"... Presence of wonder..."

"always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder." -e.b. white

If you have been following me, you know that I love crumb piecing.

Several months ago I had a few 2.5" crumb blocks on my design wall.

I thought I had blogged about them but I couldn't find the update. Maybe I had only posted to Instagram and FB...

Ahh... yes. Scrolling through my photos, it seems I had intended to blog about how I decided to proceed with these 2.5" crumb blocks..

ah, well, that was put aside to work on an idea my Sweets had. And THAT was put aside to work on a quilt top for work. That quilt top was completed, displayed in the store, and now back with me waiting to be quilted...

At the moment, I have several projects that are at the top of the list to be working on.

- Bonnie Hunter's 2020 mystery quilt - Grassy Creek. Pictured here is Part 2 and BH has just release Part 4!

- 3rd Thursday BOM that I guess I'm in charge of at work. It starts in March.

I have picked out colors for the first 5 blocks and should get started with the piecing...

- I need to plan my classes for the new year.

first on the list is a workshop for The Tree of Life...

- I have my son's fiance's quilt on the design board...

and a solid plan for finishing!

- and a christmas present that I can't give a picture yet...

so, with all those "priorities," what am I doing??

I'm playing with crumbs! 

But it's even worse than that. 

I'm playing with cast off bits from other quilters!

cast off bits from the garbage bin 🤯

Wait, wait... it's not as bad as that sounds. In the classroom at work there is a basket designated for fabric bits. It's for clipped thread, trimmed batting, trimmed "dog-ears," and extra fabric trimmed from blocks and the piecer considers it too small to bother with. This basket usually goes to someone that makes doggie beds and is used as the filler.

I passed by this basket several days. Averting my eyes. Determined not to rummage through the pile for the bigger pieces.  I have plenty of my own bits to keep me busy for years!

But the colors kept luring me!

I could hear the story these bits were telling. 

They were from at least three different quilters,

 three different projects happening in the classroom.

The golds and greys are probably from the Grassy Creek group.

I am guessing the reds and creams could be from the American Jane Gems and Jewels BOM the store is doing right now. 

The purples, pinks, turquoise are a mystery to me. They must be from a customer working on her own project in a Sew Day group. Maybe she'll read my blog and recognize her fabrics 😊. Wouldn't that be something!?

 All of this in the above photo came from the fabric "waste" basket. 

Strings and triangles that I pieced into something wonderful.

The piecing technique is very improve. 

The piece on the left has a selvage pieced in that has the word "cotton." 

Because of these two things, I am reminded of my Mississippi quilt friend Julia Graber, who took me on my Cotton Adventure and she did a class on improve piecing for our PTQ guild at my request. She's a wonderful, generous, incredible woman and I am blessed to call her friend.

I should say that the light turquoise that frames that piece is from my own stash. It's a perfect size for a small wallhanging. I intend to finish it and hang it in the guest restroom in my house! I'm excited to start using my quilts in my own home decor!

I haven't decided what to do with the other pieces yet. I'll let them speak to me in their own timing. There's no rush to make them into something right now.

But how perfect is it that in the pile of bits there would be a selvage edge with the quote, "always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder." -e.b. white!

It makes me feel like it was all Meant To Be!!

Thanks for visiting. 

Happy Quilting / Creating to you!!