BUST THE BITS AND PIECES PARTY 2024

May 31, 2024

Yes, I am a day late as I was on retreat! 

Is your stash starting to expand and invading other areas than your sewing studio? Are your muffin bins topped and about to explode at any minute? 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to use it or what to do with it, and almost to the point of giving it away? I feel that way too, at times!  Not to worry! I believe I have a cure for this common ailment. Let’s bust our scraps, especially those little pieces that seem to multiply when your back is turned.


Each Thursday I will find some patterns that will deal with the little pieces and even some of the larger and odd pieces that we all tend to accumulate.  Today is just a mix of fun ideas for Dear Old Dad!

From Farmhouse BC, a cool idea using silk ties.  

1.  (34) Father’s Day Gift Ideas 2022, DIY Silk Tie Quilt – YouTube

Dad Approved Quilts from Fabric Cafe

2. Dad Approved Quilts: Perfect Gifts for Father’s Day! (youtube.com)

And from The Midnight Quilt Show, A T-Shirt Quilt

3.  T-shirt Quilt for Father’s Day  (with FREE T-shirt Quilt Pattern!) (youtube.com)

That’s all for today and I will see you next week with more ideas!

Guild Auction Aftermath

A little bit long.

UFO List.  Oh, what fun.  😊  When we had the auction earlier this month, I went through all of my UFOs and my list has changed dramatically!  While I was purging, I decided that some of the UFOs on my list I really did not want to work on and several went to the auction.  I feel so much better and less weighed down with projects I no longer loved.  So my list has been downsized as a result and instead of 68 projects, there are only 49.  

Sew, to make a long story short, my is Dear Jane and is Kimberbell Garden, both of which won’t be touched until after my retreat.  Dear Jane is a long term project and maybe later this year I will get to it.  Kimberbell Garden is a machine embroidery project that I want to do, have all the material ready but will have to wait until I get Dragons taken care of first.  Crazy, isn’t it? That half of my UFOs are now machine embroidery!  Oh well, whether it is embroidered or pieced they both have to be quilted.  I guess our sewing styles change over time and I really do love both types but machine embroidery is addictive and I find that it is a lot more fun at times!  Is there anyone else here that has found that you prefer one technique over another as we progress?  

Our guild retreat starts Tuesday afternoon and goes until Thursday and I am looking forward to it.  I am taking two UFOs, Mini Block Club and Etoiles Rogue to work on.  I then have several smaller projects like BOM (guild).  I have a couple of kid’s quilts to work on, in fact one of them is partially done in the hoop (little hedgehogs) and 5 inch pinwheels.  I also have a table runner (guild challenge for June) that I want to do.  It uses 2 colors, mine are midnight blue and copper and you can choose one other color (I chose red) and I think it will be a perfect Memorial Day project.  I might do that as QAYG and finish it there.  That’s probably more than enough but I want to make sure that if something goes south I have another to work on.  

Now to work on hedgehogs in the hoop and then make a couple of pincushions for another swap.  But more coffee first please.  

BUST THE BITS AND PIECES PARTY 2024

MAY 23, 2024

MAY 23, 2024

Is your stash starting to expand and invading other areas than your sewing studio? Are your muffin bins topped and about to explode at any minute? 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to use it or what to do with it, and almost to the point of giving it away? I feel that way too, at times!  Not to worry! I believe I have a cure for this common ailment. Let’s bust our scraps, especially those little pieces that seem to multiply when your back is turned.


Each Thursday I will find some patterns that will deal with the little pieces and even some of the larger and odd pieces that we all tend to accumulate.  Today is just a mix of fun ideas!

Our first one is from Material Girls Quilts and is Square Dance Quilt and uses 10 inch squares.

1.  Square Dance Quilt – 10″ square (layer cake) quilt tutorial (youtube.com)

This is from Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilts, Make A Disappearing Shoofly Quilt.  These are fun to make, we have been making them at guild meetings.

2. Make a “Disappearing Shoofly” Quilt with Jenny Doan of Missouri Star (Video Tutorial) (youtube.com)

And again from Jenny Doan, How to Make a Checkered Dresden Quilt.  It looks interesting!

3.  Make an Easy Checkered Dresden Quilt with Jenny Doan of Missouri Star! (Video Tutorial) (youtube.com)

That’s it for today, have fun playing with your blocks and I will see you again next week!

BUST THE BITS AND PIECES PARTY 2024

MAY 16, 2024

Is your stash starting to expand and invading other areas than your sewing studio? Are your muffin bins topped and about to explode at any minute? 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to use it or what to do with it, and almost to the point of giving it away? I feel that way too, at times!  Not to worry! I believe I have a cure for this common ailment. Let’s bust our scraps, especially those little pieces that seem to multiply when your back is turned.


