Epiphany

When I revisited Melody Johnson's post from October 17 I had a moment of clarity. I have too much stuff,  leftover pieces and parts, EVERYWHERE. They need to go. I have so many half square triangle blocks in various sizes and vintages that it would be a way bigger project to use them than I want to handle. The same goes for 4 patch blocks and most of the odd blocks that I have. They are taking up time and space. They are taking away my creative energy.

I have been trying to make myself work on the backing panels for the Framed 9 patch quilt sections. I can't stick with it because it just sucks up all my energy. It is not fun or even mildly satisfying.
I have used up a lot of left overs over time and almost of of the fun stuff has already been used.


This is what I have been wrestling with the last few days. I got as far as the side strips and stopped. I didn't sew the top and bottom strips. I am not going to try to make this work. I didn't use these border strips when I made them because they were a mistake. I should have kept each set of strips together instead of mixing them up. They weren't cohesive when I made them years ago and they still aren't.













I found this fabric at Joann's on their clearance shelves, at 70% off. It has a nice hand and it washed up nicely. I bought all of it, over 9 yards. I have enough for the back of the quilt and I hope that there will not be much left over.










So what to do with all my pieces and parts. I am pretty sure this borders on hoarding. I started to go through some if it.  I put it all away again.I found myself picking out parts that would make a block or two that were all ready to put together or that maybe needed another square of HST. I am not going to look at any more of it.  I can't do this myself, I need help to do it.

For now, I am keeping some of my odd scraps that I use for improve blocks. I find those fun to  make. I will also keep strips for piano key borders. There area few projects that I want to finish for which I have actual plans. There are some things that are long term projects that I work on from time to time. Maybe I will finish them up in a smaller size and maybe I will pass them on as is.
I have a lot of fabric I like that is less than a yard or half yard, that should satisfy my need to make scrap quilts. There are some pieces and parts for which there are plans.  However, I will not keep anything that does not speak sing to me.