Fabric Herding :c)

Sometimes I feel like I’m nothing but a Fabric Herder.

I simply move fabric, from one area to another.  I try to keep it within boundaries.  If it threatens to over run the edges of its container, I shove it back in.

Occasionally I have to “Thin The Herd”!

But I’m also a Good Fabric Herder, I’ll go searching for the “One That Was Lost” and find use for the smallest obscure scrap to the point where I know I am bordering on ridiculous.  But if that one small scrap will do the job it needs to do --- if it will fill its purpose---then it has value, and therefore just as good as any NEW fabric that I could bring into the Herd.

There has been a LOT of herding going on during the entire month of December down in the basement.  It all started with the 2-1/2” strip bins.  Remember the BEFORE?

I’ve done it all ---ALL the sizes now have color families and containment enforcement!



1-1/2” strips!  CHECK!!  You will notice that there are two big bags of neutrals?  Those were all pulled out of the amazing string package I was gifted by Alycia D in Marrietta, GA! There were lots of strips pre-cut to this width…BONUS!  In with the 1-1/2” strips they went!

Next it was the 2” colors.  They are in there!  Can you believe that I now have ONE EMPTY DRAWER? This took up two drawers before I organized it.  And those rolls of strips are EASY to simply unroll on the table top, pull the strips I want out of it, and roll them back up and back in their bags they go.  This is going to save on ALL those ravelly edges!

2” Neutrals.  I use these A LOT!  I do tend to use my 2” strips more than the 2-1/2” ones –it’s just the scale that I prefer in my patchwork.  There are not as many neutral 2” strips as there are other things because I get into these constantly.

With that revelation clear to me…it explains why there are twice as many 2-1/2” strips than anything else!  These take up 2 drawers.  Remember my discovery of JUST HOW MUCH PINK there was??

The wild pinks are now contained and ready for a project.  There are just more GUYS in my family than girls, and I don’t do a lot of pink quilts --- as an accent, yes, but quilts don’t often turn out predominantly pink in my world.  I may have to change that just to use some of these up!

2-1/2” neutrals and there isn’t a whole lot of them either!  So when I’m making something, I’ll go to these bins first, pull what I can use, and then add to them with strips cut from Fat Quarters or yardage to make the mix more insteresting, and this gives me new fabrics to work with.  But these are right here ready at my finger tips.

The 3-1/2” drawer doesn’t have much in it either!  I don’t tend to do big enough blocks that use this size a lot, but I have SOME.

This brings me to an email I got yesterday from my friend Nancy in PA --

Hey Miss Bonnie,

Hope you are doing well.  Sounds like you all had a great Christmas and have enjoyed your time in the basement :o)

I have a question for you regarding saving strips.  I know you said that you tend to save 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3.5 inch strips.  However, the more I peruse the patterns, I see more 2-inch used than anything.  So I guess I'm asking what do you do with the other sizes?

I know if I set myself down I could probably convert some of them to using the 2.5 inch strips... but I'm just wondering if saving all of the sizes, especially the 3.5, is really 'worth it'.. if you know what I mean.

I guess I need some advice on this one.  Thanks for taking the time to answer.

Take care and hope to see you in February in Carlisle,

Nancy

My answer to her was short and easy --- mostly because I was typing on my phone while DH was filling the car with gas on our return trip from Charlotte last night ---

My answer is simple. Save what YOU will use and don't worry about the others :)

It really IS just that easy.  Look at what you are sewing.  What sizes of blocks do you usually find yourself drawn to?  Look at the past several projects.  Look at ones you’ve set aside as “wannado’s” for the future.  What sizes are they going to use?  CUT THOSE.  Don’t worry about the others.  You can always cut the other sizes later.

As for me – I have learned where I need to fill in, and what NOT to cut!  Ahem…do NOT let me cut ANYMORE 2-1/2” PINKS!!

Now that this part of the fabric herding is taken care of….I have THIS to deal with:

These are my boxes of crumbs.  And I admit this is not all of them.  THIS is what makes me feel like a hoarder instead of a herder ---and I am on the lookout to find another “extreme piecing” project that will put these to good use.  Probably something paper-piece-able so it would be an easy take a long project with little prep ahead of time needed. 

Whatever happens…do NOT let me break down and sort these by color family and iron each piece, okay?  Cuz if I do --- you will surely know that I have jumped into the deep end!!

If I get brave enough --- I may show you my strings and where they live too.  But just maybe!