Block Party Saturday

Christmas Fabric Bee - March Blocks for Fairly Merry

I got a little behind on my bee blocks so I spent today getting caught up.  I promised the March blocks would be in the mail by Monday, and I'm glad to say that I will make that goal.  These blocks turned out beautifully, although I was a little bit intimidated by the Flying Geese blocks.  They weren't as difficult as I thought. Fairly Merry turned us on to a great tutorial here.  Look at the lovely fussy-cut centers!!  My sewing machine hated those thin little corners of the HSTs and gave me fits, but I finally got them done.  Now I know why I usually use the divide-the-square method.

Christmas Fabric Bee - March blocks for Singings

At first, these blocks for Singings were sooooo easy. They were very straightforward, and Singings sent detailed instructions.  The squares went together beautifully.  And then came the slice and dice.  Singings asked specifically that the center strip be lined up straight.  THAT was the difficult part.  That silk is just so slippery.  I lined it up on the cutting board, but by the time I had sewn it, it had slipped.  I have to admit that all my this-is-too-easy cockiness went right out the window the third time I took it apart.  But it's a beautiful block - sooooo elegant - and will make a beautiful quilt. 

Christmas Fabric Bee - April blocks for spontaneousthreads

Stephanie (spontaneousthreads) asked for mod mosaic blocks.  These were really a struggle for me.  I think my problem was that I wanted the angles, but when I went to trim the pieces they were much smaller than I originally planned.  If I ever do this technique again, I'll make sure to allow for the angles and the trimming.  This technique seems to waste a lot of fabric, and I really hate that - something in my early upbringing, I think.  I didn't have enough sashing to sash the outside.  I think I used too many pieces. But overall, I am happy with these blocks.  They are bright and colorful, and should be beautiful.  I love the sparkly white sashing and it wasn't difficult at all to work with.  Nice.

So, all-in-all, it was a pretty productive Saturday.  I started the morning setting up for the Opera Ball, which I didn't attend.  Stopped by JoAnn's for an invisible zipper foot (where do those things go? and the fabric to finish the MIAGIA quilt.  Watched part of one session of General Conference (will pick the rest up later on the Net.)  Took WH to the movies for his birthday, which is Monday.  His choice was Lincoln Lawyer with Matthew McConaughey.  Josh Lucas, who plays the prosecutor, drove me crazy because I couldn't remember his name or where I'd seen him.  I looked him up when we got home - he was in Seconhand Lions, which is one of my favorite movies.  So quirky.  Anyway, Lincoln Lawyer was a pretty entertaining film.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday at all.