Coming Soon to a Computer Near You?

I noticed yesterday that Carol's back at her blog (and all's right with the world). And she started back with a post that touched on the need to cut back on fabric buying. Well, that kind of hit home with me, especially since I'd just written a blog about ordering some fabric on the internet and forgetting that I'd done it. And sitting in the Sweat Shop, looking around at my stash--or trying to find a home for anything new I bring in--makes me realize that for me too, it's time to sew more and buy less. Have you reached that place in your quilting life yet?

For some of us, it might be a financial decision. For some of us, it might be a space decision. For some of us, it might be a decision based on the knowledge that no matter how long we live, we're NEVER going to be able to use everything we like and buy. And for many of us, it's a combination of those three things.

I've been thinking for some months now that I'd like to host a quilt along. You might remember I mentioned that possibility some months ago when many of us had geared up for a quilt along and ended up not participating because it didn't feel like the project for us.

Since then, I've had the idea percolating a bit at the back of my mind, but there have been other things going on. So it's still just a bit of an idea, but it's starting to develop. Here's what I'm thinking about so far.

There won't be much direction about how much fabric you need ahead of time, and there are two very good reasons for that: (1) I want us all to use stash fabric and scraps, and (2) I don't know what the quilt will BE yet--and probably won't until it's done. I'm thinking of calling this quilt along something like Kim's Big Scrappy Quilt-Along Adventure. Catchy name, eh?! It will be kind of like a mystery quilt but different because I don't really like mystery quilts!

Most of the blocks will actually LOOK like something. What I mean is that I like star blocks, house blocks, tree blocks, etc. I'm visualizing something a bit like a row quilt. Or a medallion quilt with houses, trees, and "stuff" in the center and stars all around. Take a look at THIS quilt I made. It won't BE this quilt--nothing as elaborate and I seriously doubt that I'll make you do applique--but this is a bit of the feeling I'm thinking about--a quilt that's cohesive in subject matter even though it's made from scrappy fabrics.

I think the quilt will be the size of a large wall or throw quilt when we're done. I think the blocks will be of various sizes. I suspect we'll be making a few blocks each week. And I think you'll probably have a front row seat on the design process, since I'll be doing some of the designing as we go. Scary? Maybe. But if we end up with extra blocks that aren't used in the end, they can be used for another project--after all, the idea is to use scraps and stash, be creative, and have fun doing it.

I'm going to try to get my thoughts ironed out a bit more in the next couple weeks and then let you know what the plan is. Do you think this might be a project you'd be interested in participating in?