Organized Chaos

I was bragging to Darlene this week about my leaders/enders system ( a la Bonnie Hunter) and thought it was time for me to fess up.  I really want to be organized when I grow up, but it is a daily struggle. I always have the best intentions and try really hard, so I get an A+ for effort!! But yesterday illustrates that I get D- for achievement!!
Here is a photo of some of the remaining pieces of my Cherrywood fabric that I cut and organized into block groupings and then put into a baggie. I keep the baggie beside my sewing machine and in between other things I am sewing I put a couple of squares through.
Yesterday I wanted to work on this floral pinwheel project (click here to see some of it...it's the floral panel on the bottom of the design wall). I found the project box and look what I found inside...a  renegade little 2" block that had been AWOL for 2 months! I was sure that I had finished piecing all those blocks and I was hoping it would turn up... and it did!

Now that the lost was found (yippee!)  I looked around for the crossed canoe project box and started working on that quilt, leaving the floral pinwheels untouched! I made lots of progress on the canoes, and in between piecing these blocks,  I was putting through my leaders and enders blocks.
And then I discovered that the rest of the pieces for this block are (you guessed it)
... AWOL!  I searched around the sewing table, the ironing board, and my clothing (sometimes squares and blocks stick to your clothes and the grocery clerk laughs at you...that has happened to you, right?!?) but the remaining pieces were gone! I don't have enough of this Cherrywood fabric to cut more pieces, so if I can't find them, I can't use this block. I am positive that I cut out the exact number of squares I needed, so they are "somewhere"....but where? Again, I waste more time searching....I check all the project boxes that are on the table and vow never to open more than 1 or 2 at a time, but no luck.  So I put all these projects away, went back to the floral one I started the day with, and got out my new leaders and enders project, which still has all the pieces I need!! Are you understanding my problem!?!
Maybe I could try be a normal person and work on ONE quilt at a time?
Not likely!!
Maybe I need an executive assistant to help me to be organized!! Just think of how many quilts I could finish with the time I would save not looking for things!!

Design Wall Monday #28

Evolution of a leaders/enders project:
Step #1 - buy a Scrap Bag or (use your own!)
Step #2 - organize the pieces, cut into useable shapes (I started with 1 1/4" squares) and store within easy reach to put a few pieces through the sewing machine at the start and end of piecing that you are doing on your main projects
Step #3 - make some starting blocks...mine were 2" simple 4 patch blocks
Step #4 - keep sewing and let the project evolve...my blocks turned into 3 1/2" double 4 patch blocks
Step #5 - don't get bored with it since you don't make much progress sewing just a few blocks here and there in between your major quilt projects...my blocks have now become these 6 1/2" triple 4 patch blocks which are on my design wall today.

Step #6 - change what you don't like and make more of what you do like. I don't like the light coloured background blocks (the beige and the light pink and maybe the light teal) so I'll reconstruct those.
Step #7 - play with your blocks, arranging them into possible layouts - stay tuned to my blog...when I have enough blocks made, I'll work on some layouts!
What's on your design wall today? Check out the design walls on Judy's blog - click here.

Design Wall Monday #20

I have been playing with my Cherrywood fabric scraps and trying to get a little more organized about this leaders and enders project that I wrote about on this blog post last month. At that time I was cutting 1 1/4" squares and making little 4 patch blocks. This is what I have on the design wall today.

They have become double 4 patch blocks. I am not matching anything, just picking up random 4 patch blocks and 2" squares from a pile and sewing them together. I'm getting down to the bottom of the "grab bags for crazies" that I bought last year so I have to make some design decisions now. I had thought about alternating an hourglass block but today I'm thinking that a triple 4 patch would be fun!
And did you notice that Judy posted the cutting instructions for her new mystery quilt? Click here to get cutting. I am still washing my fabrics but I'll soon be ready to go!
Click on over to Judy's blog to see the other design wall photos posted.

Design Wall Monday #16

Not much got accomplished in quiltland this week, but I enjoyed putzing along on my various projects at a snail's pace.
Here is my design wall as of last night. Slowly getting the piano key border sewn for this quilt. I don't have enough length on any of these yet. Since I enlarged the quilt from the original kit, I have to find some more stash pieces to add in. I'm thinking about using the smaller scraps to try to miter the keys in the corners.
While sewing this border and working on last week's project, I have also made some progress on my leader's and enders project. You can see the beginning of it last month on this blog post.
Then I found the Stitching Circle blog where Karen showed her version of Bonnie Hunter's Patches and Pinwheels design and I thought about adding in some pinwheels and turning these 4 patches into a quilt like that. But that would require buying more fabric, and I really just want to use up my scrap bags of Cherrywood fabric that I bought in Paducah last year.
And speaking of Paducah...this time last year I was in Paducah for a fabulous week of quilting fun. One of the quilters from our group last year went again this week, and the rest of us sent little shopping lists with her...well some of the lists were little, and some of us have already spent the amount she is allowed to bring over the border duty free!!  I hope she's having a blast as our professional quilt shopper this week!
If you were going to Paducah, what class would you want to take? Click here to check out the class list.  I've studied the list of classes (hey, a girl's gotta dream!) and picked out my favorites...I'd sign up for Esterita Austin's class on creating depth, or Kaffe Fassett's class on St. Mark's diamonds, and Lyric Kinard's class on surface design, or Bonnie McCaffery's Kaleidoscope piecing and...
It's 9:00...time to come back to reality and get to work.

Leaders & Enders

For years I have been starting and stopping each line of quilting with a scrap of fabric.  I was never happy with the thread cutter on my Brother machine since it cut the thread ends too short, and then the needle always came unthreaded when I went to sew again.
So I started using the scraps, aka "the hairy guy" or "thready freddy"!
And guess what?
I have a jar for that!
Yep...I saved these little hairy guys in jars, and have no idea why, except that I am not a well person, but my blog readers already know that!
Since reading Bonnie's new Leaders & Enders book, I was inspired to organize a new project for myself.
I dug around in the closet and found the scrap packs I bought at Paducah last year. These are from Cherrywood Fabrics, which was one of my favorite booths at the Rotary show - click here to see the website and here to see what I bought. They sell hand dyed fabrics that have such a lovely texture that they look almost like suede.  I had purchased 2 of their "Scrap Bags for Crazies" because the title just applied to me!! LOL !

I opened up my Scrap Bags for Crazies and started cutting. First I cut fabrics for 4 patches, since they seemed to be a building block for many of the designs in Bonnie's book. I cut the large squares 3 1/2" because I could get 2 of them out of the size of the largest scrap. But that was way too big for me, so I cut some  a few hundreds of 1 1/4" squares and I love them.
So now instead of putting a thready freddy before and after each seam I sew, I stick a couple of little squares under my needle, and in several years time, I'll have a placemat to show you!!