being productive

I did manage to get a couple of quilts done this week.  This is made with 3 1/2 inch strips.  Having the Accuquilt Strip dies is so handy for cutting up bits and pieces of leftover scraps.  I get a TON of scraps donated and sometimes they are such odd shapes and sizes and throwing them on the strip dies just makes the most sense.  Then, you just sew them end to end until you have a very long strip.  Decide on the width of the quilt and cut all of your strips that length.  Grab random strips and sew, sew, sew.  In a couple of hours, you have a top put together.

I love the randomness of quilts like this, but I'm sure you could pick a color scheme or cut the 3 1/2 inch strips into different lengths as well for a more planned look.

These quilts will be donated to the people of Fort McMurray once we get a bunch.  I'm hoping to have enough collected by July 15 to get a shipment sent up, but the date isn't set in stone.

Today I found time to start the great garage clean out.  I actually threw some things away rather than just moved things around.  One of my students is collecting kids books for her aunt who teaches in a low income school in Southern California.  I went through a couple of my buckets of kids books from when I taught first grade and picked out a box full.  I had probably 50 boxes of books at one time and now I'm down to about 4.  I'm saving all of the Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears because those are MY favorites.  I think I have every one in each series and maybe one day I will have grandkids to read the to.