Thanks for your reply. The reason I'm doing ties is because my husband had over 200 when he died and I thought it would be nice to do three quilts - one for each granddaughter. It's a very ambitious project but I thought it would be a very nice keepsake for each granddaughter. I'm afraid that if I start by doing a quilt using cotton pieces that I might never get to the ties. I have already taken the guts out of the ties. I think my next move is to wash and iron them before I start cutting. Once I start cutting, I have to decide what color background I'm going to use. I just need to start doing it and quit talking about it.