Does anyone remember when the marble game mancala was huge? I remember my little sister teaching me how to play about 10 years ago.  It is a genius of a game and I'm sure it has numerous variations. 

Little E and I play it a lot.  The box it came in was getting a little battered.  When Nin sent me a lovely bundle of floral fabrics, I knew just what it was going to be.  A little sewing and some time later, we now have a double sided bag for the board, which also fits the little marble bag inside.  Brilliance! We are new ready to play on the go as well.

I thought I knew my mother's sewing stash inside and out.  It turns out I was wrong.  When mum saw the winter coat that I made earlier this season, she mentioned something about pink tweed.  My mother doesn't wear pink tweed, never has, probably never will.  On the other hand, Great Aunt Evelyn would have worn pink tweed.  She would have worn it with a flourish.

Mum passed me a scant metre of the pink tweed she has secreted away from my Great Aunt's collection of fabrics.  After some redrafting, a ruched collar and a very Jackie O 3/4 sleeve, this jacket was ready to go.

Some might call the shorter sleeves thrifty.  Perhaps a cuff would have helped to make this look a little more deliberate.  As the blossoms are on the trees at the moment, I'm calling it inter-seasonal.

Miss H picked the purplish buttons out of my button tin. The lining is a pink and purple watercolour print satin from the same Great Aunt.  While you can't see it in these photos, given that I have 5 metres of it, I'm sure it will make another appearance at some point.  I love that this coat is made entirely from carefully saved items that have been waiting patiently to find their use.

My sewing space has been taunting me. There are so many projects lined up across the couch that I’ve forgotten when I was last able to sit on it. I have even indulged in offsite storage. My Mother’s spare room is overflowing with boxes of fabric I have run out of room for. Recently, she has threatened to spring clean. It was when she mentioned making a pyre that I knew it was time act.

Sometimes I have no idea where to start. My inner geek is wondering if I should be making a spreadsheet of costs incurred, cost to complete and time to complete before checking the important criteria - desire to complete. There are the children’s skivvies cut and ready to sew for winter wardrobes, the reclaimed tapestries waiting to be loved again and numerous unfinished projects. Then there are bounteous piles of fabric pulled from my collection simply because I have an idea. My inner geek wants to get them sorted, my bossier hoarder is resisting for fear that this means I have to give up on something.

In the mean time I am casting around for projects that I have started and already have all the materials needed to finish. This sampler cushion meets that bill.


The sampler pattern is from Jenny Hart’s Embroidered Effects. It was started earlier this year. The log cabin blocks are part of a wonder bundle from Joanna and I received the embroidered buttons are from Lorna in our swap earlier this year. Everything else I just had on hand – a cushion inner with a dated cover, half a metre of cotton duck (thrifted) to stabilise the pieces and a meagre fat quarter of blue hazelnut fabric.


It turns out my Mother was talking about making a pile rather than a pyre. My mental image of forlorn projects throwing themselves on a burning heap has been dashed. While the urgency is gone, I still need to get some things sorted. The spreadsheet is starting to sound almost reasonable*.


If you listening carefully you can hear my dearest chuckling in the background and mumbling something along the lines of "You SO would do a spreadsheet"

That little dress a few weeks ago started something. After finishing it I felt entirely justified in returning to the store and buying a quilt’s worth. There were none of the pinks from the range so I have improvised here a bit. You can find even more stash adoration over at 1/4 inch

The fabric is now cut into strips as I put together a scrappy hedgerow quilt using these instructions and the remnants from the dress. I already have something planned for the remnants of the quilt too.

I’ve fallen for this lovely Park Slope fabric. The navy blue print simply whispered “little girl’s pinafore” to me and I had to leave the shop with some. I toyed with the idea of making a quilt but in reality, the dress was all I could reliably finish at the moment.

This thrifted Tri-ang bike has recently been rechristened scoot bike. At first it was for sitting on and being pushed. Now, she can scoot to her heart’s content. She has even perfected the scoot dance move. It consists of holding your hands up, like they are on the handle bars, and scooting with one leg.

