Kristakz: Wishing you luck.

Congratulations to everyone that is shopping your stash first.

I finished 3 quilt tops this month and that equals about 11.5 yards that will go out my door. One was started last year and 2 were from my En Provence UFO. But in searching for fabrics to finish borders, I realized that I need to go through my many bins and pull out fabric that is 1 yard or bigger and put those yardages in their own tubs. Then I won't waste as much time looking for border fabric, etc, in the color scrap tubs.

Good plan Connie. Often times a yard is just enough to put a 4" border on many 60 x 80 quilts to make them 68 x 88 and fit a single bed nicely. Especially if one uses straight seams and not diagonal to join the 4 1/2" strips.

Right now working on 2 quilt plans using scraps and stash for controlled scrap quilts. The first is sofa throw size; the second a queen.[ATTACH=CONFIG]597838[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]597839[/ATTACH]

Well, I don't know if this counts as a win or not. I made it through the whole quilt show without buying anything. And then we stopped at a shop on the way home. But, it was the shop that had a fantastic 151st birthday sale on July 1 - so I had a coupon for $151 free on my next purchase. I racked up $155 on fabric for a new quilt - could not have come closer to the minimum purchase. And, that's all I bought. Now, someone please keep me out of quilting stores for the rest of the year.

Between last week and this, all the charity quilts from this year were delivered to the 2 guilds. I think at total of 35 quilts w/ ~5 yds ea = 175 yds fabric. All the stash actually fits on the shelves. And I had fun thinking up patterns. [ATTACH=CONFIG]597869[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]597870[/ATTACH] There's more & when I find the pictures on my computer, I'll post them.

oksewglad: True to the 1 yards being enough for a border. My church group doesn't do anything longer than 82" and generally not wider than 72" so I always plan for 68-72" wide and 78-80" long. Sometimes my math comes up short but close enough. LOL! I like your design.

kristakz: Have fun making the next quilt with your new purchase. I look forward to seeing it.

petthefabric: Way to go! Pretty quilts, too.

I used up another yard today when I made a pillowcase for a great nephew. His brother is being baptized tomorrow so I wanted to give him a 'big brother' gift. I used up some batting scraps in the baby's soft book.

Now I need to clean up the mess in my sewing room from 3 finishes in the past few weeks. I need to put the fabric that had been stored in boxes for each of the quilts away. :)

Thanks, Connie...this one is the queen size...don't know why the sofa throw didn't show up...Will try again. The HST's are all made. Now to cut the rectangular pieces and get it sewn.[ATTACH=CONFIG]597878[/ATTACH]

Ok, folks, I just had a eureka moment. I had another birthday 2 days ago and I am really very old. I looked at the dozens of boxes, bins, totes, shelves, small plastic boxes of cut squares... all containing fabric of all descriptions and I hereby promise that I am not purchasing another inch of any kind of fabric again ... ever!!! I'm just going to make quilts as fast as I can for donations! ... Simple, easy, colorful, small, useful quilts!!

I also hereby donate my birthday exemption to someone here that needs it!! :)

Happy Birthday, SillySusan! I love your thought process. I know I spend too much time organizing my fabrics and not enough time sewing.

Simple and easy are my next few quilt tops.

Happy Birthday, SillySusan!! Your goal sounds like a worthy commitment....I need to do more donation quilts other than QOV. I gave the church ladies about 5 yards of this awful (to me) floral fabric. They went crazy over it so I'm glad this fabric inspired them.

OK...darling basket quilt. Love the colors.

retiredteacher.....so sweet to remember "big brother".... Enjoy the baptism tomorrow.

Petthefabric..... Amazing production coming out of your sewing nook. Your quilts shared are beautiful. Wonderful job from a loving heart... So sweet.

Hi Retired teacher09 and Teen, Thank you for the happy birthday wishes! I really love y'all for all the encouragement, fun, and answers to questions!

