Do you know how many times I’ve left the house since mid-March? Not all that many. I think there have been three trips to the grocery store and a handful of excursions to hiking trails. Because we’ve been forced to stay home, I’ve found a lot of time for craft projects. Worry abounds at the present moment over whether I have enough thread and yarn to last for at least the next month now that our State of Emergency has been extended through all of May.

Do you know how much I miss being able to make an unnecessary trip to the fabric store?!? I’m sure you do.

I’m continuing to use up scraps. The last few weeks I’ve completed two lap-size denim quilts using fabric from our old jeans. I now have six of these stored away. I plan to give our three children each one when they move out. I like to tie these with crochet thread rather than quilt them. I use no batting. I prefer flannel backing but had to make do with cotton on a few as I did not have enough large pieces of flannel. I did quilt the first denim quilt I made but found it just too difficult to struggle over heavy seams. Tying can be a challenge also and sometimes involves using pliers to tug the needle through when I can’t get a firm enough grip on the needle.

I also finished two more denim potholders. I really loved the floral binding used in the top potholder in the picture. I wish I had a larger piece of that fabric, but all I had was a 2 1/2″ strip that I received in a jellyroll at a quilt shop as a free gift during a Shop Hop. I have a few more denim squares cut for potholders but have run out of Insul-Bright.

I have also finished two baby blankets using flannel scraps. Now I just need to find a baby to give them to! Several years ago I made a stack of these blankets and donated them to our local Foster Closet, an organization that gives Foster parents clothing and supplies for their foster children. My original intent was to do this again. Then I realized that I didn’t have quite as much flannel as I originally thought and the blankets were a lot smaller than the ones I donated in the past. I may still donate them or I may hang on to some so that I have a small stash of baby gifts on hand.