Swaps on the wall

I've been slow to post pictures of the last few sets of blocks I received, but I was just as excited about them. Here they are now, from Ruth, Theri and Beth:



Thank you very much ladies! Your wonderful blocks have been up on the design wall since they came. I have two sets still to come then I can start stitching them all together.

That trip to the quilt shop that resulted in buying a new machine was originally a trip to buy fabric for the sashing, setting triangles and borders. Here's what I came home with, besides the new machine (did I mention the new machine? Sorry, I'm still a bit excited about that!). I had planned to make the setting triangles from the same fabric as the sashing but when I put all the blocks up on the wall together I noticed that many of them have at least a touch of pink, rose or wine. I decided to try pulling them all together by making the cornerstones and setting triangles echo those colours.

Last night I worked on the sashing. I messed up my planning and made a few of the white strips too short, but I have enough fabric to correct that. I'll make certain not to be doing it late a night again though!

The last thing I did before going to bed much later than I should have was test my idea on the design wall. The blocks were already up so it was quick to add sashing strips and setting triangles. I didn't start low enough on the wall so I ran out of batting at the top to lay out the setting triangles there, but this still gives me a pretty good idea what the quilt will look like.


I plan a thin inner border of the polka dot fabric, followed by a wider border in the red fabric, and perhaps a prairie point edging instead of binding. Now I need to go practice, practice, practice my free-motion quilting so I can eventually quilt this one! Free motion is just as tricky as I expected...

An exciting day...

I'm exhausted. It takes a lot of energy to be as excited and giddy as I was today. Can you guess what is new in my sewing corner?


No, not the green swap blocks. Well, they are new, but not the cause of me jumping up and down in giddy excitement. Since I've never shown you my sewing space it might help if I narrowed down the options for you:


No, not the cutting implements or the pincusion either. I have a brand new beautiful and really cool Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 835 sewing machine! It seems only distantly related to my faithful little mechanical Kenmore. I'll be keeping the Kenmore, but I'll mainly be playing with this one now.

My old one didn't allow me to free-motion at all and that was getting a bit frustrating. My hand quilting speed just isn't keeping up with all the patterns in my head that I want to try, and I didn't want stacks of unquilted tops. However I have a fierce penny-pinching streak so I didn't really plan to spend on a new machine. I'm not sure what possessed me to drop by the machine salesroom at the local quilt shop when I was in for fabric on Friday. I let the saleslady talk me into trying it out. It was very nice. Then she told me it was on sale for the Mother's Day weekend. A really good sale.

Still, I walked out without it, though a little giddy at the possibility of owning that machine. By the time my husband got home I'd talked myself out of it and explained to him all the reasons why I didn't really need it. Of course all the features that made it so appealing also got trotted out . My husband knows me well. He let it go last night, but this morning he noticed my wistful preoccupation, sat me down and talked me right back into buying my Sapphire. Apparently he feels this quilting hobby isn't going away and I might as well be well-equipped. He practically handed me the car keys and pushed me out the door. What can I say, I married a really sweet and thoughtful guy!

The green blocks on the ironing board are the first things I sewed on the new machine, to see if I had the basics figured out. I spent about an hour reading the manual first, figuring out how to thread it and wind bobbins, and choose stitches. It's a wee bit different from what I was used to, but with a bit of practice I'm sure the basics of this one will became just as automatic. I'll just have to spend more time sewing the next little while (oh darn!). Just for the record, I already love the presser foot with the seam width guide.

Tomorrow I'm putting together a quilt sandwich and practicing a little freemotion! Happy Mother's Day to me! Hope you have a great one too.

I've got mail!

Thank you ladies! I'm racing my daughter to the mailbox these days because the postman is delivering more than bills and junk mail :)

These lovelies arrived Thursday from Mary (Stash Heaven). That magazine seriously interfered with my preparations for taking 7 Brownie Girl Scouts to camp, but I was more disciplined on Friday and left for camp fairly well-rested and well-prepared on Saturday morning.

Ann's (A Good Yarn's) beautiful blocks and goodies arrived Saturday after I left (good timing, those Brownies would have been disappointed to delay their departure while I leafed through this magazine too...). As it was, the package was a lovely surprise when I came home Sunday afternoon after a mostly sleepless night. The chocolates are a wonderful restorative.

Monday the postman had a little trouble fitting everything in the mailbox but he persevered. When my daughter beat me to the mailbox she did a little happy dance and presented me with three packages. (The rest of these pictures insisted on loading sideways. I have no idea why, but they will have to do.)

These bright blocks and goodies came from Liri at Liriopia's Legacy. Her embroidered block is superb, and the back looks just as tidy as the front. When it slipped out of the package I didn't realize right away that it was wrong side up and I puzzled a bit over what "AWOI" stood for... Then I turned it over and was even more impressed with the right side, plus the letters now made sense!

Marsha of Grandma's Quilts sent these pretty blocks and the quilted ornament. I'm saving it for my Christmas tree, and borrowing the idea for 2010's ornament. We add a new batch of homemade ornaments each year, and though the tree is getting awfully full and I'm running out of ideas I've been told the tradition has to continue. Thanks for the inspiration Marsha!

Kathleen (Seventh Sister) has an impressive variety of fabric styles in her stash and shared some bits with me along with her cheerful blocks. It's nice to increase my pitiful stash of scraps - I may manage a scrap quilt eventually!

Today I found Christine's package before getting the kids at school. I managed to restrain myself and leave it in the mailbox so that 1) I wouldn't be late to pick up the kids and 2) my daughter wouldn't know I sometimes sneak to the mailbox while she's at school (mailbox checking is supposed to be her special privilege). She doesn't notice a few extra bill envelopes on my desk, but she will notice a couple of new swap blocks on the wall!

Here are Christine's blocks - one showcasing her bright fabrics, and another from her Civil War reproduction stash.

Now that over half my blocks have arrived I've started playing with them:

Sashing? No sashing? On point? Hmm. I'll need to keep pondering. Whatever the setting, this quilt will have a much greater variety of fabric than I'd ever have chosen on my own, and that makes it just plain fun!