March update

I just realized it been nearly a month since I wrote anything on here so I thought it was about time for an update.  After all, what good is an online journal if you don't write in it?

Here are the blocks I made for the March Block Lotto.   I like how the pattern comes together and the block is really easy to do.  I am keeping this one in mind for a quilt to go on the guest bed, even if I don't win the block lottery.

In other news, well, there hasn't been much progress on the sewing front this month.   I did finally finish quilting and binding a small Advent Calendar wall hanging that I plan to use next Christmas.  Before it can be put away however, I need to decide on a way to hang it up.

I started work on the queen sized quilt I'm making.  I ordered the fabrics online last month, but after seeing them in person, I decided some of the tans were the wrong tone and I decided to use medium to dark blues instead of the light blues which I ordered.  I think I will put a lot more thought into my fabric choices next time I order online.

Once I got new fabric purchased and all the fabric was washed, I started to cut into it while watching TV in the evenings.  I figured it would be much easier to assemble the quilt if all the pieces were cut ahead of time.  Unfortunately, I really was not in the mood to cut that much fabric, (it took me 4 nights to cut it all) and I didn't pay attention to the pattern and I ended up cutting nearly all the blue pieces wrong.  Some of the pieces were salvageable, but once again, my impatience ended up costing me time and money to get additional yardage for all the blue fabrics.  

I still haven't dared to cut into the new blue fabrics.  I haven't really felt up to much sewing at all.   DH and I are expecting a new little one at the beginning of November and that has seemed to really drain my energy the last few weeks, not to mention the stomach virus going around our house.

Oh, I have started another project though.  All the scraps created from my cutting mistakes on the blue fabrics inspired me to start a long-term scrappy quilt.  I decided to use 2" hexagons and any pieces too small to be a whole hexagon will be cut into either 1/2, 1/3, or 1/6 of a hexagon and pieced together.   Right now I am just cutting out the pieces and haven't tried to sew anything together.  This will be a hand project  so that I can have something to take with me on road trips to visit the in-laws, and also someting to do while the sewing room/office is undergoing some construction.  My machine is setup in the basement and waiting to be used, I just forget that it is down there so that might be part of the reason I haven't done much sewing lately.

I think I forgot to mention the Quilt Outreach quilt-a-thon I went to back in February.   I was really kind of fun, even though I was only there for a few hours.  I think I counted 39 sewing machines (including Grandma's) in use and there were several other people helping to press tops and make sandwiches (including Mom, my little sister, and my cousin, Allison).   Maybe I can help out again sometime.