Happy New Year! Use What You Got!

Although I've only been quilting for almost 2 years (since April 2015), I've managed to accumulate quite a fabric stash, and not just a few quilt tops.  So IG is all abuzz with peeps clearing off crafting room space, organizing stashes and resolving to use up their stash and to finish what they started.  

So they've motivated me to do some organizy-type stuff.  So here's my stash: 

  

I'm playing along with @projectLeasa and hashtagging #sewmystash2017 in an effort to...er, um, sew my stash!

And there is a lovely group of bloggers hosting a Finish-Along.  I found out about it from @shecanquilt, and I think it will be helpful for me to finish some projects.  Part of the deal is that I have to link up a list of things that still need making, and then quarterly post a link a finish.  So without further ado, here are my unfinished tops:

From top left to right:

1. My son Cameron's Skateboard Quilt (2016)

2. Five and Dime Quilt (2015)

3. Figtree Farmhouse Bonus Quilt - Leader/Ender (2016)

4. Halloween Quilt (2016)

5. Stars and Stripes (2016)

6. French General "Bon Voyage" HST Stars (2016)

7. Aquarium Attic Windows (2016)

Also, my 8. Bloom (2016) quilt by Lori Holt is still on the Grace frame, languishing because I'm having frustrating thread breakage issues I can't troubleshoot, and I'm also trying to do custom quilting with rulers for the first time.  It's on indefinite time out, although I do seriously need to get if off that frame soon so that I can do some of those quilts above!

And, also my 9. Cozy Christmas (2016) quilt, also a Lori Holt sew along, is my first try at hand-quilting.  I'm hoping I can get it done by Christmas 2017! 

So I realized that although I love piecing, and that actually quilting is fun, I loathe the basting part.  Like, a burning, passionate hate.  It's such a wrestling match to get the huge piece of backing smooth on the floor and taped down (not to mention actually frankenstein-piecing the unwieldy thing together), and then getting the batting to lie flat on top of it, and then, at the very end when you're disgusted and sore, layering the top on so that it's not crooked.  Then crawling around on the hard floor with pins, or trying in vain to keep everything smooth while spray-basting it together is absolute hell.  Yes, I've realized that is why my poor quilts get stuck at the "flimsy" stage.

But will I send them out to a professional?  Heck no, I want to be able to say that I made the thing, from start to finish!  My Grace frame was supposed to help me with this basting issue, but I have already mentioned Bloom, so...

I'm much better at keeping my current piecing WIPs in check!  I only have these going on:

  

10. Treenware & Berries Leader/Ender (2016)

11. Swoon (#SwoonAlong/#SwoonQAL2017) - 2016

12. Sweet Sugar Swirls (#FigtreeFriendsQAL) - 2016

13. En Provence - Quiltville Mystery (#enprovencequilt/#quiltvillemystery)

14. Vintage Sheet Dresdens - Leader/Ender (2016)



Whew!! So there are my unfinished projects!  I know I won't get them all done this quarter, but I'll try to tackle a few.  We'll see how far I get! :-)

"Bonus Quilting", or "The Genius That is Leaders-Enders"

A while after I had started quilting, I started noticing that when I began sewing my piecing, usually when there was a seam at the start, the machine would "eat" my fabric and would bunch it all up and create all kinds of bird nest stuff on the back.  So not cool.  

In my internet travels, I learned about using a "Startie-Stoppie".  This was a scrap piece of fabric which you start sewing with, the "Startie".  Once that fabric goes through, you then chain piece your actual quilt top fabric afterward, and then run another scrap through, stopping your needle in the fabric until you're ready to sew again, the "Stoppie".  This means that any fabric-eating would happen for the scrap fabric, and not for your top fabric, because the thread was already properly tensioned for sewing once it got through the scrap. It also means that you could see any thread tension problems on the scrap before it hit your real project.  Lastly, it saves thread because you are only clipping the length between the chain-pieced pieces, not long tails. WIN-WIN-WIN!!

So I was happily Startie-Stoppie'ing along, clogging up scrap fabrics with thread and tossing them out when they were full.  Until I read THIS LIFE-CHANGING POST by that genius we all know and love, Lori Holt :-).  Go read it now...I'll wait :-)

OMG, right?!?  So basically, instead of using scrap fabric for your Startie-Stoppies, you plan ahead and actually piece another quilt between your main quilt project(s)!!!  Lori mentions fellow genius Bonnie Hunter's book on this subject called "Leaders and Enders", so check out Bonnie's blog "Quiltville" and click on her free patterns, and tutorials and everything else wonderful over there!  She is the queen of scrappy quilting.  I got her book, and it's brilliant!   

So, I planned a super-simple sampler quilt to try out this idea.  I busted out my Sizzix Big Kick machine, my 2 1/2" HST die, and cut up pieces of fabric I got from a Moda Scrap Bag.

This fabric is "Farmhouse" by Fig Tree & Co., and I paired it with Kona "Bone".  Nothing is simpler than HST's, right?  So I settled on a "Shoo-Fly", a 9-patch, a "Friendship Star", and a whirly-gig design that I don't the name of :-).  I think I'll just sew them all together diagonally (like in my colored lay-out in the pic below), but that's subject to change!

I keep all of my Bonus Quilt materials close-by and handy in a little basket next to my sewing machine.  I've been sewing them since December 2015, and they've helped me through 3 quilt tops now, as well as between the borders of my current "Bloom" blocks:

I didn't think to take pics until the heart baby quilt, so here's the Bonus Quilt in action:

Startie

Main quilt fabric

Stoppie

And as easy as that, I am now almost done with all of my blocks:

I'm still not 100% sure on the final layout, but I'll have fun playing around with options.  I bought some "Farmhouse" yardage to use as a border, so I'm excited to see how this one ends up.

In the spirit of full disclosure, this method obviously takes longer than just grabbing random scrap fabric for Startie-Stoppies because you're actually having to pre-plan, and you have to pay attention when actually making up your blocks.  But I think that little bit of extra effort to get a super-awesome bonus quilt is soooo worth it, don't you?

I've also heard of quilters working on multiple sections of their quilt top simultaneously with this method.  For example, if planning a 4-patch border, they would do those squares as Leaders-Enders, so when the main quilt top was done, the border would be done, or close to done, at the same time.  Quilters are so brilliant!