Not much to show from this weekend

Made a little progress on the next Sue Ross block of the month this weekend. Still have to applique it to the orange background fabric (not shown). Despite the complex look of the block, it was fairly easy to piece. The templates made cutting the pieces easy.

I realized I didn't have a picture of the finished Girlfriend's Galore top so I persuaded my husband to hold it up outside where I had a better chance of getting the whole thing in the picture. It was really windy, and this ended up being the best picture I could manage.

A bright block for a dull weekend

This is about all I have to show for the weekend: Block 6 of the Sue Ross BOM. I really like it. Toying with the idea of making a whole quilt with this block. It wouldn't take many as the block finishes at 14 inches.

I made a back for my version of Girlfriends Galore, but opted not to take a picture of an 82 1/2" x 98" rectangle of solid green fabric. A beautiful green to be sure, but hardly worth a thousand words.

Where the sun doesn't shine: Chicago

Gratuitous fabric photo because no one likes a quilting blog

without photos and that squirrel fabric is just too cute.

Today I went to the first meeting of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild. I'm getting excited about this group. I miss belonging to a guild. I was very active in my Orlando guild. When we first moved to the Chicago area I joined the local guild, but there were too many things going on (new job, new employees, selling a house, buying a house, husband diagnosed with cancer) that I made only one meeting. Even now, I haven't been able to swing the weeknight meetings. Heck, I've cancelled my last two hair appointments because of work interference on a weeknight. (Roots aren't as bad as I thought they'd be.) Looks like this group will be meeting on weekends. Yeah!

Everyone had lots of great ideas for things we can do. A few people brought show and tell. That's something I really miss: Looking at other people's quilts and seeing what fabric, quilting and patterns they used.

When I came home from the meeting, I found that a Girl Scout had visited while I was out. What more could I want than seeing, touching and talking quilts and then having a box of Thin Mints waiting for me? Sunshine. Yes, more snow forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

Haven't sewed much lately. (Been shoveling.) I did finally finish my Sue Ross block of the month for month 1 (month 6 should arrive any day now). I've started prepping block 5, which is applique, which means, like block 1, which was hand piecing, it will take me some time to get it done. I'm not big on hand sewing, except for binding. I like sewing binding. How weird is that? Can I trade anyone binding for applique?

Sue Ross BOM

When I saw the Sue Ross BOM on Material Obsession's blog, I signed up right away. I know, I know. I can't keep up with my blog, how am I going to keep up with a block of the month. One block a month. One. Not 15 a month like that flag exchange. One.

When the email arrived saying it was coming I would have started right then, but no templates and no fabrics. And the instructions said hand piecing. Seriously? I've never done that in my life. Should I make a practice block or just go for it? One block a month. Remember? A practice block might be all I got done. Plus I had to cut out and draw seam allowances on 61 pieces per block. One block. Easy decision. Do it by machine or take a stab at hand piecing? What's life without learning? Besides how hard could it be? (Don't know yet as I haven't finished it, but it still looks like it could fit together.)

And, then I asked to join the Sue Ross BOM blog. Two blogs? That second blog will push me to blog AND finish the block each month. Playing psychological tricks on myself seems to be working. I've already posted twice today! And that other post has links to some great hand piecing tutorials I found online.