Woo! I am back and in sewing action - a lot
has happened since my last post! In November of 2015 we were living in what we'll call "The Golf Course House" when I last posted. Since then we moved out of the Golf Course house, my husband left for six months and I temporarily moved home to Wisconsin, hubby came back and we moved into the "Beach House" in summer of '16, I got pregnant, had a sweet baby girl in April of 2017, and we also moved from the Beach House to the current house the same month!
As a military family we had been renting previous to this move, and now we own this one, so we'll call it "Our House". Hopefully we'll be in this location for a few years and so we can enjoy Our House!
During my pregnancy I had a bad case of carpal tunnel (thanks genetics) and had to stop sewing - it was painful for me to even chop veggies for a few minutes, so sewing was really out of the question. Now that baby girl is here, symptoms have subsided and she and I have a routine, I'm back to sewing again during her naps.
First things first is the shame shelf - does anyone else have one of these? A shelf, pile, maybe even closet dedicated to projects you've started but haven't finished because a new shiny object came along? Here's a picture of mine, I like to pretend it's organized. Anyway, I saw a post on Instagram about the "I Wish You A Merry Quilt Along" and decided I wanted to participate - but I need to attack the shame shelf first! Especially since there was already a Christmas Quilt on that shelf cut, and ready to sew. 🤦♀️
Every other week a block will be published by a different designer - for free - and participants can win prizes (yay, stuff!). I decided to use Robert Kauffman Manchester Yarn Dyed Metallic in Silver, and Cotton and Steel Garland fabrics for the quilt. The first block was designed by Vanda Chittenden by Quilt In Piece, an appliqué snowflake. I followed most of the original directions with a few subtle differences.
First, I pressed and sewed the inner circle (background fabric) onto the larger circle before adding it to the quilt block - I felt it was easier to center it this way.
When I stitched the center circles, and all of my appliqué pieces, I use the same technique as I do when making bags and top stitching to bury my threads. I don't like the look of zig zag backstitching overlapping, I think it looks uneven and messy, so I pull all of my threads to the back and tie them together so they are secure without having to back stitch. I trim the threads and viola - neat and tidy on the top!
I think the snowflake is super cute, and I am really happy with my choice of fabrics - can't wait to see what block is next! Thanks for the great pattern Vanda!
