Celebrating Our Day...

And just how did you spend National Quilting Day? An anonymous reader suggested this alternative to actually quilting: "...curl up under a quilt with a good book and a glass of wine..." Hey, it's St Paddy's day - if you're going to curl up under a quilt with anything, it should be a hearty pint of Guinness or a wee bit of Irish Cream! I plan to do just that this evening...

In the meantime, I caught up with a couple of friends via the phone (one's a quilter so it should count as a legitimate quilting day activity, right?) before heading off to the studio. Instead of finishing up my great curved piecing experiment, I reverted back to my safe haven of precision sewing. It seemed very appropriate to spend some time doing some traditional piecing and a perfect excuse to make a block or two for the crows feet quilt. Here's my finished block. You may recognize the blue fabric as the same one I used for my studio valances. There wasn't much left so this was a good place to put some of it.

In the process of finding a background fabric to go with it, I found myself pulling and pairing fabrics from my reproduction stash. I did cut out pieces for two more blocks, but I admit I got a little carried away searching for other fabrics to help pull this quilt together. As I said, this is my comfort zone and I was having fun!

Of the 14 blocks sent to me, the purple one was the only one that really shouted, "I don't fit! I'm too modern!" So I planned to make a few purple blocks of my own pulling from my regular "contemporary" stash. I was quite surprised to find these purples among my reproductions that are very close in color and intensity. A couple other blocks were a bit on the edge of too modern, but with the right additions, I think I can bridge them in.

I fear this has gotten me off on a tangent. I want to cut blocks out now before I forget my bright ideas and while the unit measurements are familiar. No wonder the guild members were complaining - some of those triangles are very small, and the measurements in 1/8th increments. Good thing I enjoy working small and fussy. I estimate I need to make at least 18 to 20 blocks to get this quilt up to a usable size. I may as well use some of tomorrow to cut so that the drawers and bins can go back into hiding. Then when I have a few spare minutes or want a break from designing, I can quick whip up a block.