Penny Sampler Progress Report

I must say I am truly enjoying the Penny Sampler class taught by Rachel at Stitched In Color. I chose to do the 12 month class for a couple of reasons. The big move, which took me out of sewing for about a month and to make it last so I could savor the process. I do not regret this decision. In May I was able to catch up with the April lesson and also complete May's lesson. Bite sized these lessons are in the 12 month version. So, here is my progress, so far:

 I am currently sewing together the Snowflake block. It is pretty straight forward. Mostly it is HSTs. I am not an expert, but I am pretty good at HSTs.

I have them laid out on the ironing board and I am chain piecing them. I don't know about you, but I find it easier to do it this way so I don't get confused and make a mistake. I only pin when I have to, for accuracy. HSTs don't really need this unless they are very small.

 This is my stacked pine tree block. Again, a very easy one to assemble. I love the way it turned out.

 This is the largest section yet, the hanging diamonds. This one took me a few hours. There was fabric selection, even though I had the background picked out already, starching and cutting. I have never starched before cutting, but this was amazing! Just a little spray starch made that fabric behave! And this is one reason I took this class was to learn new things. Always keep learning new things!

 This is a shot of some of the other components of the quilt, pinned up on the design wall so they don't fall off. I need to look at it like this to be able to make fabric decisions as we go along.

 This is a strip of Jeni Baker fabric that I am auditioning for this spot. I had another piece there, but it did not look very harmonious with the rest of the quilt. I will live with this while I make other blocks. I don't have to decide yet, but so far I am pleased with it.

This is the left side of the quilt top. I am please with how these blocks look together. Little bird is so cute and was fun to make.

And this is a shot of the whole thing so far. The lighting isn't great in here for pictures, but you can get the idea. This is also my new design wall. I made it following directions from Sew at Home Mummy. It is on a shade roller that my hubby helped me to put together and mount on the ceiling in front of the closet in the sewing room. So far it is working for me. I can just roll it up when I need it out of the way. That's it for today. Talk to you soon. Linking up with Lorna at Let's Bee Social.

My First Sewing in California

I am happy to report that I have, at last put needle to fabric here in California. My husband reminded me yesterday that it has only been 2 weeks since all our stuff arrived and it has taken that long to unpack and organize well enough to begin to feel normal. Normal means sewing.

So, the machine is set up, the fabric unpacked and most of the sewing tools have been located. Still looking for one or two things. I made a couple of trips to IKEA to get some new storage things for the fabrics and my books and tools.

I have decided that the best way to make a design wall, which I still need to do because I use one a lot, is to follow the directions of Erin at Sew at Home Mummy. She made a design wall on a roller shade fixture and it is the perfect solution for me. I share the space with my sister. Her part is her home office and my part is the sewing room, even though we are calling it the sewing room.

This room actually will have 3 uses as it will also be where we put guests to sleep when they come to visit. For now we will use an aerobed in the space, but later we are thinking of a pull out sofa maybe. So the design wall needs to be easily hidden.

Now, I will show pictures of the space next time, but here is the wee bit of sewing I did:

I had a piece of batik fabric for years that I loved but couldn't figure out how to use. So I made us 4 napkins. I love the print and the deep color. My sister did the napkin folds for this picture. See, we work so well together!

Since I can't blog with just one picture, here are a couple more that have nothing to do with sewing:

 This girl, with her back to us, is Trouble. Her name is perfect for her personality. She is pure trouble.

                Strawberries from the local farmer's market. Yum!

And my sister's neighbor gave us a big bag with a dozen or so juicing oranges off her tree in her yard!

Soo we squeezed them and got a half gallon of orange juice! It tastes just like eating an orange! Well, that's all I have for today. See you soon.