Enjoy the outing, IceB.

I'm glad to hear you are enjoying your BL machine, Conchalea. I still sew on my Bernina that is working fine, but know when the motherboard goes out I would rather put the money in a new mechanical machine.

I just figured out how much stash was used in the quilt I took off the LA yesterday. Not counting spool blocks, HST's and Log Cabins, I used inches short of 10 yards in borders, backing and binding. Yea...next to put the "Stars in the News on the LA.

I hope your trip is all you want it to be, IceB.

I love the idea of planning a road trip based on "triple D" and other foodie adventures! What a way to ensure you get off the highway and onto local roads where you can really see the journey - and not just the destination! Be well!

Great job everyone! I don't pay attention for a month and a half and everyone is getting things done left and right. In the past two weeks, I managed to get 6 moratorium quilt tops ready for the LA. All averaging about full sized (~86" x 90"). I also got 4 UFOs done (but they don't count for this thread-- https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/hug.gif ). It is nice to finally contribute something to the count--at least since May.

Of course, I would have trouble with my camera. I only was able to take pics of two of them and I can't get them to load. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/wave.gif I will have to try again later.

Whohoo! M-maid! Great feeling to get them finished, right?

Good to hear from you again M-maid. And what accomplishments you have. Press to the finish while we cheer you on.

Motorcyclemad: Way to go! I look forward to seeing your finishes.

Spent some time yesterday sorting and folding a bin of blue fabric and found 3 yards (total) of fabrics that I would never use because it was so thin I could see the lines on my cutting mat through it. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/shock.png It is now in buried in the depths of a dog bed for SPCA. I am not thrilled with this method of reducing my stash but really, I would never use the fabric in a quilt. It was donated to me with good intentions but not suitable for quilting. On ward, ever onward to reduce my stash.

Yes It is nice to have a fabric coordinator. She has also been a fabric acquirer lately mostly from Goodwill outlet and one estate sale of someone who had an online fabric business and Walmarts $1 clearance fabrics(we were surprised that they had any this year). But most of what she has brought in lately will go out to the quilt guild as strip tops and quilts next Tuesday. Still no meetings but we are having a drop off/ Pick up day. I have 12 quilts completely done and 11 tops and 18 strip sets ready to sew together and some pieces big enough for backs.

Had the opportunity to test anew pattern for the quilt Pattern Magazine, using another 6 1/2 yards of stash fabric for this one. I will use more for backing when it’s time. And I finally did something with (5) different panels that have been on the shelves for ages- niece’s with babies and babies having birthdays gave me a nudge . 5 baby quilts done all from stash,
I have 8 quilts waiting for bindings- so I can pull out the tote that has rolls of binding in it and put some of that to use too.
since we didn’t travel at all this year my moratorium has really gone well- no trips to any quilt shops and space in my shelves.

WMUTeach: At least it’s out of your stash and being used for a good purpose.

LindaJane: Wow! You have been busy. Way to use up fabric.

ckcowl: Wahoo to space on the shelves! It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?

My son and I were ( chatting) today, he finished another quilt- a denim one this time- and I asked what he was going to do next. His response was (“ I think I will play with my 3D blocks some more, unless you need me to do something for you. “)
my response....
I feel about 6 weeks behind on everything And, have (7!) baby quilts to make- the family is having a baby explosion!
we have (2) 2 year olds, (3) 1 year olds, 1 due on October 2 and one due in January....none have received much anticipated baby quilts from me.
Ben said- “ hey, I can help with those, tell me colors, and sizes- so i did, he asked what needed first...my great granddaughter who turns 2 on October 1
about 5 minutes later he sent me a sketch- thinking this in pinks & purple....PERFECT! He continues to amaze me- told me not to worry he’s got my back....
long story coming to end— knowing what fabrics I’ve been sending him for the past 6 months I took a break and packed a box- a tote full of kids quints, flannels, novelties- and took it straight to the post office- I had 2 large totes full- now I have 1. Another 10+ yards of fabric gone. Probably closer to 15.
here’s a picture of one Ben finished last week- I haven’t transferred the picture of the denim one yet.

ckcowl: Those box borders are wonderful! Bless his heart for helping you with the quilts. A very proud parent moment for you!

CKCowl, his work is Amazing! With work like that, I would have shipped off a box too. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/wink.png Tell him to keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming.

