Blue Stash Busting Progress

As I have mentioned, my first big goal for the year is to use up as much of my current stash as possible.  I will be breaking it down into months as part of A Lovely Year of Finishes.  My January goal is to make something[s] with my blue fabrics.  I am guessing that there are about 45-50 yards of fabric in this stack. 

I am extremely pleased with my progress so far.  I think I have come up with a system to use the stash that will work for me this whole year and beyond.  :D

The first thing I did was pull fabrics which I thought went well together. 

Then I decided to cut a half yard of each.  One 10 inch strip, one 5 inch strip, and one 2.5 inch strip.  That totals 17.5 inches, leaving plenty of room to straighten the fabric on a half yard cut.  If I didn't have a full half yard, I just cut what I could.  Or if it was slighty larger I cut more of whatever size I could, including strings between 2.25 and 1.5 inches.  (I don't want to deal with smaller than 1.5 inches.)  If it was originally a yard of fabric, then I saved the other half yard in my stack. 

I cut over sixteen yards of fabric this way, and this is what I ended up with. 

I am basically making my own pre-cuts from my stash.  I want to make simple quilts, so I think I will be visiting Missouri Star Quilt Company and the Moda Bake Shop often. 

From the light 2.5 inch strips, I made a table runner.  The left overs joined my box of pastel 2.5 inch scraps which will probably be made into a scrappy trip sometime. 

This light blue table runner is already finished.  I am loving having it on my kitchen table.  I blogged about it here.  It is about 18 x 42 inches. 

From the dark 2.5 inch strips, I made a bigger table runner (about 20 x 50 inches) for the top of my computer desk.  I also will be using some of the dark strips for scrappy bindings. 

From some of the light 5 inch strips, I made a baby quilt top.  I am thinking about adding borders to this quilt. 

From the dark and medium 5 inch strips, I will make a twin size quilt like this.  It will have 12 blocks.  It was inspired by this Rainbow Reverse Star quilt. 

From some of the ten inch strips, I made this Layer Cake Lemonade quilt top.  It is a new pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop.  I absolutely love it and will probably make more throughout the year. 

From the medium and dark ten inch strips, I may this Double Slice Layer Cake quilt top.  It is a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I am thinking about adding borders to this quilt. 

After making these quilt tops, I still have between 3-4 yards of precut strips left.  I have decided to store them all together as my blue scraps.  I will leave them in strips instead of cutting them into squares, because I can then cut odd size pieces if I need them.  I will probably use them later this year with other colors.  Like a blue and yellow, or red white and blue combinations.  :) 

I am so excited about my new system.  I figure that if a quilt I am making doesn't use these sizes, then I can pull from my stash yardage or buy new fabric.  ;)

After cutting those 16 yards into strips, I still had a stack this large. 

I figure that these will still be good for borders, backings, and bindings.  Still with several yards left over.  

I feel like I am making really good progress on my goal to use up the stash--and it's only January 8th.  I feel funny going against my norm, because I usually only have 1-2 WIPs at a time.  This feels different, because they are all part of one large "project."  I have done a lot of the piecing, because my Janome (which I use for my FMQ) is being serviced.  I found out yesterday that it could still be another week!  So, my sweet mother is loaning me her Bernina 440.  I am excited to play with her BSR and get some quilting done.  I am itching to finish these. 

The only stash fabrics I am concerned about are all my florals.  They won't work in this system.

I may work on some of these next month, because I don't want to use up a lot of blenders only to need some to use these florals.  To go through a lot of them, I am thinking of a lattice quilt, a large uneven 9-patch quilt, and other simple quilts.  Also maybe some aprons, pillow cases, and bags.  What do you think? 

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced for my first time.  :-)  I am also linking up with Needles and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation.