Swooning

I wasn’t going to make this quilt until later in the year (I think it was on the books for July) but then I saw the Swoon quilt along over at Katy’s.

I had all eighteen of my fat quarters ready in a little stack so I thought I’d give it a go. I choose a navy, orange, and aqua color palette, with a lot of the fabrics from Joel Dewberry’s Heirloom line (none are in the blocks I have done, though). I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures of my fabric stack before I started cutting, which was on Monday night. That is what my kitchen counter has looked like all week.

We’re making a block a week, which I think is a pace I can handle, and I have two blocks done already.

I was really worried about how capable I would be of sewing this many points together. I haven’t done a lot of half square triangles or any flying geese and I was a little nervous. The first block was a little awkward and took me almost a day to sew but I whipped the second one out in a couple of hours (including snuggle times and sippy cup refills).

I really like making this block. It is big (twenty-four inches), too, so only a few more and I will have a nice size quilt ready for snuggling under.

Things I have learned so far:

• I would much rather start with an over sized half square triangle block then cut it down to the size I need. Mine always end up a little bit smaller than they should.
• I love making the flying geese blocks. There is something so satisfying about sewing that point together. I think my next quilt will be all flying geese.
• The girl child loves mama’s “fafric” and will steal it if I’m not looking. Best to give her a stack of scraps to play with before I can’t find the pieces I need.
• My flickr account, where these pics should be posted, is waaaay out of date so that needs a do-over.

Ahhh. The snow and subzero temps have arrived and all I can think about is sun drenched skin and bare feet. But I’ll leave you today with chapped cheeks and frozen noses. Just a note: it is really hard to change your camera settings when your fingers won’t move due to lack of blood flow. Sorry about the blurs.

And, yes, our Christmas lights are still up. Since we had no snow before the holidays, we were all about firing them up when the white stuff started falling, even if it is the middle of January.

I’ll be back soon with some less crafty stuff, I promise!