Love the Hope quilt, Connie!

Conchalea!! Woohoo! Enjoy your new home and planning of your She-Shed!

I powered through the Memorial Day weekend sales without a single purchase...but, man, was it tough! I think I'll claim an "Open America" exemption and visit a LQS in the next couple of weeks. Need to contribute to their welfare. Yep, that'll work!

I did get my little bunny star top put together, posted a picture in the virtual weekend thread
https://www.quiltingboard.com/8388157-post70.html
Mentioned in there that although the bunny fabric was from 1996, it had only been in my stash since 2018. It was an all stash project, although the shiny blue fabric was given to me in about February -- one of my last Tuesday group meetings before we shut down due to Covid.

Am now deciding what's next... I've got Bernie back and the possibilities are maybe too endless.

Teen, keep in mind that I consider one huge "stimulus" exemption is reasonable, so your Open America would fall under that category probably with some room to spare (if that makes you feel any better).

Very cute quilt, iceblossom. I like the pattern.

To alleviate some of my multiplying scraps I'm trying out an Anita Goodesign embroidery design for Double Wedding Rings. Takes 1.5 hrs to stitch out as I slow my machine down as it seems to stitch better to me. I'm using muslin for the background as I have a bolt of it, navy fabric and a dark red fabric I bought years ago from Connecting threads and scraps in blues and reds from my bins. I chose the 2nd largest block which comes out at 7.5 when finished. I'm also using up large scraps of batting which I've ran out of so will have to either start quilting to gain more scraps or cut from the bolt. Anyway, I'm liking how the blocks are coming out. I'm only making a lap size quilt to replace one my new kitten ripped up when she was younger......also made from scraps. Need 48 blocks and also usesd the last of the dark red fabric for the binding which I added piping to using the navy fabric. Up to 21 blocks so far and have enough batting for 9 more blocks before I have to start searching for more. Already have another embroidery project that takes batting and has numberous sections to put together once stitched out. So far I've bought only 3 fat qtrs since November 2018 and don't see signs of having to buy more fabric in the near future. Heres a pic of the DWR blocks. I'm also going thru my old brand of thread to use it up too.

Snooze..beautiful work. Would have never thought to embroider a DWR. Very creative.

Snooze, that looks amazing!

Gorgeous stuff there Snooze, I love the richness of the colors.

I am still between projects. I think I'm leaning towards some paper piecing. I have that bag of now-fixed hand dyes, I got that basic black as my one new fabric purchase this year, and I have the rare time of actually wanting to follow someone else's design, and I have needs to improve my paper piecing skills. Not sure how far I got playing with it after the Frolic project and the start of the Plague, might have to go make some copies but hey, I've got masks and gloves and the office supply store is open.

The big goal is to get working again on my Barn/Harvest/Month of August project going. I stalled out last time because I thought I'd get the hardest of the paper piecing done first and it didn't go so well. Only myself to blame!

I also have another idea for a project tucked away. For those of you who know the "fold the paper/don't sew through it" technique, you might know it. Two cute Panda bears. Last year I bought a big bag of souvenir fabric from someone's Indonesian trip with batiks and all sorts of lovely things in it at the thrift store. One of those things is a pretty garishly (but cute) printed children's design of large pandas with bamboo on a bright red background that I think would make cool alternate squares. Basically the same thing I did with those LeMoyne stars, 6 panda blocks and spread out with the panda fabric. It would still need some sort of red/white/black border or two.

So I'm going to get off the computer and go play with some fabric, something will insist on being used -- even if it isn't on my radar yet.

Suz: Great way to do your DWR!

went through some drawers that haven't been touched in 10 years. Found some good backs. There in the wash, they didn't feel clean.

Ok! Next project decision made. I'm going to do some paper piecing with those hand dyed fabrics. I'm going ahead with the project and hope it will meet the size requirement of a round robin being started in the new members section. I'm going to base my project on the cover quilt here, but I'll be taking out the blocks with the large orange "spears" and just have the center lone star with the starburst corners, should finish about 36" square.
https://www.amazon.com/Lone-Quilts-B...s%2C232&sr=8-1

I really wanted to do this project with those hand dyes but I usually make bed sized quilts and didn't know how to do that. May be mean to make other people figure it out for me, but I'm sure I'll have my share of fun with the other projects too.

