October Sew In

My Friday Night Sew In wasn't 100% successful,

 but definitely not a waste.

I did piece together half of the background for my Kim Diehl applique quilt.

Stating that I would also make all the applique shapes was a little over ambitious for someone of my character.  (I am easily lead astray!)

I started at 4pm as I sent my DH out for take-out

 (a deliciously fresh spinach and strawberry salad from AJ's.)

Homespun, brushed cotton is difficult to work with if you are a precision piecer. When the second seam intersection did not match, I threw my hands up in the air in total surrender!

I am a morning person and do my best work around 5am, not 5pm!

Perhaps it is the coffee?!?

I actually worked last night to around 7:30pm.

So you are saying to yourself, "And that is all she got done."

Remember I said I am easily lead astray.

Over the last week or so, maple leaf blocks from all over the country and from abroad have been arriving in my mailbox as part of an exchange I am participating in over at Small Quilt Talk, Kathleen Tracy's yahoo group.

  I could see the lovelies out of the corner of my eye and my mind began to wander.

How will I set them?

I remembered Kristine's quilt from SSQSG that I shared and decided to make miniature log cabin blocks.

Viola', here is what I really did all evening.

I can't decide to set them like this

OR

like below. 

I like the star frame idea, but that means I would need to make 4 light log cabin blocks to replace those maple leaf blocks in the corners.

And yikes, there are 34 pieces in each 5" unfinished block.

When I have received all my blocks, I will see how many scrappy ones I receive like the ones pictured and then decide which way to go.

I am loving it so far! and besides it is manicuring my stash, 1" at a time.

While surfing blogland yesterday afternoon, I found this project.  Over the next 5 weeks the blog owner, Jodi, will be writing about what to do with your scraps.

Scraps? 

When I first start quilting, I saved every morsel of fabric in color coded bins.

Waste not, want not!

Over time, my tastes have changed and the fabrics we buy now are so much yummier than what is in those bins. So a few months ago, I purged myself of those tiny scraps.

Not in the trash can, but in a big garbage bag that was then donated to a Boy Scout Troop that makes dog beds for the animal shelters.  I still keep all my trimmings and take them to the ingenious gal that guides those young men.

No guilt purging!

And the perfect stash manicure!