Do You Save Your Leftovers?

Hello Everyone! Are you in an area that experienced ice or cold these past few days? I know Texas had ice, but the cold did not migrate to the southeast has it got drenched in rain according to my son. We’ve had a cold snap here for the past few days with highs in the 20’s and lows in the low teens. It’s been a good time to stay inside and get some sewing and organizing done.

I spent a day this past week going through my open bins where I have kept fabric collections together, or fabrics that I want to use soon (some from 5 or 6 years ago), and random leftover pieces from different projects. If you have been following me for a while, you know that I like to keep larger cut offs from flying geese or flip and sew corners. I have been putting these pieces into several small containers and keeping them in these open bins. I also had charm packs and patterns from Sew Sampler Boxes. This week, I went through all of them and made a few decisions on what to do.

I stored all the charm packs into one bin except for a few I wanted to use in making baby quilts for donation. I put all the fabric groups and patterns I want to use for the baby quilts in one bin. That way I can see what I have. Now I need to make plans for those and cut fabric so I can use them as leader and ender pieces.

Some of the extras I had were 5″ and 2 1/2″ squares I cut for my rainbow quilts and leftover fabric strips that were already sewn together when I used them to make plaid placemats (which I have a tutorial for). I don’t have enough leftover for placemats, but I do have enough to make a few mug rugs.

Then I have a lot of leftover half square triangles and a few flying geese and quarter square triangles. I also tried to be realistic and threw a bunch of pieces away that I knew I would not use. What I had left is in the above basket. My new goal is to use these pieces in a monthly project until they are gone.

Since it’s February, I thought a new heart project was in order. I had the left over HSTs from this little table topper I made several years ago using my own design.

I used the pieces to make this mug rug and used the same “Love You” fabric by Sandy Gervais for Moda. Julie, @thecraftyquilter, had this heart tutorial on her Instagram account earlier this week. It was just what I needed to complete the mug rug. I made the little coaster with the last four HSTs. I’ll be using the same red that’s in the heart for the binding. I’ll quilt them this week and can have a few hearts by Valentine’s Day. I had a layer cake of the Love You fabric and still have lots left over. I’m going to add it to the baby quilt bin because I think an X’s and O’s quilt would be cute in this fabric.

In other quilting progress this week, I made five of the seven twirl blocks required so far in the Cinnamon Splendor Mystery BOM. There will be more twirl blocks to come because of the amount of rectangles that I’ve cut for them. The pattern is Twirl by Joanna Figueroa. I made the Mini Twirl using four blocks into a pillow several years ago. It’s makes a nice scrap quilt.

This week, I think I’m going to get some cross stitch pieces finished, especially those to be made into small pin pillows. I also want to get caught up on the Cinnamon Splendor blocks. I have two more to make from month 2 and then a couple from month 3.

Let me know if you save your cast off pieces. I hope you have a pleasant start to your week and thanks for stopping by.

Brenda