I'm going to be reversing the colors shown and mostly using greens (where it is orange) and purples (where it is green)... as my husband pointed out that will make the corners look like pot leaves. At least I know in advance! While it wasn't the goal at this point I think it's funny... I was so excited as I described the vision of the project but hadn't made the connection until he started talking in a Beavis and Butthead voice.

Ok, they say the paper piecing project is too big for the round robin, which is fine. Still going to do it, but now have to think of something for a different center for that. I'll go ahead and make the medallion more as designed than my smaller version. I've been playing with the bag of hand dyes, I have less of the purple type fabrics than I thought, but a huge range of green! Yesterday when I was running my errands I made the paper piecing copies, this is so easy I don't think I really need to paper piece it or can do it the folded method, but part of the reason I chose this was for paper piecing practice (say or type that 3 times fast!).

I don't typically do medallions or samplers or other multi-block concepts but I have a couple ideas in mind for the round robin... I'm thinking more of my traditional type of blocks and fabrics...

I washed my Made in America brand black fabric. I was happier with the white. This had quite a bit of discharge and less opaque than the Kona I am used to. But I do rather like the feel, so I'll have to see how I feel about a finished project.

I'm pretty pleased with my project work yesterday. Everyone has agreed that an 18" center is reasonable and my new concept is going well for me.

A couple of years ago (before I joined the Moratorium!) I bought 50 pounds of "smaller pieces" (under 3 yards, most were traditional 1/3 - 1/2 yd cuts but some fat quarters or large leftover pieces) for $2 a pound from Craig's List. It was a crazy amount of fabric! I never knew Mary in real life but I got to know her through her stash. She had a decided style and sense that although we were both buying fabrics in the early 1980s and I have many of the same pieces, her stash held together with an identity better than my "humane society of fabric". Among the many larger treasures was a bag of tiny little strips that I took to be fan blades, it is a quart? heavy duty ziplock bag larger than a sandwich bag and it was stuffed full and has been in my mind to use ever since... Getting them out and looking at them, I see they were her way of cutting sets of tiny little triangles and that they were meant to go with some basket blocks also in the box. Those blocks finish at 6" and is a stand stacked with 1" finished HST. Mary's hand drawn triangles are there and that's why the pieces aren't necessarily consistent.

Eventually I will end up with an 18" block that should look like woven ribbons based on 3" background squares, and 1.5" ribbons. (We have agreed that we will share what our medallions look like but this will be the only shot of the project I post in this thread until the conclusion).

When I first joined the board, this thread had gotten bumped up and gave me the other part of the idea.
https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f...t211152-9.html

Yesterday's trial went well, had to get used to positioning the points correctly. I was alternating brown/color. The adding machine tape is 2.25" and I will be trimming down to 2" so those bits I missed will be ok, I should just make sure if I'm going to err on one side or the other. Today I'm going to try making some all one color strips... I have plenty of the little blades.

I think with a light spritz of water and a popsicle stick that paper is going to come right off. I might want to tighten my stitches a bit more today as well after I try that.

Iceblossom: Great use of those pieces!

It’s time for my birthday exemption.....but I don’t anticipate going crazy. There are a few pieces I need to complete ongoing projects and if I don’t find anything that really grabs me I will likely just pick up what I need. Brick and mortar stores are open here but from what I understand their inventories have been depleted during the shut down so here’s hoping my trip will be successful.

Over the past couple of weeks decent weather has finally arrived and not much sewing has been accomplished but last night I finally put together this Oklahoma Backroads I have been working on. I had hoped that by keeping the neutrals only moderately scrappy that the stars would pop but that didn’t really happen. It measures 80x80 and I was going to add a border but now don’t think I will bother.

It's still a wonderful scrappy top, Cattitude, even if the fabrics didn't behave the way you wanted them.

I've been having a surprising amount of fun sewing on this adding machine tape. I think having the automatic thread cutter on the Bernina is key, I'd have gone through three spools of thread with my vintage machine doing one width of paper at a time, then pulling back and cutting off.

The paper comes off super easy. I did a light mist of water, slid in the popsicle stick and the pieces came out nicely without a lot of fluff or chads stuck in the seam.

