Need on-point graph paper

Hi all - it's been quite a while since I've posted anything, but I've been keeping up with all your posts. I need some help desperately - I'm trying to draw up a quilt top on graph paper in an on-point setting and my little brain just won't cooperate! I turn the paper but just can't seem to get it right. I'm putting sashing and cornerstones between the blocks so that complicates it a bit. I seem to remember that there was a website where you could download graph paper. After a Google search I still didn't find what I need. Is there such a thing? Or does someone know the trick to this? Ordinarily I do great with graph paper - it's the only way I know how to draw anything! Thanks ........NancyH

Let Me Entertain You

For a long time the BB has been my "light moment" of the day. And learning that we do indeed have "Quilt Police" in our midst has been a tickler. I love the photo of Judy inspecting Ted Storm's quilt "Spring of Desire". I only wish the camera had been in movie mode for it would have been a real giggle to see Ted's mentor, Lois, swat Judy on the butt for her impudence. The verdict on Ms. Storm's quilt? "Quilty as Charged!"

Are there any more Quilt Police out there, hiding behind their BB facade? If so, let's see photographic proof. I need a little entertainment these days...been doing some heavy-duty family care-taking this past month and it's not over yet. An occasional giggle at the WWQP BB is very welcome indeed.

JudyPete

Inspector Judy of the "Quilt Police"

In the comments section of my previous posting about my brush with quilting greatness dutchrose asked "how did she achieve the look of blurriness in the 'background' of the quilt? a fabric design? a bleaching technique? sewn strips? all of the closeup pics have been of the outer edges and i'm very curious."

This photo shows my bit of silliness when I pretended to look for a flaw in the Best of Show quilt but it also shows a better view of the background fabric. I read somewhere online that it was pieced from an RJR fabric and I do recall seeing a fabric once that ran in bands of red from one selvege to another light red at one side to dark red at another side. So imagine four giant triangles of a gradated gray fabric meeting with the lightest gray points in the center ...

Lois Ide told me that Ted had worked four years in the making of this quilt so I don't think you would be able to find this fabric on the market today.

One thing that boggled my mind in seeing this quilt up close and personal was the hand quilting of that grid ...

Judy

Carbs

Pat, I'm probably one of the last people on earth who doesn't really know what a carb is, but could you explain? When I think of carbs, I think of bread or potatoes, but I know that's not the whole story. Could you explain carbs a little better for the diet-illiterate among us? Thanks!

Jean in VT

A Brush With Quilting "Greatness"

Tonight in Marion, Ohio I met Ted Storm the creator of "Spring of Desire" which was the winner of "Best of Show" at the AQS in Paducah this past weekend. Ted brought her quilt to Ohio so she could share it with Lois K. Ide, her beloved mentor and teacher who is an 88 year old widow who lives in Bucyrus, Ohio. There were dozens and dozens of other quilters who showed up to view this quilt up close and personal but I'm probably the only clown who joked around with a magnifying glass and pretended to be the "Quilt Police" ... I have a photo of that, too but I'm not sure I should post too many photos on the same subject.

Judy

Judy Pete, your half square triangle shirt quilt was beautiful. You are inspiring me.

I am going to have my granddaughters (10 & 12 years) stay with me for 3 weeks this summer and I want to teach them to sew. I was looking for a quilt pattern and I thought I might copy your half square triangle quilt. Would you mind sharing the size of the small and large half square triangles you cut for your quilt?

