The FWS Pony Club Quilt-Along Wk 34 Old Indian Trail & Pansy Discussion Page
 

We are 3/4 of the way thru the blocks...We"re getting busier as the months are rolling by getting closer to the end of the year. Never enough time in the day...I just get started then realize the day is over... I only have one block finished for this week...I have 3- 12" blocks to do by the middle of next week...better get goin'...Have to watch the convention tonight...My Governer (Christie) is speaking tonight and I don't want to miss it....H

Delighted to see early posting so I can now go help get our fowl babies to bed...trouble with the posting and do not know what all happened there but the blocks are posted.

Might be my fault; I have been typing in book records this afternoon; got 2/3s done with 137 records in the computer and my eye is tired. Hope to finish tomorrow morning and get them gifted to our county public library and out of my house. DD is coming for a visit,(Sept 8th) so its clean up time and do the 'extra' little details to clear the areas and clean deep. She will find a fault or two but that seems to make her happy. Company coming in Thursday, I think, until Monday, Labor Day...but we think alike and love quilting, so that is going to be a fun time. Looking forward to seeing everyone's blocks.

I don't have kids old enough to come home and complain about the house not being quite right...if they ever said something while still living at home, I would put them to work since more than likely the mess was theirs to begin with!! LOL

As usual it sounds like we are all busy...good thing quilting is important to us or it would be pushed to the wayside. I have people say "how do you get so much done"...well, my thinking is if you want to do it you will make time for it. :)

I am still working to finish a couple UFOs and then will be back to PC blocks more regularly. Crystal and I are getting together next Tuesday to cut more fabrics and less than 2 weeks to our retreat where *hopefully* we will get LOTS of blocks done!! We are so excited. :)

I just have borders and binding to finish on the D9P w/a Twist and then will be working on a quilt to donate to the local hospice house. I had a friend who was there and died of cancer last November the same weekend I was at a retreat. Well the day after she died I went to a quilt shop and bought fabric. I didn't know what to do with it, but have found a pattern.

I called the hospice house and they said they could really use some new quilts as theirs are getting a little worn. So...that is what I decided to do. I might even have enough fabric for 2 quilts. I will be contacting my friend's mom today (whom I got to know during Jeanne's illness). Another friend suggested asking her if she would be interested in doing the quilting on it (she has a longarm).

Hope all have a productive week!

Carrie

You are so right Carriem, if you want to do something you will make the time to do it. How thoughtful of you to make quilts for the hospice, it is such a wonderful way to honour your friends memory.

I have spent the day cutting DD's quilt to take to retreat, I have to cut 840 1/2 square triangles, 370 down just 470 to go. Then I have to cut the same amount for the background fabric. Silly me, then I have to cut mine:p. We are going to be making the same quilt just in different colourways. The things us Mums do...she did gift me all her purples to use in my quilt. It is a Bonnie Hunter pattern so lots of little pieces, just the way I like it.

I've heard so many mentions of Bonnie Hunter. Does she have a website?

Thanks, Jeanie. I've already found some very good ideas. I've sort of started to cut strips but this will take me to the next level. I agree with her that scraps are as expensive as the original yardage and that's why I've been so reluctant to give them away like some do.

My rule of thumb is at $9 a yard for fabric--an inch width of fabric costs us a quarter. I have trouble tossing a quarter into the trash. A 5 inch charm is worth 15 cents and a layer cake 60 cents. Your 2 1/2 strip would also be worth over 60 cents. We must have been raised by the same kind of parents--waste not, want not.:)

I love scraps and I don't throw out anything... I have several Huggies Wipes flip top containers is several areas where I cut, sew, press....and just push into them threads and pieces too small for crumb blocks. I am saving these "scraps to use as a filling for other projects....I place a pile of these "scraps" on a cutting mat and then rotary cut them into a finer pile with less lumps...no waste at all...I even save the trimmings from the pping blocks...future filling for pot holders...pin cushions..mug rugs/coasters...

My organized sewing table/design pad might give wonder to why I lose a few pieces in the process:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]359036[/ATTACH], but I know its there somewhere! See why I need help, Mirabelle, CarrieM and the rest of you neat "chick" "hens"??? Room and board until its finished!! LOL!! Thought we needed a bit of laughter; its better than crying over the mess....or is that 'spilled cream' we laughed instead of cried over on the farm.

I earned my pilot's license at a young age working with Grandma: we piled it here and piled it there. Simply took a big square box and slid it off the table into the box. Now the table is all clear again. That way I will 'discover' different fabric when I dump it out on the table again!! The rest of the story on how my blocks end up so different each time!! LOL!!

