One person's fabric therapy is another person's insanity...

I had an epiphany over the weekend...tiny, fiddly, insane piecing is NOT my strong suit, although crazily KEEPING tiny pieces of fabric for later projects IS my strong suit.  How crazy is that?

I have been sorting through my reproduction scraps for tiny bits and strips to make into blocks for my attempt at Sue Garman's properly named "Ohmigosh!" quilt.  The smallest pieces are 1/2 inch finished.



I have been watching others work on this project out in the blogosphere...some at an amazing speed...and my hat is OFF to you!

I finally decided I needed to stop and put one of the two block types in this quilt together to see if I have the right stuff to make this.  OMG...those four patches are tiny!  And the nine patches? Wow!!!

That shoo fly block will finish at 4-1/2 inches...SERIOUSLY, Ohmigosh!

I find myself cutting up every repro scrap...even this cheater cloth...to find tiny bits and pieces to use in this scrappy quilt.

I am SOOO much more comfortable with teeny, tiny APPLIQUE pieces, which I know most of YOU find insane!

Clearly, one person's fabric therapy is another person's insanity...and vice versa!

I will not give up on "Ohmigosh," but I am definitely more comfortable...and faster...with the fiddly hand applique!  I so admire my friends who can just whip out the intricately machine-pieced tops.  But for me, it is like trying to speak another language that I am not that comfortable in speaking!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)

Going nuts and squirreling away nuts...

Oh, the fluff has been flying in the quilt cave lately!  LOTS of playing with scraps and scrap management...I feel like the scraps have been taking control of the cave!

I have my reproduction scraps segregated into bins, and I can't close them any more!  I considered throwing some out, but couldn't bring myself to do it...the scraps are so beautiful.  Guess I need to start chain piecing something...

So I have been cutting one inch strips from whatever size chunk I pull out of the bins in neutral and medium-dark prints.  I match them up in length, one neutral and one print, and chain piece them together.  

Some I leave as just two strips sewn together, one neutral and one darker print.  With others, I add an additional neutral strip or darker print.  I press all seams toward the darker fabric.

Then I slice those multi-length strip sets into one inch little strips and make either tiny nine-patches or tiny four-patches.

These nine-patches will finish 1.5 inches square and the four-patches will finish 1 inch square...see?  That's where the "going nuts" part comes from...fabric therapy!

Here are some of my scrappy strip sets awaiting slicing...

I started with scraps from THIS container...

...and I cut my one inch strips and actually put scraps too narrow or too short in THIS container (NO IDEA what I will do with THOSE).

So, where is all the insanity leading?  I am going to start working toward making Sue Garman's "Ohmigosh!" quilt.  You can find the pattern here on her web site.

Here is Tazzie's version that she just finished...it is getting quilted now (you can see her blog here).  She pieced hers in a matter of weeks...unbelievable!

Here is another version that Sue Garman shared on her blog made by her friend Marsha.  She incorporated applique baskets blocks into the pattern...hmmm...



Here is Sue Garman's original version...



And now for the other nuts...the ones I am "squirreling away." Even though family matters around my parents' estate are still being ironed out, it is becoming more and more clear that we will be moving south from SE Michigan to NW Alabama next summer.

The monumental task of moving the quilt cave is beginning to dawn on me (kind of like a ton of bricks falling on my head).  We have been in this house for 20 years and my stash was so much smaller in 1995.  (Along with my quilting circle of friends, which will be the hardest thing to move away from...)

There will still be a quilt cave, but I need to go through EVERYTHING and only take what I will really use (which will still be too much).  Our fabric tastes change over time, so some fabric will be bagged and tagged and sold at a "quilter's garage sale" in the spring with my two buddies, Ola and Mary.  They are also paring down their stashes to make things more manageable. This will be the "2nd Annual Quilter/Crafter's Garage Sale" as the three of us did this last fall...much to the delight of local quilters!  

It was hard whittling down the stash last year, but now I've got to be brutal and serious.  I've started the process and have been stashing bags of "bagged nuts" in the attic, using quart, gallon and 2-gallon Ziploc bags.

At some point I will re-adjust my remaining bins to use some of the empty bins I am producing...that way what is left won't be bursting out of their bins and will have a little more breathing space.

I meant to post this last Monday so that I could tag Jill of the Happy To Sew blog.  She continued the "Around the World Blog Tour," and you can click on the link to check it out!  She directs you where to go next Monday to check out the blogs she tagged.  

This has been such a fun blog tour!  I had a 48-hour stomach bug at the beginning of the week and was beginning to think "ebola."  I feel MUCH better now!

Anyone else out there wanting to take on the "Ohmigosh" quilt? We could work on it together!

In stitches,
Teresa   :o)