I have chosen to do my BOM in reds. I have fallen behind due to outside influences, family illness and also having to do something else to support someone elses dream. Isn't that what life is all about though. I do intend to use some spare time later to catch up. I love the quilt and will finish it but may not be before 2010. I don't regret starting it at all

Maureen

Lynn, sounds like you've found heaven. May that internet connection work well!

Well, don't know if you have noticed my absence on this board in the 2009 BOM topics, but I decided to put it on "hold" and get several other projects DONE! I have completed 2 or 3 tops that are now hanging with my "to be quilted" tops - and am now getting ready to get out the BOM again.

I have all my fabrics in 2 bins all sorted and folded, so should be good to go. I think I stopped with April.

I'm leaving Tuesday to spend 2 months in Georgia in an isolated house in the mountains - (my daughter's FOR SALE) so I'll be 'camping out' so to speak . and am taking my quilting, my watercolors, and my dog! I've got a good air mattress, plan to visit Good Will for a chair/table/dish or two. The power is on, the email is ready to turn on on the 22nd, the fridge is cooling as is the a/c. With a bed, coffee pot, and quilting, a lady can be happy for quite awhile, right? This may be my test as to whether I'm a hermit or an extrovert! ha

I'll visit my kids/g-kids in NC several times while there, but my plan is to get caught up on the BOM and watercolor and RELAX! That is if DH doesn't visit TOO often! ha

I'll be on-line every day, so see you here on the forum.
Lynn

PS: anybody near Clarksville, GA, we might have a cuppa coffee!

Wow! I saw your BOM setting and love it. I think there is another one in the show & tell also done this way and it IS IMPRESSIVE. I don't know how you will make it all work later on but I am sure you will find a way.

You really ARE "finding your own way" with this BOM!

PS I saw your profile and love the Strip Sampler Quilt. That setting is a new concept for me and it is really a great way to do a sampler quilt.

Kim

I love this quilt pattern, and I love the colors I chose, so I don't regret it at all! I may when I put together my redesign, because I'm putting the star and four patch on point.

My blocks don't lie flat either, but I figure that they will when they are sewn together. So I let them misbehave for now. I have had success in the past by ironing them on a towel. However, it too is misbehaving -- can't find it in the pile of projects that I promised myself I would do!

leafy wrote:
Leafy, you read my mind, at least about cutting the strips from my pile of fabrics. While I was sorting and semi-organizing, I did that. In my enono-mood, I washed and saved the plastic containers from the gourmet salad lettuces. The salad is expensive but the containers are free, see through so I can see my fabric and project-sized. If they break, there is another one coming soon.

The suggestion for Bonnie Hunter's site was a new one. THANKS!!

P.P.S. Kmouse, why don't you just go ahead and cut those neat strips from your fabric. Whatever you don't use, put the leftover strip pieces in a shoebox.

Then go to Bonnie Hunter's site quiltville.com , and find a fun, easy pattern to use up all those strips!

P.S. My method for dealing with the mountains of fabric is: after cutting the necessary pieces from a piece of fabric, I toss the remainder into a large basket next to my cutting table. At the end of my "cutting session," I can carry the basket downstairs and re-fold all the fabrics neatly whilst watching TV -- painless!

Re: half-square triangles:

As many of us are doing, I'm using my own fabric combinations for the BOM quilt -- and flying geese for many of the HST units -- so don't make the HST's in the numbers indicated in the instructions.

I print the HST page of the BOM instructions (pick a page that has a lot of HST block patterns on it) on thin sandwich-wrap paper (similar to tissue paper used for gifts), cut to 8-1/2 x 11. It runs thru my printer fine. Then, depending on how many HST's of a particular color combo I need, I cut the sheets apart into blocks or strips. kmouse, if you cut them all into strips, you can cut tidy fabric strips from your stash!

And, as Margo suggests, starch, starch, STARCH. I heavily starch the piece of fabric I'll be using *before* cutting. After starching, if your fabric feels almost like a sheet of paper, that's just about right! All my pieces are then easy to handle and don't stretch; and seams press crisply. I cover my ironing board surface with an extra cover made from a worn-out bed sheet; when it gets stiff with starch, I just throw it in the wash.

I don't regret starting this quilt -- and really like how it's coming along -- but WAS questioning my sanity last night when I spent two hours cutting for June's blocks, created a MOUNTAIN of fabric to re-fold, and ended up with a LITTLE TEENSY stack of fabric squares to carry to the sewing machine!

This quilt has taught me aspects of quilting that I feel I would never have learned otherwise. I remember that feeling of accomplishment when the squares finally started coming out the right size & all the seams actually looked right. Not all of my points match perfectly, but they are good enough. I'm so curious to see how the colors play out in a final product that I Will finish this quilt, the top anyway. I may have to pay someone to do the actual quilting, because after all this work, I'd hate for my poor machine quilting skills to screw it up. The support has been tremendous. I boast about The Quilt Show to anyone who will listen. Patience needed, no regrets.

I know what you mean about being behind as I am still working on the hand applique 2008 blocks now just finishing the Aug one. With dmy "frozen" Lt shoulder it has taken me longer. I started Pt Mon. and hope to prolong or maybe not have surgery. Have the feathered star done but find I need to finish one before going too far trying to do 2 at a time.
MA

I was kinda regretting falling behind. But life takes over sometimes, and with two small children around, that happens a lot. Better late than never, I guess.
I just looked at the show and tell BOMs and am determined to sneak in some sewing after bedtime tonight.
Thanks all for being so inspiring!

Well, I stitched block #3 of April's 6" blocks using my Easy Angle ruler instead of the paper piecing HST method. First two seams had to be unstitched. I thought I could grab little triangles and stitch just by looking at the picture. WRONG! I went back and laid out the block piece by piece, stitching one row at a time. Half my time was taken just replacing all the pieces to keep everything in order and it basically took all morning ...broke for lovely lunch with friends, chatted a bunch then came back and finished the last seams about 2-ish. The block turned out lovely but I figure I will have to live to be 150 in order to finish this quilt.

Won't take chances with April's #4 block. I will lay everything out first. June will have me cutting everything out ahead of time so I can work on the quilt while I am visiting family in Houston.

I've been thinking about my frustration with slow progress, working with itzy-bitzy pieces, etc. I think I have become used to the "instant quilt". I didn't originally have this attitude but years of teaching beginner quilting, quick quilts for gifts and all of that has taken it's toll on my attention span. Over the last couple of years I have wanted to slow down and take my time and enjoy the process of quiltmaking, but did not think about this BOM as the being the project that would make me practice this concept.

I am still glad that I went a little different route with the piecing. I will think about my own personal name for this project as I go along......but right now the only idea that comes to mind has to do with childbirth.

Hi everyone --

Yes, yes, yes... this quilt is challenging, labor-intensive, sometimes frustrating... but isn't it going to be fun to have a great quilt at the end of the year? And think of all the things you may have learned along the way! I'm really happy to hear that people like Judy feel comfortable "winging it" with variations and techniques that suit her preferences. Sharing your ideas with everyone is a great way for ALL of us to think about and learn something new -- it's part of why I belong to four different quilt bees: in each, I hear about new ways to do things and I see how people make different choices when it comes to design, stitching, quilting, etc. It makes me a better quilter - and a better quilt teacher! I read this Forum regularly and try and harvest all the inputs... for the next quilt I may design. If you all have some ideas... share them with us!

Happy sewing!
Sue Garman