Today’s my special day for the Spring Fling paper piecing blog hop organized by Soma over at Whims and Fancies.

I really wish I could be showing you a completed block, but sadly I didn’t get it stitched. Between client hassles, migraines and allergies, I’m done in. But, I did get the pattern done for you to download. My block is called Quilters’ Flowers. It’s paper pieced and finishes at 10″ square.

Download the pattern here: Quilters’ Flowers. Be sure to set scaling to none when printing.

Also be sure to visit Whims and Fancies for the other free spring-themed blocks. Plus upload your completed photo to the Flickr group to be eligible for prizes!

You can also share your completed block in the Quilting Gallery’s Flickr group or on Facebook. I’d love to see what you make. I’ll be turning this design into a mini quilt for my Dreaming of Spring secret swap partner. Hope she’ll like it.

WANTED: Your quilts for this week’s Quilters’ Show & Tell event. The theme is Wall Hangings. Any quilting style is acceptable and unfinished quilt tops are welcome as well. I’m looking for quilts that are SMALLER than 50″ square, meant to hang on a wall. Also, please don’t submit a quilt you’ve already entered this year… let’s see something new!

Read the guidelines and submit your photo before Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 8 a.m. (EDT).

Sponsors

To sponsor a weekly Quilters’ Show and Tell event, please send me an email and I’ll send you the information package. Check available dates here. Sponsors are featured on the voting post published on Friday.

Winners: Quilts with Just Squares and Rectangles

Thanks to everyone that entered and voted for last week’s Quilts with Just Squares and Rectangles event. I was really impressed with the quilts made with such simple shapes. Great job everyone.

Guest Judges

Karen from Faeries and Fibres awarded her bonus points as follows:

25 points – Woven Together – 25 + 80 = 105 points
25 points – Snapshot – 25 + 195 = 220 points
25 points – Building Blocks – 25 + 140 = 165 points
25 points – Paul’s Big Boy Quilt – 25 + 42 = 67 points

Emily from The Caffeinated Quilter awarded her bonus points as follows:

30 points – Snapshot – 30 + 220 = 250 points
30 points – Summertime picnic – 30 + 44 = 74 points
20 points – Building Blocks – 20 + 165 = 185 points
20 points – Disappearing Four Patch – 20 + 63 = 83 points

Winners

The winning quilt is Snapshot by Lies Bos-Varkevisser which received 250 community and guest judge votes.

The winner from the comments is #90 Thunder:

They’ve both won $25 gift certificates from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Quilters’ Show & Tell Links

• Rules and Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2013 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Guest Judges

I have come to realize that I cannot stand when things are not organized. It makes me feel anxious and it goes without saying it really stifles my creativity. So, I’m getting organized … slowly. I have decided not to move this year, but it is a real possibility for next year. Simply, I just could not find the time to move and the thought of it was completely stressing me out. So, I’ve put that idea on hold and instead will ORGANIZE, de-stash and complete various projects around my home.

First up, dealing the my fat quarters and pre-cut units. I already had some of these plastic, clear shoe boxes. They are used for small UFO’s and pre-cut shapes. I’m currently collecting 1.5″, 2″, 2.5″, 4.5″ squares and 2.5″x4.5″ bricks. I like the size of these bins and that I can fit 9 per shelf. I waited for them to go on sale at Canadian Tire and picked up another 17 last week.

I also have three carts, one that fits under my work table (no photo) and has a couple of completed blocks for two projects, orphan blocks and another bin for scraps. The other two carts, one is dedicated to hand dyed fabrics and the other has 10″ squares for scrappy backings, 2.5″ strips (by 18″) and other strips of various sizes, wool/felt and interfacings.

On to the fat quarters. So far this year, I’ve received 100+ new FQs from around the world as payment for administration of the swaps that I organize here. All fabric is pre-washed before it makes it into my collection. Yes, I know there’s lots of debate about this, but I pre-wash, and it’s unlikely I’ll change my mind anytime soon. A tangled mess out of the washer:

I hang my fabric to dry instead of putting it in the dryer. I find it’s much easier to work with and I can smooth it out while it’s damp and it doesn’t need to be ironed until I use it.

For this exercise, I knew I wanted to sort my fat quarters by colour. The 1930s, Christmas, batiks and solids are stored in larger bins. Some fabric already dedicated to a specific project has it’s own shoe box or white Ikea box. Everything else got organized by colour or style (dots/stripes, novelty, Asian).

Getting started:

Fabrics in their respective bins:

Tweaking the colours:

Labelled and put in their new home:

Now to tackle this mess …

… and this mess …

… and figure out what to do with this bin of fabric scraps from 15 years ago: