Lotti, you are my kind of quilter!!

Lorchen wrote:

Yup, there are quite a few of them... I cut 1 1/2 inch strips WOF from all my reds and sort of reds, cut them up a bit, sewed them together lengthways any old way, dumped the whole mega-stip into an empty drawer that was placed on the floor behind my sewing chair...

Tacked the signed fabric panel that makes the front of the quilt (when she had her goodbye party last may before moving back to Canada I had pinned a 2yard fabric panel on an insulation board, and asked everyone to sign or leave some kind of message with permanent markers, I now added a goodish border of a red batik around it) to a piece of batting, marked a diagonal accross the center of the batting, I then sewed the first two red strips along that line, flipped the top one over and finger pressed the seam, then just added red strips as it came out of the drawer, running the fabric strip over my shoulder to keep it from tangling or pulling...
Worked great, every so often I added a few prairie points in a contrasting color... And that was that.

It now needs squaring up, then I want to do some appliqué on the front to tie the red backing and border in with the light blue batik that was the original panel... It has to be finished when I go to Canada... Is inline right after my dad's quilt (which i started on sunday afternoon) and the first bunch of mug-rugs are done .

Oh but stripes are so addictive... I decided that the 1 inch strips were a bit too large so I sewed most of them on with a very very generous seam... The next bunch of strips will be cut only an inch or max 1 1/4...

Sorry Lorchen... does that mean you now get two lighthouses?

Hey, Renata, you messed up my message! But I forgive you (giggle). We must have posted at the same time. Your message won and mine vanished.

So, here we go again:

WOW, Lotti, that's a serious lot of red stripes. Can't wait to see the finished quilt!

I really love that, Lotti, both the red and the stripes with prairie points! I need to make one of those...

I've started a similar shopping technique, half a yard or so of every batik in one color range... Obviously this isn't always possible... But I do my darnedest....
My friend Doris requested a fire engine red back to a signature quilt I'm making for her, and I do not do fire engine red... well not on its own, so I collected all the red / reddish batiks I came accross since last October, here's the sneak peek I sent her for her birthday (complete quilt to be shared when its bound and packed:

I can tell you that I'm now absolutely and totally addicted to stripes

Gosh, I'd float to heaven if I could afford to buy 1/2 yard of every fabric at The Bramble Patch, Rosemary. Hey, I'd even settle for a charm square of every one of the fabrics in that shop.

I keep all scraps, as long as I can cut a 2.5 x 2.5 inch square out of them. Anything smaller goes in a box, and I occasionally treat a quilter who loves doing miniature quilts.

Having enjoyed watching show 212 the TQS road trip my jaw about dropped off with Ricky's fabric buying technique - 1/2 yard of every fabric in one stand :shock: That is some serious fabric shopping! I guess it shows the difference between a hobby quilter and a professional quilter.

I also enjoyed watching 209 the Fabric Detective Annie Smith - perhaps we should store our fabrics according to value rather than by colour?

Susan - You save EVERYTHING - and then I stored them in zip lock baggies by color. It was the HIT in the class because I shared my bank of fabric with who ever needed........I think I need to take her again

I just thought of something else. Someone commented in one of the Accuquilt ads about uses for the "wasted fabrics". There really is no such thing with this technique, is there?

Alex, at your recommendation, I went back and watched the Susan Carlson show again. It really strikes home right now as I'm working on an improvised piece. What a fantastic way of working, and a great license to buy more fabric

Alex you are a lucky duck to have had five days with Susan Carlson - boy would I love that! A bit far from Ireland though...hmmmm... needs more planning.

I just ordered Season 11 too. I watch them at home and on my laptop when traveling and have downtime. I have learned so much from TQS. I'll never be bored in my lifetime! I'm retired and STILL need more time for projects I see here!

Thanks TQS. I watched all the shows I could over the weekend. Computer was down twice. Not mine, but the internet service. Still, when it works I can watch the shows. My old internet service was not fast enough for that. I own 6 of the series, so I concentrated on the ones I don't have yet. Love them all. Thanks again.