I promise I’ve been sewing — in fact I spent the vast majority of my vacation sitting at my sewing machine working on a test quilt using the fabrics I picked out last week. Ironically, what looked good in the picture of the fabrics is not looking so good in actuality. Perhaps when I get the borders on the quilt the green will pop a bit more.

But in the meantime, Syd got the borders on her quilt this past weekend. Rummaging through my stash, we found a lavender and this darker purple fabric. As you can see, she picked the darker purple – adventurous kid that she is. I love it. Now to find a backing and to quilt it. She wants it quilted in butterflies.

Check out what others have on their design walls by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

I managed to get through half of my paper piecing before I made this mistake.

Every once in a while I have to do a bit of paper piecing. It’s not something I enjoy, but the precision is sometimes worth the effort. I’ve done all of the easy piecing for my deadline project and now it’s time to do the paper piecing. Since I need 80 units, I’ve been working on them in groups of about 10 or so.

Temporarily glue the brown to the paper, mark the first stitching line with a couple of pins, pin the gold in place and then when I have a stack, stitch, clip apart and trim.  It was going just fine, then I ended up with a stack of left over gold pieces. Since the gold pieces are cut in mirror image and yesterday I came up short, I thought I had either misplaced the pieces or cut them wrong. I set the stack aside and started chain piecing my units.

It was when I got to clipping them apart that I realized what had happened.

I pinned the sewing line — but I failed to then go back and pin the gold fabric in place.

Sheesh!

Well at least now it will be easier to figure out exactly where the gold goes.

Nothing has changed on my design wall from last week. There’s another block out, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. So, I’m showing you Sydney’s project. I’m so proud of her.  She took a sewing machine home last weekend and finished sewing the squares into rows and most of the rows together before coming back. Before she comes back I’m supposed to square up the quilt and cut the border fabric.

She what others are up to by following the links over at Patchwork Times.

Nothing like a deadline to throw the quilting room into chaos. All the floral fabric I was picking from for the Aiming for Accuracy Quilt-Along has been tossed into a box. A scrappy quilt with 4 colors is in the works. But I’m not feeling the gold/yellow now that I’ve got it home. It may be too bright.

If you don’t hear from me it’s because I’m working with these fabrics.

This week I did a bit more treadling – I think I have all but a handful of blocks completed, but I  ran out of bobbin thread. I wind my bobbins on my Genie since the treadle bobbin winder doesn’t work right. Only I had loaned the Genie out this week. It’s back, so I think I’m going to wind several bobbins.

Bottom line, there’s no stash out or in. But I did purchase a subscription to The Quilt Pattern Magazine a monthly on-line quilting magazine.

Anyway, my numbers haven’t changed in several weeks.  But, that may change – I have a couple of quilts I need to make that I don’t have fabric for in my stash and I’m considering going on a shop hop at the end of the week.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 127.087 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report:  0 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 75.212 yards

Net Used for the year -51.875 yards

See how others are doing with their stash over at Patchwork Times.

This past weekend I pulled out all of my blocks for Aiming for Accuracy Quilt-Along and started making flying geese. The quilt as designed finishes at 58″ x 82″ and I want my quilt to be a bit wider. The length is fine, so I thought I’d add a string of geese to either side before the outer border. I made a baker’s dozen of geese and now I’m second guessing myself. I think I’d be better off making the geese from two florals and putting in a sashing strip.  Bottom line, I  need to see the outer border before I make more geese.

So, with geese not being an option, I cleared off the treadle and worked some more on Scrappy Trips.

I have half the blocks finished and the rest are in various states of completion. Before I start sewing the strips into blocks I want to get all of the strip sets ready to go  so I can decide which color will go corner to corner.  I’ve decided on a layout and it’s dependent on that center color.

Check out what others have on their design wall over at Patchwork Times.

Lesson 11 of Aiming for Accuracy Quilt-Along.

Alphabet BOM – I is for Independence Square.

Click to join apocketfullofmysteries.

This past week I worked a bit on some string blocks, but nothing that I can count.  On the other hand, there was some fabric round robin happening in my stash.

A couple of weeks ago I left a comment on a Kansas Troubles Quilters blog post and I won a bunch of Kansas Trouble scraps! Thank you Lynne!

This will add variety to the quilt the quilt I’m making using KTQ fabrics.

Outward bound, I cut a stack of 5″ charm squares from my pink fabrics to give to Syd for a new quilt.  Since these have been put over into her stash box, I’m counting them out.

While I was cutting, I cut 2 1/2″, 2″, 1 1/2″ strips and made a few strings.  As a result I can now close my pink/purple box easily.  Perhaps I need to do this to my green and blue boxes.  The green to get it to close easily and the blue to replenish my strips.

Fabric Added Since Last Report: 5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 127.087 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report:  2.55 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 75.212 yards

Net Used for the year -51.875 yards

See how others are doing with their stash over at Patchwork Times.

Sewing, or doing anything in the house is interesting. While we are waiting on our new central A/C, we have a couple of window units blowing.  In the rooms we have cool, it’s like staying in a motel room with a noisy a/c. As a result, I have to crank up the volume on my book.  I’m listening to Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.  Yes, I’ve listened to it previously and read it last fall. I’m going though all of the books again in preparation for the release of In My Own Hearts Blood In in March.

Anyway, with the noisy a/c and loud book, I didn’t want to work on anything which required thinking. Well that is not the only reason.  My sewing area was disturbed putting in the window unit. The only reason I have a unit in here is because I work from home and the sewing room is also my office — otherwise I wouldn’t try to piece and would just work on the DWR in the bedroom which is cooled off.

As a result I pulled out my string blocks to work on something mindless.  I finished 6 blocks bringing my total to 24. I haven’t decided how big I’m going to make this quilt.