April Showers Bring May Quilts?

My rainy, puddly back yard...with it's pond-in-progress

Hello!
A quilter can only spend so much time organzing his/her stash...eventually it needs to be used. This week, the grey cloudy rainy days motivated me to take time from organzing and get to using!  Part of that motivation came from these blogs. The Q and The U , I'm A Ginger Monkey, and  Thomas Knauers Sews. I decided to respond to Thomas's plea for help and send him some 2 1/2 inch squares. And, since he wants all the squares in his "Vomit Quilt" to be different, I thought "hey, I have 20 years of different!!".  After emailing him, he assured me to go ahead and send them. So, I have been  cutting squares of my '90's fabric and some other playful novelties.



My Stack of Wild and Crazy Fabric for Thomas



Hmm...doesn't look like much once chopped into a 2.5" square!

 I have cut the remainder into strips to make the Random Rail  Fence block described in The Q and The U's tutorial.

The seeds to a Mighty Random Rail Fence quilt!

 Oh...and then the scraps which are too narrow for the Rail Fence? Why, they went into a pile to make string quilts like my big sister, Karen over at Hazel Dell Quilts. Check out her tutorial.

Future String Quilt Strips....patiently waiting their turn

Wait...what to do with those teeny weeny bits of strips too small even for a string quilt? I put it in a bag and use it to stuff pillows for pet beds! I bring the bag to my quilt guild, Quilts from The Bluffs, and add it to the scraps already there. No WASTE!! 


These beds, stuffed with fabric love,  will be donated to local humane societies for homeless animals.


But, those are not the only blogs I have been hanging around. I was at Eat Sleep Quilt and discovered that Linda is having a greaqt give away this weekend. Go...check her out. But even better is her tutorial on how she makes "crummy" or "crumby" backgrounds.  A GREAT way to use scraps and add great depth and texture to backgrounds on quilts. I really like her quilts and her tutorial. I must admit...I love her pig quilt. My Mother collected pigs...figurines, etc and so I have a soft spot for a cute piggie!!

Time for me to get back to stripping! My teenage sons hate it when I say that...but it's so fun to embarass them...and it's such an innocent activity in the quilt world!!

Happy Quilt Days are ahead...I just know it!
Deb