When I think I'm getting slanted on my pieces, I just fold the tape to give me a straight line. Part of me does have some problems with the idea that these are deliberately imperfect and not all identically exactly 1" wide or whatever. Wish being loose didn't make me so tense but it does! You can sure see my skills improving from my first test -- but the worst of those were simply fixed by just tearing out the paper and sewing a new seam. That's an advantage to pressing to the side I hadn't fully appreciated which is what this fold over foundation method does.

Some of the fabric likes having a single pin to hold it flush, some is fine with none. I have a tray set up with my pieces to the side, a hunk of tape to work on (I could do it continuously on the spool but 2 feet or so an easier size and time commitment, and then you just add on another hunk if you want. Then it's just zipping along until coffee break time like now.

I've made the "ribbons" for my block, and still have a bunch of these little pieces to use so it's a good thing I'm having fun.

Cattitude, I still like the over all scrappiness of your effort. If you are like the rest of us, you have plenty more scraps to try it again with a consistent neutral. You could go black or cream or purple or green or yellow or .... well you get the idea. Still a lovely piece. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/hunf.png

Cattitude, I love scrappy quilts no matter what! Thanks for posting even though it didn't turn out the way you wanted.

Cattitude....regardless of the issues, this top is gorgeous! Geesh...so many pieces...You are so prolific with scraps....

I bought a panel for the Pat Sloan FMQ June challenge. I claim the moving exemption!

Cattitude: Very pretty!

Conchalea: Great use of your exemption!

Catitude - I like that quilt! Its a pure expression of scrappy. A suggestion- sometime scrappy like that can be tamed with a solid border. The Kaufman Quilting Calculator tells me you only need 1.5 yards for a non-miter border of something solid-ish cut to 5.5 inches and it will turn the whole thing 90x90. I'm sure you have something floating around....

Another top ready for my church group to finish, The squares were cut by a group for my church quilting group and sometimes needed to be squared up. 🤷‍♀️ It is 72” by 82”. My goal is to get through all of the 6” squares this month which would clear 3 or 4 shoebox tubs. Of course, I have had this plan for several years to use up the various sizes cut.

Teach- I like the effect of the large dots in the background.....shakes it up a bit! I admire your resolve to make use of what you have been given.....I am sure you would rather be working on your own projects!

Cattitude: Thanks for the compliment. The large dot fabric came from a duvet cover that a friend of mine didn’t want when she was moving. I was struggling with a color to sash with and found this when I was cleaning a messy spot up. Lol! I decided it would work. As far as working on my own projects, I do sew a few here and there for my personal use but my heart is really into using my fabric, my DMIL’s fabric, (Fulfilling my DFIL’s wish for charity quilts), and fabric donations for making quilt tops for my church group. I like the challenge of doing scrappy whether my own design or a pattern. Scrappy quilt tops actually cover up my insecurity of choosing colors that go well together. So it’s a win/win for me.

However, I do have Christmas fabrics cut and ready to go for a quilt top that will be for me.

Is there always a time in scrappy quilting that your perfect concept just looks like a hot mess? Or just me?

Rff1010, Have faith and persevere! That is a bold concept and I applaud you for it. It's always been hard for me to do things like sampler and mixed block quilts, but the basic... honesty? of the collection of blocks and fabrics appeals to me. That is just the layout and not on the backing fabric, or where are you going from here??

It will certainly be full of personality and therefore charm however you go. Keep us posted!

Rff1010, I like the layout! The way you've chosen to position the blocks looks great to me.

Rff1010- I wouldn’t have the guts to put in the fans.....my brain is too obsessed with symmetry. But so often I see other folks work and say ‘who would have thunk it?’. One day I hope to be more daring with my choices!

At first look with the thumbnail photo your self described "hot mess" looks striking with a charcoal gray setting (your flooring)https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...es/thumbup.png. I'd think about using a similar color for your setting. Or am I totally off the wall?

That's the fun thing about getting input from our quilting friends. I wasn't quite sure if that was the backing fabric or not, it is striking in it's own way.

If I was more of a quilter than a piecer, I'd think about some basic muslin for the fan setting triangles to make some space for quilting. That can be a nice way to personalize a piece for some one, to put some design with a connection to them in the open space.

