Scrappy Mountains in Trumbull!

Yesterday was the Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop in Trumbull! I was really glad they chose this for a workshop---When trying to get stash and scraps under control, it is sometimes daunting to a new scrapper to tell them to bring a large variety of fabrics cut into 2” strips, or 2.5” squares and 2.5” X 4.5” bricks…if you haven’t already started your own Scrap User’s System….it can be a HUGE undertaking to start cutting for a class that uses smaller pre-cut measurements and feel like you have the variety that an interesting scrap quilt requires. I understand this…so where is a good place to start?

With BIGGER pieces! Scrappy Mountain Majesties uses 8.5” squares that can be easily cut down from a collection of Fat Quarter cuts you have always wanted to use in “Something”---and after cutting some squares from the Fat Quarter, it is then easy to take the left-overs and start slicing them into the strip sizes that you want to use in your own Scrap User’s System. You can cut for a project for the workshop --- be ready fairly quickly---and have the beginnings of a good variety of strips and units in usable sizes as you continue to cut down the left-overs as you make them.

This is a question I get asked again and again and again….”Where do you suggest I start?! There is so much! There are boxes, and bins and it is too much to deal with---“

Start with a project you have always wanted to make….cut for it from your scraps…and as you clean up the left overs from that project…slice the remaining fabrics down. Make sure that NOTHING you take OUT of the “scrap box” gets puts back IN that “scrap box” again. We are going FORWARD, not BACKWARD! With the leftovers from this project being purposed into good sizes, they will be ready accessible for future quilts.

From then on, get into the habit of taking care of your leftovers just as you would take care of cleaning up dishes after a meal.

You can make your own rules as you go along….for instance, you might decide that anything bigger than 6.5”, or half the size of a Fat Quarter may remain whole, and be folded in and stored with the Fat Quarters by color, or style or what-have-you. But if that left over piece is smaller than that 6.5”…it gets sliced into sizes and filed away into the strip bins. Do what works for you! Once you have various sizes of strips, and a good variety of them, you will want to always be on the lookout for quilt designs that use the sizes of strips you have ready at hand.

It was a happy moment yesterday morning when I asked the group for a show of hands—who here this morning is sewing from at least 75% stash fabric?!? Lots of hands went up, and many also yelled that they were 100% stash users for this class. This makes me feel so happy!

		Scrappy Mountain Majesties, Trumbull CT 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And of course, I had to pose with the Millenium Fabric that found it’s way home with me after the scrap feeding frenzy the other day!

Somehow I never ended up with THIS one in my stash….let’s just say….that I’m going to have to cut this one REALLY SMALL if it is going to work in any future quilts! LOL!!!!! At this point, 3/4” strings are looking REALLY GOOD!

There has been binding activity happening in the evenings. Last night I finished binding the sampler quilt that has the Japanese fabrics on the back. I've got one side bound on the Scrappy Bargello that is also going to Japan. We keep plugging away! And they should be ready to mail off when I head back home.

I’m on my way to Poughkeepsie, NY! I’m visiting with the First Dutchess Quilters for a guild meeting on Wednesday night, and a Nine Patch Split workshop on Thursday! Come on Spring, send some warmer temps our way!

A Day in Trumbull, CT!

Have you ever visited a guild where the energy level was so high you could just FEEL it?

I just spent such a day with the CT Piecemakers guild in Trumbull! ((This friendship star is their guild logo!)) There is excitement building over many things--

They are involved in the “Just One Star” project and are sending MANY MANY stars to Moda, and I got to see them! ((Be on the look out Lissa…they are a-comin’!)) Such a wonderful way to honor our service men and women.

They are also in the planning stages for their next quilt show, and there is much talk and hubbub going on, many hands make light work, and I know this will pull together.

Just from the show and tell I saw, I wish I could be around for the show. The show and tell was AWESOME!

One thing that is really fun for me is to see other people’s interpretations of mystery quilts I’ve released. One of the guild members, Beazie, brought her Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt to show!

The maker is smiling brightly at the right side of the picture. I just love seeing how other people pull their fabrics together to make their quilt a reflection of themselves!

Shelley ((Who I’ve known via the internet for YEARS AND YEARS)) also brought HER version, which includes a different alternate block, completely changing the look of the quilt top:

Love love love this with the string blocks being used just as the setting triangles! Way to go, Shelley!

I also have a funny story about Shelley---Years and Years ago…maybe before I left Idaho and moved to Texas, but at least as long as Texas---I was Shelley’s longarm quilter. Shelley brought THIS quilt that I quilted for her many many years ago:

I remember quilting this quilt! It was so fun to see all the Christmas prints sewn up into the triple Irish chain blocks. It was great spending time with Shelley in person, and we are going to have another fun workshop day tomorrow.

And THIS…this was also a hoot! Since my lecture was on The Scrap User’s System--- a WHOLE table full of scraps was donated to the guild ladies…and at break time….it was a complete FEEDING FRENZY! Just look at this fun!

Hands in motion created the blur….but wouldn’t you just LOVE to dig through this?! And this was just the start of it..here is some more:

Hands off MY PIECE!! That one is MINE! LOL!

And, I have to admit…yes……Some fabric came home my way too……Guess who got some MORE Millenium fabric?

After the meeting I was treated to lunch, and set loose for the afternoon.

I donned my running shoes and took off for a 7 mile power hike along the Trumbull Rails To Trails! It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon, temps in the mid to high 60s, and perfect for enjoying nature!

