Back to it

After a long and unplanned absence I'm ready to blog again.  The last few months have been very different and unpredictable and there just hasn't been time for blogging.  I always make time for sewing though - it's how I relax at the end of the day.  

 I participated in an Instagram Sunflower sewalong.  The pattern was drawn by Susie @fixer_of_old_quilts from an antique quilt owned by Cathy @quiltingcat2

I did get the 6 inch block quilt top finished.  I enjoyed sewing all of the flying geese units and putting them all together.  I have backing and batting ready and I just need to find time to pin baste this for machine quilting.

I continue to work towards finishing my Hospital Sketches quilt.  Last time I posted about it I was just figuring out the borders.  I did get stuck for a bit on the corners.

I played around with paper shapes for awhile and settled on this design with 2 birds.

The corners were fun to stitch and it was exciting to get the whole top together.

This is the last picture taken in this spot in my old sewing area.  Looking down from above - it was a good way to view projects.  One of the things that made the last 6 months so busy was that we moved.  In our new home I have a dedicated sewing room and a very large kitchen island perfect for basting quilts.

Within a couple of weeks I put it to the test with thread basting my Hospital Sketches for handquilting.  In the past I basted quilts on my old dining room floor.  It was hard on the knees.  The last 2 quilts for handquilting I basted with a long arm machine but with Covid 19 that was not an option.  Basting on the island was easy on the knees but I could still feel it in my neck and back - leaning over it for 5 hours straight to get it done between lunch and supper.  I was thrilled to have it basted though and handquilting is coming along well.

Before we moved I participated in another small Instagram sewalong hosted by Betsy Chutchian.  This cute little quilt was the result and I'm enjoying using it on my nightstand :0)

And I wanted to post this little guy I spent hours working on at guild meetings last fall.  I'm not a very good paper piecer so this was a challenge and I think he turned out really cute. I hope I remember to pull him out near Christmas time and make a little wallhanging.

Happy Quilting!!