But I'm not a quilter and wish to hide that aspect, so maybe, I would turn that middle fan upside down, and use some sort of bright busy posies print like a 70s-80s Concord/VIP fabric from a half yard piece left in my stash... it would be wicked cool if I had another piece of yardage related to that, so maybe a blue colorway and a red one or scale change or something to put an additional wide single border around the whole thing after that.

I have been doing so well .. purchasing fabric this year. Only once so far for something special that I could not match out from my stash.That was back before COVID and before my Gallbladder surgery. I am making a Drunkard's Path King size quilt right now totally from my stash and scraps! I am amazed that I have been able to pull this beauty from my scraps and stash. I still have a way to go to finish the blocks before it can be put together. This is a picture of the quilt I am working on now I started the smaller circles about a week ago and it shouldn't be to much longer before I have it ready to sew together. I am so excited! Just shows that I don't have to buy to be creative.

My floor is actually Orange & Blue shag (Mets - house came that way and eventually plan to pull up and hardwood underneath.). The fans are orphan blocks from this person's daughter's quilt so I actually really wanted.to include them. I planned on setting them with just plain white and perhaps a mini-internal border. And then another external border around the whole thing to contain the scrappy. But when I did tje layout this.morning it was just . To me its just disheartening to have such aspirations and have a "hot mess" moment. I certainly have auditioned fabrics for a project and changed my mind but this is a whole new level. I really like many of the star blocks but when I put it together...
Keep the ideas coming dear readers! Salvation is somewhere in the details.

Juliasb....nice work! Must be so gratifying to be able to come up with something so pretty using only existing stash.

Rff1010....I love scrappy and really like what you have come up with.....I totally get why you want to use the fans. Any chance of making another fan block and using all 4 for corners in a border arrangement?

juliab, one of my favorite patterns, though I've never added the small circles. They certainly add a new dimension. It's going to be beautiful.

Rf1010: I really like your blocks. Would a vertical sashing between the blocks calm it for you? I was having a hard time choosing a sashing for my last quilt top and was fortunate to find one that worked because I had white sashing on some blocks and a variety of colors in the other blocks. It’s hard to find sashing that makes the blocks pop.

I like Cattitude’s idea of replicating a fan and using it in four corners. You would still be using the person’s extra blocks.

i know you will come up with something that pleases you.

juliasb: You are making great progress.

Well, I've done really well at not purchasing fabric this spring, but I have fallen off the wagon when it comes to thread... Last count, I had over 700 spools/cones of thread.. and I have recently added to them with purchases of a couple of thread lots of Sulky embroidery thread and large cones of Isacord thread from eBay. These are all threads that I use regularly and the prices were such that I really didn't want to pass them up, but I have to confess that I have no place to store the 5000 meter cones of Isacord (my storage spaces for Isacord fit the 1000 meter cones)... I think I've added about 100 spools/cones to my overall count. I have used up about 20 spools on the various UFOs I've got going, so there's that https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...s/rolleyes.png

Rob

Rob: I wouldn’t feel badly about buying thread that you know you will use and at a good price.

Lately, I have bought some books and patterns and my excuse is that I am supporting quilting instructors that aren’t able to be teaching their classes in person. These are instructors that I follow on social media. Thankfully, I have a very small group of regulars that I watch.

I bought red fabric yesterday for borders on 1 baby quilt I'm making. I also bought the Kindle edition of Pat Sloan's book on quilting. I'll confess I'm salivating over a Baby Lock machine advertised on line...

I finished a baby quilt that was half stash. I have another ready to sandwich that is all stash, but sadly. I think I have to buy backing for a quilt for a new Marine. I can't find anything large enough that isn't a floral.
I'll post the finished one later.

=19.73pxOn Saturday I trekked to a quilt shop and managed to get only what I went for.....a blue blender to complete an ongoing project, a beige solid for background for scrappy lemoyne stars and a hockey panel for an apron requested for my 6yr old grand nephew.



=19.73pxAny risk of impulse buying was tempered by the discomfort of wearing my mask......soooo hot! The shop does not require one wears a mask however out of courtesy to staff I always wear it when visiting a store. This has helped with over buying at the grocery store and as it turns out it works equally well at the quilt shop! Perhaps I should continue wearing it long after the current situation passes! :)



=19.73pxThe long awaited glorious weather continues and very little sewing has been accomplished this past week. However 32C may drive me to the cool basement tomorrow afternoon to finish a top that has been lingering for quite a while.