Good Ideas #1

I've spent the last few days furiously quilting in between wiping bums, warming Dora noodles, cuddling, and shopping. I even took the time on Thursday to visit my best friend and bring her some "medicinal" baking to help her get over her cold.

Here is the good idea of the day, and it's one that I've used for years.

Obtain an ugly, used sheet.

And then Cover Your Work! I have three kitties and you can imagine how much hair flies around the house - and how much they looooove to "test" new quilts after the household has shut down for the night. My ugly sheet, used as a dropcloth, has saved many a project from fur infestation. I just go ahead and cover most of my machine, too.

I am loving the FMQ pattern I chose/designed for this quilt. I teaches me speed and shape control, and ensures that I am spatially aware of where my stitches are going. I'm so impressed with myself that I might even try quilting free motion feathers.

In a perfect world this would be bound and hidden by tonight, since the Pixie has figured out that it's gonna eventually belong to her. I want it out of sight before she wakes up tomorrow. Heck, she was already trying it out this afternoon - cuddling when I stepped away from the machine, and putting her favorite blanky onto it to check for colour and cuddle match. She loves it so much, I almost don't want to keep it from her until Christmas.


But I will. Tough Mommy Love has to rule here.

And since it's Saturday, here's the random secret confession of the week: I have a teeny, tiny fabric stash. As a quilter, it's almost embarrassing - only one basket and one bin full of quilting cotton, plus a cardboard box with flannelette and a sack of scraps. When I mentioned my minimal stash at my LQS on Friday, I was overwhelmed by the lady behind me bragging that her stash is so large she had to take over an entire room in her house just to store fabric!

To anyone who knows me - rest assured that I will never have a stash that large. I'm just too cheap. I prefer using what I collect.

Although at times (and like any obsessed quilter out there) I do stack fabric together just to look at and pet.