Thanks a bunch,
Linda in beautiful AZ

Y2K

I made two Y2K quilts, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. I've decided that any fabric that gets smaller than a fat eighth needs to be cut into the largest possible square(s). This means that I have a rubber maid container of 5 inch squares, a few 4 inch squares mixed into my 5 inch container, a container of 3 inch squares, 2.5 and 2 inch squares. I have an entire box of 2 inch squares. I used up all the signature squares in my 2 Y2K quilts though.
I also keep buying the sample packs with 5 inch squares too. I've been thinking of using all these squares with the disappearing nine patch pattern.
I'll have to try that this summer, after completing my mother's quilt.
I've discovered why I no longer have time to quilt during the school year. The job I took 3 years ago, while great, is basically half an hour farther away than the one I left; that costs me an hour a day. I am also the academic team coach. I had not added up the hours, but my principal asked me to figure out the time I was spending, and it added up to 93 hours in January, mostly on the weekends. Add to that papers to grade, and now I know where my life has gone. 3 1/2 weeks until exams...
Laura in Alabama

Losing weight

For me, the key is to avoid carbs. I can only seem to lose if I stay under 20 grams of carbs a day. Fortunately, I am a carnivore--I love meat, nuts, eggs, cheese, etc. And when I avoid carbs, my cholesterol stays lower, so that's another benefit. One thing about it, I know that I can never go back to eating sugary stuff and carb-dense foods, but that's okay. There are lots of lovely low-carb vegetables, and I can manage to lose if I have an occasional apple or pear, and there are Atkins sweets to placate my 28 sweet teeth. I always carry an Atkins Advantage or Atkins Endulge bar with me, to avoid temptation. When out for dinner, when others have their dessert, I whip out my Atkins and enjoy it. And it was a real pleasure giving away first the size 3X shirts, then the 2X, and now the Xlarge sizes are getting awfully roomy, and I can get into a Large shirt. My rear end has always been smaller in proportion. Size 16 pants and jeans are getting pretty roomy. I just bought some Medium size shorts for the summer, hurrah. Anyway, if you lose slowly, that's better than doing it quickly. I hope to lose another 35 pounds, but know it will take at least a year, maybe more.

bringing up the blog

For the person who says she still has trouble opening this page on her computer. Put it in your favorites. I just click the favorite link and click WWBB and I'm here. No problems.

Y2K

You bet I remember them! Since it was difficult for swappers to find someone from Idaho, I actually swapped enough to make three quilts. The first had all 50 states plus all of the Canadian provinces and I can't remember how many foreign countries. That one was chosen to hang in the display of Y2K quilts at Houston. My second was made from way more than 2000 squares and was a split nine-patch that I called North, South, East and West (the one in the picture with Gus and me). It is on my bed right now. As for the third batch....they went to a friend who does paper piecing, since I wasn't willing to deal with any more of the little squares after the first two.

Kathi

Y2KQ Motivation

Hi, Stripey Bear,

I remember you from the old BB days. Glad to hear you are working on your second Y2KQ. Perhaps your post will nudge me to get my second set out of the closet and do something with them.

My first Y2KQ was soooo large. My DD wants my first to hang on a wall and she'll never own a house with a wall large enough to display it. LOL. So I'm thinking of duplicating the quilt in a smaller size.

For those quilters who don't remember Y2K quilts...when this WWQP BB was in its early days, members swapped packets of 25 different 2.5 inch squares of fabric. The packets were labeled "squishies" and included a signature square as well as a short bio of the quilter. It was so much fun to open the mailbox and find more squishies with wonderful fabrics from all over the United States and from other countries as well.

Quilters were exceptionally creative in designing their Y2K quilts. The idea was to have 2000 different fabrics in commemoration of the Year 2000. The idea was to make it a true charm quilt, that is, to have no two fabrics alike. It was truly an international internet event. Many of the swappers still post here or over on the Chat Page.

Anyone else out there still working on their Y2KQs? Or is your stash of 2.5 inch squares sitting in a Rubbermaid container in the closet, waiting for some future quilter??

JudyPete

Shirt Quilts

Here in Britain, we have thrift stores, we call them charity shops. Most of our shirts are polycotton though, and would be no good in a quilt.
Looking at Judy's quilts makes me want to look for cotton ones though. They are so lovely.
I am working on the second of 2 Y2K quilts!!! It is pieced, layered and ready to quilt. I am procrastinating. Could have done 2 hours last night whilst watching the latest Midsomer Murders.
Also making a scrap quilt for a friends daughter. In lilacs, purples, creams and tans.
Stripey Bear.