Oh my god! MSQC had Kaffe Fassett jelly rolls for 40%off this morning on their quilters daily deal... I fell off the wagon... or I can say it will be fabric to finish up my stained glass top... yes, that’s it!! I NEEDED it!! Lmao!

Beautiful quilts, retiredteacher and acheela!

1- SUPERPOWERS!
2- I declare a Covid exemption for you going without for so long.

acheela: Pretty quilt! Nice backing idea!

Rob: I’m glad you are 2 weeks past your last vaccine! Enjoy your shopping trip.

My "trigger finger" itched on that deal, too! I've got a similar Kaffe jelly roll, so I resisted.

Even though I don't buy as often as I used to, I still love checking daily deals and new arrivals at various online quilt stores. It's soothing to look at pretty new things and daydream a little. There's a few fabric lines coming up that I've got my eye on (especially a Sleeping Beauty inspired line from Riley Blake), so if I resist enough sales, then maybe I won't feel so guilty about treating myself to something I really want later.

I've been shopping from my stash and got a wild hair to make two of the same pattern quilts at once, but from different fabric lines. It's the Royal Wedding Quilt from MSQC and I'm making it with Menagerie from Rifle Paper Co and Rosa from Crystal Manning/Moda. The HSTs get squared up to size, which is awesome because trying to achieve accuracy with precuts can be such a pain with those pinked edges.

My dragonfly back for the Judy Niemeyer came on Monday. We all ooohed and aaahed over it in the natural light of our outdoor Tuesday group meeting.

I do have to admit to a thrift store purchase. For me, I paid full price, $11.99. I forget/lost count after 30 wraps but I've got me a couple of donation quilt backs coming up!

I have a test piece in the wash now, mild dye loss first wash. Second now, am expecting the dye to hold. Don't know shrinkage yet but seems to be a fine piece of fabric.

Quilt lady having problems with the V block subunit of our plane blocks. Don't know any other name, the 60 degree triangle with mirror side triangles to make a rectangular unit. She's coming by agaom today and I'm going to set up one of the portable machines instead of her going home to work on it this time we'll just do it here. Mostly I think she is just stressing and she'll like my system of slapping on big pieces of fabric and trimming down and calling it good! She's a great seamstress and does lovely handwork but the quilting stuff is new to her and I think the numbers and rulers and accuracy and all that is getting to her. I'm reassuring her that each of us ladies have our own ways of achieving the same end result and she'll find her way too.

I ordered backing from MSQC for a donation quilt. I bought Michael Miller fabric on sale and nothing else, so I don't feel bad. It's for an auction for the local women's shelter. My daughter is their director of public relations and grant writer so I couldn't say no. Not that I would have in any case. They do a lot of good.

You're a good person to help her out - when I started quilting, it was a whole new world and everything was confusing. Nobody I know quilts, so this board became like my quilting guild. You'll be a wonderful help to her. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/heart.gif

Hope your thrift store buy works out great for you - it looks like a perfect backing fabric. :)

We had a nice visit yesterday, she said she wasn't ready to sew together but we covered a lot of ground. I think we could have made her blocks at the same time but we each work different ways. It's hard for me to remember that strip/chain piecing multiple units is a new concept when you are used to making a jacket for instance. But yes, a lot of it was as the new quilter she was stressing with all us old quilters. I explained that I'm not really any better skill-wise than she is except that I've made most of the mistakes possible by now and learned from some of that. Some of the stuff I constantly have to relearn and mistakes I still make so my real skill is in mistake fixing!

I spent many years being very precise in both my cutting and piecing, but I started before the rotary revolution. As time has gone on, my stash larger, and my vision poorer, I now do most of my work by starting large and trimming down. Even with extra steps, for me it's faster and I get better results than accuracy alone. It's a different concept and technique. In many ways it is similar to paper piecing just with no paper, but I'm still bad at that myself!

