April Strips Report

We still have a couple of days til the end of the month, but I’ve got a pretty full week planned, so I thought it best to just go ahead and give you the report for April.

I spent a lot of time early in the month working on cutting up strips and pieces. I had had bags and bags of it in the spare bedroom. Yeah. I did. Notice the past tense.

The bags are all gone now - they have been dealt with. I do still have quite a mess in my dining room, however, as the mask making frenzy moved many pieces out there. But I did deal with those bags of scraps - one piece at a time. I had hoped by the time of this report to tell you that they were all dealt with. All done.

Bags of scraps heading to the lady who works with the mentally ill at the psychiatric hospital. It hasn’t been picked up since February due to COVID-19.

But that’s a funny one.

That’s like saying, “The weeds are ALL picked out of my garden!”

Yeah right. Wait til tomorrow. Just wait. Either some will spring back up that you didn’t see or new ones will grow.

Now I’m smart enough to know that scraps don’t actually “grow” in my sewing room or where I have fabric, or work on things, but yes, it certainly feels like it at times!”

I’m not saying I’m done yet, though, even temporarily, because when I was in my daughter’s old room looking for some fabric for masks, I saw a bag that said “scraps to cut up” on it…but I’m getting much, much closer.

I created a lot more kindling - possibly through the summer I’ll make dog beds for people in our give away group - should our local Freecycle group open back up for trading (They “froze it back in March.).

I’ll discuss that with my husband and find out if he wants me to continue to collect these small pieces. They really do burn very well as I’m talking about 1/4”-1” pieces. Skinny strips. No picture this month of those pieces as they have all made their way to the basement where the wood stove is.

Then I threw more to the lady who is working with the mentally ill - except that because of COVID-19 it is just collecting in my living room. I now have several very nice sized bags for my friend when she can come on over and I can get rid of them.

But to summarize - I did a fair bit this month: There were days that I didn’t just cut and trim 1/2 hour. I set the timer to 1 hour - and then did it again later in the day. And occasionally I even did a third time.

1.5” strips” - 16.31 lbs.

2” strips - 38.47 lbs.

2.5” strips - 35.16 lbs.

Here’s my summary Word table for the year to date.

I had hoped to completely finish, but I did notice another bag and then in my mask making frenzy, I created some more scraps, of course!

The year to date photos are here:

1.5" strips Year To Date 2020

2" strips Year to Date 2020

2.5" strips Year to Date 2020

Maybe some of you wonder why I would spend this much time on them- even as much as 1 or up to 3 hours in a single day. Well, I have gotten to the point in my life that I had “enough’s enough”. A long time ago in one of my home ec classes in college, I remember our teacher discussing with us that each of us has our own level of what we can stand as far as mess. At a certain point we all have a line - and of course, it is different for all of us - but when we get to that line - we kind of snap and say, “I’ve just GOT to do something about this!”

Mine came with the amount of “unusable scraps in that room” this past winter. I had simply had enough of the mess! It made me angry because it made me not want to be in that room - and that’s the room where I have all my beautiful fabric!

And I knew I had to start making some progress. The room isn’t 100% yet like I want it as of this writing, but I know that now in a couple of hours, it could be. Because now the mess isn’t unusable scraps - it’s just some fabric that needs to be put back on the shelves. And it’s not bad.

I needed to do it to clear my own head.

I have all these things I want to do, but felt like I had to just get some of this stuff cleared out. FIRST.

Last time I did this, I went on a tear and started my Upcycled Blues series of quilts - and made 50 queen sized quilts from second- hand blues fabrics - I didn’t even use most of the strips I had cut earlier that year! But it felt so good to clear out those scraps, that I wanted that same feeling with my upcycled blues!

I would like to start on an “upcycled greens” series. I don’t have as much green, however, so it wouldn’t be as big. (HA HA - while I do believe it, I will no longer attempt to put a number on a series of quilts I think I can make from any given amount of fabric).

But there is another reason I do cut up my scraps and don’t just throw them all in to dog beds or give them all away.

Value.

Money.

A while ago someone mentioned that a 2.5” strip of LQS fabric at $10/yard is $.71- that’s 71 cents for that one strip! So, if you don’t think those strips have any value - think again!

I asked my sis to take a picture of 37 2.5” strips rolls - because for this one month alone, that is the equivalent weight of how much weight in 2.5” strips I cut up. Now, I realize my fabric isn’t as usable as a nice long “Jelly Roll” strip - I know. But take a look.

These 37 2.5” strips rolls are the equivalent weight of I cut in April ALONE into 2.5” strips.

Would you just “THROW AWAY” this much fabric?

I think not! Not “our” readers!

Not only can you use it to make quilts with it, but think of the cost. Let’s see, my sis asks $30 for a 2.5” strips roll or a Moda Jelly Roll. But because these are scraps, let’s cut the cost to the equivalent of $15 since they aren’t quite as desirable. Or, let’s say, only $10 per “Jelly Roll”. At $10, that would be a value of $370 from scraps I cut up into 2.5” strips in April! Most of us just don’t like the idea of tossing $370 worth of fabric in the trash.

At the $10/“Jelly Roll” rate - Year to Date I’ve cut up a value of $720 in 2.5” strips ALONE. How about that?

These 72 strips rolls represent the equivalent weight of what I have cut so far in 2020 in 2.5” strips alone! At $10/roll it’s “only” $720, but at $30 each that would equal $2160! There’s value in those scraps!

2.5” strips found in my room - uncovered - previous cutting!

And that’s just the 2.5” strips. What about the 2” strips and the 1.5” strips?

And now, I need to get busy using them! These are what I uncovered - they had gotten covered up by bags and bags of unsorted scraps! Yes, these are 2.5” strips from previous cutting!

Hanging head in shame.

Who said they were bored during this COVID-19 thing? I have enough to do to keep me busy in total quarantine for years! Literally!

Part of our goal here at Quilted Twins is to keep quilting affordable!

Rachael works at keeping prices as low as possible while still growing a viable business without going in debt -

AND

I try to show you how to use up those scraps by offering daily blog posts for inspiration and ideas and a lot of free patterns!

I hope we are helping a whole bunch of you quilt and/or sew more affordably!

I trust you have a wonderful day wherever you are reading this!

Stay safe!

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Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!

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