Have not been very productive last couple of days, lots going on in my non-sewing life. I have drawn out a couple of blocks on paper to help me visualize, especially what I'm now calling the diamond for the border. Math is good but there is a point between seeing things in tiny little grids and numbers on paper and translating that into real life. A 13" block turned on the diagonal is pretty huge for me!

Anyway, today is sewing group day. I will bring things to make crazy blocks, these will be 6" squares cut into 5 pieces, basically the shape of template kits, that is with less pointy angles. I have 4 cutting guides made, I think that will be plenty to keep me busy in group today. I'm using cheap parchment paper from the dollar store -- they are buying from a different supplier now and this stuff is a lot more slippery than the yellow box stuff. But is cheap, 12" wide, and can be sewn or cut through.

Before group I will make a determination on those side borders and whether or not I have enough fabric for the binding. Binding is more important, but a nice clean edge would be good too. Although I usually press open, if I can seal the crazy blocks with the single piece I will probably double sew or maybe zigzag the seam allowance side together and press to one side. If I have enough fabric to do the long side borders, I have enough to top off each of the each of the diamond crazy setting blocks in the top/bottom with a strip of the parasol fabric too. Will help "hold in" both the design and the crazy blocks.

Is it falling off the Moratorium or is it product research, or should I go off the binary scale? Anyway, I got intrigued by the link Wesing posted for Fabric Mega Store (in the links and resources section) and purchased a mystery package of various florals as a way to be able to judge the fabric. I've read reviews good and bad and the only way to tell is by trying it myself. I've looked a bit into fabric printers as a "what can lottery money buy" sort of thing.

As far as the fabric being "flimsy" well we all have personal tastes and maybe it will be. But some people feel that batiks are flimsy, or often get distressed with European "lawn" weight cotton -- both fine thread fine weaves, not flimsy to me. I know when I switched from Kona to American Made Brand cotton solids, the AMB was silkier and not the same weave as Kona. I have adjusted and having used Kona over the years, I found while their color standards are impeccable, I had various weaves sold over the years and they all react and reflect light differently. I am figuring this fabric will be basically the same greige (raw) goods as the AMB and made in the same factories.

But the package hasn't arrived yet!

If the Fabric Mega Store fabric is for testing purposes, I don’t think it knocks you out of the Moratorium.tee hee. It would be good to have a report on the fabric quality from someone we respect and trust.

GOT A Question.....
Have I broke my FM when I find fabric at the dump bin and rescue as much as I can before they come to haul it away??? Again I cannot say NO to fabric that is crying "I don't want to get burned. I want to make someone HAPPY!" :( <3

@MaryKa I think what WMUTeach (and Gemm) was saying is that we each have our own definitions and rules. My personal decision was to decide on amount of space I was willing to give to fabric and try to use at least slightly faster than I replace. My issue is I am still overflowing but I am close! That my size is larger or smaller than someone else's comfort point is all on me and largely immaterial (sorry can't help myself).

I think I didn't phrase it quite well the first time but I had the thought -- it is ok/one variation of fabric moratorium to resist new fabric, but not necessarily new to us fabric. At least that's what I tell myself!

@Lena1952 Thank you for understanding. I am doing this on behalf of all the rest of you so you don't have to. Unless I rave about the stuff and you find the need instead of the want...

Mary Kay, fabric that is free for the taking and you know you will use it or that you can pass it on to someone who will use is it good. I guess this groups is not about denying ourselves new fabric or stash additions but to use what is at hand before going out to buy more only to find you had what you needed already.

Yes, indeedy do, we all use our fabric differently. I have been digging about in my stash/scraps today searching for pieces to use for my next Birthday Swap quilt and found so much more than what I need. No shopping for me. I may even have a back that will do for this quilt. It will all depend on how big the quilt grows. Tee-Hee-Hee!

We don't kick any one out of the group. We just sign them up for next year. ;) Because we will all likely be here again and we need our friends around us.

