Paper piecing Monday is back…

I am pleased to say I managed to get a block done for this week’s paper piecing Monday… and here she is.

Bright star quilt block

This pattern is another fabulous free paper piecing pattern from Julie at 627Handworks Block Rock’n.  It is called Caldonia and you can find the PDF pattern here.

bright 4 block parts

I love the proportions of this star.  In my last quilt round I did a similar pattern but this one is definitely my favorite.

 

 

Going slowly insane…

First up thanks to everyone for the kind thoughts and comments. I was really touched.

I am doing good but was not warned how boring it is to recover from surgery.  The first 4 to 5 days you are so tired and sore and doped up that you do not care.  It is the days that follow that are really annoying me. Obviously patience is not my strong suit.

I am on day 9 of re-corporation and I am driving myself and my husband crazy.  I am well enough that I am alert and functioning but not well enough to be able to bend down or sit at a sewing machine or do anything for more than an hour without dozing off.  My life has become a cycle of watching old episodes of Deadliest Catch, making hexies and sleeping.    Yipee!

I have been mainly sewing my hexagon flowers together.  My placement is rather random – my husband keeps wanting to add a pattern to the placement but I like to just go with the flow.  Here is what I have so far….

hexagon flower modern quilt

It may not look like much but I also had to do some running repairs.  Some of my earlier stitches were not as small as they needed to be.  I had to go back into about 4 flowers and re-stitch.

hexagon detail

The back side of this quilt shows just how much work goes into these suckers.    Lots of tiny hand stitches…

back of hexagons

I am a little burnt out on hexagons, but they are really the only quilting I can handle at the moment.  My hope is that by Sunday I will be back behind the sewing machine.  Come hell or high water there will be a Paper Piecing Monday.  Promise.

A little interruption

This is just a quick note to let my regular visitors know that I have not disappeared off the face of the earth… really.

My usual posting schedule has been rudely interrupted by some emergency surgery.  I hope to be back to posting by the end of next week.

To tide you over I present my husband’s attempt at re-arranging my design wall….

husbands design boardI kind of like it.

Paper Piecing Monday continues…

It is week two of my new sampler quilt and I once again went to Julie’s fabulous free Block Rock’n patterns.   The pattern for this week  is called Icky Thump, and with a name like that I had to make it.

Paper pieced block

It is a simple pattern in just four pieces (as opposed to a lot of the stars I have recently made which are 8 pattern pieces).    Just 24 fabric pieces to make this block, but it still looks complex and interesting.  I think a quilt of these blocks would be spectacular, but for now I am settling for adding just one block to my new sampler quilt.

quilt block paper pieces

Now I am off to the post office.  I have packages of scraps to send to Australia and 5 inch charm blocks to head to out for a rainbow charm swap.

Finally a proper finish

Today I am happy to say I finally finished a quilt – quilted, bound and labeled.  It has been two weeks since I finished a quilt and I was feeling a little antsy about it all.   So without further ado, here she is…

square in square modern scrap quilt

If you are a regular to the site you will have seen this quilt in various stages of production, but she is now all finished!

I must admit I have struggled today to get her photographed properly. The lighting conditions have not been at all co-operative, but fourth time is a charm.

quilt detail

I did straight line stitching using a magenta thread.  I really did not know what colour thread to go with – white did not seem right, navy was a little too dark, green too light.  The thread choice is okay but it is not quite what I wanted.  Too late now right!

quilt back

I backed the quilt with some IKEA fabric that I thought went well.  Bright and cheery.

quilt back detail

The quilting is quite effective on the back of the quilt at least!

back and front

I bound in solid navy.  It is my go to binding and just seems to bring everything together nicely.

quilt label

I am linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts  for Friday finishes.

Have a great weekend!