rryder

Wow! Oksewglad-- you got me too! I forgot it was April Fools. I have to admit, at first I was a little worried about you when you said it was 50 yards. But then I got to thinking how that's only about six 32 piece fat quarter bundles, and they do look rather small and orderly (not to mention yummy) when they're still all tied up in a bundle. So probably if that's what did you in, then it didn't look all that alarming while it was happening--so I could relate. That is if it had really happened that way rather than you pulling our collective leg LOLOL

Rob

Mary Christine

Ok, you got me too!

retiredteacher09

Oksewglad: You fooled me too! I did wonder why you bought misc pieces when I know you get lots of donations like I do. Lol!

Iceblossom: Cute block!

Here’s an example of donations given and used. I’m going to have a hard time giving this to my church group to sandwich, etc, because it is so calming but here are the reasons why it must go:

1. Large blocks found in a donation to church=give them to Connie. I added the light blue sashing (also in a donation somewhere along the way) which I felt popped the colors.

2. Pinwheel blocks found in a donation to church-give to Connie. Fabric used in the pinwheel rows was from a donation.

3. Dusty pink fabric-donation. I found this while cleaning up from a different quilt top. I know it’s been touched many times over many years so, at least, some of the strips were finally used.

4. Dark blue was from my personal stash.

72” by 77.5”

[ATTACH=CONFIG]611195[/ATTACH]

Iceblossom

Oh you jokers! I hope you forgot to wear green on St Patricks day and got a big pinch! LOL. Sadly I do have friends who go out and buy huge amounts of yardage at a time so I took it at face value

The comfort quilt is in the hands of quilter. Our friend's procedure will be a week from today, so quilter will bring it to Tuesday group or before and I'll have my camera with me. We met before and after quilt group on Tuesday and laid out the top which will be sashed with an awesome vintage fabric (all of us in the group love those 36" wide fabrics) one of those circa 1950 "atomic" prints like large exploding dandelions, a modern Australian print will be the corner stones, and a brown batik the binding. It's really been fun working on this fast track project.

Today I have a Drs appt of my own (routine checkup, a year ago at this time my diabetes was out of control and my glucose level was above 350, currently I average about 108!!). Then the plan is to finish up the Not Quite Y2K, or at least get the halves done. Just 7 more big seams (three each top and bottom and then the final across the middle) and the top is done, and this round is all pinned and ready to go.

I did pick up a huge piece of Alexander Henry western themed fabric (probably 6-8 yards) at the Goodwill near my Mom's -- yes, all that lovely fabric I passed on last week was gone, even the scrap bags and while I noticed that I didn't feel any twinges of regret. At St. Vincents I picked up another back, a black background with large garish floral print -- but I have a plan for that one.

I'm a bit precise and planned with my quilting (yeah other people say OCD and other terms) and especially with vision issues trying to loosen up a bit. Last week after bowling I got that bag of scraps, it's all been washed and ironed now. While not in my color ways/style sense, I feel these fabrics are all wildly fine with each other and that garish back. I'm going to take the stack of fabric to Tuesday group and let the other ladies take out any fabrics that don't belong (or that they want!) and have a plan for what's left.

I'm going to make a bunch of oversized and wonky 9-patches. I still need a rule or two to follow so it will be that the center square will be sewn square. The seam lines from the others row may or may not match, but they will be 90 degree angles. Not making any rules about color placement like whether the corners of the 9-patch are dark, or how many times I am willing to use a fabric. Goal is to use as much of it as I can! The rough blocks will finish raggedly around 10-12 inches, and then I'm currently thinking on using an 8.5" square to trim them down as it would highly unlikely any of the 9-patches would end up mathematically centered with that size. I'll cut them at angles, as "plaids" from one corner, etc. Haven't thought past making the blocks, but they will probably be sashed, or might just all be pieced together crazy style too. Partly depends on how many blocks I end up with. My crumb quilter said to go ahead and send the big enough pre-seamed trimmings to her, she could use them as is.

Our friend we are making the comfort quilt is an improvisational quilter and the inspiration for me to work on this. She has her own rules and color/style sense, but she can put together a group of related but not-quite-right blocks together and it is always gorgeous.

Judith1005

Iceblossom, I can't wait to see your next quilt. I don't quite get how you are explaining. But, it sounds interesting.

grann of 6

I admire people who can just throw fabrics together and make it come out cohesive. I struggle with the scrappy look. I am getting a little better, but still find it a hard thing to do. I guess that is why I have so many unused scraps laying around. I have been cutting strips and squares, and hopefully someday I will have the courage to assemble them into something fantastic.

Irishrose2

grann, my leaders and enders are totally scrappy - my first and I'm having trouble with it, but have decided to continue. They will be an Arkansas Crossroads some day. So I understand how you feel. My only rule is not too much white in the print as the background will be a white on white. I really don't care for dark solids, but I'm letting them stay.

grann of 6

I am making leaders and enders too, most of them some print or floral with some sort of white or WOW. I will probably end up with a huge stack with no idea of what I will do with them. And one day I will surprise myself and use them. Right now I have so much fabric and precuts that need to be used, that sewing up scraps is the least of my concern.

oksewglad

Oh my I didn't think I would fool so many! But a big thanks for the "hand back up"! We are all human and I may need a real hand up.

Nice job on the pinwheel plus sampler quilt, Connie. You do have a knack of adding cohesiveness to make a nice quilt and that's why they "give them to Connie!"

I think the more one works with scraps the better one becomes with figuring out what will "look good", so persevere grannof6. One thing you can do with your l/e is alternate dark and light. Then a checkerboard pattern is easy to put together. I agree with Irishrose2, The Ark Xroads is a great pattern to make with scraps.

I have another western themed "Simplish" pattern in the works...webbing the rows now. Hopefully have it all done sometime Saturday night as I can't work continuously for the next couple of days. When it's done it will be another 6 1/2 yards from the stash pile. Maybe next week I can take time to get pictures too.
..

Iceblossom

Forgot to mention, I cut the white on white for the borders of the Purple quilt. Despite being very careful I ended up one 2.5" WoF row short, even if I seamed the ragged ends it still wouldn't be enough -- but I had a contingency plan! The fabric for the borders is very linear, not quite stripes and not quite a plaid but linear. I have another fabric that is similar, at least it is what I call "scratchy" lines and not curvy. So the four corner blocks will be made with the back up fabric. I'm happy it worked out as well as it did and that I didn't go out and buy a new piece of white on white.

I still have to cut the purple border fabric, the very geometric purple print has a slight drift to the design, that is it is slightly skewed from the grain of fabric. After much soul searching and discussions with the group, I have decided to semi-fussy cut the pieces so they follow the directions of the print. It wouldn't be bad if I just sliced and diced, but I'd rather spend an extra 10 minutes cutting. One of the reasons I was waiting to cut the purple is that originally I was going to have a final skinny band of the border purple go around the edges, and I prefer to use length of fabric if I can but decided that would make the quilt just a bit too large, it is 96" long as it is. So, there will be enough for the border and the binding. I also have another one of my wild "big enough for a back" pieces with a purple background to use and get out of stash.

I've used up a lot of purple and white on white scraps, including the very last of many of them. Yay!