1) Last year's fabric diet went surprisingly well. I really stuck with it and hardly spent anything on fabric. There have been a few little treats to myself in the sales but not that much really. The main thing I noticed last year - that despite the production of five quilt tops, various bags, cushions and heaven knows what else - there was still an amazing amount of fabric left, not only that, the scrap mountain that flowed out of all of my sewing last year is the thing I'm most proud of! I love scraps - really love them, I think I may in future go the route of buying scraps over the more usual fat quarters or half yards. You never know what you'll get in a scrap bundle, Etsy is full of people de-stashing their scraps it's a really affordable way to add to your fabric stash.

2) Scrap usage extends to wadding/batting too. Way back in the summer when we moved house I had some scraps of polyester wadding that I knew I wasn't going to find a use for. (I find polyester loses its loft very quickly and given it's reaction to heat they didn't seem to be suitable for coasters/place mats/pot holders which are my usual 'go to' projects with small bits of wadding). To my horror I couldn't recycle them - I tried various organisation who all informed that they'd only accept cotton/wool/silk/linen/natural fibres for recycling. To my sorrow had to chuck the scraps into the bin - ready for landfill. Never again, from now on I'm using only 100% cotton, cotton/alpaca mixes or bamboo for wadding. These are all great for using for small projects and the tiny bits left over can still be recycled.

These little coasters are made with scraps from Miss Marmoset's Campari cushion of a couple of weeks ago, strangely I think I like these leftovers more than the original project!

3) I'm going to have a crack at some smaller projects. I love making quilts, but sometimes I do feel a bit bogged down with them. Time to stretch my sewing wings a bit I think.

4) Scrap sewing requires serious scrap storage - my Ocado plastic bag (I know all class right?) is clearly approaching a state of critical mass. Some of these lovely fabric storage baskets might be just the ticket.

Do you have any resolutions for 2012?

Thanks for reading,

Helen

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