I'm happy you have joined us here on the quilting board. I'm not familiar with the lifestyle in Congo, but it looks to be a beautiful place with happy people. Your photographs are stunning and I loved the waxed fabric ones. Good luck with your organizing the squares and keep us updated on your progress with the pillows. If you have access to solid color fabrics, that would add some more pop to the pillows and save the beautiful prints for more pillows. Thank you for sharing. Is that you in the classroom photo? Great picture!

Welcome!! I agree with others that zip lock bags would work great, easy to label as well. Good idea to have students help organize. Glad to know you have saved some of each fabric you have purchased, will make a great quilt. Remember when you have your blocks organized and start to store them make sure you keep them out of the direct sunlight in the room you store them, because sun will cause them to fade over time, keep them in a dark area of the room if possible. Please share photos of your cushions or whatever you make. T help sew a straight line, you can u a piece of tape and line it up on the right side of the needle on your machine for the width of the seam you are sewing as a guide, so the seam edge of your fabric runs along the edge of the tape. I hope this makes sense.

I keep charms in a "fat quarter totes. MSQC and Amazon sells them. [ATTACH=CONFIG]595781[/ATTACH]

Another thing you might want to do to keep your squares organized is to take all the ones of a pattern and tie them together with one big stitch in the middle. Tie the ends of the thread into a bow or knot to keep it from falling apart and make them easy to get at. Then you can put similar colors in the same bag and use fewer bags.

Welcome to the quilting board! This is a wonderful place where you will learn so much. I am an old lady, I have sewn all my life and been quilting for about 25 years and everyday I learn something new on this site. Just look at all I learned today about storing fabric and the Congo too! I don't get much done because I am always sifting through the pictures and posts here. Do you have access to youtube? Can you order from amazon.com Now you have another task. You must write to us everyday to let us know what is going on in your school, your village or town, your project, neighborhood gossip, how you are feeling/doing etc. You have a whole colony of new friends here from all over the US and eventually the world!

Well said maryellen2u! Our interest has definitely been taken and we will want to know how things are going for you! I love your bright colors and it's true that adding some solids will change the look a lot. Here are 2 photos of quilts I made with very bright fabric prints, one with solids and one without. You can see what a difference it makes:[ATTACH=CONFIG]595789[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]595790[/ATTACH]

Scrap quilts are not my thing, so most of the time I just give them away. By now, I'd be buried alive under scraps if I didn't.

Vandamme how marvelous that you have found a place and a life that you love. The fabric that you have shown is wonderful. I am another that would like to see your cushions when you have made them. Perhaps this will grow into a cottage industry. I love the idea that you have saved a piece of each fabric, the quilt you make from all your pieces that you have saved will be incredible. It has been very interesting to hear about your life, please keep us in touch with your progress. This is a very good place to find help, you can ask any question, someone will have an answer.

Gorgeous fabrics, quilts and love your photos!!! So are you in DRC or Republic of Congo? I suspect Republic of Congo because I have never heard of DRC being full of oil but one never knows....

Ok. One of your photos says "Mboukou" and when I looked that up, Republic of Congo it is! So what do the folks in the RoC call the DRC?

Great to meet you!!