Dan, you are right, those mug rugs from Melissa are fantastic! I took the short class on Cotton Theory today. I am always happy to learn something new, but I doubt I will get hooked on this technique. It's one of the quilt-as-you-go things and as you join sections of it, you get these little seams that are loose and need to fold them towards the center by doubling them over and then use a wide stitch to catch both sides. With the fabric and batting in there, it gets really thick and to me, it's easier to just quilt the regular way than to go through all that to attach the sections. I might try it one day with larger seams and less batting and see what I think of it that way. LOL Here's a short explanation that I found about it online in case anyone is interested in reading about it. http://www.quiltyard.com/whatiscottontheory.phtml My initial thought was it was cotton theory because you use cotton fabric, but it turns out Cotton is the last name of the quilter who teaches this method. Time for a swap update: sandlapper_rose will send to quiltingfox (received) quilting fox will send to bev2009 (received) bev2009 will send to sandlapper_rose (received) hazelnutbunny will send to dan_the_mailman (received) dan_the_mailman will send to lindaruzicka (received) lindaruzicka will send to gmom2-6boys ** gmom2-6 boys will send to hazelnutbunny (received) ** I believe this has been mailed. Can you confirm that, Linda? I think gmom is traveling, so it may also have been delivered. If I hear back from Linda that it has been mailed, that completes our swap. Great job getting these completed and mailed. They all turned out so great, too! Give yourselves a round of applause. Jeanne

Sharon, I look forward to receiving my block! No, Linda and I didn't make the sacks. I'm disappointed about that not working out. I've cut out my block but haven't sewn it yet. My daughter committed a knitted blanket to a camp for disabled kids and it has to be there by Monday. She didn't make enough squares, so she is busy knitting like crazy and I am connecting the blocks for her. So if I am not doing that, I have been in the garden! I feel like I have had such a long summer already, instead of feeling like the summer has flown by. That will probably come later. Dan, good for you. I go crazy when the piles start building up, whether it's fabric, papers or stained glass. So I spent a lot of time this last week also folding all my fabric. I'll post a picture later. I don't have a lot of fabric, but it's all organized now and I can find in an instant what I am looking for. Love it. Got to work at the Master Gardeners garden walk today, make food for another daughters dinner party tonight and maybe find time to clean house today...the last think on my list each day which I never seem to get to in the sumnmer. LOL

Okay, the votes are in and I believe it's time for the envelope...lol! ***insert drumroll here*** Within our threesome, we will each send one crazy-quilted block to the other two people. So... Dan sends to Linda and Melissa Linda sends to Melissa and Dan Melissa sends to Dan and Linda I must say, that's one of the more complex breakdowns of partners I've ever had to deal with...lol! Let's not forget that send-by date of the 15th, okay? HUGAS! Dan

In regards to the "tubes of fabric, cut into strips, and then unsewn one-by-one" technique that Faye mentioned, Bonnie Hunter has several designs that use this technique on her Quiltville website. See the Special Note at the bottom of the Quitlville Home page for copyright usage. Basically, she gives you permission to use her web site patterns to teach classes (and other uses); she only asks that you might consider making an extra block and send it to her to include in her charity quilts. Scrappy Bargello Scrappy Trip Around the World A Streak of Sunshine Trip Around the World This is a different technique, but it looks like fun to me: Scrappy Mountain Majesties CMC