What's On My Design Wall

I did a lot of sewing this weekend!

I finished three more of the eight-pointed stars and cut out fabric for a few more. I seriously love this block, and I think I'm just going to keep going until I run out of the fabric I'm using. Each block uses such a little; I'm hoping that I can stretch it out to 15 or so blocks, and make it a small throw quilt.


Next to the stars is a new block I tried from dancing dragonfly quilts, a book I ordered a month or so ago. I had a group of Asian-inspired prints I picked up somewhere that needed a good home in a quilt block. I have long since learned to use fabrics I like in test blocks--otherwise what's the point? The book has several variations of the same basic block and lots of ideas for setting them together. One caution, though. This book is NOT a recipe book for making the blocks--it's more like a self-guided tour. You need to decide what size block to make and then draft your own pattern. Still, it went together really well. Unfortunately it used up most of the only light fat quarter in the fabric group I had, so if I want to continue with this one I'm going to have to find some more.



The disappearing nine-patch is a top that I put together a few months ago. I can't find the original directions, so if you recognize this pattern, let me know so I can credit the designer. Saturday afternoon I quilted it on my sewing machine. Yes, you read it right. I finally decided that the Professor Harold Hill "think system" of learning to machine quilt was not going to work for me. That is, thinking about machine quilting as opposed to actually practicing machine quilting. I sandwiched it, pinned it, took a deep breath and dived right in.

It came out better than I expected, and I learned a lot that I can use the next time I try.

You can check out what others have on their design wall today by clicking on Judy's blog Patchwork Times.




And this is what my wonderful husband greeted me with when I came home from my Friday night sewing group. A platform for my cutting table! I mentioned in my last post that the table was too low for comfortable cutting. We had talked about different solutions, but this one is super. I can continue to use my lovely old table, but at a height that suits me. He even made little cut-outs in the corners for the legs to fit into so the table won't slide around. And at any time we can just lift the table off the platform if it needs to return to its former life as a kitchen table. The height is just perfect for me--no more hunching over to cut.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!