I'm certain that I WILL be here next year as well. Got so much to get done and I may be moving into a different apartment-same complex

Someone pounded on my door tonight. Called out I'll be right there gotta get my cats in the bedroom. Shut that door and went to open the door and no-one was there. Now I will be awake all night so I put a load of fabric thru the washer. When I took it out I found a mess--cotton had sneaked into the washer and it is now drying itself off in the laundry closet. I'm not certain I will be able to do anything with it but I was thinking about using it in some sort of dolly toy. Too messed up for a quilt or even a pillow for the dolly. I think it is the cotton that Walmart sell by the bolt of 96"x9feet.

I was looking at the calendar today and wonder where the month has gone. This year only has 3 months left. Seems like yesterday was January.

I've started the twin bed quilt for showing the children's hospital the person in charge of donations. I'm making a diamond with squares for the easiness of using some of my stash blocks. They are the same fabric that Momma made quilts from many years ago. I found them in the last batch of throw out fabric. It was already started but I think the person id not know how to put the rows together so I will be doing it. When I go to the children's hospital I will have a full bag for her to see. I'm making a tote bag for all the dolly things --including the dolly. It will be easier tor the child to carry her dolly supplies around.

Made a lot of progress on the Dragon Hoard yesterday. Cut the two long side borders, have the rest of the piece ready for continuous bias, with what is left for the crazy blocks that is all I have of that, down to the selvedge.

I'm hitting my stride with the crazy blocks, for the size of piece I want, starting small is the way to go. I am using a 6" square (raw cut) with 5 pieces, so 6 fabrics per stack. I have to join blocks anyway to make them 13", might as well make the process easy on me. This is a more standard template style layout, a lot less waste than with the pointy pieces and sub-units. With less pieces it is easier to stack and keep everything in place. I use my little clips, first I cut the block and clip the top corner as the way it started. Then I shuffle and stack the other pieces, and clip those until they are ready to be used. I do the first connection, putting a clip on the start/no. 1 position and keep the clip on and the units chained until I press them and stack them correctly with the top on top. Yesterday I also started combining some of the trims I have from cutting down my original 10" squares to 6", they'll all get thrown into the mix.

Today, once again, I have to go back to my drafting and math. Originally when I thought I was using 12 dragons, I had a wide crazy pieced border, now with 16 dragons that is a block wider and the pieced border is no longer in play. But then I've added the top/bottom border which means basically full squares instead of half blocks. I think I have about (under) half of what I need of the crazy blocks.

Hope you are all having fun with your stash/stash reduction in whatever way you do :)

So I'm here to confess but while I didn't technically _need_ most of what showed up in my fabric collection today, I feel I still made some decent choices. :-)

Long story short, our guild has received some significant donations of fabric in the last several months, and even after the Community Quilts and Program teams went through it there was more than could reasonably be stored, so the guild decided to sell off the bulk of what was left to further support the guild's activities and costs. I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to get my head around what I would be shopping for and reminding myself that I probably don't need more "little bits" and that neutrals are always a good investment.

Everything was priced at $5/m (per my last post, this is an improvement on what thrift stores sell fabric for around here) and I think I did pretty well. We have a large guild - attendance is usually between 75-100 at meetings - and the sale was very exciting for most of us, so competition was quite fierce but there was plenty to go around.

My final tally was just over 13m of fabric in. I got three pieces of 2-3m each (top left) that should work well for backings (might need a bit of a boost depending on the quilt size), one of just under 2m (top right), and then some assorted neutral/low volume fabrics (bottom stack). Nothing smaller than a FQ.

Calling it a win for now!

It sounds like you made real strategic choices, Gemm and not just random cuts 'cuz it was pretty or attracted your eye. I really like the turtle fabric and the dark floral beside it. Oh my, I could not have walked away from that dark floral, now way, no how! Neutrals are always easy to use and good to pick up at bargain prices. Good shopping. :)

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