Some Progress and Something New

I pretty much threw out the lists I have been making recently. Even going so far as to not really work on my school projects until today, so my weekly studio post is not happening this weekend. No biggie. I sort of let my body do the talking and took it easy. I feel refreshed (this beautiful weather we have been having helps too!) and ready to tackle the second half of this semester.

Last night I did feel like starting the Hand Pieced QAL that Erin is hosting on her blog, Why Not Sew?. She's on week 8, but stresses that this is a relaxed QAL with no pressure to keep up. I just felt like diving in and hand sewed the first block., which was the churn dash block.

I don't remember what fabrics I am using (they are not a Moda line) but they are darling. They have apples, text, plaids... all things that make me happy. I happen to have two charm packs and am pairing them with a charm pack of some Bella solid that I have. It's a creamy color but the charm pack didn't say which one.

I had to stop myself from cutting up all the pieces for each block because I would probably misplace them. I could have stayed up all night working on them, but stopped at just one. I am loving the process though, which I had a feeling I would. I don't remember if I mentioned before, but I do want to make up the Farmer's Wife quilt and wanted to do it all by hand. This QAL is perfect for getting my feet wet since I will also be hand quilting it too.

I also was hit with an idea that would make use of the charm pack of Oakshott fabrics I got. Coincidently, the final challenge for this round of Project Quilting is on taking the basic zig zag pattern beyond the usual. I had been scheming a zig zag pattern already but now with some tweaking, I can take it to a higher level and push myself.

Because my track record on finishing these challenges on time hasn't be great, I am actually starting this today. I would plow through and maybe finish it, but I do have other things to do for school. I'm going to be using Jenelle's tutorial on quickly sewing up eight HSTs to speed up that part of the sewing.

That's all I'm going to say about it for now. I will hopefully have made some good progress on it by Wednesday to show you all. It's not to late to join in on these challenges either. The deadline to be eligible for prizes is next Sunday at noon. I have really been stretching my creative muscles when thinking about these challenges. Now I just need to get cracking on making them a reality.

I hope your weekend was wonderful! I'm going to zip outside to go for a walk before getting to work for the rest of the day.