Labor Day of Love

I left work early on Friday to go home and whip up four additional blocks for my Common Threads quilt and to put the quilt top together. I was back at the sewing machine at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday finishing up the quilt top and quilting. Besides an exercise and dinner break, I finished up around 10 pm last night. It was a long day.


There were also two special quilter elves that helped me get this job done. This is the largest quilt I have ever done and working with so much fabric was a tough, sweaty job for this hot labor day weekend. It was a lot of work but I am so excited to have it finished and on my bed. My quilter elves really made the process so much easier, so thank you!

I probably could do some additional quilting in each of the individual blocks to reinforce it better but I am going to put that off for another weekend. The quilting will blend in with some of the blocks better than others and I need to work myself up to sewing over some of these gorgeous blocks. Any suggestions on how to incorporate additional quilting without detracting from the blocks would be greatly appreciated.

August's Common Threads Block

Since I was lucky enough to be assigned July for my month of the Common Threads Quilting Bee, I have only done one block for Rebekah before getting the chance to sit around and have fabulous blocks sent to me in the mail. I was very excited to make another block now that I know what it is like to be on the receiving end. As soon as I read the instructions and saw the fabric, I knew I wanted to do a log cabin block. I usually keep my blocks pretty simple, just to cut down on the production time (or the beast that must finish projects will never be fed) so doing one fancy, super detailed block is a lot of fun.

I really had to push it to get a 12.5" x 12.5" block with the amount of fabric I was given, but somehow I managed to make it work. The few little scraps I have left would make an thrifty quilter so proud. There are a couple of extra seams because I had to sew smaller pieces together but they are pretty subtle for the most part. I am pretty pleased with this block and I really hope Liz likes it.

New Purse Fabrics

Someone, and I am not naming any names here, has been doing some shopping.


I am putting together some fun fabric choices for purses and totes just in time for the fall. Many of the these are from the Garment District and others are from my stash. I keep waiting for just a little more free time so I can have a chance to start building up a collection of bags to sell on Etsy and at the Bust Craftacular later this year.

Oh, sweet free time...I know you are out there somewhere.