Digging into the precuts.

 

Every so often at the meeting I am asked how I cut up/store my fabrics when they are smaller than a f1/4 or f1/8th.

  Usually the bits land in a drawer until I find time to cut them up into usable  pieces. The pieces that I use most often are 2.5" strips and 5" squares.  After that if there is fabric left I will cut it into 2" and 1.5" strips.  If I have scrappy quilts on the go I will also cut pieces to use with those, then when I want to work on them I pull out the container and I have pieces cut and ready to stitch :).

 

Karen came across a great scrappy pattern that one of the gals had at sew day the other day.  I thought it would be a great retreat project so I figured out what I needed and went to my bins.  I had tons of 2" strips already cut so the only thing I needed was 3 7/8" squares .  Into my drawer of bits that

 I hadn't cut yet, and voila, tons of fabric to cut up into usable pieces for an awesome scrap quilt.

 

Its handy to have some sort of system in your sewing room to help make your quilting as fun as it should be. 

 

 

 

All of these strips were already precut in my 2" bin.  So far all I have had to cut are the squares.

 

How do you store the little bits that are left over? 

Happy Quilting Friends :)

 

 



Happy Saturday

Just a friendly reminder that this Wednesday is Club.  Bring along all your Show and Tell to share with the group.

 

We will be getting back to our Build a Quilt this month and be talking about Cutting and Measuring.  Bring along your favorite rulers to share with the group as well as any tips you have for cutting or measuring.  

 

 

Check out the Sew Days Page as I have added all the upcoming Sew Dates.

 



Working on a WIP

 

Today I was cleaning the office, since I could barely move in there since Christmas!!

  I keep all of my quilting books and magazines in there as well as some WIP's (I have run out of space in my sewing room!).

  Any how as I was cleaning up I came across a BOM quilt that I started in 2011 I believe.  It is the Coxcomb Medallion quilt by Susan Garman.  As always I was gung hoo at the beginning and slowly started to fade around month 7 and haven't even touched it in a few years!!

 

I did finish the center applique and a few of the borders before I started fading and I really love how it looks.

I have decided that this will be one of the many UFO's that I work on this year and I plan to make great efforts to finish it (I am sure my friend Theresa M. will make me stick with it)!!  My plan is to work on the blocks at retreats this year.  I like having small projects all  cut and ready to go and this would be perfect!!  One of the borders is all 6" finished blocks, another is random 3" finished blocks and the final border is Flying Geese....224 to be exact!!

 

I know many of you have been doing an awesome job completing some of your WIP's and that fantastic!!  Are you keeping track of how many you have completed so far?  Do you start a new project when you finish an older one??

 

 

Club starts back up on January the 27th at 7pm.

  See you all there, and don't forget to bring your show and tell and any great quilty Christmas gifts you may have received.

 

 

Happy Stitching everyone :)



What is on your list of to do's!

Today is finally a "down" day around my house.  The boys are out working on fixing fences and bedding the cattle (its cold and snowy here).  I am catching up on the housework and of course squeezing in a little sewing time :)

 

A few months ago I started making a list of my unfinished projects.  The list constantly grows as I come across projects, while looking for fabric for other quilts I am working on!  Yesterday I did get to cross one off my list though...the Swoon Quilt by Thimble Blossoms, I was making this for my great niece for her birthday.  It will be off to be long-armed sometime this week...yay!!  Do you make a list of projects on the go?

 

Another quilt I am working on is the Bonnie Hunter Winter Mystery for 2015.  I was lucky enough to have all of the fabrics needed for this quilt except for the grey.  Not to bad eh!!  I have fallen a little behind on it, but I am determined to catch up.  When I work on projects like this I have a tendency to move ahead before I am finished the first step, and so on!  Eventually all steps do get completed though :)

Time to go back and turn on a little music in the sewing room and start pressing and dancing...its like a mini workout while quilting...really, you should try it!

 

 

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year,

 

the Gals at Nimble Thimbles

 

Wind Up Party

On Tuesday we had our Wind Up Party.  It was fairly quiet, just a small crowd of 20ish, but there was enough food to feed at least a hundred!!  We played a few games, did some show and tell than ate and visited with one another.  we had a tiny little visitor grace us with his presence as well.  One of our members brought in her 3 week old baby boy, Nolan.  He got lots of snuggles and cuddles while mom and dad sat down and had a chance to eat. 

Over the summer Michelle is going to run a couple of Quilt-A-longs on our Facebook page.  Make sure you pop by often and check them out.  I am hoping to post them here as well for those of you that don't have Facebook.

We have 2 new BOM's starting up in the fall, one is a Jacobs Ladder Quilt and the other is an Orange Peel.  They both start up in October and run for 8 months and cost $15/month each. 

We will be running a Mini Club as well, and it started this month.  You can join in anytime you like.  There is a book to purchase for $33 and the cost for the fabric kits is $25/month every alternate month.  This is a great club with some fantastic mini quilts!  Our first quilt was the Vintage Bowtie.



We're Baaack...

After a loooong stretch of nothingness we are back!  It has been so long since I posted here that I actually forgot the password and username!  Can you imagine!

Anyhow I have it all figured out now and the plan is to post on a regular basis to keep you all up to date with club stuff :)

Last night we had our second last meeting of the season and it was fabulous!  There was a great turnout, with tons of awesome show and tell.  We capped off the night with a talk and short demo by the Bag Ladies (Trish and Michelle).  Man do those two have bags!!  They did a wonderful job of showing us that bag making isn't as difficult as it looks.  Grab a couple spare quilt blocks you have laying around, add a border or two, make and add handles, quilt to batting, sew sides together and add lining (don't forget the turning hole!), turn inside out and VOILA, you have a bag!!  Really its just that simple :)

Just a reminder that our June Meeting Date has changed to the 17th of June so mark your calendars.  We are going to have a potluck, same as previous years.  We will supply the meat and buns, and if everyone could bring something else that would be great.  See you all on the 17th.

 

Happy Stitching

Whats on your cutting Table?

Every year at this time, I find myself looking for a nice pattern about wall size, to make for Christmas.  This year I found that pattern in the back of the Fons and Porter Quilt Magazine.  It is actually a free download on their website.

It is called Stars of Hope.  I think they look a little bit like Christmas Wreaths.  When I went on retreat in November this was my main project.  I had it all pre cut and ready to sew, and it took me about a day and a half, I am really happy with it.......

......so happy actually that I have decided to make a second one.  The second one is in the same colours but the fabrics are a little different.  I don't think you can tell by the picture but the fabrics have gold flecks in them....very festive I think :)  Hopefully I will have a chance to work on this today!

Happy stitching Everyone,

Cindy