So first we went over those V blocks. I grabbed some bright advertisements out of the recycle and we cut some rectangles and triangles and played with how cutting mattered for mirror images. We tried both correct measurements and the oversized -- she felt oversized worked better for her than either the paper piecing or traditional. Also how weird it would look with the mirror sides deliberately cut big to trim down, but if we were careful with cutting the triangle, we knew the base was flat and what the final dimensions would be. I grabbed a piece of the gridded template plastic and drew the shape. Also the explanation that it was not a ruler and how to line up the ruler to the template for trimming.

Then it was the basic construction of the Goose unit made with a rectangle and two squares. I thought I had given her good links, but sometimes you just get so much more in person. And then when I explained that while I pin (and showed what I mean, my pins are down much lower than people expect, maybe not so much seamstresses), other people will just layout the subunits next to the sewing machine and just go down the block. That was it for her, those light bulb moments!

And... I'm almost ashamed to admit it... but I was showing her some of my tops and she just loved my cat top. Which I've also made for my mother-in-law, and I had a full set of cat fabrics cut out and collected that I meant to make maybe as a fund raiser for the Humane Society or something -- but is now in the hands of a fresh new quilter and it is perfect starting project (minus my border). One less thing in stash... mwahaha...
https://www.quiltingboard.com/member...52-622213.html

That was so nice of you to give her the cat pieces, Iceblossom!

I had a taker for my pulled quilting books, so they are now out of the house.

In Florida with daughter. Vacation for me involves spending money I wouldn't normally. Well I traveled clear across the nation and this is vacationl Must see what's different here. So I brought some fabric to match stash fabrics for a designated project. Then there was the 50% off section. And daughter said, "make this for me?" I caved. It felt so good. Let's see, that's travel exemption, covid exemption, birthday exemption, let me think there must be more. It's been at least 5 yrs since I bought like this.

You're doing just fine, petthefabric! :D Vacation calories don't count - vacation fabric doesn't either - especially after the year that we've had. ;)

Have a wonderful time and I know you're gonna jump right back on the wagon when you get your new purchases settled into your stash.

pet, great to have a get away and after 5 years of using stash, one must replenish. No matter how it goes out Iceb it's gone!

I'm working on t shirt quilts. Was able to used 1 1/2 yards for sashing in quilt #1; have to buy for small outer border and binding. Stole some red from GS's quilt for a border, but I finished the bolt on that piece so had plenty. I'm at a stand still as I am waiting for a couple more shirts to come in the mail; once I get them I can put sashing on the 3 blocks and put them in place 3/5 of the rows are sewn together and pieced borders are ready to go on when the center gets finished.

Thought I'd start on quilt #2 tonight; have the interfacings all cut for that one. But maybe will cut interfacings for quilt #3 instead. Work tomorrow so don't want to stay up too late!

K & I have paused on making lap quilts for the nursing home to concentrate on a table runner for her, and an overlarge twin quilt for my grandson's graduation. We paused at 18 completed lap quilts, and one more that we both decided had to stay with us as a wall hanging. Someone gave me small prints of Scotty dogs, which I cut & appliqued in blocks. There were only 6, which I sashed with red & black checked fabric, & put the blocks on a dark gray background. K quilted & bound it, & it's just too cute. I'll put it up during the fall & holidays. The Scotties & all the fabric for the 18 lap quilts came from stash, both mine & K's, so we're really using it up!
I have bought fabric for my grandson's quilt. Three separate purchase dates, but it's going to finished soon!

Today I am really thinking about the discount I was given when I ordered that Dragonfly backing but I'm going to try and not act on it...

Instead I will be figuring out how to cut the sashing for the comfort top. We are going to grade the sashing from dark to light, easiest would be bottom to top, but also going to look at a diagonal thing.

Planes have significance to the person receiving the project. We slightly changed a traditional pattern, the directions were "preferably at least 2 colors for the plane and a sky backing".

