2020: A New Start

The last two years have been rough:  in short, a divorce I didn't see coming, and adjusting to running my household by myself.  (I consider myself a fairly competent individual, but picking up the entire workload by myself has left me with little time for anything that isn't a necessity!)  Life continues to be very, very busy, but I know that sewing is both good for my soul, and the only alternative to simply giving away my stash!

Some of that stash reflects on the last couple of years.  I may choose to give some of it away anyway, as I see my hurt and fear and confusion in some of the things I purchased.  Others are fabrics I love, and I want the joy of sewing with them.  In the very long term, I will either end up down-sizing to a smaller house, or perhaps find someone else to share a life and house with; either way, the stash needs to be significantly reduced as it currently is taking over half of the master-bedroom closet!

To that end, I am making myself some pretty simple, and yet ambitious, goals for 2020:
1.  Use a net of at least 100 yards.
2.  Complete 25 Project Linus (or other donation) quilts.
3.  Complete 4 personal or gift projects.

The Project Linus quilts that I've been making tend to be on the simpler side.  I've been trying to make ones that are more teen-sized lately, so they will average about 4 yards used per quilt.  That means if I complete one every two weeks, I'll meet both of the first two goals.  And the third goal - well, I've done very little sewing for myself over the last few years, as I try to use up stash, so it is time to make some things that I like!  I have lots of open wall space in my house, and it's time to try some wall-hangings with some of the fabrics that I love the most.

This week, I made a good start on goals 1 and 2:  I pulled out a set of three completed tops and got to work on the first one.  All 3 are intentionally 40" wide so I don't have to piece a back; I had a nasty surprise when I discovered the fabric set aside for the backs was only 39" wide!  I think I have figured out how to just make it work, but it is a pain to have to piece backs and will be cutting it very close.  I've gotten the first quilt machine-quilted (a very simple 4" spiral using my walking foot and a decorative stitch) and the binding is sewn on the front.  Mom enjoys hand-sewing the binding to the back and does a nice job, so I'm hoping she will take on finishing this one:

This quilt (and two to follow) are made with leftovers from one of the 2nd grade quilts, plus a bunch more of the polka-dot green that I purchased at a garage sale.

The quilting is just a giant spiral in straight lines, following the edges of the inner squares.  I used a multi-colored machine quilting thread (and used it up - hooray!) which went pretty well.  I kept the amount of quilting pretty light, both because I like the quilt to be very soft an drapey, and also from a time perspective.

This counts for 4.5 yards used.  I hope to get the next two completed in the next two weeks; since I was starting with completed tops, I feel like these should use less than the 2 weeks' average allowance!