I Made a Quilt Out of What?!?

You know how one thing leads to another?  Here's the story of the oddest thing I ever made...

 It all started with this rug that caught my eye at Target.  The jewel tones combined with the black were so striking. 

  

The room I put the rug in had nothing else with similar colors.  Well, that's nothing that a little sewing and a little accessory shopping couldn't fix.  The room has a wonderful glider and footstool that are oh-so-comfortable, but the upholstery is a very drab and antiquated brown floral.  It needed a coverup and these washcloths that I bought but couldn't use for washing dishes (because the dye runs) were just the ticket.

I used black fleece for the sashing and the center squares.  The decorative stitching with bright-colored thread in the center squares just sort of melted into the fleece.  I guess I needed to use heavier thread or something.

For the footstool, I did raw-edge applique of fleece and cotton.

Finished product.  OK, so it's technically not a quilt, because there's only one layer.  But it looks like a quilt.  It's the oddest thing I ever made. 

What is a Piggy Pile and Why Do I Care?

For my first post, I ought to explain what a piggy pile is.  It's a pile of stuff!  And whenever I have one, I feel so much better after it's all straightened out and put away.

Let me walk you through an example from my sewing room, which I seem to rearrange an awful lot.  I love rearranging.

 

I wasn't happy with the storage situation for my fabric.  I was using a variety of baskets, stashed on various shelving units.  

 

 To begin any great project, one must start with a piggy pile.  

For my new plan, I bought two sets of wooden cubbyholes, orginally meant for shoes.  They're a little deep for fabric, but I liked the height and width of each cubbyhole - approximately 4 1/2 by 6 inches - which is just right for fat quarters.  Sorry for the photograph that makes them look bowed in the middle.  I'm just a beginner photographer.

 Here is the finished product.  This worked fine for awhile, until I found myself buying more fabric.  The new fabric wound up in assorted baskets, and I feel the start of another piggy pile...

The drawstring bag on the right is something I use for toting quilts and projects to show-and-tell.  The chevron fabric is from The Sewcial Lounge and the circle fabric on the pocket is from Mill House Quilts.