The sashing fabric is from the Color Bars collection -- it has 1993 in the selvedge info and I remember buying the piece! Originally I was going to do some Seminole Piecing with it but this has come up first. The first photo shows two pieces, they had various color groups, forget if it was night and day or cold and hot or just what.

Picture two is two sets of the blocks, there will be 5 total

Third picture shows two of my cat-planes (other more vintage) plus the border, binding and backing which is all coming from stash.

The recipient is not only quilt worthy, but vintage fabric worthy! The backing is vintage with selvedge info, think it was 1953ish by the registered brand name was first used in 1952.

So instead of working on the next shirt last night I found almost a 3 yard piece of a beautiful French General piece in my stash. i designed a quilt around it and will take the fabric along to work and see if I can match fabric to my plan! Gotta get about 6 yards to use up 3...hmmm...

MSQC has free shipping today. Of course I looked and added things to my cart: some fun colored piecing thread, and an fmq ruler. At least it's not fabric - right? I looked through my current piecing thread stash - almost all neutrals, but enough to last years at my current pace. The ruler (Angela Walter's Shelly) isn't something I'd use on the tops I've currently got to baste. None of it was fabric, but I also didn't need any of it "right now," so I emptied my cart.

Well since I haven't claimed a bd exemption, a covid exemption, a vacation aka staycation exemption, I am calling one in today! I was only going to get the blush for the HST's and get the cream at a later date, but found a great match and a nice French General floral for the binding. Here's my plan based on a FrG pattern called St Remy. I choose to make it larger so made the HST's at 3". Overall size is about 20 inches wider and 24 inches longer than the inspiration.

Great purchases and projects being made/planned. I enjoy reading everyone's posts.

Yesterday, a quilter that I met while taking classes at the LQS invited several of us to her newly created Sewing Connection Center. She turned their living/family room into it. There were 9 sewing tables with adjustable shelves, Ott lights and waste baskets at each table, plus 2 ironing boards with irons and wool mats and the cutting table with rulers and rotary cutters. We had a great time and she said we are welcome on Thursdays. Her husband put electrical outlets on each of the tables and even gave some decorating ideas. It was nice to just grab my machine and a project or 2 and knowing she had the other supplies needed.

That's very pretty, oksewglad!

retiredteacher, what an interesting idea. Is she hoping to start a business, or just have company sewing?

I too thought that this sewing center is a wonderful idea!

When I won that auction for thread and was getting directions, I found a site marked on the map about quilting. I looked it up and a local person with a home quilting business and many years of quilting in the community (and working until the business shut down) has a similar open house. Space is limited but an actual work group day for free. She's still shut that down and I'm sure shots will be required along with other things if she opens it up again. But in good news, she did her first retreat in a year! My friend in Arizona is also going to her first quilt camp.

I was a happy solo quilter for years and then found I really enjoyed the community aspects. Just being around other people who may not do the same styles I do but who at least get that I'm doing something is really nice!

My Tuesday group, since Covid we've been meeting outside. Seattle in winter especially is not conducive to much handwork. We are doing less actual work and more show and tell and talking and as the year has progressed we are doing even more talk and less show... but we need the get-together. I'd really welcome a work group as well. It's still a motivator for me to have something to show/progress each week.

joe’smom: The lady created it so she could have company sewing. She told me about the plan before COVID happened so it’s been on her mind for a while now. I know she sews with another group and they will meet at her house a couple of times a month also. The Thursday group are quilters she met on our Friday open sews at the LQS. I think there are 4 invited so the group will stay small.

Funny part: I figured I wouldn’t come home with any fabric like I do when I go to my church group. Wrong! ❤️ The host had some for me. Lol! Beautiful batiks and some other fabric. She knows I do charity quilts.

Oh it sounds like you have another enabler, Connie!

