Quilting ADD

I am bouncing around from one project to another. I am trying to get my scraps under control by using the Bonnie Hunter method of cutting and organizing. I am trying to cut and get started on the Building Houses from Scraps 2012 project. I am making a supply of quilt sandwiches so that I can get started on the FMQ challenge. I am trying to get my space under control with the appropriate storage containers.  My head is spinning!

 I have purchased Bonnie Hunter's book, Adventures with Leaders & Enders. I am determined to get control over my scraps so that I can be a scrap USER, not a scrap SAVER. Above is a picture of the meager beginning I made yesterday. When I had used my unbleached muslin to make quilt sandwiches, I began cutting up what was left into organized strips and squares.

Here are the quilt sandwiches that I have prepared so far. I have now gotten a couple more yards of muslin so I can make more. I would actually like to get going on the FMQ practice, but I can't get my sewing machine to do what I want it to. I have lowered the feed dogs, changed the stitch length to 0, changed the presser foot, but when I try to sew I can't get the fabric to move. What am I missing? I have read and reread my machine's instruction book. If anyone knows, please let me know. Otherwise, I will need to make a trip to my LQS in Lexington for some specific directions.

I purchased some plastic drawer units to help me organize my projects and fabric scraps. The one on the far right is one I have had for years. The two wider, three-drawer units I found at Big Lots (do you have those near you?) for under $20 each. I thought that was a pretty good price. By the way, what has happened to sales on organizational items that always used to happen in January? According to my memory, the day after Christmas was the beginning of all the ads for diets, exercise equipment, and organization things...you know, due to all those resolutions. I have been scouring all the ads for stores in my area and there are very few of these things on sale. At Target I found a few sizes, but not the ones I wanted. I am just not ready to pay full price for this stuff. It can really add up. That is why I was really excited to find these at Big Lots. They were much less expensive than the full-price items I was finding in the other stores.

 Do you see the three cases that are stacked on top of the drawer unit? These are meant for scrapbookers. They are 12x12 and are great to put separate projects in. I have put my BOM projects each in a separate box. It will be easy to pull out the one I want so I can work on it. I have all of the fabric and whatever other notions I need for the project.

Here is the beginning of my Building Houses from Scraps 2012 project. I have divided a box into four sections because I will be paper piecing my blocks. There are four sections to each block. I have begun cutting pieces and am using sandwich ziplocks to keep them separated. Are any of you working on this project? How are you going to organize this project? I am not really satisfied that I have found a good way to do this. I have started going through my brown fabric tub to cut my pieces for each house. I am going to have yellow in each window and light blue in the sky in each block. Everything else will be mixed up. I will not repeat a house fabric. So, I am cutting each piece of the house pattern from each fabric. They will be distributed to different blocks. I will mix them up so that each house looks scrappy. I don't know if that makes sense, but I know what I mean. I would love to have any suggestions you have for organizing this huge project. The goal is to complete 365 house blocks in 365 days. So far I have sewn zero. Way to get behind at the very beginning. I've got that part down.

I will have a give away on my blog very soon. Keep checking my postings. Since I only have six followers, your chances will be very good for winning. I'll give you more details soon.

Thanks for stopping by.