Big Talk & Rotary Cutters

Today was the day for Big Talk From Small Libraries, a webinar series hosted by the Nebraska Library Commission. If I remember correctly this was the fourth year I participated in this.  They last all day from about 9am to 5pm with some short breaks. Very inspiring, but that's a long time to be glued to the computer, so yes, I  was the one cutting quilt pieces for itty, bitty Spool blocks. I say itty bitty because four of these will make a 6" finished block. My laptop was on the cutting table next to me so I could listen & watch while I wielded the rotary cutters.

The presentations lasted until 5pm  and by 4pm I had cut up all the strips and had my container, a bread pan, about filled up with kitted up block pieces. Now when I feel like it I can just sew, sew, sew.

It was a good way to spend a cold day. Now, I wonder what we're having for supper.......

Scrap Sorting & Pressing....

.....ready to cut into pieces the right sizes to make beautiful quilts. It's a very quiet Sunday, perfectly suitable for this sort of activity.

Fabric has gotten so expensive that it just makes good sense to try to use up the scraps...ala Bonnie Hunter.  I have a couple quilts in mind so I will cut for them as I go through these.  This box has been on a shelf in the basement storage area for quite a while. I'm finding old favorites from the days in the 1980s to the mid-1990s when I sewed for craft fairs.  Brings back memories!  The smallest pieces that I save are 2" squares. Some of the patterns I like use 1 1/2" squares but if I actually make them I'll start out with strips that size...much easier to handle.  Anything smaller than the 2" size finally goes in the trash....and then Hubby digs through them to find the ones usable as gun cleaning patches! Seems like the usefulness of this old fabric never ends. :)

To All

Happy Friday the 13th!!

And we get another one next month!!  I'm not superstitious so it's just another day. My day will be happy if the sewer line gets routered out yet today. I have calls in to two different guys. Whoever gets here first gets the job. I WILL be nice enough to call the one that doesn't......

Today, besides waiting for the sewer guy, I'm just cutting down some scraps into 2" and 2 1/2" inch squares for future quilts. I don't keep anything smaller than that. There IS a quilt pattern that I want to make that calls for 1 1/2" squares, but I think I'll start with strips sewed together, then cut in segments and made into four patches. I'm really itching to start something new, but I still have three quilts of my own to get quilted. Will I be able to hold out?

This quilt was started as a project at our January Orchard Quilters meeting. We held a Jelly Roll Race for the center part and the challenge was to bring it back finished to the February meeting. Or, at least finished into a top. I managed to get mine quilted and bound so it's in the FINISHED pile.

It's made from a Bonnie and Camille Miss Kate jelly roll from Moda, along with some yardage for borders and binding.  I just squeaked by on fabric for the binding because I had used the same fabric for my daughter's quilt at Christmas and I had only bought a yard...had something like an inch left over. I'm keeping this one and it will live on the back of my couch this summer. It's such a bright, cheerful quilt.