Food and Fiber Friday - Countdown on Christmas Quilts

This Christmas will be a 'Quilty' Christmas. There are several reasons for this decision.

One, I need to use up my stash. I have fabric I have dragged to Montana, then back from Montana and then from Charlotte to my present home. A lot I donated to the County Extension Quilt makers. But I still have several boxes and bins of fabric. I need to use it up so I can justify buying more!

Two, it will save me money. I am diving into my stash to come up with the fabric for the large lap quilts. I am using as much as possible, tweaking designs to create the quilts. 

Three, it has set me a project to go along with finally attempting to organize and to be able to utilize my upstairs space for crafting and a 'grow room' for seedlings. I want to finally get all the girls 'stuff' rearranged, packed up, stored until I can get it to their homes. And to go through and donate things which need to be gone. 

Four, it is giving me a reason to go at least once a week to 'quilting'. There is a great group of ladies with the County Extension Quilters who get together several days during the week to quilt. Sometimes even making dinner in the kitchen there. Gets me out of the house and socializing with like-minded people - you know, those people who don't think it's weird to drive across the state to go look at fabric!

Five, I am now interested in up-cycling/recycling clothing and sewing clothes. I've made a pair of pants I really like and am in the middle of taking a shirt making class. Out of my stash and a gift from a friend, I have enough fabric for 3 other pairs of pants. So now I will have other options other than jeans. 

So...

I have 8 quilts I am making for Christmas. They are all large lap quilts. Well, except for MJ's quilt, but it is a large flannel quilt with a minky backing and I am just tying the quilt, not actually machine quilting it. 

I have the other 7 quilt tops finished. Two are pinned and ready to machine quilt. One I just need the batting for, so I need to go through my stash. Four I need to get backing, binding and probably batting for. But with the All Carolinas Shop Hop starting in September, I will be visiting several quilt shops and have a purpose - look for backings and binding fabric. 

I'm happy with how things are going with my sewing machines and can be found there most days. The nice thing about living alone - I have my machine set up in front of the TV and all my sewing stuff out and no one cares.