Saturday Stitch Report No. 6

One Finish and Several New Distractions

The Jolly Tree Farm wall hanging is finished.

Not merely the blocks. Not almost finished. The entire project is complete, which means I can officially count it as a finish rather than moving it from one work-in-progress list to another for the next six months. It was a Fat Quarter Shop quilt-along, and I am pleased to have the whole wall hanging completed while we are still far enough from Christmas that I can enjoy feeling unusually prepared.

I also completed the August blocks for A Quilting Life Block of the Month. I am making two of each monthly block in different colorways because I plan to make two separate quilts from the pattern. One will be a red, white, and blue quilt for the Fourth of July next year. It is far enough away that this currently feels like responsible advance planning, although I reserve the right to be sewing the final binding on July third.

Finishing one quilt-along apparently left a small opening in the schedule, so I immediately filled it by beginning Fat Quarter Shop’s weekly Boo to You Quilt Along. Week Two is already waiting for me, along with Month Eight of Missouri Star’s Spring Dreams Block of the Month and Block Three of the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery Block of the Month.

There was a brief moment when I could have admired the completed Jolly Tree Farm wall hanging and enjoyed having one fewer active project. I chose not to linger there.

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My Quilters Select 6½-by-24-inch acrylic ruler and Creative Grids 3½-by-6½-inch acrylic ruler both got a considerable workout this week. So did my ride-or-die Missouri Star scissors and rotary cutter. The Oliso iron, ironing board, and sewing chair were all used extensively as well. It was not one of those weeks when the sewing room sat looking tidy and decorative. Things were being cut, pressed, stitched, trimmed, and completed.

School is starting soon, which means notebook covers need to be made. Before I begin those—or work on any of the quilt blocks currently waiting—I need to pull out the serger and do some clothing alterations.

The serger is patiently waiting, but I cannot wait to bring it out. I love this serger. Clothing alterations may sound like the practical interruption standing between me and the quilts, but using a machine I genuinely enjoy makes them considerably more appealing. There is something deeply satisfying about watching a serger trim, stitch, and finish an edge all at once. It is industrious, efficient, and perhaps slightly smug about how much it accomplishes in one pass.

The handwork projects continue to occupy the quieter parts of my sewing time. I am finishing the hand binding on a completed quilt and continuing to hand quilt the Garden Girl quilt. I have also been practicing embroidery and English paper piecing, and I am still mindlessly making Manx blocks whenever I want something uncomplicated to work on.

The Manx blocks do not yet have a definite destination. I am simply making them, adding them to the collection, and trusting that eventually there will be enough of them—or enough of an idea—to determine what they are becoming. It is a pleasantly low-pressure project, which may explain why I continue reaching for it.

I have also discovered that I really enjoy Hawaiian appliqué. I like the symmetry of the designs, the process of revealing the shape, and the amount of visual impact that can come from one carefully cut piece of fabric. I am now trying to develop a pattern that I could use to make an entire quilt with this method.

This is slightly inconvenient, considering the quilt-along blocks, alterations, notebook covers, binding, hand quilting, embroidery, English paper piecing, and Manx blocks already in progress. Apparently my sewing plans were at risk of becoming manageable.

Tomorrow’s Sewing Chair will look more closely at what I am planning next. A crazy quilt has entered my thoughts, and unlike some fleeting project ideas, this one makes a suspicious amount of sense. I have embroidery I want to practice, old clothing I want to repurpose, scraps I cannot quite bring myself to discard, and a growing interest in projects that invite handwork without demanding absolute precision.

But first: the serger, the alterations, the notebook covers, and the projects already waiting in the wings.

Probably.

~Chris