It might seem like all my time has gone into sewing…but it hasn’t.  I’ve been cross stitching some too.

I finished up the October Sheep Virtue….

It’s so cute.

“Gratitude” is the next one I’ll be working on.  You can see that I don’t stitch the whole outer border at once.  I do a section of it, going all the way around, to make sure it will meet up right.  That way, I have less to rip out it I messed up the count.

I’m thrilled to be finishing these up but also a bit of nervousness is setting in.  I’ll have to fully finish all of these soon.  Happily I have a couple other things I don’t care about as much to tackle first as “practice”.  I don’t know for positive how I’m finishing them but I know they won’t be pillows.

As for quilting…I think you already saw that I finished this quilt top… Continue reading →

My Crooked Courthouse Steps blocks have taken over my life.   Oh I love making them.  I love the “something from nothing” style of quilting.  I love the carefree cutting.  You can see from the back of my block that it’s okay that the white fabric in the front overhangs a bit.  No matter.  It’s no big deal at all.  Ah…I love it.

I would like to suggest only making 10 or less blocks at a time.  See that green strip that is leftover?  That can be trimmed off and used in the next new block I make.  This way ALL of the piece gets used up.

You can see I made of a stack of these “leftovers” and they are ready for the next blocks.

I’m doing so good…I resist squaring them up upstairs in my sewing room.  Instead I bring them downstairs and set up a station at the kitchen island for trimming.  This way I can do it over naptime when the kiddos are sleeping.  It’s my perk of being an inhome childcare provider.  Every job needs a fringe benefit doesn’t it?

True happiness…a pile of slivers ready for the garbage.

A friend asked why I had to trim the blocks.  These blocks are wonky.  There is not predetermined size for any of the strips that I’m sewing together.  My strips are varying from 3/4″ to 2″.  That means that sometimes the block ends up being 9″ when finished.  Sometimes it ends up being 8 /12″  That means the blocks have to be squared up in the end.  It’s all part of the
wonkiness.

Another person asked why some blocks don’t look complete.  Some have four sides.  Note the block below.

The top side has 4 strips.  I had to add the 4th strips as the block wasn’t wide enough yet.  It’s not big deal.  In fact I kind of like it.  Here’s why… Continue reading →