stash – Penguin Feats

We moved. Or I should clarify we are moving.

My Soldier retired and decided that Paradise was not the place for him. The retirement and moving will be in a future post because there are far too many tangents this post could go on. For now we are living “the in between” time of having left Paradise and finding a new home to settle into. In April all of our household goods were packed up and put into storage…for up to 1 year.

All my fabric was packed into 19 gallon storage boxes; 27 of them. I was able to set aside one box to keep with me while I sew during “the in between”. This has been a limited stash to pull from. Especially since I had no idea I would not see my fabric for almost a year. I thought we would be in a house by now unpacking and settling in. But we still haven’t found the house. Because it has to be the house for us at this point in our lives.

During “the in between” I have been working on RE-building my stash. But, I am trying to be conscious of the fabric I have in storage. I am trying to be careful that I don’t repeat or double up on fabrics I already have. This is difficult because I cannot see the fabric, but, I know my stash was seriously lacking in certain colors, and basics.

For instance, I know my stash is seriously lacking pink. I know this because I have been avoiding that color since 1989. I left pink with the 80’s. Only recently have I been challenging my self to use the colors I like the least. Pink was the first. So I started the #100days100blocks challenge with the idea to use pink with my favorite color; yellow. And I have been building my pink stash as the challenge progresses.

My stash is also lacking small print coordinating basics. I love small print fabrics.

When I saw Paintbox Basics by Elizabeth Hartman I knew it would be the perfect addition to my stash. This fabric collection comes in a near rainbow of colors with small prints that can be so versatile.

And of course, this collection has to be made into the beautiful butterfly quilt using the pattern Lepidoptera by Elizabeth Hartman. All the colorways in the small print basics will make for some beautiful butterflies.

The range of blue & teal is just so gorgeous. I cannot wait to start working on my butterflies with this range of color.

The raindrops print in so many colors is my favorite!!

What a wonderful addition to my stash…and I cannot wait to get started on a quilt using these beauties. Of course I bought the 1/2 yard bundle so I will have plenty left to work into other projects.

What have you added to your stash recently?

What is missing from your stash?

Link up with Sunday Stash and share your stash!

Halfway there…and this challenge has been more than I imagined!

Back in August, Angie at gnomeangel.com announced on her Instagram account (@gnomeangel) she was going to be starting a sew along following Tula Pink’s City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks. She tagged it #100days100blocks .

I bought the book in 2013 and I figured this was my opportunity to challenge myself to complete all the blocks from the book. All 100 of them!

Almost all of my fabric is in storage while we search for a house, so I wasn’t sure what fabrics to use. And when I say it is in storage, I mean it is packed into large wooden crates behind locked doors somewhere in California.

I wanted to be able to use fabrics that are missing from my stash, and there are only two colors I know my stash is lacking; purple & pink. Honestly I haven’t sewn anything for myself using those colors since the 80’s…when pink was in and I paired it with every other color!

I also wanted to be able to use my favorite color…yellow!

One of my absolute favorite fabric collections is Sun Print by Alison Glass. I kept some of it with me for my in between time. And that is where I found my inspiration for #100days100blocks >> Sphere in Raspberry

It was the perfect duotone fabric for the idea that was hatching in my head.

Raspberry Lemonade

The only difficulty was finding the range of raspberry colors that matched the two tones in the sphere fabric. And shopping online can be tricky when trying to match that kind of fuchsia color. I didn’t want to end up with blackberry purples in my raspberry lemonade. So I made a long trip to Fabric Depot in Portland with a swatch of Sphere in Raspberry in my pocket. If I could match at least 9 fabrics within the tonal range of that swatch I would go ahead with the #100days100blocks challenge.

I made the trip to Fabric Depot on August 15th, the challenge was supposed to start on August 17th.

I struck raspberry gold at Fabric Depot. At the end of my shopping trip I walked out with 12 different fabrics to go with Sphere in Raspberry. And I also found some new lemonade yellows too.

So far I have used 79 different fabrics in 53 different blocks. I had one error block I had to redo and I made 3 different versions of block #20. I have been using a swatch kit to keep track of the fabrics I have used in which blocks. This system has also been very useful to match colors when shopping local.

Now I am to the half-way point of this challenge and I had no idea this challenge would be what it has become.

raspberry lemonade quilt — #raspberrylemonadequilt

It has become way more than a challenge to complete 100 blocks in 100 days. It has become a growth challenge for myself. I challenged myself to use new colors and combine colors in new ways. I challenged myself to stitch something everyday. I like to call this stitcher-cise. I challenged myself to look at new perspectives and revisit old ones. I challenged myself to stick to my choices.

It’s Wednesday…Let’s Bee Social!!

How do you challenge yourself?

Are you working on the #100days100blocks challenge?

Tag: stash

RE-building…