County Clare Lay Out!

Quilter's Yoga Day!

You know how it goes - bend and stretch and twist and reach and....

I honestly think that doing this for as long as I CAN do this enables me to keep doing this.

It's a move it or lose it kind of ability.

At least that is what I keep telling myself.

Design floor.  It's all I've got.  This would not fit on a design wall anyway - I'd never be able to reach the top row.  Beside - I have no design wall space to speak of in the QPO studio.

So design floor it is.

I started out by laying out the blocks - 

First the "right" ones...and then when I was out of those I added in the "wrong" ones and just went as far as they could go.

Funny thing - I have like 4 bloks left over.  And some pieces parts.

How much bigger did I actually think I was going to make this thing?

From here it was pressing fabrics, cutting and adding sashings.

Click to Play:

Oh how I love a good variety of fun neutrals!

Next up - blue cornerstones.

I pulled out my 1 1/2'' scrap squares drawer and grabbed all of the light-to-medium blues. There are some oldies but goodies in here - including squares left from recycled shirts.

I love trimming my small scraps into useable sizes - it just makes sense.  I didn't have to pull a bazillion fat quarters or strips to press them and cut the cornerstones I needed.  I already had this much variety on hand.

Keep feeding your squares drawers!  You will use them - I promise you. You might end up making a bunch of nine-patches or four-patches or checkerboard borders with them if they start to overwhelm you, but honestly.  Cutting the small scraps into sizes I use all the time: 1 1/2'', 2'', 2 1/2'' and 3 1/2'' keeps the scraps somewhat manageable.  

I call these saved squares "Quilt Seeds!" because they can ALWAYS be used somewhere at sometime for something.

This is where I left things yesterday afternoon.

About the time I got all of the cornerstones laid into place the Brown Bird Bee gals started to arrive and I went into full retreat host mode.

I will start putting this quilt top together today.

And if you look to the right of the photo you'll see Ladder Star hanging on the long arm rail.

Guess what happens TOMORROW?!

Pattern Release and Gift-Away starts TOMORROW!

I'll be drawing for two winners who will each receive a Ladder Star PDF pattern from me and a neutrals roll from Cotton To Quilts!

The neutral rolls are fantastic - that's what I dug into to cut the sashings for the County Clare quilt above. The neutral rolls are my FAVORITE fabric grab.

Yes - there will also be introductory pricing.  No coupon needed.  And it all starts right here tomorrow.

Filling in with fans!
This is the the back side of my red/white/blue stars quilt that I've been hand quilting.  
See how I"m working toward the center?
Once it gets to this far in, things start to go much faster. Fewer fans are needed to fill each side as I move my hoop to the next area.
With all that is going on, do you think I can have it done by New Years?
That's the goal!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

I honestly don't know what I would be doing if it weren't for quilting and all it has brought into my life. ⁣

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To my quilty friends - thanks for keeping things far from boring! ⁣

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1930s Dresden plate quilt found in North Wilkesboro, NC.

Have a terrific Thursday, everyone!