10/3/11

Sewing Binge

The weather has taken a decided turn for the worse.  We knew it was coming.  Sooner or later, it always comes.  The rain, that is.  It rains and rains and rains . . . for approximately seven months.  We have a few crisp, very cold, brilliantly sunny days--usually in January--but otherwise, it rains.

George and I know what to do.


We hang out in the sewing room and sew.  George doesn't like sewing.  He gets bored, and then he needs a nap.  He keeps going from door to window to door to window looking for the opening into summer.  Today though, he helped me work on my "Sunshine on my Shoulders" quilt.  (I'm still not settled on that name.  I might change it, so pay attention or you'll get lost.)  I finished another row of five blocks.


This is Judy Laquidara's Peaches and Dreams pattern.  These blocks are a little tedious to make because each piece has to be cut individually.  If I weren't using so many different fabrics, I might be able to cut them more efficiently.  As it is, it takes about two full days to make five blocks.  I still have ten to go, and then there is a pieced border too.  I'm hoping the border will go a little faster.  Here are all the blocks I have so far.


When I have them all complete, I'll probably rotate them and rearrange them to make sure I have an equal distribution of brights, lights, darks, dots, stripes, etc.  I do like how this is shaping up.  I'm going to put a solid border between the blocks and the pieced border so that it doesn't get too busy.

When I finished that, I decided to jump in and do my October swap block.  My partner requested something that would appeal to a child.  She is donating her swap block quilts to an organization that works with children with cancer.  That left it sort of wide open about what to do and so I thought about it for a while.  Should I make something for a boy or a girl?  Should it work for both?  I looked at a lot of blocks and finally settled on this one.


I think it turned out pretty cute.  The center panel is paper-pieced, and then I added the two borders to get it to the 12 1/2-inch size requirement.  I hope she likes it.

Tomorrow (when rain is expected) I'm going to make one last batch of pasta sauce.  After that, I'll draw the design onto the whole cloth mini-quilt that I'm going to hand quilt.  I feel like I should guffaw or something when I say "hand quilt" because it will be my first attempt.  I'm not expecting big things of myself, but everyone starts somewhere I guess.

That's my day.  How's your Monday? 

6 comments:

Yvette said...

I think I need to move up there, I love the rain. Maybe it's because we don't get enough of it.

Great blocks.

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

Raining here too. Dreary day to go with negative news about loved one. No details to share but sad none the less.

Snoodles said...

That scottie block is so cute! I bet she will be very happy with it. Love your "sunshine" quilting progress. I hope your hand-quilting goes well....that is actually all that I do, is hand-quilt my projects! It takes longer, but it's excellent therapy (and I'm much more available for kitty naps in my lap).

Sand and Sunshine said...

Great Scottie Dog! As for your quilt, how about "Sun Shiny Bright?"

quiltzyx said...

The Sunshine quilt is coming along - I really like the way it looks.

The Scottie block is perfect!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

The dog block is sew cute! Good choice of fabrics.