Happy Tuesday!

At least it's not Monday, right?  Right?  Actually, I've always felt bad for Monday.  It's NOT Monday's fault we have to go back to work that day.  It's our boss's fault.  Poor little Monday!

My Monday was good.  Actually Sunday was also.  I had both days off work.  I sewed and sewed and sewed.  Good News:  I'm now almost 3/4 done with the Kaleidoscope quilt.  Bad News:  I'm going to have to set it aside for a few days because of the infernal wrist thing.  Ah well.  Good thing I'm in no rush for this!

Then, I moved on to the Spanish Steps quilt, sewing the 3" blocks into strips with the shadow blocks.  Next with this, I'll sew those strips together into large blocks.  Gotta iron first, so that's nixed until my wrist is a little less sore.

Next I fooled with the hand-dyes I won from Sharon at Indigo Threads and this design, trying to get a grip on exactly how I'm going to do this.  I don't want to waste a bit of the hand-dyes on seam allowance, so I'm going to fuse applique instead.  Of course, by necessity, there'll be a small amount used for overlap purposes in the fusing technique.  That can't be helped. 

The big problem I have is that the blocks are considerably smaller than the pieces to be cut from the pattern.  So, everything must scale down (in such a way to not be too wasteful).  Here you see me trying out a few pieces.  The green one is on a template piece (4 x 6) that will most probably be the size block I go with (it fits the longest angles best). 

Next problem:  I need to figure out what size to make my strips.  In the pattern they're 5.5".  That' bigger than my block!  So, you see me auditioning different sized blocks here with the template piece.  This part I'll actually sew and so will have a seam allowance I'll have to accomodate.  I think I'll go with the large blocks/strips.  The second picture is actually the fabric I'll be using in the blocks.  I'll dig up some solids to go with them for the tiny slips (I figure 1/2" wide, finished).

And that was it for the sewing.  But, look what I got in the mail Saturday:  a postcard from a swap on the LibQuilters group.  This is from Sue.  Isn't it peachy?  I sent one, too, but the recipient hasn't gotten it yet, so I can't show it.  It may take awhile, it's going overseas.

I also worked on the layout for the new yearly anthology book Breathe (writing group) is putting together.  Got the basics done, now all I have to do is plug everything in.  That, knock on wood, should be fairly easy.

My friend, Joanne, has a quilt in a contest.  Go vote for it.  It's quite lovely.  Also, go visit SewCalGal.  She's got a little vote thingy in her sidebar about how many UFOs you have.  Interesting to see how many people voted each way.  I only have around 8, if I count correctly.  They drive me crazy, though, sitting there mocking me. 

I work this evening.  Until then, I rest my wrist (you know:  clean house).

-Wendy