giddy about plastic bags

I love Ziploc Big Bags for hauling batches of baby quilts up to the gal who does the layettes. And pretty much any other time I need to haul quilts around. They're sturdy and reusable and just seem to hold stacks of quilts better than the cloth grocery bags that were my other choice. And they're cheap enough to leave behind with the quilts.

One of my boxes of Ziploc Big Bags came with a sample of a smaller size, which was just the right size for batches of baby hats and booties. For months, I've been trying to track down more of them. I finally found some with adorable Halloween bats on them, but didn't get any because I wasn't sure how the church group that uses the quilts feel about Halloween decorations.

Because I was having such bad luck (and not desperate enough to order them online) I started looking for two gallons Ziplocs. No one has those either, except the Dollar Tree which sells an off brand. Which is fine. Baby hats don't need protection from leaks and freezer burn. We went back to the store for a second box of bags and couldn't find any, but we did find these --



I'm giddy about my cheap new plastic storage! When they're full, the bags sit on end so I can line them up and sort scraps by color. They smoosh down, so if they're almost empty, they won't take up a lot of space. And I can overflow into as many as I need for each color.

This post at Stash Manicure last month made me drool. I'm never ever going to have my fabric sorted like that -- or be able to afford all of the plastic it would take! -- but imagine the quilts you could make...

I've been sorting scraps and cutting them up for my controlled scrappy quilts. So far I've played with pink...



and blue...



and red is next on the list.

I've also been drooling over pretty stuff online.

Isn't this old yo yo quilt neat? I love the way the circles and colors conjure up river rocks. Not sure how it would feel since it's made of old stockings, but I sure like looking at it!

When I first saw it last week, I liked Judy Laquidara's Connect the Dots, almost enough to make one for myself. Now that I've seen Jo's scrappy version, I've got to make one.

This quilt makes me want to start another nine patch and snowball quilt today because I like the way the lights and darks in the nine patch blocks are opposite what I've already done.