This, That & the Other

I've been working on lots of different, little projects lately. Nothing new that is actually finished. I am terrible at finishing things...I joined the Rainbow Swap at Jane's Fabric. I chose yellow because I don't have very much in my stash and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use a colour I don't use very often. I had a hard time choosing my block, but finally settled on the Bear Paw Patch. I bought my fabric this weekend. I can't wait to get started. But then, since Jane was putting out a last call for her 5th section, I decided to join again. This time I chose purple (I have lots in my stash) and the Ohio Star.

Yesterday, I finally sent off my blocks to Jacquie for Project Improv.

I'm also plugging away on my Doll Quilt Swap 6 for my partner. I received a beautiful purple butterfly FQ (oops I forgot to take a picture) in the mail last week from my Sew, Mama, Sew Swap and I think it will be the perfect backing for my quilt. I've changed things up since I first started and I'm much happier. I'll post a picture soon.

Finally, I had a quilt guild meeting yesterday. It probably isn't fair to bring a 10-month old baby to a quilt guild meeting (most of the ladies are grandmas with their grandchildren living far away) and my little guy stole the show! There wasn't much sewing for the hour that I was there! I volunteered to organize our charity quilt donation day for kids in care. In May we should be donating 20 quilts to local kids in foster care. I am really happy to be able to help out with this as it is the reason I joined the local group.

Wonky Log Cabins

One of the reasons that I created this blog was because I was so inspired by the blogs I started reading around Christmas time. What beautiful quilts! One blog that has had an amazing impact on my quilting is Tallgrass Prairie Studios. One night after reading her blog and information about her Project Improv, and the Wonky Log Cabin tutorial, I rushed down to my sewing room, intent to try some for myself. I have NEVER done anything without a pattern before and Jacquie's blog seemed to waken something within me. Since this was all new to me, I didn't want to cut up any good fabric, but I saw a pile of scraps on the floor that my daughter uses to make quilts while I sew and thought that they would be perfect. I started sewing. And I loved it! First I made two, then I thought maybe I should make six for a baby quilt, then it was nine, and in the end I had 12 blocks.

I used white fabric to sash and square them which was also a bit of an experiment. Next time I will make the blocks big enough to trim to 12" finished (because that is the size of the ruler that I have) rather than using white to bring them up to the right size. In some of the blocks, the white is less than 1/4 " wide so it makes the seams very bulky. But I LOVE this quilt! I can't wait to get some backing and batting so I can quilt it. I think I will free-motion stipple quilt this one because I am saving it for me and I don't care if my stitch length changes dramatically! I am really looking forward to doing more quilts without patterns.