Basket Full of Posies...............

Good morning everyone, on a fine Thursday morning... 

I took a look at my quilty life this morning, and thought 'ugh', mostly same old/same old... a little bit of progress here, a little bit of progress there...

So, I have decided to take you on a tour of my quilty garage...  In CA, with our near-perfect weather, a garage is like an extra, livable room - so we never put cars in there - instead , its full of - guess what?  quilt stuff !!!! 

So, I thought I would take you on a tour of my quilty baskets... As you know, I do a lot of charity quilting for the Wrap-A Smile project, working with other quilters in an online Yahoo Group named Sunshine Quilters.  Some of them send me tops for quilting, which I enjoy...

But I am NOT a linear person - getting out a top, quilting it, binding it, all at once, is just NOT for me.  I love having dozens of projects going, so on any day I can pick up a color that pleases me, or a task that pleases me...  and eventually, finished quilts emerge, like this:

 Basket no. 1 is where the tops are admitted when they arrive, usually by mail.  I try to put the newest ones on the bottom, but eventually I just paw through them looking for something to fit a piece of backing or batting that is handy, so they end up rather disorganized.  But I know the piecers are waiting to see their quilts finished, so I try not to let things get lost in there forever!

 

 

Look at all that great color - it is so much fun to pull those tops out and enjoy their fabulous happy beauty!

Next comes pin-basting.  No, I don't have a long-arm.  I have a sit-down machine (a George), so I still pin-baste, but I do NOT crawl on the floor... I use two six foot tables... here is a quilt that will next be basted (after a bit of pressing)

Do you know these clips?  They are picnic table clips, sold at any camping or outdoor store, or on amazon.  They spring to the right size, to fit any table... perfect slips for laying out backing... 

Voila!

After pinning, I fold the quilt inside, so only the backing shows.  Then it becomes a big secret.  When I pick one up to quilt, I have no idea what it looks like - and I get surprised again !  Fun! 

(been quilting a lot lately, not a big pile here, need to pin-baste some more this weekend)

Basket 2:  Quilted, but not trimmed or squared up.

Basket 3:  Trimmed, needs binding

Unidentified mess - and hey, Monopoly!

Completed quilts all sealed up in a plastic bag, after having been washed.












Allow me to close with a couple of quilts I just finished.  The tops came from a friend, named Moira.  Great little quilts that will now go somewhere in this world with Rotary-sponsored medical teams who do facial disfigurement surgery that changes children's lives.  A big job for little quilts ... 

I'm home from work today with a little bit of flu...  maybe I can sneak in some quilting time !!!! 

Take care everyone,

Kate