A Happy Little Day

      We all got sucked into Bob Ross binge watching over the holidays-- in that spirit, on Saturday I had a happy little Bob Ross kind of day- except sewing, instead of painting, obviously. I gave myself the gift of one of the all sewing days I promised myself after losing some personal time to entertaining during my favorite last week of the year.

     I worked four projects along at once. I used a technique I've heard others talk about-- people who really get things done. 1) You pin up a whole bunch of pieces to get ready to sew. 2) You move to the sewing machine and stitch them. 3) Iron. 4) Well, step four is back to step one! 

     I cycled through this process about four times doing the four projects and at a really relaxed pace-- no preconceived notions about what I would finish. I did move all four ahead and even finished one of them. It was a really enjoyable day.

     First up-- I finished my corn! The table runner part of it just needed a top border strip. I put this off, just because my table was a mess, I couldn't lay it out to measure, and I also hate the border part of any project. It's good to analyze why you get stuck on things, and wow, once I made up my mind to do it-- it took no time at all. Keeping my table top clean is a top priority for this year.

      I had one pillow top of two done. For the second one, the last two corns needed their leaves. They also needed a star block. I got stuck on this, because I ran out of the background fabric-- another lesson learned-- plan ahead with your supplies. And on a side note-- Etsy is a treasure trove of 2-3 year old fabric collections that you need more of-- don't wait much longer than three years, though.

   So Corn I am considering a "finish," but I actually wrote in my happy planner on August 1st to quilt it and have the set ready for my living room after Labor Day. 

    Next up: A Ribbon Runs Through It. Are you tired of hearing about this yet? We're almost there. Block Sixteen got finished yesterday. All that stands between me and a fabulous finish are a bunch of 10ft long seams, and, yes-- my favorite part, again-- two borders. I am absolutely determined to gut through it this week, forcing myself to do at least one seam every day. Sometimes a bit of FORCE is required in the sport of quilting, don't you agree?

     Third project: Lori Holt's Prairie Meadow quilt. I began and ended the day with hand stitching, and I finished Block 3. I am so happy with it! It looks so cool when all of the pieces go from glued down floppy to stitched down flat against the background. 

     This one I decided to be the boss of my own quilt and changed it up a bit-- apparently, I got a little too bossy and struggled for a bit. I added more color, and some lighter lights and darker darks-- that thing they told me in drawing class applies to quilt blocks, too. Lori had this mustache shaped set of leaves for her cherries, but I prefer my cherries more like the ones on a Las Vegas slot machine. I also added a little more movement by rotating the cherries like a wreath.

     Was it worth the extra time? Now that it's finished, it certainly was, but I hope I don't make as free with the rest of the blocks-- there are other things I'd rather spend my creative time on. There is only one other block I'm not crazy about-- it just has way too many circles. For now, I'm sticking with blocks I totally like-- there are nine left, so there's still plenty of choice. For the last block, I'm thinking of taking the Sew Simple shapes and making my own design-- that is something that sounds really fun to me and there are plenty of shapes in the set.

     I did buy the Cute Cuts 16-1/2" trimming template--- it was wicked expensive, but I got 20% off during Christmas, and I think it will be handy to have.

     Last project of the day: The Fat Quarter Shop is having a free sew-a-long for Valentine's Day! The quilt looks really easy to make-- you can click here to go to their website and download the pattern.

    It is one big block, so you can make this really fast. I don't need another wallhanging-- I'd rather have a tablerunner, but if I make three of them, then the project is too big for my tables. 

     Then I decided to shrink the block-- it did inspire me to come out with a tutorial for resizing blocks, because I am just that good at math and you can be, too. Is that something you'd be interested in? But then I wanted to use a charm pack of J. Wecker Frisch's new collection, "Be Mine Valentine." So cute-- very vintage! I always like her collections-- she's a true artist-- very illustrative. So no piece can then be bigger than a 5" square. I would have to shrink the block way too much to get it to work, way too complicated, too many would be needed.

    

      Do you see how I get myself down the rabbit hole frequently?

I decided to make my own block-- graph paper is just the best-- I did that, and it came out very cute! Then, I remembered I am a machine embroiderer, and THIS BLOCK CAN BE MADE IN THE HOOP! 

   That was a really exciting moment in my day yesterday-- so look for a new set in about a week, of in-the-hoop envelope blocks. Not only that, but I think we can also make a REAL fabric envelope in the hoop, and even a fun quilt label. 

    So that was my day! I really enjoyed every minute of it. I hope you can also find a day somewhere this month to go to your happy place, close the door, and work a few of those WIPs along. The world needs your completed projects, and I mean that very sincerely.

xoxo

Carol