Wednesday progress

Not much sewing room time yesterday, but it was a pretty good day anyway.  In the morning I spent some time organizing in my sewing room. Then after lunch I picked up a friend and we went to Sioux Falls.  I dropped off my sewing machine for it’s cleaning and tune up, then we did a little shopping.  Hobby Lobby is always a fun stop for me, and it didn’t disappoint.  My impulse buy was a wind chime for my front porch, and a couple of birthday gifts for upcoming birthdays.

This just might be a coincidence, or maybe good marketing. It also fits in perfectly for a clever turn of phrase I saw on a blog yesterday - a random cloud of inspiration.  Isn't that just a wonderful way to describe a distraction (or a squirrel) that we feel the need to chase?

A couple weeks ago I bought a layer cake that was on sale at Missouri Star.  It's called Shibori Blues, and I bought it because I love indigo prints.  And then last week the Block magazine from Missouri Star arrived - and this pattern was in the magazine.  It's exactly what that layer cake wants to become!!  So, I'll be buying background fabric (white) for this project.  But for now the layer cake and magazine are tucked together in a project box, soon to be a full kit.  

As for other random progress this week. . .  Early last year I made 2 blocks from the Feeling Crabby pattern by Wendi Sheppard.  These were such fun blocks, but once I made them I didn't know what to do with them.  (The border print is actually leftover from my oldest daughter's wedding signature quilt.  She got married in Jamaica on a beach 14 years ago today.)  One Feeling Crabby block is now finished as a mini quilt and is hanging in the beach themed guest bathroom.  The other one isn't quilted yet, but maybe it will become a pillow.  They are 16" square.  The 2 little coasters/mug rugs are made using the same beachy border print, and there are 2 more needing binding.

And from the final little chunk of the border print I made myself a new case for my sunglasses.  

The first of the full sized strawberry blocks is finished.  These will finish at 14" x 18" each.  I'm loving the scrappy low volume prints in the background, as well as the scrappy pink, red, coral, and green fabrics.  There is even a purplish red square in the strawberry.  One down, and several more to go.  I'm thinking these would make a really cute bed runner. 

And I've been sewing on the Beehive project.  Some of the units for the blocks have been sewn, and next they need to be subcut into 2" strips.  There are still about a dozen sets of pieces that are cut, but have no sewing done on them.  I'm clipping the units for each block together so it's easy to keep track as I go.  And the parts and pieces are all laying on a big design board that I can move out of the way as needed, or carry to the ironing board easily.  I see this as definite progress.