Each Thursday I will find some patterns that will deal with the little pieces and even some of the larger and odd pieces that we all tend to accumulate.  Today is just a mix of fun ideas!

Memorial Day is coming up soon so today we will be looking at Patriotic and QOV ideas.

Our first one is from Donna Jordan with a beautiful Shooting Star pattern and it is free!

1.  Donna’s FREE Shooting Stars Quilt Pattern! (youtube.com)

Our second one is from Material Girl Quilts called Flag Day:

2.  Flag Day Quilt Tutorial – the perfect scrappy summer quilt!! (youtube.com)

And from Material Girls Quilt is a Star Chain using a layer cake:

3.  Star Chain – FREE Layer Cake quilt pattern! (youtube.com)

Have fun sewing and I will see you again next Thursday!

Decluttering

My sewing room and it is almost finished. I have gone through most of my bins and I have several bags and boxes full of fabric ready to go to the Annual Last Chance Auction that our guild hosts next week! It looks and feels good to pass on some perfectly good fabric, patterns and tools that I no longer am in love with. I even moved my bins around and can you believe it, I have 4 large empty bins! I will keep those as there are still a few sections I want to go through first.

The past few weeks I have been decluttering my studio much to the dismay of my hoarder husband.  I have 4 empty bins that I intend to keep for now, they may go to salvation army later.

It feels so good to let go of the fabric. I was in love with rose fabric when I first started in 1989 and I bought the whole line with the intention to make something grand with it.  20+ years later, it  has not been touched, so last night I went through it and now that bin is only half full as opposed to bulging.  My room is clean, somewhat streamlined and I feel less pressured, frustrated and able to take a deep breath and find what I want easily.  A lot more easier than before!.  It may not look decluttered but part of it is that it is a small room with a  huge built into the room table that takes up a lot of space and I have wall to wall cubby holes and  2 wire racks that have bins of fabric.  But not as many bins as before!

My closet is a lot better than before and that is where I store my batting, stabilizer, extra bags, envelopes for my other groups, etc.

A little early from guild meeting.  I am happy to say that out of 8 bags, I only came home with two and I didn’t buy any tickets or win anything.  Although, hubby came home with a large bag of scraps that I wanted to give away.  Oh well, at least he didn’t win the spinning wheel!  

I will have 2 more flings later today.  The two bags that came home will be dropped off at Salvation Army later along with some clothes and the post office is doing a food drive so I will be donating a couple of bags of canned food.  Our post lady will pick it up when she drops our mail off.  It will be nice to give to someone who needs it and I have more than enough here.

First off, I need some coffee.  I am dog tired from last night and stiff all over.  I helped set up the bags and goodies, sold tickets and resisted temptation, all the fabric looked the same and I didn’t even browse.  In fact, I bought tickets and gave them to friends to use.  That was my donation.  Then, I get to make my DGD’s birthday gift, that is if I can figure out the pattern.  It is a fun little purse with a butterfly on the front done entirely on the embroidery machine.  If not, I will take her out shopping for something else.  There is a video but no sound or captions and my machine is having issues with the pattern reading portion.  Maybe I was too tired to figure it out earlier this week, it has been a little stressful lately.

BUST THE BITS AND PIECES PARTY 2024

MAY 9, 2024

Is your stash starting to expand and invading other areas than your sewing studio? Are your muffin bins topped and about to explode at any minute? 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to use it or what to do with it, and almost to the point of giving it away? I feel that way too, at times!  Not to worry! I believe I have a cure for this common ailment. Let’s bust our scraps, especially those little pieces that seem to multiply when your back is turned.


Each Thursday I will find some patterns that will deal with the little pieces and even some of the larger and odd pieces that we all tend to accumulate.  Today is just a mix of fun ideas!

Today is just a mix of goodies, so sit back and enjoy!

Our first one is a Disappearing 9 Patch Block from Ins[ired Quilting by Lea Louise.

1.  Absolute Best Secret for Disappearing 9-Patch Blocks – the “In Flying Color” Layout (youtube.com)

From The Melody of Sewing, A Quilted Tulip Tutorial: 

2.  “Tulips”- Quilted Table Runner Tutorial. Easy Quilt Block for Beginners (youtube.com)

And from tiny Orchard Quilts, Make an Improv Block with Me:

3.  (17) Make a Scrappy Improv Block with Me! How I Plan (and Don’t Plan) My Blocks. – YouTube

That’s all for today and I will see you again next week.

BUST THE BITS AND PIECES PARTY 2024

MAY 3, 2024

Oops, I missed yesterday but with a good reason, I finally finished decluttering my studio yesterday!!

Is your stash starting to expand and invading other areas than your sewing studio? Are your muffin bins topped and about to explode at any minute? 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to use it or what to do with it, and almost to the point of giving it away? I feel that way too, at times!  Not to worry! I believe I have a cure for this common ailment. Let’s bust our scraps, especially those little pieces that seem to multiply when your back is turned.


