saturday sampler 3 and RMFQSH

the second meeting for saturday sampler 3 at The Quilter's Studio is just one day away and i actually have my first block ready ... on the second saturday of each month for the next year TQS's Sheri will teach/lead us through the construction of this quilt......it is a Marti Michell design and uses the Perfect Patchwork Templates sets B and D that she has created ... the first block, rolling along, requires the use of five B templates and one D template...

...the fabric is cut one piece at a time (you can cut a strip the width of the template that you need if there are multiples - that shortens the amount of time spent cutting) with a rotary cutter ... the templates are thick and are precisely engineered ... there are no dog ears and the cut pieces line up exactly ... a modern day template miracle ... however i do not think that this method will replace strip cutting and piecing for me ... it is great for each one-of-a-kind sampler block but the cutting process is a bit time-consuming ...... Auntia and i decided that we would use stash to make the blocks (which are considered organized scrap style and not scrappy) and we were able to come up with nine coordinating fabrics times two quite easily ... as a matter of fact, it was kinda scary how many different choices we had without spending any money at all ... you can probably guess which one is mine ... hint - i don't do subtle ...... since Auntia started quilting, she has wiped out about 25% of my stash of fabric that i thought i couldn't live without - mom, are you planning to use this for anything? and this? and this? and how about this? and i usually hide my head in shame because i have no idea why i thought most of the stash was have to have ... she made this (Bonnie's mystery Carolina Crossroads) quilt for me from stash...
it is quilted with dolphins and whales and i love it ... she named it under the sea...
...we worked on the mystery together ... the quilt top that i made for her is still on the quilting frame ... she is much, much faster at actually completing quilts than i am ....... after the BOM meeting tomorrow morning we will head off to some Rocky Mountain Fever Quilt Shop Hop destinations ... there are eight shops participating this year ... with their extended hours for the shop hop we should be able to get to three of them tonight ... the rest are far, far away and it will probably take all afternoon to hop to the next three ... and then we'll hop the other two on sunday ... a weekend of quilt shop hopping - pictures to follow if i remember to bring the camera!!!

Elaine is having another Quilter's Stimulus Package giveaway at her blog - i dunno what it's gonna be, but if you love Hostess cupcakes as much as i do then you'll love the package it's gonna come in!