B words were definitely the theme this week; I was busy in a good way.
Blocks were completed for the two sew alongs I'm participating in, which are:
Burp Cloths
Blogging
Blocks were completed for the two sew alongs I'm participating in, which are:
The Freefall Spring Quilt Along hosted by mmm quilts. The QAL is from March 20 thru June 15 and the instructions for the first eight leaves were posted on April 3rd. Some quilters have already posted on the Freefall linky party with details on the making of their blocks which involved rotary cutting, trimming, etc. I have a confession, I die-cut all of my patches, seeing that this block could easily be made with die-cuts and I, for one, never miss an opportunity to use one of my four die-cutters. I have ten good reasons why I die-cut, they're my thumbs and fingers; a ninja with a rotary cutter, I am not. But I digress, because thinking these blocks were going to be a cinch to make, I did run into problems with the paper piecing of the leaf points. I could not get the pattern to print at the correct size and let me tell you being 1/16" short is a big difference, the leaf points did not match for the two blocks I made. I ended up drawing the pattern on graph paper and the correct size of the leaf point made the sewing go a lot quicker. I'm looking forward to making another set of the leaf blocks with a different background; this really is a nice project to use up some of the bright fabrics that I have been collecting. I thinking my colors are more tropical Spring, please don't think Fall.
I also finished the last of the six large hexagons for the unofficial Smitten Quilt Along I am doing with my friend Carol. We are still friends and still am enjoying sewing these hexagons while watching episodes of Gilmore Girls. I only have twenty-two episodes left to watch and eleven more hexagons to make. Lesson learned while making these hexagons is not to watch more than three episodes at a time; when I did, I wanted to drink coffee at Midnight plus my head really started spinning from all the loud bantering from Lorelai and gang which didn't make falling asleep very easy.
More burp cloths for my sweet, new granddaughter Micah Rose. I already made some before her birth, you can read the post about the first batch here. This time no more gender neutral, pink is the color for this batch and I used a much simpler pattern; you could make each one in fifteen minutes. And again, I have to ask myself, why did I make so many.
Blogging
Monday, April 10th was the official start of the 2017 New Quilt Bloggers and I was in the first group of the Better Bloggers Hive to post, you can read my introductory post here. If you are a new quilt blogger, like me, this was a wonderful opportunity for me to participate in this Blog Hop. I'm learning how to improve and increase my blogging/online experience and knowledge. Plus it's the best way to building community and friendship with other quilters. It seems like everyday I am learning something new about blogging and my favorite part of all if when you don't know something, there is someone in the group who is willing to help you, all you have to do is ask. And for someone who is retired and misses the IT Help Desk at work, this is so important. I was leery about signing up at first because of my computer experience but I am so glad I did. Please be sure to check out the Blog Hop by clicking on one of the Hive Host's links: Yvonne @quiltingjetgirl, Leanne @shecanquilt and Beth @cookingupquilts. There are some wonderful giveaways being offered during the Blog Hop.
Bad News (sort of for me)
In a previous post, I was minus 70.75 yards in my 2017 Minus 100 yard Challenge. Well, after ending my fabric fast which lasted over three months and partaking in some fabric sales and attending the International Quilt Festival last week, I added 39 yards to my stash. Yes, I checked my figures and photos of my purchases. Thankfully I had sewing activity this week which used up 9.5 yards and makes the new total still commendable, I think, but I am restarting the fabric fast by resisting a great sale yesterday.
Minus 100 Yards Challenge YTD Total: - 41 yards
Thanks for stopping by. I am now headed downstairs to the studio, where I finally did a much-needed clean up and some reorganization, only to once again create a mess because projects needs to be finish so I can use some yardage up.
Linking up with:
mmm quilts
Linking up with:
mmm quilts