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Is there more than one Monday a week? It seems I was just writing last week’s blast and here it is Monday again. For those of you who are new to this format and want to catch up a bit you can go on the website to “Blah Blah Blah” and read older Blasts.

Step 3 organizing rollups:
For the next part of the scrap fabric organization you will work with the 12” pieces previously separated from the rest of your stash. Take (6) 12” selvage to selvage fabrics that are similar in color and value. Open up the fold so you have a full 40” or so and layer the “6” fabric one on top of each other right sides up. Roll up the fabrics, put aside, and do the next one. The roll ups don’t really need to be very neat. See pictures.

I store my rollups under my cutting table for easy access. As long as you keep them by color they’ll be ready to use whenever you need them!

After rolling up all your 12” x 40” fabrics you will easily see that maybe you don’t have enough of a selection of a certain color or value. This is the fun part. You get to go shopping with a purpose. Start buying 1/3 yards of fabric, 6 at a time, similar color and value. That is only 2 yards of fabric to add to your stash instead of those fat quarters you accumulate and never use. Spend your money on fabric that can be used for your scrap quilts.

Cutting rollups for scrap quilts: The fabric is cut parallel to the selvage (ie your cuts will be no longer than about 12”). I take a rollup of beige backgrounds, unroll a few inches and make a clean up cut on all 6 fabrics at one time. Then I’ll cut the size strip that I need to work with. Sometimes (following your pattern) the cut will be just a certain size strip, let’s say 1½”. By cutting the 6 layers, I get 6 fabrics the same size. I put away that rollup and take out another rollup of similar beige values and repeat the 1½” cut. Now I have 12 strips of backgrounds for my quilt. See how you can get lots of variety from little effort because the fabric is already organized.

To be continued next week! By the way, tell your friends about the Monday Email Blast. It doesn’t cost anything and there is so much more I can offer to you in this format. We have a lot to look forward to.

Busy week ahead! Quilt groups are already arriving on Cape Cod for next week’s retreats. Yes, now quilters come for extra days of fun with their friends. How lucky are we!

In case you missed last week’s Email Blast here is what I said about starting to organize your stash to easily make scrap quilts:

 “Go through your home fabric stash.  Any piece that is less than ½ yard should be used for scrap quilts.  Sort the pieces by color, light and darks of any color should be separated too.  You will have many piles of blues (different shades, no more than 3 piles of a color) and likewise for each color.  Separate out pure whites, beige tonals, and light colored backgrounds that have bits of color too.  Next week I’ll give you the next step.  For some of you it will take weeks to just sort the fabric.  Put the sorts in baskets to get ready to cut.”

Now for the next step:

Go through the fabric you have organized in baskets and pull out pieces that are 1/3 yard or more.  Cut off 12” (1/3 yard) and start a new “sort” of 12” pieces by color and value (light, medium, dark).  If you have pieces that are “almost 12”, like 11” or so” include them in the 12” sort.

Fabric that is an odd shape, like squares (whatever size) can be further sorted by shape.  Unless you have a lot of these odd shapes then don’t bother with this step now.

Fabric that is less than 11” should be cut into strips.  I generally cut 1 ½”, 2” and 2 ½” strips and sort these by value (light, medium, dark) without regard to color.  You will have 3 baskets of each value and each size:
   3 baskets of light 1 ½”, 2” and 2 ½“strips
   3 baskets of medium 1 ½”, 2” and 2 ½“strips
   3 baskets of dark 1 ½”, 2” and 2 ½“strips

By now you might have noticed that you have a lot of one value (maybe lights) and not many darks.  You could be storing lots of red and pinks and no yellow and oranges, etc.  Most quilters lean toward particular colors more often (I am a pink/green person).  If you have a lot more of one color or value than others I will help you even out your stash next week and give you the last organizational step!

This week I received more email than usual from the Monday Blast thanking me for the scrap quilt information.

Your input is very important so please let me hear from you (short emails are the best).

Last week I told you about a small group of quilters who came to sew together here on the Cape. This past weekend there were two large groups sewing at The Cape Cod Resort and Conference Center (located behind Heartbeat Quilts). One group was from Blackstone Valley (about 50) and another group of quilters from New England and beyond (NC +) of 110 quilters. Saturday night I was hired by the larger group to talk about and show scrap quilts. What fun we had together. I was able to give tips about scrap quilts, discuss fabric and how to organize their stash and multiple uses of different fabrics. I only wish I could’ve stayed and sewn with them! If you are planning to come for a quilt getaway please call me in advance and let’s see if I can participate in some way to enhance everyone’s sewing experience. If nothing else, I can make you laugh.

Go through your home fabric stash. Any piece that is less than ½ yard should be used for scrap quilts. Sort the pieces by color, light and darks of any color should be separated too. You will have many piles of blues (different shades, no more than 3 piles of a color) and likewise for each color. Separate out pure whites, beige tonals, and light colored backgrounds that have bits of color too. Next week I’ll give you the next step. For some of you it will take weeks to just sort the fabric. Put the sorts in baskets to get ready to cut.

Call, visit, email, let me know what you want in future Monday blasts.

February 8

This is already a whirlwind week and it’s only Monday!

I attended a pre-opening event of Nancy Crow’s new exhibit at The Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Ma. Anyone who is within driving distance should make a point of attending the exhibit (www.fullercraft.org for directions and hours of operation). The museum itself is fantastic and I will be visiting it often. Nancy’s quilts are modern art. Her use of color and stark combinations is inspiring. Those of you, who know me, are aware that I am a traditional quilter. However, I appreciate wonderful artists like Nancy Crow and we can all learn more about color!

This week will be spent finalizing my new line of fabric for Marcus Brothers. It will be ready to see at Quilt Market in May in Minneapolis and should be in local stores by the end of May/June. When I can tell you more I certainly will. Meanwhile I am designing several quilts and table runners with the new fabric line.

January 4

The 2009 “Red Heart” promotion was wonderful and successful for everyone. Thank you to those who participated. A few words of explanation for those of you who couldn’t use their hearts in 2009. This promotion should be called the “3rd visit to HBQ promotion”. It was designed to get customers in the store for the 3rd visit during the calendar year. Certainly many of you are here daily (applause). The rules are set Jan 1 for the upcoming year and are not changed midstream. You, the customer, have 2 months in which to redeem your red heart—November and December ONLY and ONLY IN STORE. We’ve heard excuses concerning bad weather, flat tires, sick relatives, HBQ closing for Christmas week, etc. Basically, we’ve heard them all. We give you 2 entire months to redeem your heart for the year. We always close the week before Christmas and our website reminds you about the rules and the days HBQ is not open. I am truly sorry if you can’t participate but everyone is given the same opportunity on an equal basis.