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We all have favorite tools and some of them are not so conventional.  Toilet paper tubes for rolling your binding anyone? How about a hemostat to pull that loose dark thread out from under your white quilt top?

What is the strangest "quilting" tool that you use and where did you purchase it? Have you been to the hardware store, the pet shop, or the auto supply to find something that has become a necessity in your quilting toolbelt?

Submit a comment and let your TQS friends know what they are missing.

And, if your tool has something to do with organization, don't forget to add it to our Show & Tell for everyone to see.

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Do you keep a quilting journal?  What do you keep in your journal?  Start and end dates? Swatches of material?  Why the quilt was made; who it was made for?  Do you keep it on paper or online?  Submit a comment and give use the scoop on your quilting journal.

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Quilters all around the world look for ways to exchange their ideas and expand their horizons.  One of those ways is through a block exchange.

Have you ever participated in a block exchange? Was it with your closest friends, people you met in the guild, or internet buddies around the world?  What were the rules? Were you happy with the results?  Would you do it again?  What did you gain from the experience?

(The quilt on the right is the result of a "star" block exchange.)

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Some of our members have hundreds of quilting books about all sorts of topics and techniques.  Some have only a few that they equally treasure.

What TQS wants to know is "What is your oldest quilting book; where did you get it; why do you keep it; and what have you learned from it?

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Quilter's are a surprisingly savvy group of people.  While the steroetype is a bunch of women sitting around a quilt frame, gossiping, we at TQS know that couldn't be farther from the truth. Quilters are always on the go and always learning something new, and they aren't afraid to share what they learn. TQS wants to know, "What else have you learned because of your quilting?"

Have you taken up photography because you had to photograph your quilt for a show? Have you learned how to Facebook because you wanted to share your photos with your grandmother in Poughkeepsie? Did you learn Photoshop Elements so you could learn to print on fabric? Can you cut a mat board because you wanted to frame a quilt? Submit a comment and share what you've learned.

(Photo:  TQS Member - longarm1)

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Sometimes you just can't get that quilt together and you need to make something for a gift.  Or maybe you just need new inspiration or want to try a new technique; TQS wants to know, "What do you make other than a quilt?"  A bag, a postcard, a doll?  Have you learned anything new?  Did you take what you learned and apply it to your quiltmaking?

Submit a Comment and share your ideas with all the members.

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Have you ever had that piece of fabric that just doesn't work out for you?  Maybe the color is a bit off, or the design isn't quite as exciting as you'd like.  What did you do about it? Did you add some paint? Did you take it for a tea bath? Did you stamp it's little heart out?

TQS wants to know, how do you make that fabric your own?

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Here in the states we are lucky indeed.  We have quilts shops around every corner and fabric shops at the mall.  We are blessed with low prices and high quantities of fabric. TQS would like to know what is it like out in the great wide open.

We'd like to hear from our international members. Where do you shop?  Quilt stores, large box stores, online?  Do you find a good selection of fabric? Are the prices comparable to those in the US? Are there fabrics native to your country that are more difficult to find elsewhere?

Submit a comment and take us fabric shopping in your corner of the world.

To learn more abouot quilt shops all over the world, click here, and you'll be taken to the World Quilt Shop Tour in Show & Tell.  Here you can learn about this market in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa submitted by ksouba.

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Today's the last day that the cat's away, all of ARJJ is still in Boulder, Co., taping new shows to entertain and instruct our wonderful TQS members.  The officers are on leave and the crew has been put in charge. So, what's the first thing you'd do if you had to take the helm of the USS TQS? Free fizzy drinks for everyone?  A new member tea? More classes?  More photos?  Let us know what you'd do if you were in command of the ship.