What I’m Working On…

I had quite a bit of time in the sewing room early in the week but later in the week, not so much. Kayla came home for a visit over the weekend so sewing time turned into cross-stitching time.

What I spent the most time on was this…

I told you last week that I had a deadline project that will be published in an upcoming issue of Quilts and More. They contacted me asked if we had anything they might be interested in.

In general, Quilts and More does more small projects or easier projects. I ended up sitting down at the computer with EQ and came up with a design we liked. It uses one layer cake and here’s the best news- one layer cake can make both a quilt and a matching doll quilt…and the magazine will be featuring both!

I power sewed the two quilts and in 12 hours, I had both of the quilts completely made into tops. That surprised the heck out of me. I couldn’t believe it only took 12 hours to make a quilt and a doll-sized quilt in only 12 hours from the very start to finished tops. I does help when the cutting is simplified by using a precut. I’m anxious to show you the quilts but sadly, that is going to have to wait for a bit.

The quilt tops are now with my friend Carla of Longarm Quilting Inspirations. She is going to work her magic on these and then get them back to me. In the meantime, I’ll get some binding strips together. I’m hoping she has the tops back to me in early March. I’ll bind them and then get them off to the magazine.

I worked some more on this…

You might remember that I am making string pieced sashing for this quilt I designed.

This has been slow going. I continue to sew a few more each week but I need a pretty big pile of them and for some reason, string piecing is not a fast process for me.

After I get done writing today’s blog posts, I’m heading upstairs to figure out how to put the “X” cornerstone blocks together.

I designed this in EQ and EQ can be great. There is a button to push after the quilt is designed that lets me know the fabric requirements. There is another that lets me know the cutting instructions for a block. The problem is it doesn’t do EVERY cut. For example, weird cuts like the diagonal of the “X” cornerstone block, it doesn’t tell me. SO…I used the option to print out the block full-scale size. From there I will take the measurements and figure it out.

It will take a little bit of putzing but it’s totally doable.

I’ve been doing a little experimenting. I’ve been making some pincushions. I’ve been having the best time doing it. In fact, I’m working on a tutorial for you all.

These were just the beginning. Watch for a tutorial to come out on Saturday. I will reveal all then. Trust me, they get MUCH cuter than this!!

I just long for extra time in the sewing room to actually have time to play and design. Because of that, once childcare starts again on February 21st, I made the decision to not work on Fridays anymore.

Since I’ve been off from childcare, even though I haven’t felt top-notch, I’ve loved the extra freedom and casualness of the days. I feel without the long list of to-dos that come with doing childcare, I’ve been able to be more creative. Oh, I love that feeling.

Best of all…I feel like I can actually act on some of those creative ideas. Thus, the pincushion idea.

That’s the latest. Although I was busy in the sewing room, sadly there is not a lot I can share with you. It happens that some weeks are like that. I will reveal more as time allows. Thanks for being so understanding.