Got my new fabs washed and dried and put in a bag for later...t shirt quilts are a top priority now...working on the second one putting interfacing on the shirts tonight. It was 90 degrees this afternoon here!

oksewglad: Yes, I do have an enabler. She gave me some quilt blocks from her guild’s free table shortly after I met her a few years ago. 🙂. I look forward to seeing your t-shirt quilts.

Giving thanks as the rain falls on our roof tonight. It is sorely needed here.

I'm hopscotching again from tshirt quilts to a WIP. Ready to put the final borders on the 9P strip quilt I started earlier in the month; I think I have fabric for backing too. When I finish it tonight I will put it away and skip back to the tshirts tomorrow.

Anxiously awaiting my package from MSQC. No reason - it's just backing, but I like having a package coming. Right now, I don't need it - I can't get the quilt squared up and I am very frustrated.
MSQC has to the be the slowest shipper - no, Fabric.com is right in there, too.

It's like Tom Petty sings, the waiting is the hardest part!

I find eQuilter to be very fast and reliable but don't you get me thinking about that discount I have available!

I've been doing bits of tidying up around the house and with the fabric, still have too much stuff but there isn't quite as many as there was awhile ago. Out in the yard I cut a big chunk off the lilac in the name of pruning and being able to get through the gate again... have a lovely bunch inside the house and enough lilacs for the neighbors that wanted!

I know it doesn't even require an exemption since I'm going to use it, but Friday I went to 4 different stores (and 2 were just different Joanns) to look for a better white on white cloud fabric than I have for this comfort quilt project. I don't know if it was really worth driving all over town, but I did come home with one flat quarter arguably better than what I already had... It's still so rare for me to go out these days and it was fun to look at fabric.

The person we are making the quilt for is our leader/organizer. She handles us so deftly and just says "It has come to my attention that XX needs to be done". And she gives each of a task to do and we go off and do it (whatever it may be, quilting or otherwise) before we even realize we never agreed to it in the first place! We are not used to working "headless" and without her skill set things are a lot harder. For such a tiny person she has large shoes to fill, and I'm just clumsy :( The last lady for the comfort blocks is the one who has been coming over. She's going to try and have them ready for me Tuesday -- but if not she will come over Wednesday and we are just going to sit down and sew them and get them over with.

Today I'll be working out the diagonal sashing option a bit more. I've only cut some of the pieces from the blue as how many are needed of each color is quite a bit different than the flat set -- but good news is I have plenty to do that. I've washed and cut the binding fabric.

I'm waiting to wash/cut the vintage piece until the top is fully assembled and I can spread it out on the yardage, goal will be to match the design so the seams will be invisible.

It is just amazing to me to realize that it is 70 years old. It's been stored well it's entire time, is in beautiful shape with zero musty old fabric smell. No dye loss at the crease line or fading anywhere. It is technically a decor piece, which might be why it had the selvedge info. Still all cotton and a lovely weave but a larger "tile" size than I'd expect for clothing.

All righty! The blocks are all turned in, now I'm going to play with layout options.

I visited with our friend today, she said she needed some company. Her husband is in advanced Alzheimer's and cannot be left unattended, so we visit outside the kitchen door and she listens/checks in every now and then. She is planning on keeping to extra high hygiene standards, she doesn't think the time they have left together is long. On the bad news side of things, my hubby was in a minor car accident Wednesday night. Good news is both cars involved were able to be driven home, we have two cars, only one of us is working, and the friend is only a half mile away on a nice flat neighborhood. So I even got some exercise out of the equation.

Iceblossom: I’m sad that your friend feels her husband doesn’t have long. Thanks for being a good friend to a caregiver, Also, I’m glad your husband wasn’t hurt in the car accident.

I pulled out some fabric that was given to me but isn’t in my interest area. It will go to a fundraiser garage sale.

I'm using some bits and pieces in a couple of minis...just doesn't make much of a dent in the stash though!

