It was a fairly productive day in the sewing room today. I have a lot of little miscellaneous projects I'm working on that were put on hold while I finished up the Checkerboard Flowers quilt top. It's been fun to get back to these. Being one-block-at-a-time projects, it's easy to feel as if one is accomplishing something even though the effort is small.
First (and on the third try), I managed to get this third block for the Blogger's BOM sewn together correctly.
It wasn't difficult, but my brain wiring got in the way. I had the row of squares on the right side turned upside down at first. ("Now, that ain't right," I murmured to myself.) So I took it apart and sewed it back together. ("What the F***?" I said next.) Turns out the flying geese portion of the block was turned upside down too. That was when I quit for the day. Knowing what I needed to do this morning made it much easier to return to the sewing room to try one last time before giving up in frustration and throwing myself on the floor to weep. Fortunately, it all went together perfectly. (I think I'd used up the last available mistake, and so my options were limited by this time.)
Are you like me in that you can't look at a map and follow it without turning it in the direction you're traveling? This sometimes means that I am looking at the map upside down. (You don't want to be asking me directions if you're lost.) And I can't help but notice that I've used the words "upside down" three times so far in this post. There seems to be a trend here.
For whatever reason, I cannot flip lines and shapes around spatially. Nor can I tell my left from my right without thinking deeply about it first. Keep in mind that I had to endure three terms of statistics in college . . . and that was just as an undergraduate. When my graduate school research textbook was entitled, Statistics Without Tears, I knew I was in the right class.
Here are the three blocks I've finished for this project so far. It's a great project for using scraps. I'm loving all the different colors.
You can find the tutorials for all the blocks at Canton Village Quilt Works Blog. This latest block was designed by Stephanie Dunphy at Loft Creations, and despite the problems I had, Stephanie's tutorial was excellent.
Next, I turned my attention to the third block of the Day in the Life of Mr. Bear quilt. I sewed all the border blocks to the embroidered stitchery (the half square triangles are portions of pinwheels)
and then, having completed the three blocks I needed for the middle row of the quilt, I sewed them all together.
So far, I'm happy with how it's turning out. This block uses a lot of scraps, but the floral strip you see around the large block in the center was actually purchased for another quilt. There's some coordinating fabric I'm going to use for the back as well. When I saw this pattern, I knew the fabric I already had was perfect, and so the project I bought it for originally went begging. It's only a small sample you see here, but trust me when I tell you the fabric is really beautiful. It'll be used in the wide outer border too. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the larger quilt.
And since I don't have any hand work to do just now, I decided to go ahead and trace the fourth block out. The tracing was quite complicated on this, so the embroidery should keep me busy for a while.
The background fabric doesn't photograph well when it's seen with just the inked-in lines, but it's the same background I used on the other blocks. All that tone on tone design fades when the red embroidery floss is added.
Then I was going to stop, but I thought I'd just take a quick look at the finishing instructions for the SoHappyMe SewAlong bunting I've been working on. I finished the stitcheries a few weeks ago. I'm just now getting around to finishing it up. So, I started trimming and cutting and fussing, and you know how that goes. One thing led to another and I actually ended up getting quite a bit done on it. I'm ready to sew all the bindings on now, and then it'll just be a matter of finishing up the hand sewing.
I'm using the polka dot fabric for the backs of the stitcheries and the strips for the binding. Then each little stitchery has a button sewn to the binding that ties the whole thing together. I'm using these little green Christmas trees. Cute, huh?
So that's all I did today. A glance at the calendar for December tells me that even though the first falls on Thursday, there are still four full weeks in December beginning on Monday. That means I can use the rest of the week to finish up my table runner and a couple of Christmas gifts I'm working on. I'd like to do some baking this week too.
I'll be linking up to:
First (and on the third try), I managed to get this third block for the Blogger's BOM sewn together correctly.
