How I am getting around Blogger's current problem...maybe it will work for you!

I caught up on 3 blocks for the Bee Balm bee that I belong to online.  Here are two of them...

Two people wanted blocks with the same pattern, I think it is called a double Ohio star.  It was fun, especially trying to do it in two color ways.

I've also been on a quest to tame my out-of-control scrap situation, pressing, cutting and feeding SEVERAL scrap quilt projects.  Once I get pieces gathered, I will have plenty of fodder for leaders and enders, and for mindless chain piecing when I only have 15 minutes to sew.  Sewing time has been rare lately, and I needed something simple for the times when only 10-15 minutes was possible.

I love this little number.  It is a Bonnie Hunter design that I found in Quiltmaker Magazine (she has had a scrappy feature every issue for a while where she shares a great scrappy block).  I think this one was called something like "Positive/Negative).  Each little square quartet will finish 9 inches square.  I have a container to hold all pieces, finished blocks, and 2-inch strips that will be sub-cut into the pieces needed.

I enclose a card that reminds me what and how I cut the pieces, and a pressing diagram (so I only have to figure it out once!).

There are MANY other Bonnie Hunter scrappy quilts I want to do from both of her Scraps and Shirt Tails books.  This one...

 And this one...

And this one...

And this one...

Also tons of 1.25 and 1.5 inch strips for log cabin type quilts and lots of strings for crazy blocks, like the ones needed in the quilt above.  Applique quilts are calling, but I really need to finish taming my scrap stash.

So in closing, please know I have been reading many of your blogs, just unable to comment and tell you that I have been.

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

Scraps are taking over!

Just a quick post...mostly to get rid of the picture of the lady with the zippered mouth.  I've heard from some of you saying she was a little creepy.

I've been holding on to my new Stars and Sprigs pattern for months now while finishing other projects.  That has the appearance of being disciplined, but really I've been having a hard time deciding how to proceed with this pattern.  I've been trying to decide between brights and reproduction fabrics. 

I FINALLY decided to experiment with some brights, maybe because it is spring and all the lovely flowers and new tree leaves have been influencing me.

I've cut out and glue stick prepped about 10 blocks worth of applique.  Each pattern and the prepped pieces are in a separate sheet pocket protector until I can get to them.  After glue basting the shapes from one of the blocks to the background, I'm thinking I need to make some of the more leaf looking pieces other colors than bright greens.  There are so many leaves in the whole project that I need to loosen up and stretch my definition of leaf color, or the quilt is going to read too green.

I've had to put this project on hold while I deal with my scraps...they are taking over the quilt cave!  The containers I sort scraps into are near to bursting, which means the piles of unsorted scraps have been growing because there is no place to sort and store them.  I've been looking for a block that I misplaced and I keep bumping into scrap piles!  It is insane!  

I have to stop and feed some of the scrap quilt projects I want to do to clean this clutter up!  This involves pressing each scrap and then processing it into strips, squares, rectangles, and strings.  I've been needing to do this for several months, but I didn't want to stop the applique and quilting projects I was working on to do it.

Once I've done this, I'll have oodles of space to sort and store NEW scraps.  And I will have endless leaders and enders ready to go while sewing on other projects.  All these scrap quilts are long term projects...but I will soon have quite a few processed bits to chain piece together.

As I process the scraps, I save the tiny bits for small applique shapes and crumb quilting.  I sort those into 4 bins...WARM (red, yellow, orange, pink), COOL (blue, green, purple), BROWN/BLACK and NEUTRAL. 

Next post I will show the 8-9 scrap projects I am currently feeding...and maybe by then I will find the missing block that prompted all this stash maintenance.

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

I have a whole town now (mostly)...

Here are the 12 block-of-the-month blocks of "All Around the Town" (Sue Garmon) assembled into the quilt center.  Woo hoo!

Before adding the "road" stop border (with appliqued cars!) and the outer border, I still have some yellow stars to add and applique and a few more tiny embellishments (lawn art).  I needed to get the hunks of houses pieced together and get it up on the design wall so I could see what other little touches needed adding to make the top feel balanced to me.

I've made some doodles of little tiny things I want to applique...I want to add a sheep or two, a garden gnome, a pink flamingo or two and a cart of fish with a fishing pole.  There are some other little characters running around in my head, but I don't have them on paper yet.

I had to stop and do some quilt cave maintenance.  Remember this?

I needed to sort and put away some scraps that have been piling up.  The bigger pieces get sorted by color (or type) and go into art bin containers.

The tiny bits get sorted into one of four larger bins of wee bits...warm (yellow, orange, pink, red), cool (green, blue, purple), brown/.black, or neutral/white.

I use these bins a lot when working on an applique project like these houses.  Sometimes a small bit is the perfect piece when I am doing really small scale applique motifs.

And I always say, if you want to be a better quilter, hang out with great quilting friends!  Here are a few show and tell items made by my friend Kathy F. (no blog).  She is amazing!  These free pieced houses are just two in a series of Island structures standing on her coastal Maine property. 

 She also made this cool liberated architectural quilt (don't you love the Seattle space needle?!?).

And here is her finished "Roll, Roll, Cotton, Boll" top, the latest mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville.com (that is Kathy on the right).  Yep...now that I've seen it up close and personal, I want to make one, too!

It is just stunning!  I don't know how Bonnie keeps coming up with such awesome scrap quilts!!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)