Attention Associates! Clean up in Fabric Department, 5th floor!

I just keep moving the piles around and it's beginning to get on my nerves!   So today I'm taking my free time and getting some things either taken care of, put away OR thrown away!   All the while I'm itching to get started on another project!   Have several in mind!  

With the few things that I have accomplished over the last couple weeks, I find myself with lots of smaller pieces of fabric.   I hate to throw things away -- the hoarder in me for sure!   I have two boxes next to my stash -- inside each of them are fabric strips cut into either 1 1/2 inches or 3 inches widths.  I have been cutting them out for some time now.  Eventually I want to have enough to make a rag rug for my kitchen (1 1/2 inch strips), and then wanted to try one of those stitch and flip quilts (3 inch strips)  my sister Kelly has blogged about over at Restitch Me.   Though I don't have near enough fabric strips to begin either project at this time, I'm trying to be diligent in cutting up leftover fabric swatches to add to my stash until I do!   If I have piqued your curiosity at all, you can find the tutorial for the rag rug here at the Marie-Madeline Studio blog.   

 And then Kelly's stitch and flip quilt post can be found here.

As I was cleaning up my area and cutting out fabric strips, I did something else.  I honestly can't remember doing this before, though I'm sure that I have.  I threw away a project that I'd started long ago.   It was a purse pattern I'd purchased somewhere along the line.  After the garbage bag was taken to the curb, I left the pattern itself out to study -- to ponder -- to see if I even wanted to keep that.  Am so glad I took some extra time!  It would be adorable made up a little bit smaller -- small enough for a  little one to  carry her precious treasures around in.  A VERY cute use of this pattern!  I am so glad I took the time to think outside the box a little bit here.   I won't put this project into the "waste of time" category by any means -- it will be exciting to search out some fabric to fit the current vision.  And I won't carry around the guilt of things not working out the first time I tried either!  There are to many other projects calling out my name.  Now I'm not one to waste supplies either -- that's not good stewardship at all!  But I want to be working on things that I love these days -- things that bring me joy as I'm creating.  Life is way to short!  

Though I've not given you lots of eye candy to show today, it sure does feel good to get some "stuff" done!  Please take a glance at my two "projects in the making!"  A GREAT way to use up those scraps of fabric that are always left at the end of a project!  That clears the path for new inspiration and new projects!  Just wait until you see what Fashion Consultant Daughter and I've got in the making!