2016 Projects Completed

I had no idea what I was doing with these fleece pillowcases. I've made cases made of cotton but this fabric is quite different. I got two out of the yard of fabric and double seamed them.

The fabric store staff have been instructed to cut exactly to the inch of what you want. My #2 Granddaughter's beau is a Packers fan and will enjoy this. They got new furniture recently and these cases can cover whatever pillows they have. Both their Dog and Cat are like family and would love sitting on them. It was the last of my holiday projects, other than cookies. 

Whew. It is the middle of November and my 'drop-dead' date for shipping is actually a week from now. I'll take everything that is ready.

After going through my bins and cutting or trimming them to usable sizes, I found more than enough for another scrap quilt to evolve. This the first Big Block back I have made. It is put away for later. If I do this again, and that is quite likely as it will make a great back to any quilt, I want to use five fabrics that coordinate more closely than offer any contrast. In fact, I have a lot of the two aquas leftover.

I've started another scrappy quilt top in purples. Oddly enough, I don't have a lot of purples but found one that will work as background, borders and maybe binding. The center came together nicely and luckily the stores in town were closed. It is so EASY to buy more. I found an idea for the focus border that is called piano keys. It is made of random strips that are initially cut 6" long and join to make a 6" border. I spent time cutting 3 strips from all the 6" squares in my stash. They are 2" wide and will lose 1/2" to the seams.

It was so interesting to take that bag of 6"ers and cut into them. At first, the hard part was thinking I needed to save them for some other project. What? This is a current project I need something for!!! Saving anything because of my commitment to shop from my closet runs the risk of becoming an act of hording. This commitment forces me to think outside the box and make creative choices.

There are a lot of the 6"ers left. Some were just short of the square measurement and were trimmed to 5". I want these strips to join as randomly as possible, again using the theory that having a lot of different fabrics, they will coordinate more closely than if they were coordinated to begin with. I understand how some people shy away from scrap quilting because it is hard, very hard, to work without a pattern, even for a person who finds it hard to read and understand them.