Categories
SewMyStash

Looking Ahead

Oh boy, did we have a hectic August! It tends to be so every year, though, because both my husband and my son’s birthdays are in August… only 2 days apart! We also had a wedding out of town, which was great! And, unfortunately, I had to say good bye to a friend.

My coworker, Ricky Manginsay, passed away from cancer very young. I worked with him every day.. on our team we had our Director Rob Oliver, Ricky as the assistant director, and me as the lead Background artist. It was very emotional for everyone. I am happy to say that we have celebrated him as much as we can since he passed! And I took the opportunity to make something special for him (and his wife), and as a way for me to process/grieve. I’m only sorry I didn’t get to give it to him in person. He died the morning of the day I was to visit with a group of coworkers. I hope, with all my heart, that he may rest in peace and that his friends and family’s suffering is eased.

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Sorry for the sad moment..there were a lot of great parts of August! Levi’s 4th birthday (puppy themed), the wedding of friends in Idaho, and how much family we got to spend time with thanks to 2 reunions!

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Lets look ahead to the rest of the year! The SewMyStash Mini Quilt Swap is getting close to the ship deadline of Oct 3rd (international) and a final ship deadline of Oct 12th! Its been really fun to see what people have been making! I invite you to browse the hashtag on Instagram: #SewMyStashMiniQuiltSwap

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As we have gotten closer to the end of the year, I have begun to panic about how much (read: little) I have sewn my stash. Not as much as I intended, I’m sorry to admit. Oh, I have sewn from stash, but I have not made time to sew my collections that I have been hoarding. And I am not sure how much I can honestly get done with only 3.5 months left in the year! Not to mention the holidays!

Instead, I think I will focus on something a little different, but is still stash sewing. This month I had joined blogger Emily Chapelle of So Damn Domestic in her “30 Day Countdown to Clutter-free” challenge. I am certainly not a hoarder, but I do find that I have copious amounts of clutter around my house. The past few weeks I have been working successfully at reducing this clutter, and would like to apply the concept to my stash. I have already gone through and very honestly destashed some fabric. After that, there was still a lot of “but I want to make something with that” going on in my head. So, I think I am going to focus on stash busting the fabrics I like, but don’t like for me…. how, you ask? Sewing for my Etsy shop! I’ve already used a charm pack to make a simple baby crib quilt that I whipped up in just a few hours! I plan to do the same with a few more too. And after that, I think I will pull out all my baby nursery fabrics and make bibs for the shop. And sew on and sew on!

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I was kind of thinking about starting a SewMyStash Holiday bootcamp group…. what do you guys think? Something to motivate each other to sew up some stash for our shops and for handmade gifts!

Leasa

Categories
Finished Projects SewMyStash

#SewMyStash2015: 6 month Checkup!

Hello sewers! Can you believe its July already!!?? Less than 6 months until Christmas! Ahhhh!!! Ok, lets focus on the now… how are you doing with sewing your stash!!?? Have you gotten some projects done? Have you filled your shop more? Selfish sewing? Gift sewing? If you are like me, you haven’t made NEARLY the dent you meant to…

I began the year vowing not to do any swaps for a while, and I am happy to say I kept that promise! Except for the one I am currently hosting.. but that one is for SewMyStash so it doesn’t count!

January & February: I participated in the Valentines weekend challenge and finished up the Downton Abby swap that I had previously signed up for! I also had the precuts party challenge but I didn’t get to participate. Instead, I wrote a quilt block pattern for my Modern Quilt Guild chapter, the LAMQG. I did use some stash! The pattern is on sale in my shop! (Marching On Pattern)

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Marching on quilt block planning

March: In March I was no so disciplined. I did a little selfish sewing by making some scout tee’s… but I think only 1 of those was from stash. In fact, I *may* have visited Michael Levine in Downtown on their 20% off all cotton sale day. Oh.. yeah I did. Evidence:

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See that stack next to my husband with the Heather Ross?? That’s mine. Whoops. See! I am not perfect at all!

