Well, THAT was Quick!

When did I start making these? Does anyone remember? Less than a month ago I believe.

I have a wonky log cabin quilt hanging in bedroom 3 at Quiltville Inn over one of the beds.

It's a mess of scrappy everything and I loved making it.

I've made several Courthouse Steps quilts in wonky fashion - and I've started another of the half light/half dark wonky logs from strings, but it languished and is in a bin somewhere.

So tell me why, instead of getting bored working on this one I could push it through like nobody's business?

The whole premise was to sew down the bin of recycled shirt strings.  You know those pieces left behind from cutting down shirts for use in quiltmaking.

Collars, cuffs, pockets, plackets and even pieces torn along the hem to get the shirt back or fronts on grain. 

The forgotten bits.

Greens and purples were completed over the weekend.

I had to enhance a bit with the purples. While there ARE purple shirt pieces in these blocks, I had to dig into the purple strings bin to find other plaids and stripes and some small prints that were not from shirts, but fit in just fine.

All of the center squares came from my boxes of pre-cut squares from the Scrap User's System - so they aren't necessarily plaids either - but they work.

And I think that too much plaid on plaid on plaid can look less interesting - it's fun to throw a bit of other things in there.

And this is what I decided on.

Color rows with a half-block drop on the even numbered rows.

I set right on in to web the top!

Lola couldn't care less.

I finished sewing the top yesterday afternoon!

And I've decided NOT to add borders.  I like it just as it is. it measures about 75'' square - perfect for a couch throw.

More close up!

Loads of shirts in the neutrals, but some other things too just to break up the plaidy-stripey just a bit.

It's a good size!

Just about this time UPS drove up and I KNEW what was on that truck.  I'd been waiting for it for more than a week!

I DID A THING!

I did a thing I'd been wanting to do since the late 1990s.

I bought a Juki I kept telling myself that I didn't need.

Have you ever done that? For more than 20 years?

And it was the working on these blocks, and other paper pieced creations that told me to just bite the bullet and buy the machine.

Can you hear the voices in my head?

"You can get by without that machine - look at the other machines you have.  You don't need this machine."

I've been paper piecing on my Janome 6500 which has many great qualities, but even with the straight stitch plate,  it would knot up at the beginning of the seam occasionally unless I started my stitching 1/8'' in from the edge of the fabric. It wasn't a true straight stitch machine.

The Janome does way more than I will ever need, and less  than I want it to do.  

I bought it because I thought I might want to do machine applique at some point, but I haven't.  I prefer doing my "regular" piecing on my 301 - so the Janome was only being used for the thread cutter for string piecing and paper piecing.  And it still had that madenning issue of knotting up at the beginning of a seam.  Or the needle would become unthreaded.

At any rate, for more than 20 years I have told myself NO over the machine that I really wanted. and have dealt with the Janome since 2009 when I brought it home.

My first Juki test run?

I found YARDAGE big enough for the backing!

Only it is a wide stripe, with the flower motifs evenly spaced, and they face either left or right - 

The Juki's first job was to stripe match.  I think it did a pretty good job down the center of that brown stripe!

So today - will I load this quilt?  I don't know.

Do I feel guilty about the Juki purchase?  I don't know.

I'm getting over it!

Life is short.  We shouldn't have to struggle with a machine that doesn't do what we need it to do in the way we need it to do it.

Don't settle for less. And Christmas is coming!

Oh, this is a Juki 2010Q.  I bought this one because it came with the walking foot and other things. There is a 2000Qi for about $100.00 less, but I knew I'd need that walking foot down the road.

I placed both in the Sewing Machines category of the Quiltville Amazon Affiliate Store. 

I purchased it on Amazon as there are no Juki dealers anywhere near me.

And now I feel the need to find a project for paper piecing that will help me dig into all the crumbs and small bits that are taking over everything.

Whatcha talkin' about, Mama??

And in Bristol news! 

Bristol is a hit!  And I have so many of you to thank for that!  

Gift-Away entries are over 3,200! That's such a good indicator that I'm not the only one in love with star quilts, or plaids or plaid star quilts!

Thank you!

If you haven't gotten your entry in, please visit the Gift-Away Page and do so!  We will draw for our two winners on Saturday 10/29/22.

I will be drawing for 2 lucky winners that will each receive a Bristol PDF pattern from me and a Checks & Plaids Color Roll from  Cotton to Quilts!

Quilt Details:

Plaid Paradise!

For the star quilt lovers everywhere - Whether you sew with shirt plaids or scrap stash, Bristol is bound to be a favorite!

Easy to follow instructions, optional construction methods, full color photos and graphics to guide you from beginning to binding!

Quilt Size: 75'' X 75''

Optional but helpful: Bonnie K. Hunter's Essential Triangle Tool and either the Simple folded Corners ruler, or the Simple Folded Corners Mini.

Traditional rotary cutting methods are given for those who don't have access to these rulers.

Introductory Special: I have placed the PDF pattern for Bristol at 25% off in both the Quiltville Store and the Quiltville Etsy Pattern Shop.  No coupon needed!  Sale price good through 10/31/22.  Hurry now and save!

I've also placed the PDF pattern for Spider & The Fly  at 25% off in both the Quiltville Store and Quiltville Etsy Pattern Shop - no coupon needed!

The price is good through 10/31/22 and will revert back to full price on 11/1/22.

TODAY:  Pam's Scrappy Sisters are on their way to Quiltville Inn traveling from near Nashville, TN!  I am wishing them a safe and fun journey as they make their way.

We checked on the paving situation down the road from Quiltville Inn, and in true bad-luck fashion, they are only about 1/2 mile up from the inn which means that they should be paving in FRONT of the inn at some time today.  Of course!

But we will deal with it, and it will be nice - the new section we drove on yesterday was sure smooth!  It will be worth a few traffic snafus and waiting time for "Single Lane Ahead." type activity.

What do you have in store for your Wednesday?

Oh, and I almost forgot to share this:

Whitetop Mountain, VA

Yesterday afternoon! 28 degrees!

Check out that frost line!  Now you know why they call it Whitetop!  I'm just not ready for things to be this cold so soon. Yikes.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

I find this to be so very true in many ways.

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I find it hard to create unless I am in a creative frame of mind.

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That said - even when I'm not feeling it encouraging myself to get in there and do something positive will often bring creativity back as I work my way through whatever I am dealing with.

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How do you get your own creative juices flowing?

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!