I have been looking for direction in my quilting hobby. There are so many techniques that I have not tried that I am interested in dabbling in. I find myself drawn to wanting to do more hand sewing so my mind is all over the place from embroidery to EPP (English Paper Piecing). I have ordered a few embroidery books and some papers for scallops, elongated hexagons and hexagons. The Lucy Boston blocks have been calling me for some time and I hope to start giving them a try as soon as I receive this pattern and templates from In Between Stitches. It is called Playing with Paper and is by Sue Daley, who seems to be the expert at paper piecing. I was guided to this kit after seeing Lynn of Sew’n Wild Oats doing it on her blog, so I can’t wait to give it a try. I also found a handy little You Tube video by Sue Daley on an easy technique for sewing scallops. She has many other youtube videos on other techniques and she has a blog and store for her supplies and patterns called Patchwork with Busy Fingers and believe me, she must have the busiest fingers around and so creative, too.
I have finally found a needle threader that works great for small needles and another that works really good for larger eyed needles with thicker threads and embroidery floss (that little metal hook thingy). So I have tools and inspiration now to pick a direction and stay focused on a project.
Over the holidays I got a good deal on an Aurifil thread pack with Joanna Figueroa’s thread colors and a small charm pack with a pattern for an adorable small spool quilt. I whipped the quilt up in an evening and a few more hours the next morning, thanks to Joanna’s great directions. I started quilting it that same afternoon. I have been following Lori Kennedys FMQ blog for a long time and she is doing a fun mystery quilt this year that is teaching so much information about all things sewing. Her most recent design was of a spool so it was very timely and inspirational for how to quilt this little quilt.
As far as progress on the ABC for Ewe and Me quilt…the center is done and now I am stuck on the borders. The borders for the pattern seem awfully busy to me and I am thinking of changing them up to something else. I am considering making some hexagon flowers or something else fun. So I have a feeling that this project will be put aside for a while till I play around with some of these new techniques and see which one I could use in the border. This was such a fun project to make and I am considering the BOM that the Quilt Show is doing this year, but have not committed myself to doing it and it is already month 2. It is designed by Lynnette Anderson who designs such fun whimsical designs that are always fun to work on. I just really need to start finishing up some of my other projects first and several are at the quilting stage.
sooooo…..I need some direction and focusing to get things moving !
Move it! Move it!
Ferne
