January 31, 2012 ? Last Day Of January....Really!

It is amazing how fast the time passes.  It seems like yesterday that it was New Year's Eve and passing into 2012.  I can say that I have gotten a good start to the year and working on my UFO's.  Tomorrow we'll go over some additional tips for getting your UFO pile wittled down.

As you look over what you have accomplished in the first month of this year take time to pour over the beautiful fabric you have in your personal stash.  Some of my fabric I have had pieces of since I began quilting in 1992.  Some of the fabric belonged to my grandmother, clothing from my grandfather and many fabrics that I have aquired over my travels in the past 20 years.  Fabric can contain beautiful memories for you..........so what is your fabric reminding you of today?

Our stash of fabric is a large investment and with cotton prices skyrocketing it makes it even more valuable to us as quilters.  Using every inch of our fabric which can cost us $9-$11 per yard is essential.  Scrap quilting is not only frugal, it is essential to the bottom line of most quilter's budget.  Young quilters have big decisions to make when purchasing fabric to make a quilt.  When it may cost $100 to purchase the required amount of fabric for a quilt.  Teaching new quilters to work with scraps to create beautiful quilts is definately a way to keep them quilting without making huge investments in fabric. 

The photo above is from our last quilt guild meeting when myself and my bee girls took in some scraps and orphan blocks for our quilters to partake in.  The response was wonderful.
Consider having a scrap basket at your guild meeting and letting your newer quilters take home a bag of scraps to begin a new project with.  You may be amazed at what beautiful quilts emerge from that pile of scraps.

Off to work now......Happy Quilting,
Shelia