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Scrappy Quilters, do you do this, too?

When I am sewing, I take odd bits of fabric from my scrap basket 

by my machine and and sew them together to make a usable piece. 

For the temperature quilt Pine Tree blocks, I get these triangle 

scraps I do not like to toss them in the trash.

 that I need for the trunks of my trees. 

Adding some Old Rose to my scrappy tree quilt. 

It reached 49 ...

Luckily I have the 2 1/4" strip die for my AccuQuilt cutter.  I just laid them out, stacked a ...

After yesterday's Fourth of July family time I found a little energy left in me to square up a few half square triangles.  These HST's are my newest leaders and enders challenge I started back a few weeks ago.  You can read about it here. 

 One of the most challenging parts of making a quilt is the actual quilting.  I suppose that's why longarmers have wait lists that can be several weeks or months long.  When I purchased my midarm on a frame I had big plans of quilting for others someday.  The only problem was I don't like the quilting process.  I had grand illusions of the quilting machine making the quilting process more enjoyable.  Ten years later and I really don't enjoy quilting anymore than I did on my domestic machine.  Sure it is easier but enjoyable? Not really.  

The blue and yellow leaders and enders project is moving along nicely now that I've changed gears from a leaders and enders to a get it done mode.  Patience for the leaders and enders process is something I still need to work on.

Hello Quilting Friends!  I just wanted to pop in and give you an update on my current leaders and enders project.  Slowly but surely I'm finishing up the cornerstones and sashing.  

When most of us think of a leaders and enders project we think of a Bonnie Hunter quilt.  Bonnies quilts more often than not do not have one consistent fabric let alone two or three.  The idea to keep this a 100% leaders and enders quilt sounds like a good idea but I'm at the point of just get it done.  Learning to use the leaders and ...

 The blocks for my current leaders and enders project are complete.  It took a little longer than expected to finish them.  For some reason I thought since it was a simple pattern with few pieces it would be farther along at this point.  In reality finishing it may take working on it during a couple more quilt tops.

The needle plate, sometimes called the throat plate, covers the area near the needle. There are 2 commonly used needle plates: the zig zag plate, shown above, and the straight stitch plate shown below. In this article you will learn about the differences in these plates and why you might want to have both of them on hand.

The straight stitch plate has a single hole for the needle to enter the fabric and is used for straight stitching only. The zig zag plate is used for zig zag stitching as well as other decorative stitching that requires the needle ...

Before we get into the details of this quilt on the wall I want to give a big shout out to Mr. Podunk for my new step stool. I love it!  No more climbing on kitchen chairs or wobbly stools. The lazy old grandma in me thinks one more is needed so I could step from one to the other in order to reach both sides of my design wall without stepping down.  But the reality of it is quilting is a sedentary hobby and a little stepping up and down will do me some good.  Maybe I finally get ...

 Okay I'll admit it, I jumped into this leaders and enders thing with absolutely no idea what I was going to make with them.  The fabrics were already cut so I just started sewing them together.  Making the process a habit was my only concern.  Now that I'm nearing the end of my little stash of blue and yellow squares I need a plan before going any further.  And that plan needs to fit into what I've already haphazardly sewn together.