An Unexpected Day Off

Well everyone, I left my job today. I wish I could say that it was to raise a family, but I actually found another and hopefully better job. I start at my new place of employment on Monday and I am very excited.

My former supervisor was kind enough not to make me stick around for the entire day, so I said my goodbyes to everyone and high tailed it back home to relax a little bit.

This is what I've been working on - my Stormy Path quilt.

I wish the contrast was just a little more pronounced, but I'm committed anyway. I think once the whole thing is put together, it will look fantastic.

Here is a completed block. Its 16 1/2" unfinished. I need twelve total, plus all the border blocks.

I still have several hours of play time available today, so I'm going to scoot back into my sewing room.

Drunkard's Path Progress

Well I only had about an hour to play around with this today, but lets just say that I learned a lot.

I'm using Marti Michell's Perfect Templates for this. They come with a mostly well explained instructions. The first that confused me for a little bit is that there doesn't seem to be a distinction between unfinished and finished size. Let me clear it up - when you make a 3 1/2 inch drunkard's path block with her templates, that is the unfinished size of the unit.

The second thing was the best way to cut the L-shaped pieces. Its actually very easy. Cut a square to the size you want the unfinished unit to be (I wanted 3 1/2 inches, so I cut a 3/12 inch square) and then use the correct template to cut out the notch.

Also, I learned to CUT VERY ACCURATELY. I have a little experience in curved piecing due to the garments I've made, but this is a little difficult. I pieced two blocks, had puckers in each that I had to resew, and they both finished a little under 3.5 inches. I would rather have them a little too big and trim them down.

The third thing, liberal use of pins is recommended. And you are going to have to stretch one of the pieces as you sew to match the other.

Lastly, I'm very happy with the fabric I bought from Connecting Threads. First, it was inexpensive at $6 per yard. Second, it washed very well, hardly unraveled on the edges. It irons easily, and is a good weight. And the color catcher I used didn't pick up any extra dye. I will definitely be ordering more fabric from them in the future.

Update: Here is the first quarter of one of the Stormy Path blocks - can you tell I'm getting excited about how these are turning out?

Stormy Path

Once again I find myself obsessed with a new idea. Meet "Stormy Path" which is my variation of the Storm at Sea quilt pattern. I've had my drunkard's path templates for a while now, waiting for the right project and I wanted to do a two-fabric Storm at Sea quilt. So this will actually get two projects at once of my list.

And to make sure this beauty doesn't get pushed aside, I already ordered the fabric.

Courtesy of Connecting Threads Indigo Patchwork collection

Drunkard's Path Variation

I want to learn to piece curves (not that I have time for a new project). Drunkard's Path is the easiest pieced curve block to make, consisting of just two pieces...

 ...and a wide variety of potential layouts and color schemes.

Here are a few that EQ7 had preset

 but I don't like any of those (repetitive color scheme is not my thing). So last night while I was much too tired to sew, I did design this:

And I've now added it to my "bucket list" of to-do items. Cool, huh? I'm going to have to spend some time finding the right fabrics. Going to be a while before I can start this, as I have some other projects I really need to finish first.

Anywho, I should probably get off the internet and get down to some real work. Lots to do before Ragnarok! I really need to have Nana's Quilt completed (yes, I said that a month ago), finish up some garb, and start other garb. And at some point, I'd like a date with my husband. I don't think we've been out since before his eye surgery a month ago.