What a hoot! QNS!! Hmmm, did we have the same Grandma?
Thanks for saving the scraps from the landfill, Jeanie. Seems a lot of us cut from the same cloth:D

Here you go dublb - Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User System. When I finish a project, I cut all the smaller left over fabric into squares/strips and save in clear show boxes by size. I use the squares as leaders/enders, making twosies, then foursies.

http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml

Yes Jeanie; Bonnie is great! I've been plannin' ta do her system for a long while. I just gotta do it, but I keep goin' ta Brady instead. :) I also gotta git the boxes & boxes o' books outta that room & outta my way. I've got built in bookcases in the living room in Brady that I want ta put those books in.

Well, I haven't been quilting for very long, so I guess I should figure out one of these "good systems" before I get too many scraps. Currently they all fit in two big plastic tubs....some are scraps and some are yardage from my clothing sewing days. Next time I get on an organizing spree I will have to check out Bonnie's method.

Right now I am trying hard to finish my started UFOs...at least one quilt a month. Since May I have been able to stick to that...tomorrow I should have the 3rd quilt for August finished! Just a little border to quilt and then the binding. Next month I have one more lap-quilt close to being finished and then I am going to focus on PC blocks!! YAY!!!

carrie

JeanieG we are making Jamestown Landing, it is in Bonnie's new book String Fling but was in an Australian magazine about 12 months ago. I put it on the definitely wanna make list and thought it would be a great project to take to retreat. It is a 2 1/2 day retreat so hope to get some serious sewing done. I plan on having everything cut beforehand.

I have also been saving all my little bits for her Wild and Goosey block which is appearing in Quiltmaker shortly, or so she said on her blog. That was another one that just took my fancy..

QNS what the weather like:Dwe are heading into our wet season. Up here in the Tropics we only have two seasons the dry and the wet, and it would be great to be away from floods and cyclones. I love a challenge, I'm sending good vibes your way. I know you can do it..

I was counting the quilts I have started while drifting off to sleep last night and if I don't start anything else MAYBE I can finish them by the end of the year. I'm doing two small quilts as QAYG and just need to add the borders. Another small quilt is being quilted right now. I too like able to quilt individual blocks so I think finishing the other full sized quilts should go better.

Jeanie, thanks for the link. I had started strips for a quilt calling for 1 3/4 inch strips but I think I have enough done to work on the...it isn't in my UFO count...and have a few other sizes started now. I just need to get the boxes to keep them separated in. I still don't keep the crumbs. There is a lady that works with mentally challenged people to use them for dog beds for a local shelter. She gives these people a reason to get out of bed once a week so I don't feel bad about that.

What an accomplishment, Carrie! That has to feel good.

QNSue...I'll fly with you anytime! Your results speak for themselves. My sewing room is very small so ever so often, I have to straighten up so I can find a few more corners to store things in. I'm not in Mirabelle's "neat" league at all although I admire her ability to keep things looking good and getting a lot done at the same time. I could learn from her.

Thanks everyone for the 'neat' words. Got four more clear vue tubs today, so I can see what is in each one. Need to pick up more next week 'cause we unloaded the travel trailer, a guy wanted to buy one, but he did not want to pay what it was worth & found another bargain elsewhere which was fine with me. I was using it as a storage shed, now must organize things a bit better. Don't want to keep the old magazines any more; but find a way to store photographs, particularly senior high pictures of each of our children. Downsizing is never easy, From over 2100 square feet down to 1724 square feet...in 2005, and I am still moving slow and slower on it. Dh does not want to re-winterize it, and that stops me from ever using the trailer...hoping that the visit from four year old gs & dd will change his mind.

Got four more blocks done for PC; going to design and go onward, so I can post them each week at the right time. I was privately PM Honchey, she wanted scraps any size of Black on Black. Only she could hit the one missing link in all my fabric collection and scraps. If you have some that you could spare, PM Honchey.

Rain is coming 'in' from the hurricane....we hope it does not go around us...we need the rain.

Well I got my D9P quilt done today...it is the one I showed a couple weeks ago "D9P w/a Twist", so if you want to see it done you can see it here: http://www.quiltingboard.com/quiltin...ml#post5481896

carrie

Carrie, it's beautiful.

JeanieG I made Roll Roll Cotton Boll also, although I didn't put the string blocks in. It still turned out a good size quilt and my DD loved it.

I have made several of Bonnie's quilts from her free pattern section, they make great charity quilts and use up lots of little bits.

Mirabelle, I've looked at pictures of patterns from the book you mentioned and some of them almost make me dizzy. What color way are you and your DD using for Jamestown?

Ggal970, my DD is making hers in Blues and cream with a hint of yellow and mine will be purple and cream with a hint of yellow. I will post pics when I have some blocks made so you can see where we are putting the yellow. Can't take the credit for the design modification it was totally DD's idea. Her young brain works differently from my old one:D she has been patchworking almost as long as me, started when she was 8 and she is almost 30...