Thoughts for next year...

This year, I've spent a fair amount of time trying to rid myself of scraps, organise a bit, and declutter. With a fair measure of success, I think! However, I still have loads of scraps, as well as a decent sized collection of smaller pieces of fabric (up to FQ size, say), many of which I'm not crazy about and might not tend to use in works for myself. Especially as I am doing fewer large ones of those these days.

So, I think 2012 will be another year of de-scrapping and de-stashing. And I will probably tackle some of the (slightly) larger pieces, rather than just the little scraps.

I enjoy the entire process of building a quilt - I like choosing the fabrics, I like cutting, I like piecing, joining blocks together, quilting, binding - there's none of it I really hate. However, what I do to relax - the bit I find the most soothing - is piecing blocks.

Which is, of course, why I have so many tops hanging around waiting to be made into quilts. This past year, I have sent many baby quilt tops to Project Linus through my friend Karol-Ann and her local Linus contact, and I will continue to do that next year as well. However, I am also looking for other worthy causes - either other Linus groups, other charities which use quilts or just quilt groups or ministries which make quilts for charitable causes - to send quilt tops to.

If you are involved with such a group and would like a quilt top or two in 2012, please leave a comment - and make sure you are not set to no-reply, so I can contact you in return...

Here's the catch(es):

• I don't intend to make big tops - baby quilt size, or lap size only. Or I would consider some smaller ones, for instance if you work with a charity that does tops for neonatal units or stillborn babies.
• I'd prefer you were in the UK, due to postage costs. Alternatively, I can mail anywhere if you want to reimburse me for postage. (Sarah, if you are reading this, I'll happily donate a top for your ministry when my mother visits at Christmas - she can mail it when she goes back to the US in January, as we've done before.)
• Tops only. These aren't finished quilts, so you or your group need to be willing to finish them yourselves!

I can't promise a quilt top to everyone straight away (some will depend on how much interest there is) but last year, I made at least 2 most months, and sometimes even more, so I think there's space for lots of people to receive, even allowing for a good chunk of them to go to my established place!