Getting back into the quilt room

I somehow think of living my life in chapters. There have been a lot of needful commitments for the past year and now that they are done-- Next chapter.
Quilt room.
Its like stepping in the door and saying "I'M HOME". mmmmm. What a mess.
So this morning I started cleaning my quilt space. Ugg. I am not a cleaner, straightner upper person.
It actually only took about 40 minutes to get a space cleared, wiped down, machine, new battery in the wall clock, machine plugged in. Looked good!
So I started sewing---. Will get to the rest of the room, sometime later, in sections.

We had just had an area shop hop here in Eastern Washington State. Quilt shops are few and far between so they gave us 10 days to do this one. I decided that as I hadn't done a shop hop for a couple of years, that I should just go for the fun of it, look things over, have a good time and spend very little money. That's like putting 9 bottles of whiskey in front of an alcoholic. Need it be said-- I LOVE FABRIC!  That's why we quilt isn't it?
So I did Twisp first, just a few things because I had been there not too long ago, CHING. and then lunch and the rummage room. Then headed north. There was a new shop on the list that I had never been in, specializing in precuts and all Moda. Hmm, Lovely. Just this and that and some ideas. CHING! Head back to Omak and stop at Lyn's,just been there too- Oh that's nice. CHING.

Well, now that's enough. I don't really need to finish up do I? DH drove and I rested and chatted.
Almira Nanna's had some odd browns and Bur-Plum colors that would be, well, different to use. And there was a pattern and a cutting tool that maybe I should try. CHING! On to lunch, then Reardon and Buggy Barn. CHING! We made Odessa with half an hour to spare, CHING and they gave us Carmel corn to keep our energy up for the drive home..
Sunday was family day.
Monday I started at Wenatchee. CHING! Then Waterville. By then the brain had been spinning with an idea for this pattern that I had picked up and wanted to try out. CHING. Do lunch, and then Woven Threads in Lake Chelan. I can shop here anytime. Oh, look at that. CHING!.

Now I am so broke that I HAVE  to stay home. Wonderful. Love it.

So with the machine plugged in and the table cleared off, I had to see if my machine still runs. An Hour later I had made 6 strips that are ready to cut and learned something. The jelly roll that I bought to try out with this pattern. I confess that I cut a few more strips of this and that to liven it up too, well, mmm I don't think so.

Heres whats wrong with jelly rolls.
 I picked out the one with the most varied prints of fabric but even with that, it is not doing what I want. The fabric is from a whole line of fabric and quite a large line at that. But the fabrics, while all different were created by the same designer, as a set, and they do not have enough variation. You can "SEE" that the same mind created them and even though I have thrown in a couple of this and that, it is just not enough. When you look at the world about you, the landscape, the people, there is just so much depth and texture and infinite variations that it is so interesting. This precut jelly roll is like trying to hire people out of the same hospital ward or something! So, NO MORE JELLYROLL PRECUTS.
But-- the 2 1/2" size strips are good to handle and a size that is large enough to  relate a reaction too, but small enough not to overwhelm. THAT I like.
So- from now on I vow to buy a little more fabric each time. CHING! And I will cut my own 2 1/2 " strips  from each piece I buy, for making scrap quilts, or jelly roll quilts, or  dunkin donuts. Yep. That is a winner of an idea.
Kind of costly learning, but, hey, what ever it takes and is still fun.