Wanda Joy has been on fire!

 Since our return to the valley of the sun,

my longarm has been on fire!

It has been too hot to go outside,

so I practice my FMQ.

First up was my Rock the Block 

by Sew Kind of Wonderful.

Here are some details:

I really got confident with feathers! 

Next up was my Let's Stitch a Figurative Quilt 

from a Natalia Bonner class I did online.

I must say this one is quilted to death,

but it was a learning quilt.

My favorite block.

And I love that middle border design.

I wish the quilt had had a border instead of the endless neutral fabric.

That rainbow filler got to be so tedious to quilt over and over,

but practice did improve the look of them. 

Pebbles is what I mastered with this one. 

You may think I have lost my mind;

but with all the craziness in the world,

we leave for Africa in less than a week.

Trying my hardest not to panic!

In the meantime,

I will try to stay calm by making more units for my 

Sunrise Scraps quilt.

My sewing circle of friends donated a lovely group of pinks and purples 

along with some great old cheddars from Jo Morton.

Stay safe and hug your loved ones!

 

Mind Games

Hometown, made with Kathy Schmitz's Home fabric line.

It was a kit I purchased as a wedding gift for my son and his wife.

Now perhaps they will get it as an anniversary gift...LOL!

Just have the sashing and borders to finish. 

The original pattern has an intricate flying geese border.

I will opt for a simple fabric border.

Do you have a system for piecing large quilts?

I never completely cut a quilt up front.

 I have been burnt in the past when the directions were wrong.

So I cut one block at a time.

With this quilt, however, the instructions are so complex 

that it is hard to determine what fabrics are used where

 and what their cutting size should be.

Thankfully, my friend Cyndi had made the quilt

 and assured me the cutting directions were correct.

So...

I cut all the strips from the first 5 fabrics, which allowed me to piece the first house...

a monumental leap of faith for me.

FYI, the layout did have an error in it, 

but that was easily corrected.

It was hard for me to stay engaged due to the lack of color and fabric variety,

but I do love how it turned out.

It felt like a marathon game of Monopoly.

So I played mind games with myself....

piece 2 blocks and you can eat chocolate.

Then there was the countdown...

hooray, first row done;

now you are halfway done;

 and 

now there are only 6 more blocks to piece.

You can do it!

I needed a cheering squad.

I also wrote blog posts in my mind while I was sewing...

finish these last 2 rows and you can post!

With the help of my Audible book,

This Tender Land,

I finally muscled through the last block.

Even though I enjoyed the book,

it was somewhat like this quilt...

easy to put down but I was compelled to finish it!