Hey everyone,
I just posted a pic of my finished April Colorblock quilt in the pics section. If you get time, take a look. It's all from scraps and stash. I'm starting to see some progress in getting my 2.5" squares under control LOL. I need to decide that next year I'm going to do one of these every month for my 2" squares and my 3.5" squares and.....

Rob

So.... in The Time Before Covid. I went to a quilt retreat and won 1 yard of sunflower fabric. What to do with this lovely but large scale print? Think I'm pretty happy with the results.

But the back! I had 1 yard of the green paisley and a few unused blocks. And then an unused but beautiful FQ of a quilt block. Oh wait. Not big enough. Add another yard of tan brown tree leaves. Gosh darn it! Still need more....ok raid for the deeper reddish brown....and...whew!

Now how to quilt? Straight lines across the sunflower blocks and the it sat for another month while I stewed on what to do in the star blocks. In the end I'm pretty happy.

I managed to use more stash fabric the past couple weeks- I agreed to do a test pattern for the Quilt Pattern Magazine (TQPM)
just because I knew I had everything I needed, I found enough of a fabric I had used in a pieced quilt to use for a back- another 3 1/2 yards used up, I gave my son 4 yards of black he needed and threw in 3 different charm packs I’ve had at least 5 years. He sent me up 7 quilt tops to get quilted- I know I have backings for at least 4 or 5 of them & if I get creative probably all of them.
pother than the stack of wide backs I have on one shelf all of my other stash is becoming smaller- not a lot of yardage pieces anymore. I’m going to have to start being more creative to use it up. We are going on vacation the end of the month and Jeff has asked me about 20 times if I’ve looked up quilt shops along our route, he’s always enjoyed visiting new shops in new places with me ( and spends more than I do on what he thinks I need)
This year with everything as it is I figure if we see one- and it’s actually open- we will stop, I’m not going to plan any.

Good job, RF1010! I love the way the different sized patterns play together on the front and the inventiveness of the back with the orphan blocks and additional pieces from stash.

Rob

oksewglad: It’s about the enjoyment of doing the minis for you. The small use of fabric is the bonus.

Rob: Very pretty April Color Block quilt! I like your idea of continuing one a month for next year. I don’t have enough selection of 2.5” squuares so I need to cut more each month. I’m thinking by the end of the year, I will have more squares than I started with in January. 🤷‍♀️ At least the patterns are fun and they use stash.

Rff1010: Lovely quilt and great use of the sunflower fabric. Creative back, also.

ckcowl: Wahoo to using up those bigger pieces of yardage. I hope you find some open quilt shops on your vacation.

And that's how you make use of fabric you have on hand!

Oh so right, C. I'm making little rail fences...1 1/4" finished with 5 strips and then some 1" finished with 4 rails. Want to have some on hand for a couple of fund raisers! Have a couple of center flimsies that need borders. LOL sometimes my bindings take more fabric than the borders! I finished a little piece with 94 pieces for my friend who lost her 94 yo mom this spring as well as a UFO that's in memory of my dear aunt. Gonna take a few minutes and spend some time finding fabric for the flimsies.

I was going to give myself a pass to order something today since I figured there would be some Mother's Day sales going on. Most of the big online quilt shops kept it really low-key this year. No deals worth jumping on, and nothing that really grabbed me, anyway. I think I'm just looking for that bit of excitement that comes with ordering something new, tracking the package, and starting something you just know is going to be beautiful.

I've been working on some free motion quilting for a lap quilt from a pattern called Fat Quarter Dash by Emily Dennis. I'm going to hand sew the binding for this one.

After spending a few weeks (off and on) organizing, cleaning and pulling out items I no longer "loved", i am done. I must say it was therapeutic to go through the process and "see" what i have to work with. I need to pull fabric for binding of quilted items I did during COVID so I am off and running. I uncovered lots of scraps from previous projects such as face masks and with three 2 gallon bags of strings of different colors, I think I will spend some mindless time sewing while catching up on audiobooks. So inspired by your projects!