Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Long time...no post...

So...mucho apologies my few but faithful blog readers. Its been a while. I have come to the conclusion that writing a blog is like going to the gym. If you skip a day, its that much harder to pick it up the next. I guess I really shouldn't be that surprised at my two month blog vacation though...considering my spacey gym attendance.

The good news, however, is that no post doesn't necessarily indicate no sewing. I've been quite busy. I finished by graduation gifts (binding and all) wrapping up a LONG project. I made six quilts to give away all together. Yay me!

I also finished up my first quilt in project "scraps are our friends." Yes, that's right...I am beginning to change my scrap-wasting ways. I had a lot of yardage left over from my belle quilt, so instead of shoving them in the depths of my closet and cutting into something new, I forced myself to use 'em up! It was an interesting process. I knew that I wanted to experiment with making my own design and I knew that I needed to keep it fairly small because of fabric constraints. With those restrictions in mind, I dove in feet first. Notice that I didn't say head first, because believe me there was no planning involved. I made a big mess and ripped out TONS of seams. TONS. After trial and tribulation, however, I have to say that I came up with a quilt that I love.


The finished quilt is pretty small. I made it about a yard square, which I thought would be a good stroller/car seat size. Big enough to cover baby well, but not so long that the ends would be in danger of dragging. Designwise, I used traditional blocks spaced between solid squares of my focus fabric. For the sashing, I used white linen. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and I have to say, I had a really mixed reaction to it. I love the different texture, and the way it breaks up the blocks...it looks great. On the other hand though, I struggled with construction. I don't think my seams are as neat, and the dang stuff just does not want to iron flat. I really had to steam the heck out of it. I'll definately use it again, but not for every project. It would raise my blood pressure too much.

Up next is another "scraps are our friends" installment. I am using my final belle remnants (praise the lord) and then I will be done!!!!! Not that I don't like the fabric, but I have so many new things that I want to start on...like six...OMG.

2 comments:

Darci said...

I love the prints that you used for this! I am happy that you found me and the swap!

Margaret said...

Yay! I'm glad you are posting again!