Sometimes we have to change direction if we want to stick with using only what we have. Way to jump right in and do that, WMU! Looking forward to seeing pictures! :-)

Go go WMUTeach, sometimes we have to bow to the will of the fabric and the stash options.

With my Dragon Hoard project, I'm pretty pleased with how it is matching my mental image plus my fabric selections. There have been some changes and adjustments along the way -- I have learned more about working with panels (ie; don't trust them to be square). I do like the concept of using the crazy patch squares. I think it would maybe work better to make the crazy patch the same size as the dragon block and trimming it with the setting triangles. It would have been fun to have just a little bit more of the sashing fabric, but I sure used up what I had!

My supply of premade squares is dwindling pretty well. I still need to finish up the bottom blocks and the sides. But at this point each block is maybe 15 minutes and I do one each time I let the dogs out.

All, I am just doing my best to not purchase any new fabric or to absorb hand-outs from others unless it is for a direct purpose. Yes, it may limit my options from time to time but it also pushes me to think in new directions. That is always good, for me anyway. I seldom have to shop, sorry quilt shop owners, except for special quilts or when I need a back. Even then I have started declining that extra half yard or what ever to empty the bolt. I don't need it. When I am making a scrappy or a mostly scrappy quilt, I can work with what is in my hands already.

I find that about once a year, I will choose a quilt that requires me to shop for everything or nearly everything and that is OK. For instance this spring I made a graduation quilt and needed bright batiks. Shop? Sure I did, but I looked over my batiks bin first. Found a few pieces that would work, then I purchased the rest that were needed. We each work the Fabric Moratorium in our own way. I am on a mission to reduce my accumulated fabric. Period! I don't want to leave much for my family to have to make decisions about when I pass away.

Enjoy your quilting today.

WMUTeach, we are both on the same mission for the same reason. In addition to using up what I have, I am also on a mission to get past quilts quilted. My guild has a One Monthly Goal project where you commit to finishing one project a month. I seem to mange finishing that project, but also make a donation quilt that fills the spot of the top I just quilted. My To Be Quilted pile never gets smaller. I need a new plan! LOL

since you are able to make a new top in the same month you finish a waiting top, challenge yourself to get two quilted and bound.
don't make anything new until you've done at least two from the waiting pile.

says the woman with ... hmmmm ... how many waiting? and at least one new one started. :eek:

Patrcej, Some months I do complete a second UFO, but.... more often than not, I have other quilts I want to make, gifts, mystery quilts, boom blocks and to meet a personal challenge to make one quilt a month that uses 2.5" squares each month. One UFO a month equals 12 quilts out the door each year and that feels real good to me!

I tried that but the squirrels get me every time! LOL

Went to Shipshewana today for a quilt group meeting and came home with....NOTHING! No give away items or shopping for more fabric. Nothing jumped into my arms and believe me I tried to find something. That is a BIG win! Tee-hee-hee!


I mention Shipshewana often but don't know if others know about this charming little town. It is the hub of Indiana Amish country and has two large quilt shops and oh, so many other quaint and lovely shops, horse drawn buggies, Amish businesses and good friendly folk that are Amish or Mennonite. For me it is about 50 minutes from my Michigan home and an easy drive in all seasons. Today was a picture perfect fall day for the drive with high blue skies and wood lots and trees dressed in their dark greens and fall splendor. I saw lots of animals such as horses, cows, sheep and goats nibbling at the grass inside their white fences. Many homes had a clothes line of clothing and linens waving in the wind to dry in the breeze and sun. Picturesque but practical. A nice place to visit it you are traveling the mid-west at any time of the year.

I had a lovely time at my sewing group yesterday, we didn't have our big room so I just had the bag of vintage scraps from the garage sale trip to go through. Just little pieces for the most part, but some are really awesome. There was a piece of aqua solid that must have been a flour? sack (like a feed sack) still had the holes from the closing.

Still putting together the dragon hoard crazy blocks, just a couple left! Goal is to put the top together at a guild quilt retreat in November.

Bonnie Hunter should start on Halloween for fabric selections, so is all coming together well to end one project and start the next. As always, my goals are to do the Bonnie all from stash -- but I have added a lot of blacks to the stash in hopes of using them.

I've committed to a QOV group only to find that my scrap bin of red/white/blue and patriotic fabrics has already been well used, so I've had some intake of friends' stashes.
Some one mentioned saving all scraps in the beginning of her quilting life and now starting to stress about the bins of strips/strings/tiny pieces she now has on hand. I just wanted to say: I'm right there with you! I did a bold move earlier last year, took a deep breath, and emptied one bin into trash and haven't missed it in the least.