Hi All,
Still evacuated to sister's d/t Creek fire in Ca. Yesterday, we met brother & sil at Avila Beach. Had good time. Had lunch and headed home. I asked for a fabric fix. They were accomodating and gave me 30 minutes. Bought 2 pieces and glad had no more time cause could have spent hundreds. Probably home in 2-3 days once air quality improves. Then I can actually sew.

Pet, I think the fabric purchase is a way to help with the stress of dealing with the fires in your area. I hope they end soon & your air quality improves. I am sensitive to smoke, so much that I couldn't use the fireplace in my last home. My new house doesn't have a fireplace, which is nice. May you get back to sewing soon!

I resisted an offer...A cousin's SIL gave her bags of scraps to use in donation quits. She doesn't keep anything smaller than 2", would I like the smaller strips? I know these would be LQS quality fabrics, but I turned her down...One can only use so much... Meanwhile in the sewing room I'm making a baby quilt for a baby out of his GGGfather's shirts with some scraps of neutrals. Even found enough flannel for backing...about half done with piecing.

Three cheers to the who who has the courage to say, "No thank you!". You deserve a gold star and a smiley face sticker. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/boy.gif

Way to go, oksewglad! It’s tough turning down quality fabric. What a lucky baby to be getting a quilt with his GGGfather’s shirts.

Many children now barely know the names of their grandparents, much less have something from GGGF. Good on you!

A top is finished! Wahoo! This was a leader/ender project. I had many strip blocks already made in my stash so I used my die cutter for the scrappy triangle of the FG. I also used it for the wings of the FG and triangles for the 4 patches. The pattern is from the BH String Frenzy book and is called Geese on a String, I didn’t use foundation squares per the pattern since I already had string blocks to cut into the FG.

There was more fabric of the orange and it was already pieced for a backing. I made it wider from cutting from the length. So between the top and the backing, about 8.5 yards are gone.

This will go into my church quilter’s pile to finish sometime.

Fantastic use of string blocks, Connie. Makes me want to play in my scraps.

Rob

ckcowl, I love the updates on your son’s progress. It is obvious he is a natural. Is he an artist discovering a new outlet or did this come out of the blue?

pet, I hope things get back to normal in your neck of the woods very soon. (And by normal I don’t mean the ‘new normal’!)

retiredteach, I love that, a riot of colour.....right up my alley! I tried the leader/ended concept and had a hard time keeping things organized. There is always too much going on with my sewing table as it is.

Wow...this is amazing, retiredteacher... just gorgeous! So much work in this. I always forget about leader/enders even when the basket is sitting right next to my machine, lol... wonderful job on stashing it!

reT..this has such bohemian/ethnic appeal!

Thanks for the compliments.

Cattitude: I understand about keeping the leader/ender project organized. For some reason, this one worked well with the quilt I was working on. I did have a method to sewing the pieces together and did 5 at a time: 5 left wings, stitch on other quilt top, then the 5 right wings, etc. Then I switched over to working on 16 patches as my leader/ender. I had them laid out in a container so it was easy to pick up and sew since the thinking had been done ahead of time. 🤷‍♀️

oksweglad: In BH’s book, she used orange and light green as her background. I happened to have those 2 colors donated to me and didn’t have a clue where I wanted to use them so I think that’s why this project caught my eye.

My current priority is Christmas projects. This year I am determined that I will not find myself in a panic to get things quilted right before Christmas and that means getting all my tops completed by mid October at the latest. In addition to the two shown there is another one with white background and red and green stars already sandwiched, basted and ready to quilt. All throw size. These are for my two nieces and ‘niece in-law’. I did not enjoy making duplicates but my nephew’s wife has a tendency to perceive slights when there are none and I decided I wouldn’t take any chances. Dead simple pattern.....as usual I found it on line and saved without noting the name or designer....I am trying to do better with that.

From stash: 1 fat eighth bundle, two charm packs, 3m prints + 4m print for one backing and 6m solids. I am debating on using 2 wide backs I have in my stash for the other 2 backings but there will be a lot of waste. I am leaning towards using them and saving what is left over to make a Frankenbacking for one of my scrappies.

Next I tackle a couple of Hallowe’en projects and 4 or 5 Christmas panels I want to make into wall hangings.

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Way to go Cattitude, getting a jump on Christmas! You make the prettiest quilts!

retiredteacher, what a fascinating quilt! It looks very jungle-y to me.

Gorgeous, Cattitude!!! Love the reverse backgrounds. Not sure which one I like best..

