June Check In

So... I'm managing about 30 minutes of sewing time every month, and I'm only making it to my local quilt group about half the time (once a month). So, not much is happening around here. Well, not in the sewing or quilting area. There's lots of stuff happening elsewhere -- we've got crawling, and lots of attempts at walking.

But yesterday I had a few minutes of time to myself, so once I cleared off the sewing desk (which was a challenge), I had a chance to work on something. It's true that the last thing I need is one more top waiting for basting... but that's what I started on anyway!

Do you ever wonder what will happen to your stash if you can never return to it? I don't really mean that as a morbid question, but I suppose it is a little bit... I have wound up with a small pile of unfinished projects from a relative who quilted. (There's a much larger pile still waiting for the family to go through it, so this may only be part one of the "inheritance" or it may be all I'm going to get.) While this relative had a lot of projects going on, things were left in such a way that most people coming in after won't be able to guess what the plan for each started project was, much less try to finish it that way. (And my stash is the same, lots of started projects with no guidelines for anyone!)

Some of these started projects are far enough along I think I can turn them into finishes with only a little bit of effort. Others are probably more destined to be orphaned blocks for a long time... but it's a fun new challenge, and right now, it fits my time allotments better than basting!

So, I pulled out this pile and set to work to see what I could make of it. The big blocks were already completed, as were some of the patchwork borders -- though it was clear that they'd been assembled block by block rather than in a short cut method. There were scraps and precuts made for whatever the other 'sampler' blocks were going to be, but with no directions, I couldn't figure out what to do with them. So, I made a few more patchwork strips.

I obviously have a few more to make before this is ready to assemble into a top, but I ran out of time to keep working on it. Most of the patchwork block strips are only 5 - 7 blocks long. I've left them that short so I have a better chance of putting them all together in a variety way instead of a patterned way, since my next set of patchwork blocks will be coming from a different pile of precut scraps. I didn't have much of the orange or green in the blocks I made, so I want to aim for more of that next time around, then ensure that the little strips get mixed together as they assemble into longer strips.

When I first put out the blocks, the one in the center was one of my least favorites -- but with the addition of the patchwork stripes, I think it's become my very favorite!

I'm thinking this will be another baby quilt, though I have no idea where it'll end up in the long run. The fabric choices are a little more 'primitive' than I would ever have chosen, but it's actually quite cute so far (if I do say so myself), and I'm looking forward to seeing how it finishes up. There's probably not enough coordinating fabric to make it any larger than a baby size -- though if I wanted to be incredibly scrappy I could aim for a twin with a non-coordinating back... but I'm not that brave or scrappy! I do have a couple blocks for the back that look like natural quilt labels, so I'm actually really excited to see how that turns out.

Hopefully I'll get a little time to work on this over the weekend. If not... we'll see how it looks next month!