A big project (and lots of little ones)
Definitely a scrap quilt, but one so dear to my heart. |
Stitching has been my balm lately. Writing has not, but that's fine. Instead I'll tell you about the quilt, or half of it, pictured above. And mention some wee darlings that keep me smiling.
So the Cornflower quilt.... I am pretty much head over heels for this English paper pieced marvel designed by Jodi Godfrey from her book, The Seedling Quilts. I was infatuated while making the blocks, adding an extra row because I just kept finding great fabric combos to turn into ONE MORE BLOCK. Lol. All were edged in green diamonds of various shades, then black on-point squares act as the glue, in a manner of speaking. But it's one thing to make a heap of adorable blocks, another animal sewing them all together. Stitching the rows was easy-peasy, but then....
Then those rows have to be attached. To each other. Ahem.
Now, I've made three other wholly EPP'ed quilts; two were of 1.5" hexies, the other a Cherish quilt, also designed by Jodi. What I've found is boy is it way easier to sew 4" sides at a time than 1.5" sides, then rearrange the whole kit'n'kaboodle. All I remember from Cherish is trying to match up the points, a little futzy, and while there is some of that on Cornflower, those four-inch squares make for minimal matchy-matchy, and that's a GOOD THING!
Purposefully I asked my husband to hold up the half-completed quilt from the back, in order to show how many papers are necessary as well as keep the top a secret until I finish, which might be in a few days! I would absolutely make this again, well, as soon as a slot opens up in the rota, HAH! I'm not going to list all the different EPP quilts I have going, that would be embarrassing. But I will say I've sewn plenty of stars, a few 2" hexies made from 2" crowns, most of an Ice Cream Soda block, and a lot of fabrics cut for more stars, Ice Cream Soda blocks, etc. And half of a machine-pieced baby quilt as well.
Yes, lots of sewing going on. And that's just fine for the lately rainy weather, more coming next week. My right shoulder is behaving, or I'm mindful of taking breaks. On those breaks I edit The Hawk, and ponder what might happen with my current series. Pondering is good when there's heaps of hand-sewing to keep me busy.
I've also been reading an old fave novel from my teens; August, by Judith Rossner. So well written, such marvelous characters, such a treat for rainy days when my own fiction is, well, on the back burner. Highly recommended!