Today, while K sewed binding on a UFO, I sewed binding on my Scrappy Stars, a pattern from Pat Sloan. I think she called hers Little Wishes. Mine is 67 X 81, and almost all from my scraps. I did buy sashing/binding fabric & a queen-size sheet from a thrift store. I calculate about 4 yards of stash fabric in scraps. I'll send it to a cousin in south Texas who fell a month ago & broke her hip just a week before her 73rd birthday. She's been in either hospital or a rehab facility with no visitors ever since. I hope it cheers her up.

Such lovely finished projects everyone. Fantastic everyone on reframing from buying fabric or keeping it to a minimum.

One of my favorite LQS closed lasted week. They had a month going out of business sell. 25-30% the 1st 2 weeks and 75% the last 2 weeks. Due to the situation of coronavirus, she decided to retire, so everything was sold, including furniture, etc. So I felt obligated to help her out on her new retirement adventure and bought fabric and furniture. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it. LOL.

[QUOTE=happylab;8419805

One of my favorite LQS closed lasted week. They had a month going out of business sell. 25-30% the 1st 2 weeks and 75% the last 2 weeks. Due to the situation of coronavirus, she decided to retire, so everything was sold, including furniture, etc. So I felt obligated to help her out on her new retirement adventure and bought fabric and furniture. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it. LOL.[/QUOTE]

I see that as wise shopping. I would do the same and have done so in the past. After a while you know your likes and dislikes in fabric and can dive into a sale and make smart purchases that will be used and not just stack up. Good for you for being a smart shopper. Too bad the shop had to close. Small business owners are important to our economy, community and our craft.

Cattitude: Very pretty!

happylab: Your purchases helped the LQS owner towards her retirement goal. 👍

Latest report on evacuation. It's been lifted and we're home again. It's still a shock. It's very smoky so hard to work very hard. We've box fan filters going and 24 hrs now and still smoke. I think the air quality is very unhealthy range. Need to do laundry and put things away. Then start cleaning. While at DS got a little fabric to complete a project from scraps and want to start on that probably thursday. Much of the forest around us is burned, sad. On the up note-we'll probably not have another fire in our area for many years.

Pet....So glad your home was spared and sympathetic that your ordeal continues with air quality issues and clean up.

Tough times for so many people right now.

Came back safely from my trip, smoke in central Oregon was really really thick, could only see about a football field. Air wasn't bad at all near Grants Pass, better than Seattle. After that though in the Phoenix/Ashland area an entire mobile home park was burned completely to the ground, there wasn't even any little mounds of appliances, just flat rectangles of ash. :( Starting in California we could see actual sky and clouds instead of just grey haze. In Sacramento the air was much better than we had at home. As we started back, again smoke from nearby fires around Petaluma and Santa Rosa, but once we got to the coast things were in pretty good shape.

The BnB we stayed at on our last night back (near Springfield, OR) was untouched but the valley had been evacuated during our trip and they had just been allowed back in the day before our arrival.

Am very happy to find decent air back here at home, and I was concerned about the smoke getting into my fabric but they seem ok based on my initial sniff tests. It rained quite a bit last night and this morning, it should be a beautiful day.

Fabric Confession: Not much to report! Did indeed go past Jordan Fabrics in Grants Pass but they remain closed to non-mail orders. There was a Goodwill just off the road somewhere along the way in Northern California and we popped in, there was nothing in the fabric section or the craft section, but the hubby wanted to pick up a shirt and while we were in line I noticed three large bags of fabric near the exit... one of those is mine now, including a number of 60s/early 70s 4 patches and as I say "a piece big enough for a back". Yeah, and a bunch of junky scraps but that happens.

That was my souvenir shopping other than a couple of magnets for the fridge, hubby got a Redwood calendar for us for next year, and we did do some food tourism too.

Ice blossom glad your trip was a successful one- with all that’s going on it can be challenging. Sounds like yours was fairly uneventful ( stress wise) . Hopefully the rain will wash away the residual smoke and you will enjoy some sunny days.

petthefabric: My heart goes out to all of you. Thankful you still have your home.

Iceblossom: I’m glad you had a safe trip.

Glad your trip was a success, Iceb.
My LQS is closing. A marijuana shop is going into the basement under the store and the owner won't expose the fabrics to the smells. Her out of town landlord won't renew her lease - he must have a better offer. I intensely dislike this!!!! We need the store and downtown needs nice busineses. I am not a fan of recreational marijuana being legal - only medical. And certainly not a fan of putting it in downtown in a pretty tourist town. There are plenty of other locations.