Sewing at the Lake

I'm at the lake for a couple of days of uninterrupted sewing this weekend.  I dropped my daughter off at school yesterday and headed on down here with the intention of sewing non-stop until Monday.  I've been pretty much doing just that...except I find that I have to take the occasional break or my hands start cramping up!  I managed to finish my first 12" Lemoyne star:

 

 

It didn't take as long as I thought it would to piece, but it did take quite a bit of time to prep.  I will need to choose fabrics and prep the second block before I head to NY next week.  I'm going to have to find some time to sew on the road if I am to have any hope of getting my homework finished.

I also finished one of my two Prairie Peony blocks.  It really doesn't look much different from the basted version so I don't figure it's worth a picture.  I do have to whine just a bit about the pattern, though.  Don't get me wrong - I truly love it and love pretty much everything that Edyta designs.  Therein lies the problem, however.  Everything she designs seems to have those same leaves... I call them kidney beans.  I think I've appliqued a hundred of them so far between My Garden Album and Applique Affair.  There were five of them on this first block.  They get old fast.  Really, really fast.  I haven't head the heart to look at block two to see if there are any on it or not.  I'm not ready to do another one just yet.

I took a break from stitching to trace the pieces for my second Simply Bloom block on Steam a Seam.  I didn't figure out until after I had cut them all out that I completely forgot to bring the wool with me so I won't be getting that block prepped this weekend.  I always manage to forget something.  At least I brought plenty of other things to keep me busy.

Tomorrow I am looking forward to starting my first Birds of a Feather block.  I prepped part of it before leaving home yesterday. The colors are so fun - I can't wait to start stitching.  Better get off the keyboard and let my hands get some rest!

Limping Along Easy Street

Where does the time go?  I meant to post my weekend progress on Easy Street last Monday but didn't get around to it until today.  I spent a few hours in the sewing room and made quite a bit of progress on Step 7.  I have to admit that I really, really stink at repetitive work.  I have the attention span of a gnat.  I managed to get 11 of the 16 triangles constructed before I hit a wall and just couldn't stand any more. Here's what I have so far:

I hope to finish the rest of the triangles (unfortunately all the ones that are left are the large ones!) and start building the blocks this weekend.  It's certainly going to be a bright quilt!

While off over the holidays I decided that I would go back to setting sewing and hooking goals this year to try to stay focused (reference my previous comment about my attention span).  I didn't stick with it so well last time, but I am truly a list-driven person and figured I should give it another shot.  I find it immensely satisfying to cross things off of a list so it is extremely motivational for me. So here goes - keeping it short since I am getting a late start:

1. Complete January hand-piecing homework
2. Make arrangements to have Lisa's Garden quilted
3. Plan monthly work on 2013 Wool Club rug and complete January portion
4. Finish two Prairie Peony blocks
5. Finish Easy Street Step 7 and complete at least a few blocks (Step 8)

I really should have a goal around working on my Ace rug, but it is so tedious and time-consuming that I don't want to promise anything.

I'm off to Wool Club tomorrow to start yet another project (it's a sickness...really!).  I will post pics next week.

Back to Work

It was such a bummer to have to head to the computer instead of the sewing room this morning!  The only thing keeping me going is knowing that the weekend is only three days away.  I like easing back into things after such a long time off!

I spent a lot of time over the weekend trying to catch up on Easy Street before yesterday's big reveal.  I didn't get everything done, but did make a lot of progress.  I am even more excited by the quilt now that I have seen it.  I have 64 more flying geese to make and then can start putting all the pieces together.  I am enjoying how the colors are coming together so I am anxious to see it assembled.

I finished my hand piecing homework over the weekend.  I'm not sure my background goes with the color of my diamond tips on this one, but by the time that thought occurred to me it was too late in the process to make changes.  I decided it isn't that bad...not bad enough to warrant that much extra work!

I also finished prepping my first two Prairie Peony blocks.  I love it when I have the time to baste my applique blocks so that I can pick them up and work on them whenever I get the chance.  I actually managed to get in a couple of hours working on one of these last night (my reward for finishing my homework early!).

I love this pattern, but did find that the "Y" seam construction was not a lot of fun.  I am not really looking forward to assembling 23 more of these.  I guess I should look at it as an opportunity to practice my machine skills.  I have to confess that I had to resort to doing a couple of these seams by hand...the machine was getting the best of me and making me cranky - and thanks to my LeMoyne Star project I am a master at doing these by hand!