All Sewing, All the Time

Help me decide on a case for my new phone.

See the choices right here.

In case you haven't noticed, I'll just admit right here and now that I've had trouble hitting my sewing stride since we got back from our trip. While I wouldn't say I've been terribly busy, things have seemed hectic nonetheless. It's been a little difficult getting back into a routine. I decided on Friday that I would get caught up on my housework and set aside Saturday for getting the greenhouse back under control. Then, Sunday could be devoted to sewing. These resolutions don't always result in follow-through.

Today was different. While it was tempting to get caught up in planning for next week, I stuck to my guns and spent the entire afternoon sewing. Probably an hour of that time was spent trying to decide what I was going to do next. I have a few little projects that I want to complete before I get to work on my goals for October, and so I decided to work on those first. For one thing, I decided on the doll quilt I want to make for the October Doll Quilt Swap.

Theme for the October swap is "Show Us Where you Live". My partner and I decided to surprise one another, but I am sticking with the theme loosely. I can't say much more about that because I can't surprise my partner if I go blabbing about her quilt all over my blog, now can I? So you'll have to be surprised along with her. And since I'm only in the planning stages, I don't even have any little peeks for you. That will come later.

So what did I do? Well....I decided what to do for the round robin at my guild. Fat quarters were handed out at the September meeting (which I missed because we were traveling). My quilting buddy Pat was kind enough to grab a fat quarter and mail it to me. (Thanks, Pat!) They were in brown paper bags that were stapled shut, and so it was luck of the draw. I ended up with this one called "Outside the Lines" by Laura Heine for Kings Road.

It's not probably something I would have purchased for myself at a quilt shop, but it isn't bad.

So I had my choice of making a center for a round robin quilt, or I can just make a block for the guild block of the month challenge. I still haven't decided whether I want to participate in the round robin, but that's neither here nor there.

I spent some time perusing the Quilter's Cache website trying to come up with some ideas. Eventually, I settled on this 18-inch Irish Chain block. I think the Irish Chain is my favorite of the traditional blocks. I love how it looks sewn into a quilt, and I like it with straight diagonal grid quilting. 

So here's what I did with my fat quarter. Not bad, huh?

I kind of liked making this block. At 18 inches, you wouldn't need very many to make a really big quilt. I've set it aside, and I might decide to make a whole quilt from it. Here's how it looks made up into a larger quilt:

I had about an hour left in my day when I finished that up, and so I decided to do the August Hello Moon block.

I'm still waiting for September's block to be released. It's hard to wait on these. Here's what I have so far:

And with that finished, I called it a day.

Tomorrow I'm getting my monthly pedicure, and I need to go to the grocery store. If I have any time left, I'll get started on my doll quilt. And either way, Tuesday is a stay-at-home day, so I'll devote Tuesday to sewing too. At some point, both kitties need to go to the vet. Gracie needs her choppers cleaned, and Smitty needs his annual physical and his immunizations. He was only a little kitten the last time the vet saw him. I'll think about getting that on the calendar sometime week after next.

It's been a good weekend, and I feel as if I'm falling back into my little rut. A rut is a good place to be, in my book. How about you? How did your weekend go?