What I’m Working On…

I’ve been a busy girl…it hasn’t all been sewing, in fact, much of it hasn’t been sewing.

Being I was done with all of the major projects I have been working on I decided to stop and get the sewing room tidied up. If you remember I have been pedal to the metal so to speak in the sewing room since the beginning of the year.

Speaking of pedals…I bought a new “Foot Pedal Stay in Place” Pad. I bought it from Amazon and it looks like this.

With the sewing room remodel I took out a big rug. My foot pedal to the sewing machine was on the rug and I had no problems. I took the rug out and now the pedal slips everywhere. I looked around on Amazon and found this pad. You can look at it HERE. The pad has been here a couple of weeks but I finally took the time to get it set up.

It was super easy.

It comes with velcro strips. I put one on the bottom of the foot pedal.

Then one went on the pad. Now the foot pedal is velcroed to the pad. They offer more velcro so that the pad can be velcroed to the floor. I didn’t do that. I am trying it as is before I do that and so far, I really like it.

I was so tired of losing the foot pedal and reaching around with my foot to find it. It’s just a little thing, but I so appreciate it.

I don’t have to worry about this with my Singer 15-91. It is in a cabinet and the cabinet has an attached foot pedal.

By the way…Yes, yes I did vacuum after this. It was terrible.

I have been working on Lori Holt’s Red Sampler Quilt Along. I’ve had her books for a long time and haven’t made a single thing from the books. When she announced she was going to host a red sampler I was excited but then I remembered I hate sewing samplers. It’s so tedious sewing only one block at a time.

Well then I was cleaning up the sewing room and my rule is I can only keep as much fabric as will fit in the designated container. I went to break my rule and put the reds on top of the drawer unit. The top drawer of this is my designated spot for red fabric. Look. There is no room for more reds.

That’s when I decided…either get rid of some reds or make a quilt with red. I had just heard about Lori Holt’s quilt along so…That’s what made the decision…too many reds.

So…I’m making sampler blocks. Believe it or not, I’m actually enjoying it so far. Lori Holts books are awesome!! They are super for someone like me who likes pictorial instructions.

I’m challenging myself to make the blocks the way she constructs them. I typically don’t make flying geese using the method shown below…but I’m doing it.

I don’t have a lot of time to sew right now but this project has really been letting me sew. I cut a block out at nap time and then next morning before childcare, I sew it. I am able to still feel like I’m getting sewing time. I love it.

You have noticed that I’m doing mine in reproduction fabrics. That’s what I had more of and what needed to be used.

The premise of the quilt is that each Monday Lori picks three blocks to make. They are either in 6″ or 12″. We need more 6″ blocks so we have been making two 6″ blocks and one 12″ block each week.

The blocks all come from the following books by her. So far, we’ve only used the first three books.
Vintage Christmas
Farm Girl Vintage #1
Farm Girl Vintage #2
Great Granny Squared

Someone asked me if you have to have all of the books to join. I would say no. I had three of the four books already so I bought the last one. If she calls for a block from a book you don’t have, you could simple substitute a block of your own design or a block from a different quilt book you own that is the required size.

Lori is doing her quilt in the layout of the quilt on the cover of the book below. She encourages people to feel free to make the quilt their own and if there is a layout people like better, use it. If you want to make a quilt with fewer blocks, that’s okay too.

If you like this layout and don’t have a Farm Girl Vintage #2, I might buy that book.

We are supposed to have 6 blocks done as of this morning and I have all of them done. YAHOO!! I’m keeping up.

If you want to know more about it, check out Lori’s blog post about it HERE.

I did a little scrap control too. In some of the latest mail I there was some odd or small scraps. I saved them for myself and trimmed them up to add to my scrap users system. Some of these odd pieces are awkward for others to use so I keep them and cut them for my strip box. I love them!! They add variety to my scraps.

I loaded a special quilt on the frame. My plan is to work on it next. I’ll tell you more about it soon.

I promised myself that any extra time I got over the next two weeks could be used to play catch up. So many things got behind when I power sewed through the four quilts that I did for American Patchwork and Quilting. I have little stacks here and there that need to be taken care of including my email. Yep, it’s bad again! If I missed an email from you, feel free to send it again. I won’t be offended.

That’s what I’m up to. It’s nothing very exciting but that’s completely okay. I’ll happily take a few non-eventful boring days!!

Are any of you doing the Red Sampler Quilt Along? Leave your Instagram in the comments if you are. I’d love to check out your progress!!