Circus Stash!

My sister Patti came up for the weekend from the Bay Area. What a treat. Her youngest son (of five children) went off to college this fall so for the first time in 38 years, she has some time for herself.

She brought me a box of treasures. As she brought the box into the house, she said, “This is a weird pile of fabric. If you don’t want it, that’s fine.” Someone explain what those last seven words even mean??

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A couple of years ago, Patti held a circus themed birthday party for the nieces and nephews and her grandchildren. My sister throws amazing parties – she goes all out with decorations, themes, games, and food. It is a lot of fun. For the circus party she used lots of red and white with a splash of turquoise.

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These are large pieces of yardage. The blue and red dots are a Michael Miller and each piece is about 2.5 yards long. The small red dot is only a 1/2 yard cut.

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The stripes, wide and narrow are at least 2.5 yards each (and I think there are two pieces of each).  The red dots on white are from the Dr. Seuss collection and is also about 2 yards. Lots and lots of red and white. There is easily over ten yards of fabric that wants to be used.

Ok – here is the part where you all chime in. I think I should use some of this for a few Project Linus quilts. Throw out some fun ideas. Combining the blue and red piece with the narrower red stripe would be fun. They would all be perfect for quilt backs. But I think some simply pieced projects would be perfect for Project Linus. What would you all do? The really wide stripe will probably be best on the back of a quilt due to its size. The tiny polka dot is a win for binding. If I add just a color or two, I could do something fun. How would you build from here?

“If you don’t want it”… I thought she knew me better than that.  🙂  Thank you Patti!!

REMINDER – Handmade Halloween begins in two more days, on Tuesday,  October 4th!! See you then.

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Linking up with Molli Sparkles today.

15 thoughts on “Circus Stash!

  1. Cassandra

    Oh how fabulous! What about sailing flags — triangles like pennants? Maybe mix in a little navy to make it even more nautical?

    Reply
  2. Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl

    I would add in solids – white, red, and that fun turquoise / blue if you can match to it well to help let the fun prints do most of the work for a quilt top. I’m thinking a pattern like Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs Broken Frames might work well. Whatever you choose, I’m sure it will be fun and how awesome to get so much nice quality fabric gifted to you.

    Reply
  3. Rebecca

    Oh wow this took me back Little OWB’s nursery/room was all Turquoise/Red/White and Grey and I used some of those very prints.
    Wonky pinwheels would look great with a white or solid background?
    Enjoy your new to you free fabric!!

    Reply
  4. Kristi

    How about popping a bright turquoise (or blue) and making a disappearing 9 patch? The turquoise would be the center and then patches of all your different red variations around it. Fun! And use some of the bigger pieces for backing!

    Reply
  5. Mary

    Stripes look great when cut as triangles. Half square triangles with stripes and polka dots. Other idea – a guild friend made a philanthropy quilt using a zig zag material as the background and appliqued a mother elephant and her baby on it. Adorable. You could use the stripes to make the zig zag and then applique circles or other shapes.

    Reply
  6. Sandra

    I think a little black would be good to add in; something Jinny Beyer says about pretty much all quilts, that they need some black or maybe navy so it’s not as harsh? I also thought of mint green but not sure on that one, although a pillow cover I made for Christmas last year had those colours in it and it is so pretty! Hilarious line about explaining those 7 words!

    Reply

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