Black Friday Madness

While the rest of the country shopped or spent the day recovering from a turkey hangover, I stitched.  And stitched.  And stitched like mad.  I stopped long enough to have breakfast and cut down a Christmas tree (okay, I picked the tree and hubby chopped it down) with family and friends. 

Then it was nose to the grindstone to finish up my 4x5 bee blocks.  The block I chose is called Geese All Around.  I've had this block bookmarked for quite some time, and I was happy for the chance to finally make it.  Here's what I learned from making these blocks: If you are going to wait until the last minute to sew multiple bee/swap blocks, do not choose a block with 56 pieces.  Enough said.

The move went pretty smoothly, with the exception of breaking one of the glass doors from my china hutch.  And breaking the glass from the dryer door.  Doesn't bad luck come in threes?  I should just go ahead and throw a glass on the floor and get it over with, because we've still got a few mirrors to retrieve from the old house.

The rest of the weekend will be dedicated to unpacking, and decorating the Christmas tree.  Out of curiosity, has anyone else gotten their tree yet?

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Yikes!

     My little guy loves to roll his Thomas trains all over my sewing machine.  All over.  Yesterday he kept having train crashes.  One of the crashes knocked the thread take-up spring on the tension unit out of whack.  To quote Sir Topham Hat, this has caused confusion and delay.  I didn't notice it until I tried to finish a secret swap project for this week's BAMQG meeting. 

     So now my machine has to have some unscheduled maintenance done.  I may try to do it myself... there are some good references on the vintage Singer yahoo group.  If I muck things up, I can always take it to a repair shop.  Thank goodness I have a backup machine.  Which the little one is now rolling his toy truck all over.

    There were a few things I managed to complete before the fateful crash.  Two 12.5" log cabin blocks for the BAMQG Heirloom Challenge. 

There was a third in the works, but I scrapped it.  I also made a gift for the guild's December Secret Swap, but the photo won't be posted until after the meeting.   

     My November bee blocks were mailed off just under the wire.  I usually finish bee blocks well before the deadline, but the procrastinator in me doesn't like to send them as soon as they're done.  I'm always rushing to get them off a few days before month's end.

    The November block for Piece Bee With You was Geese In A Ring in aqua and orange.  This was lots of fun to make.  The next time I make one, I'll pre-cut the fabric.  Although this isn't a quick block by any means, it took much longer to make than it should have.  Alisha also asked for a small siggy block.

     The theme for November's Design Camp [think outside the block] Swap was Ocean Dreams.  We were sent a mix of beautiful solid cottons and linens and asked to improvise a block with a beachy feel.  The block I made was inspired by striped beach cabanas along a boardwalk. 

 

It doesn't look as improvised as it is.  It sort of looks paper-pieced, but I suppose that will happen if you're rotary cutting with a ruler!