samples. It's a HUGE HUGE issue in the textile wasteland.

I'm making pet mats "bags" out of them. I serged them together, but not before I had to remove a whole bunch of ugly and very sticky tape from the edges. I don't think the serger liked it, but it went through those sticky edges like butter. Thanks, Husqvarna Viking Amber Air s400.

This is what I started out with this morning. A couple of bags of scraps and some "pre-made" bags to put the scraps in. That IKEA bag also had bags of scraps in it.

What I started with this morning

I LOVE when I open a bag of scraps and this is what I find. SCRAPS!!!  That's what is supposed to be in the bags. NOT garbage as I've found in a couple. I haven't found any pins or other bad stuff this time.

A bag of TRUE scraps

I've found some knit fabrics and some denim. I cut that up and put it in my little basket of fabrics to mess around with on the serger. But what I call a scrap is sure different from what others call scraps. The waste is UNBELIEVABLE. HUGE pieces of fabric. Those are being donated to a group that I know of that will take bigger pieces of fabric. I could add it to our community quilt projects, but we already have so much. Off it goes!!!  I didn't even bother to sort out some of the smaller and yet very useable pieces. I filled the bags and serged them shut.

However, when I came across this HUGE binding already made, I couldn't toss it. I put that in the community projects pile. Seriously???  Why would someone throw this away???

Found binding in a bag of scraps

In the same bag, I found another binding. I kept that one as well. It'll go perfectly with one of the scrap quilts that I have to bind.

More binding

It just blows my mind when people say how expensive quilting is and then I see the waste from cutting or abandoned projects. No wonder they think quilting is expensive. I use my fabrics with care. It's their money they are throwing away. I find it very irresponsible, but who am I to judge what others do with their "scraps".

I think I have three more grocery bag sized bags of scraps to go through today and that's it for today. I've got a HUGE IKEA bag filled with pet mats. There are four IKEA bags of scraps in the cold storage room. I hope to get one bag done a week. Then there's a whole lot more that I moved to the furnace room and I'll deal with those a bit at a time.

There's no stopping me now. I know I can get this done. What I really love? I can go into the electrical room (where a handful of excess bags are stored) and it's super easy to find what I want. I go into the puzzle room to get a tool and it's right there in front of me. I go to the furnace room and everything is super handy. The cold storage room has space to actually walk around. This gets me very excited!

I got rid of my hand quilting rack yesterday, the air compressor went earlier this week. There are four boxes of fabric dyeing stuff in the kitchen that goes on Facebook Marketplace this week and then it's time to deal with the six boxes of Christmas stuff that's in the living room. That includes a fancy tree with built-in lights. Oh yes - we're making this happen and I can't wait to attack the office. (OMG - did I just say that). Watch out paper!!!! I'm coming and the recycling bin is right behind me.

I've got the entire day to myself, but I've quite a big list of things that need to be done. Studio B is looking a little worse for wear with quilts that need to be trimmed or bound and a few samples to be made and I have to start packing for the retreat. But I've got a plan and I'm super excited about this.

The best part of this cleaning thing is that as I get more done, the more I want to get done. There's no stopping me now. And at some point, I'll be able to completely enjoy my house and my possessions as I'll be the one in control. The stuff won't be on my mind that I should be tidying up. No more guilt! It's so close now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's bright. And yes, once I'm done, I'm going to start all over again. But the second time around, it's going to be super easy. Nothing new has been added and I've got the bug to find a home for my things and I'm determined to make that happen. I hope my kid appreciates that I'm NOT leaving this mess for her to clean up. There won't be a mess.

The only struggle will be fabric and books. But I hope by the time that we need to downsize, that the fabric and the books will have been slowly and methodically downsized. It'll be a breeze!

My head is fine today. It just looks ugly. Turns out I also landed on my left hip bone. It was a sore spot that I discovered yesterday. But I'm fine!

OH -- I was trolling the internet yesterday and found this picture. Hopefully, you see the same picture that I do. The grey, black, and red quilt???  That's my quilt that was in a magazine and someone made it and it's now quilted!  That's exciting.

And if anyone is interested in participating in the NEW CherryWood Challenge - the pink one for Princess Diana here's more information on the kits. Not cheap, but that includes admin fees, etc. It's an interesting topic. Where can you buy the kit? You can buy it online, but if you want to save on shipping AND see the Bob Ross challenge pieces at the same time, part of the Bob Ross quilts will be in Canada at the end of this month. The Cotton Harvest Quilt Shop in Seaforth, Ontario is hosting a show of the Bob Ross challenge quilts. Check out the details at this link.  It runs from November 28 - 30.  PUT THIS ON YOUR CALENDAR. Come and see my quilt in person.

On that note, I need to get my self moving this morning. There's a lot to do!!!!  Hey - WHAT are you going to tidy up today??

Have a great day!!!!!

Ciao!!!