If you have an ugly fabric, the smaller you cut it the less ugly it becomes! Working with the small stuff teaches you about thinking in light, dark and medium rather than specific hues (colors). Smaller pieces allows us to focus on the bits that make the overall design.

Haven't checked in lately and very surprised to see 55 on the list! Great numbers! Missi, I wish I was closer to help. THANKS! for doing this!

Three or four of the squares in my group came from fabrics found in a large plastic bag an antique store lady had sold me for $20. The pieces as I found them were miscuts from a shirt factory back when. They have the weird colorings like the 30s, but they're all cotton, having passed the match test. (cotton burn on edge crumbles; blends edge burn is hard like plastic).

If you should luck on to some great deals on fabrics at a "previously-owned" good stores, you want to test them. Be sure you have a crucible--a piece of pottery or old corning ware to collect the ashes. Place the lighted match to an edge of a small strip of the fabric. Blow it out right after ignition. Then run your finger over the cooled edge. If it flakes off, you have a natural fiber. If it hardens, you have the bi-product of the oil industry that polyethylene is.

I recently bought a fabric at a discount house that I thought was labeled "cotton." I set it aside for a few weeks, but the last time I was cutting strips, I wasn't paying much attention, I guess. Anyway, by the time I made it into a postage stamp and it got its first pressing, I swear the darn piece shrunk 1/8" because it wasn't the same size as the other pieces cut in the same layer. I ripped it out.

I bought 4 sacks of unused fabrics from an estate sale a couple of years ago, and sat in my sister's kitchen, match testing literally hundreds of fabrics. Over half of them had poly in them. The estate was from a lady who did every craft except quilting, and her work was highly artistic, plus she left enough handmade items to host a church bazaar, which her daughters were selling to clean out her country house. The good thing? For $8.00 I got about 35 good pieces of unique cottons, including a lot with small chickens, hens, roosters, and chicks. There were a lot of small flowers, stripes, and dots, and they were a cheerful addition to my stash. My sister loves crafts, too, but she doesn't quilt, so I gave the blends to her. She has a network of friends who craft both for church bazaars and gift making. It was fun.

Hope the edge burn hint helps at least one person here who didn't know how to tell if they really had their hands on a piece of cotton or some yukky fabric like the one I had that literally shrunk away from its parameter I had so carefully cut to measure 1.25" after sewing quarter inch seam allowances for the endless postage stamp map quilt I'm working on right now. Oh, yes, and the map part is worked as a charm quilt area, which means one fabric, only one piece in the quilt. You can see why it's taking a week to do 6 25-patch pieces of charm squares. At least the border is in the same dark blue fabric. :)

WOW Beautress, thats a real eye opener!! Thanks for the story and info, I'm sure it'll help all of us that didn't know this!

Thanks, Momma K. with the beautiful daughter Jessica.

Oh thank you!! Years ago people mistaken us for sisters!! Ahhh, the good ol days! Ha!

Hope the edge burn hint helps at least one person here who didn't know how to tell if they really had their hands on a piece of cotton or some yukky fabric like the one I had that literally shrunk away from its parameter I had so carefully cut to measure 1.25" after sewing quarter inch seam allowances for the endless postage stamp map quilt I'm working on right now. Oh, yes, and the map part is worked as a charm quilt area, which means one fabric, only one piece in the quilt. You can see why it's taking a week to do 6 25-patch pieces of charm squares. At least the border is in the same dark blue fabric. :)[/quote]

Beautress,
If you haven't posted a pic of this quilt, please do! If you have would you share the link?

@Beautress...thank you for that bit of info...I had heard about this test a long time ago, but completely forgot about it til now. What adventures you must have scouting around for fabric! I think it's about time I start visiting local thrift stores around here...maybe I'll run into some great finds too.
@Momma_K...she's beautiful! :thumbup:

Missi, my squares went out today.

I PM'd you this afternoon. I have already started cutting them out. :)

I will be mailing my 20 sets tomorrow, YEAH I got em done!!!!
Rae

58 swappers think we can get 60?

Been working with 1 1/2" squares the past couple of days and learned something that might be useful! When sewing go one direction with the first row and go the opposite direction with the next row. Top to bottom and then bottom to top. It will help with keeping the blocks square and matching seams! Good luck everyone!

I learned this doing my itty bitties, too.

Hey Missi, I put my package in the mail today. WooHooooooo!

Glad that works for you, Karen.

