Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Dysfunctional Crafting

I just finished a quilt, one that I've wanted for a while. I now have three quilts that I made specifically for myself. I also think Pink Lemonade is the prettiest quilt I've made so far (in spite of the crappy job I did with the binding). Obviously the fact that it's pink is weighing heavily in it's favor with me. =P So if I were sane, I might take a few days to enjoy my accomplishment, relax in the satisfaction of a job pretty-well done before jumping back into a new project.

But we all know that my sanity is tenuous at best...and *of course* I started cutting out fabric for my next quilt within about 48 hours of completing the last one.

Despite the fact that I've finished two stash-quilts in as many months, I'm still feeling quite a bit of stash-anxiety. Forget craft ADD, I think I'm a bi-polar crafter. Or at least a bi-polar stasher. I love getting new fabric & yarn, and occasionally (frequently) go on completely unnecessary stash building binges. But then, like now, I go through phases where I feel like I have too much and I really need to use it up. These stashing mood-swings may be correlated to both how much I hate my job at any given moment, and the ease with which I can close the boxes where my stashes are stored. At the moment, my boxes runneth over. So I want to make at least one more quick & dirty stash-busting quilt before starting (or continuing) any project that involves substantial planning and/or precision.

I'm calling this next quilting endeavor "Trash to Treasure". While the fabric I'm using is by no means garbage, it was given to me in a very large garbage bag from someone who was cleaning out their rather substantial and, well... old... stash. And I'm not so sure how much of a treasure the end result will be... but I'm optimistic. There were a LOT of different fabrics so this will be a good chance for me to make a truly 'scrappy' quilt. These are my main objectives for this quilt:

1. To turn free fabric & leftover batting into a usable quilt - of the quality that can be brought outside for picnics or used as a side-walk warmer for watching the Starlight Parade.
2. To do close-together quilting. Not sure if it will be meander or straight-line, but I want it to be somewhat tightly quilted.
3. To practice making half-square triangles. I'm aiming for a pinwheel pattern, we'll see what happens.

More globally, my goal is to finish this quilt, and at least one non-scrappy quilt before purchasing any more fabric.

9 comments:

Bridget said...

My dear, this sounds incredibly functional! Say it with me, "I am a functional crafter in control of her stash!" Me, when I can close the bins, I buy new bins. And then I go buy more fabric, because, well, I have more room now, don't I?

Bezzie said...

I love the garbage bag scrap quilt idea. I'd love to see a crazy quilt. They look easy to do, but I get the feeling they're not.

Rebel said...

LOL Bridget! Your logic is irrefutable.

bezzie - I like the vintage crazy quilts where they use silks and velvets and a lot of fancy hand stitching... but I have no desire to make one. I'm a big fan of order & symmetry.

Andrea said...

Ooh - this looks exciting. I really like some of those free fabrics - good luck !!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

Why don't you do combinations of plain squares, 4 patches, and pinwheels. It will go faster.

Rebel said...

andrea - yeah some of them I would totally have bought for myself, others not so much, it really was a grab-bag

exuberant - I have an idea for another squares & pinwheels quilt in pinks & blacks. There's a particular quilt I'm trying to emulate for this one. I can't seem to get a good picture of it though.

T is said...

It sounds really great... Good luck on #3!

Libby said...

There is something so fun and "adventurous" about using found fabric like that. Nothing like a challenge to get the creative juices flowing...good luck!

Michael5000 said...

Oh, good. I was hoping you would roll on over into another quilt project!