Ditto, SillySusan...!!

I went to Joann's today and bought some loft for my trapunto work...and a storage container to be the new and organized home for my polka dots and stripes (sales and coupons...yea!!!) Then...I promptly left. Lol!! So, good for me..

Happy birthday, SillySusan. WOW - those projects are turning out wonderful. I need to get my butt in gear but work has been challenging so I need to focus on sleeping. I also need the hubby to change the foot on my sweet 16. (I guess I could do it but I don't want to.) I have an open toe foot but want to do more ruler work. In circular rulers the open toe just doesn't work. sigh!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating this month.
I haven't bought any fabric (or fallen from wagon) since around mother's day. Too sad I'm also not doing any sewing either. My quilt room is packed and mostly moved but oh so slowly setting it up.
I have started shelving my fabric which is always fun and more like play than work. That's a good thing since after two months of sorting and packing and moving, I've gotten a little cranky about no sewing. Need to find a machine and set up wherever I can and spend 30 minutes playing. Think I'd feel better.
Love seeing everybody's projects and ideas. Such a talented group here.

I know the feeling, Elly. I am living with boxes now getting ready for a move. My sewing area is the last area to pack for the most part. Trying to wait until the last minute..lol..

My stash increased a lot yesterday, but I'm not keeping most of it. My brother brought me his deceased wife's stash. Calicos, cabbage patch patterns, some started quilts, a 5 yd piece of fleece in a print I don't care for, Warm and Natural batting which I'm not sure I like, Halloween, some Christmas, an iron, a cutting board, a new Fiskars one with cutter attached, fiberfil, etc, etc, etc.

I fell off the wagon a few weeks ago, but I wanted to show you what I did with my purchases (some of them, anyway).
I made this One Block Wonder, using fabric I bought during a shop hop. And a border purchased at a different shop 2 weeks later - the colours looked perfect based on my memory. And it turned out to be the same fabric line, so that kind of explains it :)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]598077[/ATTACH]

This was the original fabric
[ATTACH=CONFIG]598078[/ATTACH]

A good purchase, Krista! No harm, no foul....

Happy Belated Birthday SillySusan!!!! Great decision about not buying more and very generous of you to donate your birthday exemption to someone in need!

Good work on using up stash Petthfabric- you've been busy!

Krista-- Amazing use of stash-- your memory served you well picking the border fabric.

Still haven't used my birthday exemption or the birthday coupon from the LQS, but I will :D
Rob

Thank you, Rob, I'd give you my Birthday exemption, but I see you have your own!! :)

Irishrose2......so generous of your brother. Sounds like you surely did get some keepers. Have fun organizing..

Krista..... That is a stunning quilt. So colorful and the border fabric looks awesome with it. Good find!

Rob.....geesh....go shopping, already, before that coupon expires.:D

I received another text from my LQS about reproduction backing fabric sale. She's killing me...

Happy Birthday to all the July celebrants! I love seeing everyone's work.
Pet: I love that star quilt!
Krista: your OBW is lovely. That final border just makes the quilt! I've made several, but have never included the hollow cubes (but it's on my list!).
Minor victory, just drove past the salvation army without stopping for their friday clothing sale. Love to recycle shirts, but it's still added fabric.

Good for you, PaperPrincess. You hung onto your place on the moratorium bus!!! :)

Krista: OBW is stunning! So inspiring and on bucket list. I drove right past the local thrift shop (25% off Senior Discount on Thursday) as I have too many shirts already destructed and ready to sew. I have been making yo-yos for a pillow but needed a background fabric. Finally found it at Fabric.com and when I opened the package- Woohoo- I hit the Jackpot as they call it. My order of 1 yard was from the end of the bolt piece - 58 inches- so a 22" bonus as no charge and this was a 108" piece.

AUQuilter.....wow...that is quite the deal.... That is a lot of free fabric for 108". Good for you!

