Sunday Stash Report

I spent much of the week making hundreds of half square triangle units for Koleen's quilt--560 of them, in fact. It surprised me how much fabric was used in the process. I also cut the strips for the binding and put them in the pile with all the other binding strips waiting for their respective quilts to be finished.

I used to not think about the binding until it was actually time to sew it onto the quilt. Invariably I would discover that I didn't have enough of the fabric left that I wanted to use. Then I'd either wind up using some other fabric that I hadn't even used in the quilt, or I'd have to make another trip to the quilt shop and hope they had some of my fabric left. Testing patterns for my good friend Koleen has changed the way I approach my quiltmaking, and this is certainly a case in point. Her patterns include the information for the binding right in the cutting directions, so now I cut the binding strips right along with all the other bits and pieces for the quilt top and set them aside. Now I just have to remember to buy the extra fabric for the binding.

I wish more people would share the nuts and bolts of how they make their quilts on their blogs. Everyone does things a different way, and I'm always surprised when I learn something new from another quiltmaker. Usually it's something that never occurred to me or something I simply never knew. That's how it was when my good friend Ann demonstrated how she makes binding. I'd struggled with binding for years trying to make it the way the books said, and Ann's method was a light bulb moment for me. Walking through the process of making a quilt with both Bonnie Hunter and Judy Laquidara has also added some new skills to my tool box.

But I digress. I also cut the pieces for two more blocks in the Galaxy of Stars quilt. There are two of Block 3 in the quilt--I have one finished and the second is still in progress, so they'll be in a separate post when the second one is complete.

Here's the Stash Manager's Report:

Fabric used this week: 5-3/8 yards

Fabric used year to date: 125-3/4 yards

Fabric added this week: 0 yards!!!

Fabric added year to date: 244-5/8 yards

Net year to date: - 118-7/8 yards