Are you like me in that you can't look at a map and follow it without turning it in the direction you're traveling? This sometimes means that I am looking at the map upside down. (You don't want to be asking me directions if you're lost.) And I can't help but notice that I've used the words "upside down" three times so far in this post. There seems to be a trend here.
For whatever reason, I cannot flip lines and shapes around spatially. Nor can I tell my left from my right without thinking deeply about it first. Keep in mind that I had to endure three terms of statistics in college . . . and that was just as an undergraduate. When my graduate school research textbook was entitled, Statistics Without Tears, I knew I was in the right class.
Here are the three blocks I've finished for this project so far. It's a great project for using scraps. I'm loving all the different colors.
You can find the tutorials for all the blocks at Canton Village Quilt Works Blog. This latest block was designed by Stephanie Dunphy at Loft Creations, and despite the problems I had, Stephanie's tutorial was excellent.
Next, I turned my attention to the third block of the Day in the Life of Mr. Bear quilt. I sewed all the border blocks to the embroidered stitchery (the half square triangles are portions of pinwheels)
So far, I'm happy with how it's turning out. This block uses a lot of scraps, but the floral strip you see around the large block in the center was actually purchased for another quilt. There's some coordinating fabric I'm going to use for the back as well. When I saw this pattern, I knew the fabric I already had was perfect, and so the project I bought it for originally went begging. It's only a small sample you see here, but trust me when I tell you the fabric is really beautiful. It'll be used in the wide outer border too. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the larger quilt.
And since I don't have any hand work to do just now, I decided to go ahead and trace the fourth block out. The tracing was quite complicated on this, so the embroidery should keep me busy for a while.
The background fabric doesn't photograph well when it's seen with just the inked-in lines, but it's the same background I used on the other blocks. All that tone on tone design fades when the red embroidery floss is added.
Then I was going to stop, but I thought I'd just take a quick look at the finishing instructions for the SoHappyMe SewAlong bunting I've been working on. I finished the stitcheries a few weeks ago. I'm just now getting around to finishing it up. So, I started trimming and cutting and fussing, and you know how that goes. One thing led to another and I actually ended up getting quite a bit done on it. I'm ready to sew all the bindings on now, and then it'll just be a matter of finishing up the hand sewing.
I'm using the polka dot fabric for the backs of the stitcheries and the strips for the binding. Then each little stitchery has a button sewn to the binding that ties the whole thing together. I'm using these little green Christmas trees. Cute, huh?
So that's all I did today. A glance at the calendar for December tells me that even though the first falls on Thursday, there are still four full weeks in December beginning on Monday. That means I can use the rest of the week to finish up my table runner and a couple of Christmas gifts I'm working on. I'd like to do some baking this week too.
I'll be linking up to:
8 comments:
Your BOM is looking great!! I haven;t had time to get to mine yet!! But I will !! Hugs
Love the Blogger's BOM block, very different. Looks like you had a very productivve day!
Cute blocks, and love your redwork!
Wonderful projects you are working on. Your blocks are so bright and cheery. Love the redwork - certainly will be a lot of stitching in that next block.
Barbara, your redwork is lovely, lovely! I really like the polka dot fabric you're using with the Christmas stitcheries, too! The block you worked so hard on is fascinating with the fabrics you used! Looking forward to "Occupy Your Sewing Room" week!! :)
I am spatially challenged as well... my Dad says that lefts and rights are instinctual but I know for a fact that they are not lol... if I am directing in a car I call the name of the person on that side (i.e. turn Katy side)
Also... your tracings always look so amazing and tidy... could you share how you do them please?
I can read a map, but, I also like it going in the same direction I am going, too. We're very much alike there. On patterns, I can only make it if I can figure out how it goes together just by looking at it. I don't 'follow directions' well at all. I also have to 'think' about right and left (and reading an analog clock, too). Oh well...
Wow, Barbara! What wonderful work! I am so in love with your Day in the Life of Mr. Bear. And then your Christmas stitchery is every bit as adorable. Yes, I love that tree button!
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