Something New

Good morning, my friends. It's a sunny morning here. It was supposed to rain today, so let's just hope the sunshine lasts. And it's a perfect morning for Sadie to wish you a Happy Tortoiseshell Cat Appreciation Day!

She's enjoying her day lounging on Mike's lap.

Okay, so I mentioned yesterday that I was going to embroider the names of some quilt shops and their locations in order to get a start on my third Shop Hop quilt. This one will have 20 blocks in all. I had in mind to do these three blocks at a time, and so I was ready to embroider three "book spines." Generally, I do two lengths of floss in any one embroidery session. (Divided, it ends up as six lengths.) Sometimes I do more, but two lengths is a good amount of time. That meant I had two finished when I was ready to quit.

From there, I started thinking I should actually test out my plan for these blocks by making at least one. Before I go to a lot of effort at hand-embroidery, it would probably be a good idea to know it will actually fit together properly. So, I got distracted from my original plan to work on the next block for When Quilter's Gather. Smitty was terribly disappointed.

Wait...I thought we were going to work on this purroject!

Change of plans, Buddy. Sorry. 

Okay, and so the first thing I needed to figure out is how to cut the spines so the stitching placement is consistent from block to block. Using my ruler, I figured out that lining up the 7/8-inch mark with the bottom of the first line of stitching would give me enough room on both sides for a seam allowance. So, I lined it up thus...

After making the first cut, I simply flipped it around and measured a strip two inches wide. Perfect. I'll print that picture above and put it in the project box to give me a visual note of how to do this each time.

Okay, and so some of you noted this is a dreaded paper-piecing project. Yes, yes, it is. I seem to be in paper-piecing purgatory. That is probably my just desserts after disparaging the technique lo these many years. I'm going to make the book cover section using freezer paper templates. It will help me place the focus fabric the way I want it. Since the two sides of the book are mirror images of one another, It doesn't matter how I place the paper as long as I make one piece for each template. Also, the templates can be reused a number of times.

For the book "pages," I'll do traditional paper-piecing. There aren't many pieces, and so it isn't too much trouble.

There is enough of the background fabric left over from Calendula Patterdrip to use on these. For insurance, I went online and ordered another yard. If I end up with too much, I can use it when I sew the blocks into a quilt top. For this first one, however, this is how it looked once the pieces were sewn together. (Looks like I hadn't finished sewing the top right piece when I snapped this picture.)

From there, I just needed to sew a little background piece to the end of the "spine," and then I could sew the whole thing together.

Okay! Cool! This was some fabric I picked up at Field's Fabrics in Holland, Michigan. (You can read my post about the shop at that link.) We visited Holland on a day trip from Michigan's Grand Haven State Park. We loved this area. It was beautiful. Both places are situated on the shore of Lake Michigan, and so I chose this lighthouse fabric for the lighthouses we'd seen along the lakeshore. 

Just then Sadie joined me. 

What? More papurr-piecing?!? Are you trying to purrvoke me into to using my murder mittens?

I was able to avoid bloodshed by distracting her with some catnip.

With the first one done, I figured I might as well make the other one too. 

This one was from Quilter's Cottage in Fallbrook, California. It was one of three shops I visited with my dear friend, Debi, the last time we were in southern California. Fallbrook is very near Mike's and my old stomping grounds, where we met and married. A lot of avocados are grown in this area. 

Although I'd planned to do three blocks per go-round on this quilt, I was ready to quit after two. So that will be my goal: two blocks per go-round. There are 20 blocks in the quilt, and so I can probably have all the blocks made in less than a year's time. Here are the two blocks I have so far. When they're sewn together, there will be a sashing between them.

After that, I was ready to quit for the day. When I came upstairs this morning, Smitty was enjoying a morning sunbath. This will be happening with increasing frequency as the weather improves. It's the best time of year to be a kitty.

There are a few things on my to-do list today. When I'm ready to get after my sewing, I really will get started on the next block for When Quilters Gather. There's another Tiny House to construct, but I'll hold off on that for a day or two.