A New Year…An Old Hobby…A New Quilt?

So a new year is here and as I do every year, I come up with my mental or written list of what I want to do this year. You know, the same thing goes on my list every year….lose weight, eat more veggies, run on the dreaded treadmill, create fun family experiences, organize my life, you know…same-o, same-o.  So while I still want to do those things, there’s something else I want to do.  I want to do something each week that makes me happy — spend time “making” something.  It may be something I sew, cook, bead…just something that makes me feel like I’m creating something for myself, my home, or my loved ones.  It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?

So I want to share with you my first project. Want to join me? I’d love to have some sewing buddies for this one.   It’s a simple one actually. Not too much to it. Not a whole lot of thought into what the end result will be — kind of a “make it up as you go along” kind of project. I like those projects every once in a while.  Makes me feel like I’m not going to “mess it up” because there really is no way you could go wrong. Great — a no-stress project. I like it. 

I’m not going to buy any new fabric for it either. Well, maybe at the very end, but we’ll see.  Sewing friends: Meet a portion of my stash:

I have my fabric scraps lovingly placed into color-coded bins.  🙂 I simply cannot throw away scraps. Yep, it’s crazy I know.  (I have a feeling many of you will relate!)

So going back to what it is I want to do. I’m going to make a simple QUILT.  My first love in sewing was quilting. I still love it. I’m in a local quilting group and love that I am spending time again on a hobby cultivated years ago.  One of the great things about quilting is that I can use those scraps of fabric that I can’t throw away. 

When you first walk into my home, there is a bench. You may recognize it from other photos I have taken. It’s a lonely bench that has sat there with nothing to “dress it up” for nearly 2 years.  I usually put a seasonal pillow in the corner, but somehow it gets lost.  See what I mean?

Lonely Bench:

OK, trying to dress it up a bit by placing a pillow in the corner:

What?! You can’t see the pillow? It gets LOST in a big bench?
Ya, we need a little somethin’ to help.  Oh, you want to see what the pillow is?

It’s my “must-have-a-seasonal-pillow-on-my-bench-pillow” for January. Reminds me that I need to put it in the “I Made This”  section at SWAK.  (I’ll do that after I make this post!) 😉

Here it is:

OK, so back to this bench. I see it every day I walk into the house. I want to make something that drapes on the corner of the bench and makes me smile every time I see it. So here’s what I’m going to do:  Make something from nearly nothing! (Yes, dig into those fabric scraps!)

Now you want to know what color, right? Hmmmm…doesn’t matter. Truly.

I’m going to make this a VERY scrappy looking quilt.  I’m not going to worry about matchy-matchy stuff.

The more crazy the fabric, the better. At least for me.

But if you want to make it in a color scheme, defnitely do that.

You want to make something that makes you smile, right? 

So today I’m going to only cut squares.  (Maybe I’ll cut tomorrow, too. Maybe all week.)

Remember it’s a “no-stress” project — enjoy the journey!

I’m going to cut them into 4×4″ squares.  I’ll cut them from reds, greens, pinks, aquas…anything that I already have in the “stash.” 

OK, there’s one  thing I’m going to remember: I’m going to cut the same amount of “light” colored fabrics as I cut “dark” colored fabrics. I’m not going to stew over whether it is truly light or dark. I’m going to go with my best hunch.

As for *how many* squares? Hmm….good question. Not sure the answer. 🙂

I think for today I will cut 32 squares from dark fabric and 32 squares from light fabric. This is a quilt that serves more for the cuteness factor than it is for function. 

OK, one more *must*.  Make sure that you cut “even” numbers of squares from the same fabric.  Example: I find super-cute pink fabric. I just want to make sure I cut 2 squares from that same super-cute pink fabric.  I love it so much I may want to cut 4 squares or 6 squares.  (See..*even* numbers.)

OK, I think that’s all for today. I still need to run 20 minutes on the treadmill and eat a head of broccoli. 😉

Have fun!!  And if you’re joining in on the fun, please leave a comment and let me know.  If you have a blog, I’d love to know where to follow your “make it up as you go” quilt journey.

Oh, and I’ll post the next steps to making this super-simple, but super-cute quilt later this week. Keep checking back!

-Kim