I have been busy.

Hi All,

I have not posted much this week, but I have been sewing. I had a few days that all I wanted to do was mindless sewing. Just feed fabric through the machine. Usually when I feel this way, I end up starting a new UFO, but not this time.

One of my goals for the week was to work on the Idaho Beauty ufo. When, I pulled that project bag, the next step needed was to make light and dark 4 patches. I already had the fabric cut, so I could just sit and sew.

As I was sewing I remembered that several other UFOs started needed the same thing, so I went digging around in my baskets. I pulled out 5 others that needed the same size 4 patch. they all had the fabric cut and ready, so I grabbed all of those pre-cut strips of lights and darks and spent about 5 hours total sewing strips.

Just because I am a bit odd I took a photo of all the strips before pressing. I even counted them. There are 287 strips of all sizes. some are width of fabric, a lot are from FQs. Decided to measure the stack. Ten inches worth of strips, a few are not shown, because I had already started pressing.

I try to keep my scraps tidied up by cutting and sorting them into boxes. I can, at almost any given time, grab a box and start a new quilt. Usually, the only thing I need to cut would be my neutral or lights. This being the case, I can go a long time without having to cut lots of fabric.


Well, after spending a day sewing, I was in the mood to cut fabric. I LOVE to cut fabric. I LOVE to take big pieces of fabric, cut it into smaller pieces, mix it up with other fabrics and then sew it back together.


Problem was, I didn't want to start a new project. I am trying to work on my very large collection of UFOs. What is a gal to do????? I know!!!!! Find a project that needs fabric cut to move onto the next stage!! And, so I did.


I have been working on Happy Blocks to make children's donation quilts. I had plenty of novelty fabrics, but was running out of my framing fabric. So, I spent 4 or 5 hours one day, digging through my stash and finding suitable fabrics that go together. Remember the photo I posted of my nice CLEAN table?? Well, here it is after a day of cutting.


This photo shows some strips that I cut both for the 4 patches I was doing and for the Happy Blocks.

This photo shows piles of fabric sorted for various things. One thing I did during my day of cutting was to kit up several planned Happy Blocks quilts. I have kits that feature fairies, butterflies, Pink Panther, ballet slippers, and bright flowers. I have all the blocks cut and all the framing strips. Yes, I know, all girly quilts. I have some sports fabric that I plan on making some quilts for boys, just haven't got co-ordinating fabrics, yet.

The next time I post, I hope to have a few pictures of some finished tops. I am having a sewing day with a few friends on Sunday. Planning on working on those Happy Block kits I got together.

What have you been up to???

Darlene