Sewing Joy in October

As promised, here is a photo of my completed Let's Go Sew quilt, a pattern by Pat Sloan. I left off the next border to keep it small enough to hang behind my desk in the classroom.

Can you see it there, hiding amongst all the important papers I need to keep an eye on?! I get to see it when I come into the room each day - and maybe more often if I ever sit down to eat (as well as when I return from one of my many trips to the photocopier!)

I also tackled the remaing Threads of Memory block that I had avoided because of the templates. In the end it wasn't a difficult block at all. I incorporated several ideas from the blocks Barbara showed on her blog, including fussy cutting my centre square. I have planned a layout for my blocks and even cut into some of the background fabrics to see if it will work. The quilt will be another one for the couch (or a lap quilt, as the size is referred to) and while it is a Christmas themed quilt it won't be ready this Christmas as there are still 3 more blocks to be revealed and made. Hopefully it will be in use next winter!

In the vein of hopefulness, hopefully my Halloween 1904 (pattern by Blackbird Designs) will be a quilt by next fall. The final five blocks now have stars and are waiting for their half square triangle borders.

Now that I've started to lay out my borders like this instead of around the centre of the block they sew together much quicker. It's also easier for me to leave out and work on in small bursts without worrying about pieces falling off the table and getting put back in the wrong place.

This spirit of hopeful optimism led me to indulge in starting another project - one that I have no real knowledge of how big it will get. Or rather, how small it may end up. This unit here is the base for 2 flying geese units. It is less than 2 1/2 inches as you can see!

The star on the bottom right of my design wall is where those little geese went - in that small centre star. It's the beginning of Primitive Gatherings 10th anniversary stitch along. There are 3 more steps out that I need to catch up on - which will bring it up to a 16 inch square block. I'm wondering if it will stop at 10 parts (for the tenth anniversary?) so it may end up a nice wall hanging size. But it's a mystery - which is part of why I joined! - so we'll see what happens. I decided it was a fun way to use up my scraps and I'm challenging myself to create a rainbow effect by starting with purple and moving out one colour each round to red. Should be interesting as my scraps are quite varied in theme - a very happy rainbow quilt in the works. (You can find links to the parts in the sidebar on Lisa's blog. There is an option for applique in the middle or the pieced version I'm doing)

You can see I've still been stitching the mini 9 patch batik blocks as my leader and ender (all the more reason to start a new project and have more things to stitch, right?:)) I think I might have enough fabric to make it 4x4 blocks instead of 3x3 blocks like I originally planned. . . we'll see!

 This weekend is my local guild's quilt show and our annual Fibre Arts Festival. I'm planning to see Judy Martin's keynote on Friday night - and get to see the amazing Manitoulin Circle Project panels,



Hope you are spending some time creating joy-filled stitches.



With Joy,

Sarah V