Good Morning! I hate going from CDT back to CST. I woke up at 3:00, listened to the radio, fell back to sleep, woke up, looked at the clock and it said 5:30, flew out of bed (only because I am usually up at 5:00-5:30 and figured it out, we went back on CST and it is only 4:30. Now I am up! I will be like this until the first of the year.
Anyhow, I got my stash start on fat quarters. I think I bought every one of JoAnn's when they were on sale for 99 cents. They still go on sale for 99 cents. I still load up on them. I love to do Samplers and sometimes you want a block to be the way YOU want it, not the way the colors are set out for you. That's when the fat quarters come in handy. Also, Christmas is coming - I tell everyone who asks me what I would like for Christmas, I always say fat quarters. Sometimes you can find a piece from a bolt and you just tell them you'd like a quarter yard of this or that. I can even get an eighth. Those I use for fussy cutting or little bits. I like doing quilts my own colors, not the ones that are designed for you. People can tell my quilts now. I like the blocks where you choose your own colors and even though the colors aren't all the same in the different blocks, they all blend together. That's where the border or backing or binding comes in. I usually use a tonal for the sashing or the border. Old saying - "MY QUILT - MY RULES"! I am also finishing up a baby quilt and I couldn't figure out how to quilt it, so I took some leftover embroidery thread and I am doing a running stitch around the squares, in and out of the design of the block, itself, staying next to the seams, and with a color either much darker or much lighter. It pops! And I am using up leftover embroidery thread. (three threads). I always hand quilt the smaller baby quilts or coverlets - baby quilt being 3 blocks x 3 blocks, coverlets being 3 blocks x 5 blocks (12" blocks - finished). The biggies I have professionally quilted because I couldn't do it on my machine, and I don't have a long arm. Why, you ask? My husband really lucked out on this one - our house is too small! Couldn't get one to fit in the small area we have. We have a sweet little one bedroom house, living room, kitchen, bath, front porch and front room aka computer room, tv room, sewing room, Christmas tree room. Come Christmas, all the quilting stuff is on hiatus until the 5th of January. So during that time, I give my eyes a rest, go over to JoAnn's and fill my fat quarter larder and start all over again for 2010. So that is the story of Edie and her fat quarters and little house. I love my little corner - If I had saved all my money and not spent it on fat quarters, I probably would have had enough to get a long arm, but that's ok, I love to look and feel fabric (something my mother taught me) :roll: and I am happy! And I still wouldn't have any place to put it!
God willing, my husband and I will be married 50 years this coming June. He has not been real well and it is nice just to sort of go on vacation in my little area with my audio books, sewing machine, iron and ripping tool.
Have a good day. It's the first of November already. Time goes by when you're having fun!! Edie