Do you have a pile like this?

Only the tip of the iceberg of leftover pieces of batting in my stash. I declare this

Make a Lotta Small Quilts Week.

And my approach will be this: Use up all this fabric in my stash, and make new stuff. There is nothing wrong with the fabric in my stash, it's just that some of it I have been saving for something really important, and NOW is the time to use it up.

#1 Busy Work

I put aside the larger piece I started on Saturday (not thrilling me as I once thought) and went headfirst into a real anxiety/panic attack. Thanks to my good friends, Frieda, Tommy, Lisa and Carol, I was saved from dire consequences. They kept me afloat while I made busy work, which luckily enough led to real stuff, by the middle of the night.
I went back to my cross series and just made thumbnails...these are possible prototypes for larger works, and it felt good to just be composing willy nilly.

#2 I fused a background and placed some crosses in spots where they might disappear or contrast with the background. At first this was not appreciated for its wonderfulness. I wised up later in the day. Now I think the concept has real potential. However I was busy making other stuff first...

#3 I thought the crosses needed more color so I pieced some fabric in light and darker values and built crosses from it. Then I lost the whole theme of the cross as I connected them with more strips and added the fill-in color. I started emerging from my dark fear-filled depths and decided to make some really pretty striped fabrics.

Yummy rich darks, bright mediums and interesting lights, which I got up at 2:30 am to make. I am not kidding. Actually first I got up to sketch at 1:30am, and satisfied that I had recorded my ideas, I went back to bed. Then I thought, I have so many things that require leaving the house at 8am, that I won't have time to finish the planned top. So, totally unlike me, I got up, found my socks and shoes and went down to the studio.

I have lots of prefused pastels and sliced them up and made more blocks and fitted them in and by 4:30am I had finished the top. It is small, no more than 28" square, but I got the thing finished and out of the way. The real picture will be posted when it gets quilted. It is fused already to the batting, and thus portable. I am on my way to have coffee with Frieda and Laura, and want to bring it all with me. One must have a deadline for these sort of things.