Can You Overbuy "Cute"?

Yes. You can. Really. I have. I confess I buy too much fabric. I get on a kick of some sort and overdo it. This post is an inventory of my not-really-intended-to-be-a-quilt purchases. I am acknowledging publicly this foible of mine and keeping the inventory in front of my nose so I use it up!

FLANNEL BURP CLOTHS

I was out of my flannel obsession but it has flared up again. In all fairness, however, it was instigated by the sudden appearance of four babies within the past month. I did a post on 5/9/17 about burp cloth for two of those babies and then bought more flannel for a pair of twin baby girls. I have yet to make these up but intend to do so this week. Twin baby girl flannels are mainly the stack on the right and just a few off the top of the left stack. Of course I also restocked a bit; stash purchases are the four on the bottom of the left stack. I bought a total of seven yards of flannel in ½-yard lengths Monday. That is enough to make 14 burp cloths. Each takes two fat quarters. (FYI, for those readers checking the count in each stack, I got two ½-yard lengths of the top left flannel owls just because they were so darn cute.)

STUFFED TOY PANELS

I did an inventory and I have way too many of these, also. I have yet to make the following stuffed toy panels.

Two more little mermaids: I completed my first mermaid by Stacy Iest Hsu last and blogged about it in my 5/12/17 post. I have three granddaughters so of course I bought three panels – two more to go.

One more Lil Red doll: I completed the first two of these Lil Red dolls and blogged about it in my post for 3/8/16. These are also by Stacy Iest Hsu. My youngest granddaughter still needs hers. Again. I'd bought three panels.

Those dolls really did come out cute and by that third doll I became an expert at stuffing those long legs and arms.

Mama and baby animals: These are by Stacy Iest Hsu, also. I really do like the work of this Moda designer. There are four animals so maybe I will take this one panel and share it among three granddaughters and a grandson. Or maybe I will buy a second panel and that way each household can have all four mama and baby choices. My husband, with a bit of an eye roll, advised me to "just make up the one you have first". That is probably very sound advice. But I better make it up soon before it sells out and I cannot get a second one. Just sayin'... Just in case...

Panel with two bunnies: Somehow Easter slipped by me on this one. I bought only one panel. Perhaps sanity is beginning to take hold.

CLOTH BOOK PANELS
I have way too many of these. Many I have made into books as they were intended. One I made into a graphic novel style quilt. I posted about The Mitten on 11/20/14.  It folds so you can read it in rows graphic novel style. Who says Woof? is on my design wall to be a quilt. I posted about my plan for that on 6/24/15. Yikes! See why I blog about what I do? By looking up the dates of these posts I realized that this potential quilt has been on my design wall for 2 years!

The From the Ground Up is great for my grandson but since he is approaching the age of two, I think I may have missed my window for it as a cloth book. Perhaps it could be another design wall project. Hah – like the previous one, which is two years old and still aging. The graphic novel approach I used on The Mittens book might also work well for the construction fabric panel. This approach has fewer decisions and so I could allow myself to make it up more quickly. Hmmm... I think I have some construction cone fabric somewhere that might go well. I have one-year-old granddaughter, though, whose daddy is a construction manger so she is another option as the recipient. Heaven forbid I should be sexist and assume construction is just for boys. As for the book on the right, the images in Whose Baby Am I are so soft and inviting I do want to see that go to a baby as a book.

I definitely overbought for a Christmas theme. Perhaps when I send off burp cloths I could include a cloth book. I would like to know some kiddo will be enjoying each of these. They really do not take long to sew once I get on a roll.

When I was buying my flannel Monday, I got an inspiration from a display at the Cotton Patch quilt shop in Lafayette. A cat and mouse stuffed toy panel was made up as placemats and coasters. I was strong and refrained from buying that panel; but I am still thinking about it... Two Christmas book panels, that I have in my stash, would lend themselves well to the placemat idea. I just might do that with my Twelve Dogs of Christmas and Twelve Cats of Christmas panels. Each page really does have too many words for a child young enough to like a cloth book. I could repurpose the panel to yield six placemats. That might be a fun use. I would frame each double page and add a backing. That would be good FMQ practice too and use up some batting scraps. If not FMQ, I could instead try out a quilt as you go method. The placemats would make for interesting meal time conversation, also. The pages would not even have to be in order. That way you would find a dinner companion who had the next "day" after yours. Yup. I just decided. That is what I am going to do with these panels. Eventually. Hopefully by this Christmas.

But first, I will link up to Let's Bee Social #177.