Finally, Some Sewing

I haven't stitched an inch since well before the move.  I've embroidered some, which is its own pleasure, but not the same for me as taking fabric and making it into something.

Last night, in particular, I was going to be missing one of the local guild meetings.  Again.  This time because Wonderful Husband is in San Francisco at a conference.  So maybe I'd just hit my tipping point of enough, because I plugged in the machine, pulled out the box of fabric that came to the apartment with us, and dug out one of the two projects in it, which is foundation-pieced 8.5" string blocks.

I was doing them as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so I had sorted out all my green strings into a ziploc back in early March.  And fortunately my box of thread had ended up at the apartment as well!  So I threaded up the machine and set to sewing as I could and as little boys allowed.

So far, four green string blocks!

And when I finish them, I will only be two months behind on the RSC (blue and orange, apparently).  I wonder if the rest of my strings are maybe in one of the semi-accessible boxes at the front of the storage unit....

A Few of My Favorite Strings...

Life.  Stuff.  Things!  But I have been forcing myself to sew (and to get in some Swedish and Japanese practice each night on DuoLingo).

In lieu of anything more project-oriented, I've been working on my project for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  Which is taking my three big jars of scraps and turning them into 8.5" blocks.  Here they are as of last night:

I have nine red blocks and seven yellow blocks and not enough left of either color to do even one more.  So I'm counting that as a win.  They haven't been tugged and trimmed and pressed yet; I figure that can wait until further along in the process.

I am currently undecided as to whether I'll pick out another color and keep going for the week and a half until March's color is announced, or turn my energies in another direction.  Of course, I could try and catch up on the Tiny Tuesday blocks....

One Step/Stitch At A Time...

Yesterday my mother and I resumed our usual Thrift Store Tuesdays.  Which surprised me, as she's only a week out from surgery.  But she broached the idea, and felt up to it, so off we went.  I was good and got no fabric!  She bought a new sun tea jar, while I got two blouses, some Lego for Wonderful Husband, a pair of unopened wooden alphabet puzzles (one a giraffe, the other a dragon) for Squiddle, who's starting to learn his letters, a new pair of shoes for Jazzy, who has recently outgrown two of his three pairs, and a couple of Muppets/Sesame Street Little Golden Books that we did not have.  By the end of the store, though, Mom was feeling pretty winded.

I've got the label written out for the Spiraling Geese quilt, so I should get that sewn on and get it basted.  And I've also started catching up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge Tiny Tuesdays blocks.  I somehow fell three weeks behind!  But I cut, pressed, and hand-stitched on Block 2 yesterday:

The red circles fabric was initially used to make Squiddle a pair of pyjamas (which Jazzy has since inherited) and every time I use the scraps I think of those PJs.  Two more blocks to go and I'll be caught up!

Blocks

No sewing done yesterday, though I did work some on the Endless Embroidery Project while Jazzy was in his speech therapy session.

Instead, I cut!  I got all the alternate rows cut for the spiral geese quilt, and didn't need to piece any of them!  Fortunately.  I also got the lights cut for another Wheel of Fortune block.  And I stopped at JoAnn's after Jazzy's speech therapy and picked up some wider elastic to make the waist of Wonderful Husband's Christmas PJ bottoms fit better.  I only had 1/2" elastic on hand at the time I made them, and he's said they don't stay up as well as past ones for which I used 1" elastic.

But I did trim and depaper both of the string blocks I made yesterday:

The one on the left is 5" and the one on the right is 8.5".

I also took a picture of the latest Wheel of Fortune block:

I'm somewhat snarkily proud that not only do all the lines on the light fabric run the same way, so do all the lines on the dark blue.

Baby Steps....

I did a bit of sewing last night.  I finished another Wheel of Fortune block, and got the last strip of the giant flying geese sewn together.  I also sewed the first Tiny Tuesday block for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  And then, since I had red strings strewn all over my sewing desk, I cut a couple 8.5" foundation squares and sewed a red strings block for the Moda String-Along.

I also wrote a couple hundred words.  Easing back into writing stories.  Baby steps....