pieces of this and that

well, i am paper piecing for the first time and although it is easier to get your blocks to come out exact (which i love) it does require more fabric and time than i thought it would. so lesson number one.....huge chunks of fabric are worth it. this is just the first piece of the block i am working on for the 3x6 sampler quilt mini bee....i know it took me a while to get started but i am going now. i chose this circle of geese pattern. the tutorial is here. it took me forever to make up my mind. i wanted to do this one from the start but everyone said it was really hard. i tried to find another one but i kept coming back to this and....you never know until you try, right? i think it will be interesting to see how the different backgrounds influence the design. i am going to experiment with that as i go along but i do not see myself doing it in traditional white....for this bee anyway. i love clean white lines and sashing but my hive was rather challenging in the color selections. i am still pulling and debating.

i wanted to thank all my swap buddies for their incredible generosity and amazing fabric collections. it has made my own stash look pretty darn good. special thanks to ellen, melanie and marg for all the extra time and effort spent with me. you ladies have been a blessing in many ways and are exceptional people as well as quilters.

this little pile is one i picked up today...i know....STOP BUYING.

speaking of quilters, i ran into a photostream tonight while surfing around. i hope she does not mind me mentioning this but her quilting is quite simply gorgeous. she is new to flickr so take a look at her work. she stated she had been quilting quite some time......it shows. you can find it here.

tomorrow i am going to document all of the projects that i intend to accomplish to date. i did not want to say for the year. i go so slow and i am still quite behind with many ufo's left over from the new years challenge and next week i have two visitors coming to town to celebrate someones first birthday! yes, julieann and jackson will be here! yea!!!!!

love to all,

my sympathy and empathy to bek

my encouragement to marg

leslie

Eye candy out of disaster

one of the things on my list to do is to renovate my sewing space. i am extremely fortunate to have a large space that, if done right, should be awesome. i am so indecisive. do i have things built in, fabric storage.....in airtight containers to protect it? in small shelves so i can see it? do i group it by color? designer? what do i do with all this stuff i have accumulated? it is daunting. one good thing that has come out of this is i get to pull out all my fabric again and fondle it...this is where i get stuck most of the time. i start planning even more to do.

many thanks to my swap buddies for my growing stash.....everything is so pretty. that is another thing. the old stuff...what to do? you know.....the fabric you will never ever use. do i donate it? sell it to some newbie on ebay? pattern storage.....oh my. ribbons, fabric paints, art supplies, large amounts of tracing and design paper. bins and bins. then there is the mobile cart with all the things you need to quilt. most of you know...this is a lot of stuff. oh....see this mess? small portion.....and audrey stays!

anyway...back to the eye candy.

when this is over a giveaway to celebrate!!!!