It’s a Packing Day!

I’m running LOW on Tumblers!  All I have is in this zip lock bag, and it is so low on variety.

I leave tomorrow for Missouri!

I’ll be flying into St Louis, picking up a rental car, driving 4 hours to Kirksville where I’ll be spending a few days with the Hands of Friendship quilt guild!

From there it’s off to Marshall,  for some time with the Stitch by Stitch Quilters, whoowhooo!

And that’s not all there is!  From there I go to Springfield to quilt it up with the members of the Ozark Piecemakers.

We cap this whole “Show Me Missouri” tour with the Quintessential Quilt Show being put on my the Circle in the Square Quilters of St Louis.

I am pretty much circling the entire state of Missouri!

And there will be many evenings of hotel stitching ahead of me…so along with my main project, I need to cut MORE TUMBLERS for the Tumbler Leader & Ender challenge!

Tackling This Bin!

We’ve got several newbies with us who are asking question such as “Just what IS a Tumbler Leader & Ender challenge?!”  I know it sounds confusing, but if you read me daily you will know all!  You will know more than you ever wanted to know, the good, the bad, the ugly, the opinionated – because I don’t sanitize my thoughts for anyone.  But that’s another topic for later.

Every year I issue a challenge for building units in between the lines of other stitching to build a FREE quilt with little effort throughout the year.  It’s a year long challenge, and it is so simple.  Just cut the shapes, and when you reach the end of your chain stitching, sew off on to a pair of these pieces, leaving them under the presser foot instead of using a folded over throw away scrap to do the same.  You can find out more on this year’s Tumblers Leader & Ender Challenge by clicking the Free Patterns Tab at the top of the blog and scrolling down to T for Tumbler.  It’s all there!

I hope you will join us!

So where was I?  Oh yes – this bin.

I’ve inherited odd scraps, hunks and chunks and have not had time to tackle them down into usable strips due to my schedule.  But last night I had had ENOUGH of staring at this bin, combed through it and pulled out everything that I could get a 2 1/2’’ strip out of.

Amazing how much better the scraps look when stripped down!

These odd strips are being cut into tumblers!  It was my clean up project last night while watching “Person of Interest” on Netflix ---Interesting series, check it out!

I cut a bunch of neutrals!

((Love that little Dutch print!))

I cut a bunch of colors!

Yes, EVEN CHRISTMAS!

My bins are filling!

I will have plenty to take with me on this trip to Missouri.

I’ve also been asked HOW MANY TUMBLERS do YOU need to cut for a certain size quilt based on your personal tumbler size.

I don’t know.  

But instead of asking me to do the math for you – because each tumbler die differs in height and width from the others depending on what size you are making,  and whose ruler or die you are using -you need to take this into your OWN hands and figure it out.

Piece one row – as long as you want it to be.

Count the tumblers in it. This is your width.

Divide the length of the quilt you want to achieve by the finished height of that row of tumblers and figure out how many rows you need to get the length of quilt you want.

Now multiply the number of tumblers in your pieced sample row by the number of rows you need and you’ll have a rough estimate of just what it will take to do YOUR quilt in YOUR Tumbler size.

Remember that 5th grade math? It still works!

And it will be different for everyone.

Remember that quilts DO shrink after quilting and washing, so take that into consideration.

New Hair Cut Selfie!

I took some time off of writing to get this hair taken care of yesterday.  I’ll be fresh for Missouri!

I have completed and sent off 10 pattern sections to my editor. Two remain.  One will be started today ((And hopefully finished today!)) and the last one is on its way back to me from the Quiltmaker Magazine offices in Golden, Colorado.  It’s making an appearance in the upcoming November/December 2015 issue, so be watching for it. That should be coming out SOON!

I’ll finish writing that one up for the book when I get back from Missouri….and then I cam off on a Caribbean Cruise with a ship load of 50 quilters ready to have a good time!  Can’t wait!

And with that, I better get back to it…have a great Tuesday, everyone!

Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!

Click Here to join our sister group, Quiltville's Open Studio on Facebook, a place to Sew, Share & Grow!!