Traditional Tuesday - Week 9

Jenifer has posted the traditional version of this week's string block - Traditional Tuesday Block 9.  The strings were 1" wide (a size I recently swore off because I thought they were just too small) and, of course, they had to be that narrow since the blocks we're all making are 6.5".  Bigger strings just wouldn't have the same graphic appeal in a small block.  Check out the pattern links in my TT blog page if you want to jump in on this sampler (we're at block 9 of a 64 block sampler).

I used two more squares from my stash of thin cotton foundations, starched for today's sewing and trimmed to about 7.5" square. Then I laid my ruler's diagonal line down the centre two fabrics to have the corners end precisely on the seam between the light and dark before trimming to 6.5".  It worked perfectly.  Maybe I'm going to rethink that too small for strings standard.  There are some really great quilt layouts for this small string block on Jenifer's blog post today.  In fact, this size string block would make a fantastic project on it's own, or as a border treatment.  I'm thinking of a table topper size or wall hanging, where small piecing can be really effective.

Meanwhile, back on the daily scrap trimming front.... Looky here what I hit in my scrap trimming pile today.  Just yesterday I told another quilter that I don't have any soft pastels in my stash... none at all.  Then today, I lifted a big dark rust-coloured christmassy scrap off the top of the pile and came across this stack of 4", 5", and 6" full width and half width of fabric strips of whisper soft pastels.  I didn't notice them when ironing the scraps in this pile, that must have been at a critical moment in the murder mystery I was watching on the PVR.  It's quite a substantial pile - Two yards worth.  (Yes, Janet, my roguish friend, I weighed them to figure that out. lol)  These are going into stash as a bundle for a future something sweet project, I'm thinking for a baby.  Do I know anyone having a baby?

I keep waffling back and forth on whether I want to start working on Bonnie's new mystery project Orca Bay starting this Friday, or keep my nose to the grindstone on unfinished projects.  I bought some black tonal yardage online for the mystery, but could just as easily tuck that into stash for future use.  I've just got so much on the go right now.  I've been sewing with single minded obsession, trying to finish some projects so I can fit it in.  I tell myself I'm working this hard to get to more UFOs and finally get them done... but secretly I know I'm trying to free up some daily time for the mystery.  I think I put in almost 8 hours yesterday when all the trimming, sewing, pressing and blogging is added up.  That's an unusually big sewing day for me.  I did get all my Great HST Caper units sewn into 3 block rows and all 180 seams pressed.  Just two more seams per block and I'll have my 30 12.5" quilt blocks ready to join into a new quilt top.

Today's mail brought me the long-awaited copy of Tonya Ricucci's book Word Play Quilts.  This means I can get back to my Crumb-Along project, which I set aside because I was struggling with piecing letters on my own.  Yeah, I like that excuse, it sounds reasonable. 

This morning, I was so distracted thinking about all the quilty things I want to get done today, I stepped into the shower with my glasses on.  But at least I had taken off my pyjamas this time.