New Projects

I have three UFO's left: my bee blocks quilt- which are starting to show up in the mail now and then (two are stuck in Canada, due to the postal strike up there), my improv quilt (quilting it on Wednesday at a friend's house), and my Hushabye quilt (seen below). Not too bad, right? I am finally letting myself start some new things.

For my Sherpet Pips stash, I decided to go with a pattern in Elizabeth Hartman's book - The Practical Guide to Patchwork. I am doing the "bird Bath" pattern, choosing to fussy cut the centers with Pips. I haven't added the corner triangles yet because I haven't decided if I am going to use a solid or prints. This one is my favorite - the gray Sanctuary print looks like wind/snow.

In true Laurie fashion, I have decided to make the quilt bigger than the pattern calls for. Elizabeth recommends 30 blocks, I am planning to do 72.

These blocks are taking me forever because I am really having trouble achieving a perfect, scant 1/4" seam. Please don't judge me! I know that's supposed to be one of the "basics" of quilt making - but the Janome quarter inch foot makes a seam much bigger than 1/4", my machine does not have the capability to move the needle, and the post-it's and tape methods are just not working.

I am visiting a Janome dealer this week to get help with the 1/4" issue - there is another 1/4" foot I haven't tried - so hopefully that might work?

So far I haven't used the coordinates from SP, just digging through my stash of reds, grays, blues, and pinks.

I finally returned to my Blogger's Palooza project and made block #16:

I had had 9 blocks completed for quite a while. When I finally pulled them out, I was very tempted to sew a 3 x 3 layout and call it a day. But then I realized that I need a small baby girl quilt like I need a hole in the head, so I am continuing on.....

While I wait to resolve my 1/4" issue - I am going to be a cutting machine for new quilts that I want to make. I have had my eye on a Strips and Bricks quilt for a while and plan to do my own version with these fabrics:

I also made the decision to finally cut into my Heather Ross Mendocino collection to make a clam-shell shower curtain rather than auctioning it off to finance my son's college education. Hopefully that won't be a horrible decision......

I am continuing to agonize over my fabric choices for the Dotty for Dresden quilt but plan to cut that ASAP as well. I don't mind starting several projects at once - it's good to have the variety. What I don't plan on doing is allowing ten and twenty quilt tops to pile up without quilting them - I will not be making that mistake again!!!!!