December is a month of looking both backwards and forwards. I'm one who likes to look back on the year to see what I've done (call it an accomplishment or just a completed task), and start to think about what I want to do for the next year. It's also a time where I scurry to try to wrap up unfinished projects.

Above shows all the quilts that I completed this year (from baby-side to king-size). In addition to these 11 quilts, I also have 8 other quilts waiting to be quilted or bound (shown below).

I also finished 11 mini quilts and/or pillows this year: 2 for fabric challenges, 8 for swaps, and 1 for myself.

One year ago, I spent the Christmas school break sorting my scraps and cutting them in to 2 1/2" and 3 1/2" squares.  I used those squares in 7 of my quilts this year and loved having them available and pre-cut. I also really enjoyed tracking my fabric usage and purchases this year. My goal was to donate, sell, or use up at least 100 yards of fabric.  I made one last purchase of fabric this December, and this is how my tallying ended up:

Fabric Diet Standings
Fabric Purchases: 7
Fabric Used in Projects: 11.75
Net for the Month: -4.75
Net for the Year: -102.0

I made my goal!
I also find it interesting to note that overall, I used/sold/donated 289.25 yards of fabric this year, and I purchased 187.25 yards of fabric.  Those numbers seem crazy when you start attaching dollar amounts to them.  187 new yards of fabric cost me around $2,244.  Yikes! 

Next up I hope to have a post with goals, fabric and quilty, for 2018!
Happy New Years to all of you, and thanks for stopping by.

This fall I was looking for a tutorial to remind me how to make the Scrappy Trips Around the World block, and I stumbled across this similar pattern: Many Trips Around the World. (You can see my first Scrappy Trip quilt here.) The tutorial for this quilt is really nothing more than instructions for a pattern of 2 1/2" squares that you lay out on your design wall. You can find the tutorial here.

My design wall was empty, so my son and I began playing with scrap squares of fabric.

I started this project thinking that it would be super colorful, using all the colors in my scrap bin. However, I quickly began editing and came up with this more limited palette - and I love it!

Once the squares were all laid out, I used the "Net piecing" method (aka 2-D piecing) to piece all the squares together.

When we were laying out this quilt, if we didn't have enough scraps of one fabric to make a complete "round," I substituted in a similar fabric. I love how this only becomes apparent when you study the quilt closely.

I backed this quilt in a wide-back gray and white star print by Elizabeth Hartman, and quilted diagonally through every-other row of squares.

Most of the squares of fabric used in this quilt were already in my scrap bin. I did end up having to cut some navy blue squares for the quilt, and then used that navy blue fabric to bind the quilt.

Quilt Stats:

I wanted a throw size-quilt, so I laid my quilt out with 30 squares x 35 squares. Using my scrap 2 1/2" squares, the resulting quilt is roughly 60" x 70."

Here I am: summarizing November. I've done 11 months of tracking!  This month I sewed several quilt tops in the first week or two, and then I sewed several quilt backs - and dropped most of them off at my local long-arm quilter.

I took advantage of sewing time at the Sewtopia retreat in New Orleans and sewed up the football quilt above (and blogged about here), and the wild quarter-log cabin quilt (also above). Once home, I worked with my son to make the red half-square triangle quilt.  Remember the fabric that I bought in Madison (blogged here)? This month, I  succeeded in sewing all of the fabric that the kids picked out in to quilt tops for them. My goal is to have them finished and under the tree for them on Christmas morning.

My long-arm quilter (Lora Smith from Quilts by Grace) is awesome! Not only did she get that football quilt done in time for me to gift it to my Father-in-law at Thanksgiving, but she also has quilted all three quilts for the boys and now I have them back and just need to get them bound. The kids know that the quilt tops have been made, but I've told them that they probably won't be back from the quilter until January. Sneaky Mommy.

Here is how this sewing month worked out:

Fabric Diet Standings
Fabric Purchases: 12
Fabric Used in Projects: 30.75
Net for the Month: -18.75
Net for the Year: -97.25

My goal this year was to use up or donate (or sell) over 100 yards of fabric. I did better this month using up a lot of the fabric that I bought last month. But I still have more work to to. At the Pink Door Fabrics pop-up shop at Sewtopia, I bought several more yards of fabric, and then I won a slew of fat eighths as a door prize (all that added up to 10 new yards of fabric). Isn't it pretty though?

I have only 1 month left, and I have to use up at least 2.75 yards more than I buy or accumulate.  It's going to be close, but make it or not, I'm happy that I took on this project. I'm so much happier with the fabrics that I now have in my stash.

Check back at the end of December to see the wrap-up for my 2017 Fabric Diet.