Monday Making. And Buying. And Giving Away!

Just a quick note to say that I have added a bunch of new blogs/links on my sidebar and will be adding more. While many are retired and boomer related, there are also blogs about frugality, minimalism and creativity. Please check them out, even if they don't look updated, as sometimes that takes awhile to show activities and updates.

I need fabric. I also need yarn and crafting supplies. If you are a creative person reading this and laughing, know that I mean need in the real sense. Not as in want but calling it need, but true need! In the past year, I have almost exclusively used rather than purchased. This means that right now I am down to two shelves of quilting fabric (many pieces a half yard or less), and less than a small bin of yarn. My need is real, not imaginary. I have projects I am unable to finish due to a lack of materials. This is true in the quilting/sewing, knitting, jewelry and even crafting areas. Time for me to consume, as well as make. Yesterday, I started visiting my favorite online stores and putting stuff in shopping carts for Friday purchase.

Spring fabrics

More spring-or maybe summer fabrics

Meanwhile though, I'm left with a bunch of leftover pieces of fabric and stuff with no real connection. Some are half yard pieces, some leftover strips from that vintage quilt. Some are fabrics that I bought and don't love. Since I had already challenged myself to be creative and make stuff all week without buying a single additional thing, I got down to work yesterday planning how I would do that.

I now have a large trash bag of various pieces that will go to a quilt charity that gives quilts to kids rendered homeless by fires, floods and other disasters ( I'm not a scrap quilter or sewer. I admire those of you who are). Another group of larger pieces has been designated for tote bags and scrap quilts for the homeless who will be living  at my church in the next year. 

My church is building a tiny house village on its grounds. There will be 8 small homes, a bathhouse and shared social space with a mini kitchen. In order to make these homes feel like home while folks eventually transition to real housing, some of us have begun making quilts and pillows and such to decorate said homes.

I'm thinking of adjusting this free pattern at www.quiltingintherain.com and using it for the shared space decor!

The final small group of fabrics is put aside for things that I can make, use, or give. This ends up being three sets of napkins (There can never be too many cloth napkins around here, perfectly matching or not), a bunch of Christmas coasters, a couple pencil rolls/notebook holders, and one doll quilt to meet my previously mentioned challenge. 

Does this sound like a bunch of things? Perhaps. But people, this literally uses up all of my fabric. All of it. Never before has this happened, even when I downsized and put my stuff in storage for six months while house hunting. So yea, it's time to start consuming again and re-add that crafting line to the monthly budget. Because after all, what's frugality if you can't spend on the important stuff. Which in this  house includes fabric. 

Never mind the yarn. Or the jewelry findings. Or the card making embellishments. Sigh.