April: I did better with the bag challenge. I made a Caravan Tote in preparation for our vacation in May. I used 75% stash and I just LOVE it!

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May: Vacation!!!!!!! Mostly. But I also decided to write the pattern for the “It’s A Small World” inspired mini quilt that I made for the Disney Mini Quilt Swap…. and boy did that consume all my time! I’m happy to say I got it done, but it was a month of keeping me from sewing my stash… sigh. There were a handful of fabrics I needed to buy for my color samples so it wasn’t as stash busting as I would’ve liked. I’m very proud of it and will be writing a blog post about it soon! (The Small World Mini pattern)

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I came back from The Netherlands with an exciting amount of Dutch heritage fabric and wanted to get started right away. This quilt is 100% NOT stash! But I am ok with that. I want this quilt to be exactly what I want it to be without compromise since it kind of commemorates our trip. It is coming out perfectly!

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June & July: In June I totally dropped the ball! I was headed back to work from hiatus (I work in animated television) and my sewing time was zapped. So lets just quietly skip over June without another mention… ok cool.

July I tried to spark the “Holiday in July” movement but with little success. I just don’t have much enthusiasm for Christmas crafting yet. I LOVE me some holiday time, especially the decor… but I just didn’t get in the groove.

I took a Carolyn Friedlander class at my local quilt shop for the Park Pillow. I am excited that I added needle-turn applique to my sewing skills. And the fabrics were from stash 🙂

The LAMQG hosted a bag swap amongst our members this past month and I was able to create a Library Tote all from stash and the 2 bits of fabric my partner supplied.

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And, lastly, I did launch my first swap! The SewMyStash Mini Quilt Swap! It felt like the right time to get the mojo flowing more. Its been… an adventure.. so far but I have some awesome swap mama’s (helpers) and I think its going well so far! The deadline is October so I am pretty sure it’s going to keep me busy. Here is my progress so far:

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As I reflect on the year so far, I have not touched my hoarded fabric collections which was the reason I started SewMyStash2015 in the first place! I’m trying to be realistic about what is do-able over the remaining 6 months. I will be happy if I can complete these things:

  • Dutch Swoon Quilt Top
  • 2 Halloween Pillow Covers- from stash
  • Christmas Tree Skirt- from stash
  • Start secret sewing- from stash
  • Another Small World Mini- from stash
  • Small sewings for my shop- from stash

That might be ambitious. Heads up… I think there will definitely be a SewMyStash2016 😉

*************GIVEAWAY!!!**********************

Post your favorite finish (from stash) so far this year in the linky below! I want to congratulate you all on any stash finishes! Only 1 entry per person. This time I will chose 3 random winners! Giveaway Items will be announced next week! You have until August 16th to enter!

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Categories
How-To or Review

#TheGreatFabricDestash

A few weeks ago, Blogger Erin from Two More Seconds had the brilliant idea of doing an Instagram wide fabric destash sale! How does it work? Using the hashtag #thegreatfabricdestash! If you are not really familiar with hashtags, the basic idea is that it’s a way to filter. Posters use hastags to categorize their content and people can click or touch (from their mobile devices) on the link and see all posts from anyone who included the hashtag. With that in mind, users posted photos on Instagram of the fabric they want to sell, and include the hashtag, filtering all the fabric for sale for users to browse! You simply leave your email address connected to your Paypal account to claim the fabric and the seller sends you an invoice via Paypal. Days later, you are snuggling your purchases!

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Here is a good sampling of what it looks like when you go to the hashtag:

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I sold a few things myself on the destash and was able to use it to get some hard to find and out of print fabric from favorite designers like Heather Ross and Aneela Hoey. You have to be quick, though! People were snatching things up in a blink! Here are the few I purchased!

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Looooooove those little puppies!!

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And I was sooooo excited to score these Heather Ross Horses on green! I was really fast with the typing! LOL

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Don’t I look happy??

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The best thing is…. its STILL GOING! Yeah! Erin decided to keep it as a permanent place where people can keep selling and buying destashed fabric! So head on over and get something on a great deal!

Leasa