Look closely at the reflection in the black rectangle above….can you SEE ME?!? It got warm enough to remove the denim shirt and tie it around my waist…Spring is a comin’ up north!

All kinds of people were out there enjoying the sunshine and beautiful surroundings. Here are a few pics I snapped along the way:

Rails To Trails, Trumbull CT 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Next Up? Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop! And the adventure continues ---

Tea, For Me!!

I am a tea drinker. And I have my favorites! I am always on the look out for new things though--

Just recently I came across Yogi Egyptian Licorice tea. I love the flavor of black licorice, and I know as an herb, it is touted to do a number of things:

“Licorice is useful for many ailments including asthma, athlete's foot, baldness, body odor, bursitis, canker sores, chronic fatigue, depression, colds and flu, coughs, dandruff, emphysema, gingivitis and tooth decay, gout, heartburn, HIV, viral infections, fungal infections, ulcers, liver problems, Lyme disease, menopause, psoriasis, shingles, sore throat, tendinitis, tuberculosis, ulcers, yeast infections, prostate enlargement and arthritis.”

Sounds like a total cure-all doesn’t it? Well I don’t know about old wives' tales, but you see that word MENOPAUSE in there?? I figure it’s worth a try! I just know I like the flavor of this tea….

So while we are on the subject of tea, I want to show you what Kathy made me! She first showed me this Tea Wallet during our Star Struck workshop in Wallingford, and I fell in NEED for one!

Isn’t this cute? It has all these pockets that will hold your tea bags, your splendas, etc….Love it!

The sides fold in like this…….into thirds…..and then:

And into thirds again, and look, it fastens with this adorable button!! Can’t you see all kinds of possibilities for these? They can hold other things besides tea too…..

So Saturday, at the workshop…..Kathy walked in with a whole boat load of these goodies, and told me to PICK A COLOR!!

I chose the red one with the big recycled brass button on it! Don’t you love this print?!

I also love the fabric she used as the lining….and it came with a couple of tea bags to get me started! I need to put some of my new Egyptian Licorice tea in the pockets and slip this into my purse so I am ready for tea on the go…

Don’t you just love the nifty cute things that Quilters come up with?

Today I am off to meet with the CT Piecemakers for a lecture/trunkshow this morning…it’s a whole new group to meet, and I can’t wait to get started!

Playing With Jacks Day!

Yesterday was the Playing With Jacks workshop with the Heritage Quilters in Wallingford, CT!

What a fun way to explore color, value, layout, variations, everything! Where there are lots of designs that make it hard to know if a Jelly Roll or Bali Pop will work due to the unknown nature of what strips are contained depending on fabric line, amount of lights/darks, variety, etc…This class is a GREAT one for them. We use the easy angle ruler so the 2.5” strips work for 1/2 square triangles…and the chains up through the center of each block only require 3 2.5” squares…so even short strips can be put to good use. We just had a great time!

I love catching pictures of the blocks in progress---first some units, then one block, then a few blocks, and by the end of the afternoon whole layouts are starting to happen and come together.

I love walking amongst the students and catching little snippets of conversation, and laughter and friendships being formed, strengthened, support, love, caring---Quilters are just amazingly resilient people who are THERE for each other. I could tell that this is a very close knit and welcoming group, just by observing all that was going on around me through the past few days.

		Playing With Jacks, Wallingford CT, 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I also did a bit of damage at the guild sale table……they were selling bundles of 20 FQ’s for $18!!

How could I not HELP the local guild fund raising efforts?

There are some real goodies in here, including some old calicoes I absolutely loved from the 80s & 90s. How old does a fabric have to be to be considered VINTAGE?!

And yes, even in this bundle….there was a sneaky piece of Millennium Y2K fabric that has now found its way back into my stash, after I swore I had used all that my fabric hoard posessed! LOL! I think there is a conspiracy to have me never be OFFICIALLY “out” of Millenium fabric….it goes right up there in line with the “lucky cows” !!

After the workshop, I was chauffeured down to Yankee Cloth in Wallingford—If you ever have a chance to go, DO! It’s a wonderful shop in a terrific old house in the historic area of Wallingford, and I’ve never been in a more welcoming shop where I felt like I was “home!”

My pics aren’t as good as the ones on the shop website, this was late afternoon and the light outside was all wrong for detail shots, but wouldn’t you like to come spend some time on this front porch? Here in the door way is my chaperone Sue, making sure I don’t get into too much trouble, and the shop owner, Nancy, who was as sweet as she could be!

The whole house/shop is full of all kinds of different fabrics, and I found myself up at the sale area unable to break away! I found some deals too good to pass up for quilt backs, and some pieces where I just had to take “what’s left on the bolt” because I couldn’t bear to leave it!

I absolutely LOVED the blue piece on the far left…and that checkerboard thing toward the right….that is going to be an awesome back as well. And the paisley? Who can resist a good neutral paisley! But I tell you what..I’m going to have to reign in my self control, or my car won’t be able to contain it all!

OH---got a funny call this morning from DH who says “How do I run this floor steamer?” Ummm, you put water in it and you turn it on and you wait for steam I honestly wish I was there to witness this! Even better is that I didn’t have to be there to do it! Thank you, DH for being there to hold down the fort while I follow my dreams. It means more than you will ever know.

Check out time is in 50 minutes, I’m packing my bags, loading up the car, and making my way toward Trumbull CT where I’ll be spending the next couple of days with the CT Piecemakers!