Tucson Rocks!!!

O M Gosh...  I cannot say enough wonderful things about the Tucson Quilter's Guild or Bonnie Hunter. 

The Guild members (figuratively and literally) threw their arms around us and pulled us into the fold immediately upon our arrival.  My bestie, Limbania, and I were busy chatting with member after member right up until the start of the Guild meeting.  (And it only got better from there...  check out the next post!!)




And as an added bonus, we were entered into a drawing for a prize and Limbania WON!!  

After the business meeting, there was a show and tell and some really amazing quilts were shown.  Due to our seating, I could not get good photos of all the quilts but were able to catch some of them and are shown above. (I will chat about Bonnie Hunter's workshops in a separate post.)

Bonnie's lecture gave us insight into her Scrap User's System (not a Saver's system - she wants you to USE your scraps), and was amazing.  Her method of wrangling the snarled mess that scraps can become into a usable system makes quilting with the odds and ends from other quilts a COMPLETE joy. 

I will admit that getting the system started required me to go buy 5 new see-thru plastic bins (ok, ok, I just WANTED some new bins) and some sorting and lots of rotary cutting, maintaining the system is a piece of pie.  I have been using it for about a year and will never go back to boxes, bags, or bins of wrinkled and tangled leftover bits and pieces.

Bonnie likened fabric scraps to dirty dishes after a huge holiday meal:  If you don't wash the dishes and put them away, you will most likely NOT use them again.   So clean those scraps up and get them ready for your next scrappy quilt!


As inspiration, I offer the quilt pictured to the left and below as examples of quilts made entirely from her Scrap User's System.  Tobacco Road is done in scrappy browns and Orca Bay is done in red and blues.  Bonnie graciously offers both of these patterns free, along with a gazillion more, HERE.   This particular version of Orca Bay, made by a guild member, was purposely made smaller than Bonnie's instructions provide.

Just as an FYI, of all the patterns I have available to me, DH has picked Orca Bay for the quilt he wants on our bed.  It will be done in medium to burgundy reds, medium browns, creams, and black.  I hope to have it done before Christmas (just not sure what year :).

It is a beautiful quilt pattern.  I really am excited about doing it.

May you cuddle under the quilt of your dreams with the love of your life.