Running crazy with hair on fire!!

Ok, that is an exaggeration but I am sure you have all been there! 

October has just flown by--since vacation and now next week is Halloween!  Let's see, work, birthdays, work, family obligations, work, fundraisers, work....uh, yea, you get the picture. And it has all been good, just not enough time in the day. I have sewn a bit and have stashed alot-- pics coming Sunday!  And yes, I had cake yesterday as it was my birthday! Another year of wisdom gained (at least I like to think so, lol!)
Well maybe, I was stopped for speeding yesterday---my birthday! --- seems I need to lose a couple pounds from my foot or ALWAYS use cruise control! The cute young police office was very nice--a warning was given along with a sincere "I hope you have a Happy Birthday"  Uh...yea...I need to learn to slow down!

So two things today: There is a huge color wheel swap going on and there are still 15 spots left if you are interested!  Great way to build your stash for all those winter sewing projects coming up! Check it out!

Color Wheel Charm Swap

Open for 56 Participants, each one will order 5 yards of fabric (1yd per print) in their assigned color group. Each yard will be cut into 56 5"x5" charms and then sent to the swap leader. Once I have received all of them you will be returned 1 charm of each print equaling 280 charms!

www.flickr.com/groups/colorwheelswap/

Also the Fall edition of the Bloggers Quilt Festival over at AmysCreativeSide starts tomorrow!!



Are you ready with your entry? I will be entering for the first time. Check it out here! Entry's will be nominated by readers and prizes will be awarded. Plus it is just so awesome to see so many talented quilters showing their work! Get ready for inspiration and awesomeness!

And don't forget the U R Priceless Blog Hop coming up! My day is Nov. 8th. So many cute frame coin purses! These will make awesome Christmas Gifts--I know a few are on my list of gifts to make!

Have a great day!
Ginny

Stash vs. DeStash Follow up

Good Morning or afternoon depending where in the world you are! :)

I want to Thank everyone who left a comment and suggestion on my "Stash or Destash" post. (You can read it below or here). I have updated the comments, as I normally reply by email to all comments I felt this post could add some discussion so included mine also. I am happy to say, my sewing room is back in working order. Fabric is stacked back in the closet - by project order - I have purchased a journal to organize and prioritize those projects and am contemplating a year long journey of only sewing the projects I already have - as Sherry suggested in her comment. Can I do it?
Could you do it?

I do know that I am committing to cutting up those scrappy leftovers as they occur into something that will be usable vs. letting them grow out of the scrap bag. I find it hard to throw any away... so this will be helpful.

So here is the cleaned up version:

Yes, much, much better!

And there is a peak at my Great Granny squares. I have another post for them coming up next!

Have a great day!

Ginny

Catch of the Day

Good Monday Morning!

I have been working on the house this week and have had little time to sew, but I will leave you with a some eye candy of a bit of fabric that arrived recently--so FUN!  Living in a small lake community I thought this would make wonderful hot pads or grill mitts as gifts for my neighbors who are so great at helping me out when needed (like charging my dead car battery or mowing my grass!)

                                                  Catch of The Day by Hoodie

Hopefully this week I will "catch" a bit more time for sewing, and I will see you soon! Hoping your week goes great! Happy Sewing!

P.S. Regarding the Vintage Modern giveaway, I did hear back from Michelle at If Toys Could Talk and that yummy little pack of sweetness is on its way to a new home! Thanks to all who entered and signed on, hopefully there will be another giveaway soon :)

String Blocks

The patterns for the Craftsy BOM's for March focused on string blocks. Now I had always admired these but thought they looked way complicated! And then there is the issue of how do you make sure you are going to like how they turn out if you go scrappy.....and if you don't, well then you have to sit and sort and well just seems kind of time consuming....so I never tried them.
I am sooo glad I finally did! I love them! So FUN!
These were made with strings from the group of fabrics I am using from stash for this project.

First was the String Block

I did this one in the warm colors of pinks, brown, yellow, lavender and fuschia. The white strip is actually the background material. I really like how it turned out. So easy!

Next was the Broken Spider Web block

For this one I chose the cool colors. Lots of blues, greens, turquoise, lavender, with just a bit of pink and fuschia to pull it all together with other blocks in the quilt. I love the look of this block!

A word of caution when working on this block; the background fabric - the white - begins as triangles. So when you are sewing on your strings you are sewing with bias edges. Be careful, when working on the bias edge it does not take much to stretch the fabric. Then you end up with a block that is all whopperjawed! (love that technical term)  I did use spray starch when pressing these before sewing together. I think it really helps prevent stretching and distortion. I do use steam to press (not iron). I consider pressing more of setting the iron down on the area to press and then picking it right back up---No pushing back and forth like you do when trying to get wrinkles out -- that I call ironing and it will stretch fabric. Trust me, I have done it.  I know this debate on dry press vs. steam press continues on in the quilting community...... I think it is one's own preference and you can have a beautiful project either way! 

A big THANK YOU and WELCOME to my new followers! It is always nice to know that someone is reading and enjoys what you do.    Happy Monday!