I'm one of those (unmentionable) seam openers. I have resigned myself forever to use pins, after swearing off pins for 40 years before. Now, I have almost no mismatches, and my seams are open as I like them to be. I tried pressing to one side, but I didn't care for the way free motion machine quilting sounded over the extra layers caused when you have several pieces of fabric together instead of two. I like the way the needle sounds going through fewer layers, and I don't mind paying the price now that I'm not spending 5/6ths of my time ripping wrongful corners out to correct them. :mrgreen:

I have to admit it, though. I truly admire the way seams match for people who can tolerate noise better than me and use the seam-to-one-side method.

Girl, you already have thousands of stars in your crown! Thanks for the hard work.

I'm so embarrassed, Karen! I bought a camera over two months ago for the express purpose of sharing pics of the quilts I'm working on, but haven't done more than take it out of the box and put it back in again. I belong to a guild also, and I'm always at the machine, Charity bee, quilt store, sewing blocks for another bee person's charity quilt, etc. One of these days, I'm going to stare down that darn camera, put the disc in the computer, make it go where it oughtta go instead of on the desktop, whew! Superwoman is tired from listening to herself thump her chest about conquering the computer!
:mrgreen:

It's late here, I have to get up early to feed a man and get myself to Cut-Ups where a lot of my Bee friends go. I took a day off from the map quilt, and it takes a day after all this extra curricular quilting is done to reorient and get back in it. I found 2 duplicates and an error that had to be removed and replaced on my one day off... a quilter's work is never done.

Have a lovely evening everyone, may the Groundhog never see his shadow, may spring come soon, and kudos to the brave souls who got through all that cold and snow. The upside is that inclement weather is a great aid to staying inside and working off some of that stash! Night!

Hope you get some good finds, and since I wrote that, I keep swishing suspect fabrics together for some sound--and found 4 more fabrics won on EBay "all-cotton" stashes or in thrift stores that tested bad. I tested one very softy thinnish fabric, and much to my surprise, it flaked softly, but it was cotton for sure. Once in a while the test goes your way. :)

Just a question on this? How does the test work with rayon? I understand that rayon is natural fibers stabilized through it's thread creation process. I bought a pair of "bamboo" socks the other day. Content label listed "rayon", nylon, and polyester, but no "bamboo". I'm sure with a blend like this I will get manmade results.

That's awesome! I'm getting my squares ready for mailing. I can't wait for the day you start mailing them out to us. :-D

I am still cutting mine but I will meet the deadline :-)
Hugs
April

Hi Missi,
I sent a PM to join this swap be have not yet received a reply from you. I am new at this so need direction. How should I proceed? Will my name get added to the list? Should I go ahead and mail my sets in? Should I wait for your reply first? Please advise.

Also Missi,
I would like to sign up for the 20 sets and I am just about ready to mail them. I look forward to participating in the swap.

If not can we sign up for 2 sets??? hehe I got mine finished up this weekend and into their little bags. I just have to wait for payday to go to the PO for the postage stamps. Hugs, Mary B MS

Missi, did we get the 60 swappers yet???

Yeah, did we? :) I'm also waiting for an address to send them to, does anybody know what it is? I PM'd Missi, but haven't heard back yet.

I PM'd you the address!

Thanks Karen!!!

Please send it to me also. I PM'd Missi twice and haven't heard back from her yet. I appreciate it.

I am trying to join and I would get up right up there to 60 but haven't had the luck yet to hear from Missi. Hopefully I will hear soon because I am ready to mail my stuff.

Havplenty, check your PM for an address!

Thanks much Karen. The business about being busy I understand.

59 swappers! I haven't had a squishy in the mail for a few days now so maybe today will be a good day at the post office :) Please let there be some there as I need a good day!

Missi, I do hope you will have a good day.

However, you won't be getting a squishy from me... I haven't even begun yet. And I better get to going to.

Hopefully, you will be flooded with squishies at the post office. :-D

Can I be # 60 I pmed missi waiting to hear.

It is taking Missi a minute or so to get back to everyone who PM'd her. I know it took a while for me to receive a response. In the meantime, I just asked for her address and was getting my swap ready for mailing. I know she must be busy keeping up with all the responses. Hang in there.

Are we sending them to Missi or swap partners? Does anyone know when the mailing deadline will be?

Here is the swap information:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/group_a...acnum=98<br />

Sign Up deadline is March 7, 2011

Mailing deadline is March 15, 2011 for US swappers. Mailing deadline for international swappers in March 1, 2011.

We mail them to Missi and she swaps them and sends them out. That is why we send her a SASE for our return squishies. Hope this helps.