Stash Quilter

 As I am preparing to go back to work tomorrow and for my first time teaching a quilting class next weekend, I am squeezing in some last minute projects. I am a total stash quilter. Many of my quilting projects begin in my stash, so it is a no brainer for me to join in with Jenn from A Quarter Inch from the Edge and her The Year of The Stash challenge. The linking party and info can be found here

http://quarterinchfromtheedge.blogspot.ca/2016/01/the-year-of-stash-manifesto.html

or from the button on the righthand side of my blog.

My first stash project of 2016 is this door banner. I designed it myself using the cocoa cups block from Lori Holt's Quilty Fun book--the cocoa cups our are January BOM. I made four cocoa cups and used some 2 inch stencils to make the letters. I want to show my quilting students that there are lots of ways to use the blocks featured in the book. I made it completely from my stash and will finish binding it this afternoon for Slow Sunday Stitching

http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com 

 My second stash project of 2016 is this Snowball Fight table runner also from Quilty Fun. We will be working on mittens for our February BOM. All the colored fabrics are from my stash, but I did have to buy the gray Kona background at Joann's--it was 40% off and I had a gift card. I need to attach the flying geese and another gray border, but I got it almost completely pieced yesterday quilting with my mom. We had such a great time in her studio. We cranked up the fireplace heater and binged watched Frankie and Grace the whole first season on Netflix. Plus, my dad made us gourmet pizza in his fancy pizza oven for lunch--what a great way to spend the day! I hope to get at least one more day over there before they depart for the rest of the winter in their motorhome and warmer locales. 

 Another no brainer is to join Heidi at Red Letter Quilts for her One Monthly Goal (OMG) group. Specific information can be found here

http://redletterquilts.blogspot.com/p/omg.html or on my righthand sidebar.

She is encouraging everyone to set one monthly goal and offering a giveaway. 

My goal for January 2016 is to finish up a major UFO--my Back to School Quilt. This quilt was featured in Quilt Sampler magazine Fall/Winter 2009 and designed by  Temecula Quilt Co.. I made it mostly from my stash over the last six years. I think the only fabric I actually bought specifically for this was the black border. 

 I quilted it with meandering loops on my mom's long arm yesterday. The backing was even a stash find--a Thimbleberries piece from 2003.

I dug into my brown bin and found a good brown/gold color for my binding this morning.

It is already to be bound by hand this afternoon during the final regular season Bronco game. I am wearing my Bronco gear and planted in front of our big screen with lots of stitching to keep me busy and productive. Have a great week!