I've been quilting for about 30 years,I caught the quilting bug during the bi-centenial like lots of us, and haven't stopped since.
I've been quilting so long that I remember when I used cardboard templates and a pencil to mark my squares and triangles before grabbing the sciccors to cut them out! It would take weeks to cut out a quilt. Now I can cut out a whole king size quilt in a few hours with the rotary cutter.
Believe it or not I was one of those people who thought the rotary cutter was a waste of money!! I just didn't get it until I saw one demonstrated at a quilt show. I've been a fan ever since.
I hope to post often and fill this site with lots of pictures of my quilting projects. I know that's what you want, pictures of quilts, not my ramblings. Let me know if you like what you see, and if you don't let me know what you'd like to see.
Thanks for visiting.
My ruler folded stash, or as much as I can fit in the camera, anyway. I have a very small space but I'm working on getting it neat and organized.
That's the plan anyway...LOL
Started this one in January. It's a split 16 patch. NO strip piecing on this, it was all
individual patches. I used 2 1/2 inch squares. The blocks are 9 inches.
I'm still having a great time swapping quilt blocks. Every time I join a swap I learn something new. Here is a picture of the blocks I received in the Civil War fabrics Ohio star block swap.
Here is a picture of the Puss in Boots blocks I received:
I'm working on three other swaps, a "scrap happy" swap on Quilting Around the World a mini nine patch swap for block_swappers and a nine inch nine patch for the same site. There are many good reasons to join a block swap. Reason one is to try a new color scheme. I tried a new color scheme for the Puss in Boots swap. I had all those colors but never would have combined them myself. Reason two is to find out more about your stash. In the Scrap Happy swap I learned that my stash was lacking in very dark colors. Next time I shop I will be adding some dark colors to help make my quilts "sing".
Reason three is to try a new block pattern. In the Scrap Happy swap I made a block I've never made before. It's just a simple double four patch, it's a classic, but I'd never used it before.
Reason four is to increase your productivity. Those deadlines really get you sewing.I find that having a deadline makes me more productive. I know that without these block swaps I wouldn't have made as many blocks as I have. When I finish these five swaps I will have enough blocks made to put together 5 new quilts. How's that for productivity!
Reason five is to help you "raise the bar" on your accuracy. I always want to send in my best work so I'm a little bit more careful and accurate when I make blocks to swap. That's a good thing because I know sometimes I get a little sloppy than I'm not happy with the way my quilts turn out.
If anyone knows of other block swap sites please leave me a comment. Also I'd love to hear about your quilt swapping adventures so leave a comment, I'm sure we're all interested in what you have to say.