Paperprincess...good restraint...treat yourself to an ice cream cone....lol!! (Fabric and ice cream are my downfalls so I just assume it's everyone else's too. ..oh yea...donuts and brownies come in a close second..). :D

Wow, AUQuilter! Congrats on your free fabric! We don't find that very often.

Kristakz: A beautiful OBW.

AuQuilter: Wow! Have fun using that extra yardage.

The lqs's owner had surgery for Ca ~ 1 yr ago. She had surgery, then complications, treatment, pt, more tests and complications,etc. The area's quilters are close knit and have been helping her all this time. The store even had to move and it got done by volunteers. The store hasn't been getting much new fabric & classes are not happening. A call has gone out for teachers for classes. So I stopped by and offered to teach a class. Because many of their customers want to copy the class sample, they want the sample to be made from store fabrics. So I bought fabric for a quilt I probably won't keep...... So, did I fall off the wagon? I added some of my stash to make it more scrappy.

I've already spent 5 hrs making 4 patch to make strips 60" wide. Next I'll made the houses, then the roofs. I'd like to get the top finished this week and the sample into the store.

I haven’t finished quilting it yet, I’m at the center but here’s a picture of my latest— completely from the shelves, nothing purchased for this quilt except the backing- which is a wide back on sale.
I’ve made a dent- not much left in purples.

Pet: of course this is not a fall! It's a business expense (I'm assuming that you will get paid something for teaching the class!)
CK: love this! Are those 4 patch posies in the centers, or fussy cut squares?

pet, what a lovely tribute to the owner of the store to have her customers help her. Nice of you to teach a class, too.

ck, Very pretty. You are so efficient in your quilting. My purple loving daughter would love that quilt.

I took a small step off this train today. My daughter & I took some scrapbooking supplies to a resale shop for craft items. I had no idea it had fabric! I only got 2 small packs of scraps, 3 1/4 pieces, & 1 yard of Care Bear fabric. I also got 5 spools of thread-$.25 each. I spent a total of $4.50 on fabric & $1.25 on thread. I won’t discuss the knitting supplies, though! Now back on the train.

It's ok, Pet, you're helping a friend, so it may not even count. If somebody says it counts, you can use my birthday exemption because I didn't use it. I took a pledge to not buy any more fabric ever. (I'm old and have a ton and I know some will outlive me even if I make a quilt a day!) :)

Conchalea, I think your purchases won't count, because you got some craft supplies out of your house and that's got to have taken up more room that that little bit of fabric... The thread shouldn't count because its not added to your stash. If anybody picks on you, just share my birthday exemption with Pet. :)

Hi ladies. Last night in 5 hrs, all the walkways are pieced. Now I'm cutting out roofs. Added a lot of my stash/scraps to make it more scrappy. Thanks for the exemptions.

ckcowl, beautiful. I love purple.

fussy cut squares

ckcowl.......stunning purple quilt!!! Extra Kudo's that you were able to use your stash for this. It seems I never have enough of one colorway to accomplish something like this. I"d likely start it, then have to buy more to complete it. You did great at figuring the quantities needed.

petthefabric..... So kind of you to teach a class. I wouldn't count this purchase either. I wanna see this quilt when you are done...sounds awesome so far...streets and roofs..love it.

Conchalea.....good deals! Now, just turn that around and create something with your loot. I never really got into scrapbooking tho I love what others create. Just seems like so much stuff!! Lol...

Thanks to all the enablers for excusing my purchases. I COULD use a travel exemption, because I got home a week ago today from a 1700+ mile ride, in extreme heat, to Montgomery, AL. No shopping was done on my trip because I couldn’t have stuffed another thing on my Harley! I also don’t have time when riding about 300 miles a day. So I’ll claim the travel exemption & let Pet use your birthday pass, Susan. Thanks for offering it to those who can’t resist a purchase.

pet...what pattern are you using for your quilt with walkways and roofs?