I'm feeling overwhelmed by my stash, and having a hard time even getting in the closet. I considered selling or giving some of it away, but I don't want to - I picked most of that fabric because I LIKE it and will ENJOY using it! Mostly, I don't accept handoffs of fabric - I've noticed being known as a quilter makes me a target for other people who are clearing out their houses - so I only take on fabric that will make me happy to use or will fill a specific need.
With so much to occupy my brain - between trying to learn my school stuff plus manage everything else - I don't have a lot of energy for decision making right now. I find myself spending a lot of energy trying to optimize what I will work on to be most efficient, or how to use fabric most efficiently, and end up doing nothing.
So I've set myself a new assignment: use up the fleece first. It takes the most space, and is one of the quickest projects to complete. I bought a bunch hoping to work on blankets with my kids, but neither particularly likes working with it. So - my first assignment is to use up the fleece. I've got the ball-point needle on the machine, the old blade on the rotary cutter, and that is all I'm going to do. When it is used up, don't buy more (though realistically, I will probably have to buy some to match pieces I have...)
Except I keep finding myself trying to be distracted - I was eyeing a pile of flannel the other day, thinking "that would sew up quickly". NO! Stay focused, here and get the fleece done.
I've done 10 blankets in the past couple weeks. Most are single layer, with some kind of tabs braided to make an edging. I cut them with a zig-zag blade for a little extra touch.
Three made with this blue fleece that makes me think of Minecraft:
Not great pictures, but I was trying to show three different edges. One is black with loops hooked over each other. The middle is just tabs of the fleece braided together. The right has a strip of black sewn on, and then that braided together with tabs from the fleece:
These three all just have tabs cut from the main piece of fleece and braided together. They go the fastest. The three above and the three below are all cut bigger for an older child.
Next up are three made with some fleece passed on by Sis. These included an extra challenge - the print fabrics were only 1 yard wide. I didn't want to lose any more width than absolutely necessary. So I sewed on a colored strip, then cut tabs and cut slits near the edge of the colored fabric. The goal was to wrap the tabs through the slits and then hook them together. Took me a couple tries, depending on the length of the tabs, and trying to figure out how to wrap it so you don't see the seam, but I think the end results worked, and at least they are something different!
I particularly like the way this blue and orange one turned out:
And I found this kit in the closet - was going to do it like the ones above, but then I would have ended up with a bunch of that olive green fleece left, and there was nothing else that matches it. Since it was a thinner fleece, I went ahead and just made it a full double-layer blanket. It is incredibly soft, and so fun to see!
So that is 10 large pieces plus the stuff I used for the edging, out of the closet. At least it is a start!
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