The pattern is the Ollie + S pop-over dress from April’s Sew Hip magazine. The pattern was superbly quick to make. I was able to cut the dress out using only half of the printed fabric requirement. This leaves me with some extra to make a quilt, but that will have to be next weeks Sunday stash.

edit: I have just found a link to the dress pattern via whip up. How cool is that?

Sometimes the simplest things can be the most fun. Little E can get into the fabric drawers and loves it. Fat quarters are waved in the air, up high and down low, to music. Long strips are wrapped up and admired as scarves in front of the mirror. More recently, layers of “blankets” have been found laid over sleeping toys. Sometimes it drives me to frustration, but it is nice to see my stash admired and reinvented.


E raided my homespun drawer last week. While picking up the pieces, I had to admire the murky blues and yellows. She might be onto something there. The pile is now next to the ironing board, earmarked for me to turn it into something else entirely.

I’ve decided to jump in on the Sunday Stash Bandwagon. It’s so wonderful to be celebrating the stash. While it’s not your usual quilting fabric I thought I’d celebrate my latest felted acquisitions before they jump into the washing machine.

I stumbled upon the fairisle (knitter s, you can correct me if I’m wrong) jersey just over a week ago. At the time I didn’t have much to co-ordinate with it. However, on Tuesday while looking for some black jerseys, I found the other two to go with it.

Don’t you just love the label? Just think, I’m recycling the recycled wool.

The invites are out and in June we are of to my Brother in Law's wedding. There is a quilt to be finished and only a few weeks to go, so the stash busting can wait a bit.

To get started I needed 12 pairs of med and dark reds. I had enough dark reds, but needed to stock up on the mediums. Then there is the background fabric so the total damage looks something like this:

This week:

Stash Enhancement – 8.0m
Stash Used – 0
New Fabric Used – 0 m

Totals

Stash Enhancement – 12.5 m Year to Date
Stash Used – 15.35m YTD
New Fabric Used – 3.65m YTD

The busting is not looking to good but I am having fun. After considering a few layout and carefully drawing them up, I've decided that this quilt needs a diary to track it's progress too.

While I haven't been up to anything quilty this week I have still been working my way through the stash. I've been busy re-stocking the baby box and giving stash away.

With seven sets of friends expecting so far this year, it was the perfect time to get stuck into making bibs. Usually I'll make baby gowns for close friends, but they are of little use in the hot Wairarapa summer. I had bought the fabrics about at year ago specifically to set aside for bib making. As you can see, I'm very good at putting things off.

Random Selector Ready To Go

The stash busting went well too. There was a resounding response. 139 comments, I am impressed. This afternoon, as promised, I wound up the random number generator, fed her some marshmallows and she was off. The lucky winner was number 5 – Jelly Bean Soup. Ms Jelly Bean, the parcel will be on it's way to you soon. Thank you to everyone who entered. You've left me with a long list of new blogs to check out.

Random Selector Admiring Her Handiwork
(I am still having issues with blogger cropping the right off my photos, but you can see the whole picture in reader - grrr)

I'm not sure if giving stash away counts but for this week, it will have to. Here's the update for this week:

This week:

Stash Enhancement – 0.7m
Stash Used – 5.5 (well, 4 given away, 1.5 used)
New Fabric Used – 0 m

Totals:

Stash Enhancement – 4.55 m Year to Date
Stash Used – 15.35m YTD
New Fabric Used – 3.65m YTD

Due to the wonders of international time zones, it's giveaway day here a few hours earlier that anywhere else. For the International Stash-Busting Giveaway I have selected four Japanese Style prints. I bought these a few years ago and really like them. Considering that I haven't had any immediate plans to use them for sometime now, its time to find someone who might.


The selvedges are blank so I can't tell you who designed or printed them. I can't even tell you if they are really Japanese or an American interpretation. The patterns are from left to right -

• Shibori style rice grain pattern
• Little wood ducks
• Faruma dolls
• Fans with random hiragana

There is about 1 metre of each and I will be giving it away as one bundle. They are 100% cotton and out of habit I have pre-washed them with delicate detergent. Just leave me a comment below and these lovelies might be heading your way. I will be drawing the winner next Monday. If my school girl Japanese serves me correct "Ganbatte Kudasai".