sew. sew. sew

First you cut, cut, cut.....and then you chain yourself to the sewing machine and sew like crazy, LOL.

At left, the Gordian Knot from my quilt class. When I stopped sewing on Saturday with two halves of the top. (it's on point) That elongated rail section is the last piece to be added when you go back to finish off the partial seams. Today's goal is to finish this top up.

Pattern source: Gordian Knot designed by Mary Whitehead. Our teacher said Mrs. Whitehead had drawn up the designs before her passing but died before she could include the assembly instructions. The teacher spent 4 years figuring out how THAT part was done for the 9 designs. This is knot #1.

I started this pile of Triple Rail blocks on Thursday using scraps from the Belles scrappy challenge container. By Sunday afternoon I counted them up while I pressed the final seams-- 80 blocks separated out by color groupings. I had some left (22) from my last quilt of this type. Just how many did I need for straight sets anyway? I made 8 more, LOL. Depending on whether I want a border or not it would take 77 or 108. A whole quilt hiding in that little scrap box, in other words! Some of the "singletons" are sewn up as well into 4 Ashcombe panels. It is the equivalent of two blocks worth if I cut a center strip to assemble them. I set this all aside for a meeting sewing project.


I showed you the two bands that could be for either RR crossing of Grandmother's Scrap Bag on Friday. Since that post, I made a total of 8- 3-D bowties blocks. A few are on the design wall. I need 35 for an on point set and have a total of 12 on hand.

I also made 2-Puss in the Corner blocks from the nickel squares. The Belles and I made a ton of these blocks using the Billie Lauder Quick Trick method for uneven nine patches. I had to refresh my memory on how to do it, LOL.



And then I finished off the evening by making some string blocks. Had I hit my own scrap basket a bit more, I could have kept stitching for days but these used up most of the odd bits from the Belles Challenge scrap box---plus some longer strips from my 1 1/2 cuts to cover the longest required lengths.

Obviously I will need quite a bit more of these. 35 total blocks if I just sash and cornerstone them. BUT I am considering treating them as a HST and making a "Kitchen Sink" version. I could have sworn that I had a picture on the blog of one of those but can't locate it now to link back. Guess you will just have till I find one of my mom's in the WTIL gallery pages or an old Belles version from the photo archives.

Because we are about to turn the calendar page on the month of February, I swapped out the wall hangings and seasonal decorations this morning. I think the March Joined at the Hip (JATH) quilt of the month should be next on my reward list along with a completion of the Spring "In Season" quilt!! For the base unit of the JATH can hang up there naked, LOL.

It is hard not think it is spring already when we had an overnight low of 62 degrees, albeit with rain and storms on the way in sometime today. The daffodils have been out for a week and the neighborhood Bradford Pears are opening up like popcorn. I have seen a few tulip trees out on my drive into town as well. Our camellia bush will be next provided we don't get the beginning blooms zapped by a late winter frost.

So the Gordian Knot finish is today's project. Then I want to swap out machines and start something else. Even though I want to do those two reward projects I just mentioned, Sheila and I are sort of challenging each other to start on the 4 patch diagonal chain quilt I showed HERE. We have been emailing back and forth about it. She will hit some squares she had set back for this quilt and I will hit the nickel squares with a goal of donation sized quilt for me.

The birthday girl FAB also has a plan for us to sew for her bday party. It would use 2 1/2 inch strips and we would do the Jelly Roll 1600 race, I guess. Date has not been set but I DO have a pile of the required strip sizes in my Belles scrap box plus an overstuffed container on the shelf that could be raided.

Looks like I am going to be busy--------but that's the way I like it! Hope you find something that captures your attention too.