Sewing & Sewing

I cut squares of the new fabric for my background & have started sewing my squares together for my Itty Bitty Pinwheels. I am much happier with it now. The following picture shows it with the new squares. You will notice a white stripe about a third of the way in from the right side. That section has groups of four squares sewn together in rows. The larger part on the left only has two squares sewn together in the rows. I will keep sewing the twos into fours and then will join the fours into eights, etc. When I have the rows finished, I will then start joining the rows together. Then I will cut the border fabric and add my borders. Then the fun will start when I start cutting this whole thing up to make my pinwheels! I have been working on the shawl I am crocheting. I finished the second set of pattern rows and am half way through the third set. I didn't bother taking a picture, but will when I finish the rows, before I start on the rounds. Not too bad for a work week, with a night out for my kindred quilters group. I also made the mistake of starting to watch the 7th season of Criminal Minds on DVDs that I purchased a couple of weeks ago. Oh well, I will be finished work again in a few days and be able to get more sewing done to show you. I wish some of you would send me comments and pictures of what you are working on! Have a good week!

No Quilting

I changed my mind about the neutral colours in my Itty Bitty Pinwheels. There is not enough difference between them. I have decided to add a new one. What do you think of the one in the following picture? I think I will replace the one closest to the new fabric. I will have to cut some squares and try it out. I have found taking a picture shows up problems before I notice them when just looking at my design wall. I didn't get any actual sewing done this week. I was too busy working on a crochet project. It is going to be a shawl. It is a dusty blue, that looks nice with blue jeans. The 1st picture shows that it is longer than my bed. The 2nd shows that the ends are on an angle. The 3rd shows the main part of the pattern. I am on row 21 of about 43, so I have about half of the main part done, but after that there are still numerous rounds to add an all around border. This is a project that I picked up at the Creative Festival in Toronto last month. I went exploring Amazon books last week and decided I couldn't do without Yoko Saito's book Japanese Quilting piece by piece (2006), Libby Lehman's Threadplay (1997) and Mary Parker's Sashiko Easy & Elegant Decorative Machine Embroidery (1999). They have all arrived and I am pleased with them. They are the other part of the reason that I didn't get any quilting done this week. I think that I will only be working for another week after this, so should manage to get back to important things like quilting! Have a good week and remember to enjoy whatever you are working on!