Each Thursday I will find some patterns that will deal with the little pieces and even some of the larger and odd pieces that we all tend to accumulate.  Today is a mix of ideas.

Quilting Binding: The Cheater Way and you cannot tell where it starts!  Brilliant idea!  This is from Emma Jane of Dream It, Quilt It.

1.  Quilt Binding: The Cheater Way (youtube.com)

Or some unusual tools that can be used for sewing.  I never thought of using these items.

2.  40+ Creative Household Items for Sewing – Unexpected Tools & Hacks! (youtube.com)

Make a Stack  A Whack Quilt with me from Ashley

3.  (5) Make a Stack-n-Wack Quilt with Me- Free Quilt Pattern – YouTube

That is it for today and I will see you next week with more ideas.

BUST THE BITS AND PIECES PARTY 2024

APRIL 25, 2024

Is your stash starting to expand and invading other areas than your sewing studio? Are your muffin bins topped and about to explode at any minute? 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to use it or what to do with it, and almost to the point of giving it away? I feel that way too, at times!  Not to worry! I believe I have a cure for this common ailment. Let’s bust our scraps, especially those little pieces that seem to multiply when your back is turned.


Each Thursday I will find some patterns that will deal with the little pieces and even some of the larger and odd pieces that we all tend to accumulate.  Today is just a mix of fun ideas!

From Karen Brown, here are some tips on using Freezer Paper for paper piecing.  She has a lot of good ideas on how to use it!

1.   FREEZER PAPER MAGIC: 5 SEWING HACKS EVERY CRAFTER NEEDS TO KNOW! (youtube.com)

Are you in a sewing rut?  Feeling a little blah about it?  Then, you probably need a reboot!  Again from Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts

2.  REBOOTING YOUR SEWING PRACTICE – FIND YOUR GROOVE AGAIN (youtube.com)

Orphans!  What are you going to do with all those ORPHANS just lingering in your stash?  Here are some fresh ideas from Karen Brown.

3.   FAST & EASY QUILT LAYOUTS – GET YOUR ORPHAN & SCRAP BLOCKS INTO QUILTS ***free handout (youtube.com)

That’s all for today and I will see you next week!

BUST THE BITS AND PIECES PARTY 2024

APRIL 18, 2024

Is your stash starting to expand and invading other areas than your sewing studio? Are your muffin bins topped and about to explode at any minute? 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to use it or what to do with it, and almost to the point of giving it away? I feel that way too, at times!  Not to worry! I believe I have a cure for this common ailment. Let’s bust our scraps, especially those little pieces that seem to multiply when your back is turned.


Each Thursday I will find some patterns that will deal with the little pieces and even some of the larger and odd pieces that we all tend to accumulate.  Today is just a mix of fun ideas!

Mother’s Day is coming up soon, so here are some fun ideas!

From Sew Smart With Elizabeth, here is a pretty Mother’s Day lap quilt:

1.  How to make a Mother’s Day Lap Quilt (youtube.com)

And from Fabric Cafe, Making Quilt for a Mother’s Day:

2.  Making Quilts for Mothers Day! (youtube.com)

7 Quick to Sew Gift Ideas For Mother’s Day:

3.  (1) 7 Quick-to-Sew Gift Ideas to Make for Mother’s Day – YouTube

That’s all for today and I will see you next week!

BUST THE BITS AND PIECES PARTY 2024

APRIL 11, 2024

Is your stash starting to expand and invading other areas than your sewing studio? Are your muffin bins topped and about to explode at any minute? 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Not sure how to use it or what to do with it, and almost to the point of giving it away? I feel that way too, at times!  Not to worry! I believe I have a cure for this common ailment. Let’s bust our scraps, especially those little pieces that seem to multiply when your back is turned.


Each Thursday I will find some patterns that will deal with the little pieces and even some of the larger and odd pieces that we all tend to accumulate.  Today is just a mix of fun ideas!

Today is just a mix of goodies to share.  How about making Tumbling Blocks without those pesky Y-seams to start off with. Instead you will need a ruler that has 60 degree angle markings. Such a pretty pattern from Sew Easy by Sandy:

1.  Quick & Easy Tumbling Quilt Block Wiith NO Y Seams | Easy Quilt Block Tutorial (youtube.com)

How to Make Disappearing Quilt Blocks from Tulip Square:

2.  How to make disappearing quilt blocks – 4 different shapes – unlimited designs! with Tulip Square (youtube.com)

And again from Tulip Square, How to Make A Woven Look Quilt Block:

3.  How To Make A Woven Look Quilt Block -Quilting Tutorial for table runner pattern 624 by Tulip Square (youtube.com)

That’s  it for today and I will see you again next Thursday!