Work, work, work. Parent, parent, parent. Sew, sew, sew. This is how my life is going at the moment and while writing it like that sounds pretty monotonous, overall things are really pretty good at the moment.
Last week’s block in the Long Time Gone sew-along was Jacobs Ladder, and it was really a single block made up of nine smaller blocks. Despite its complicated appearance, it was pretty straightforward to construct and I love how it turned out! I think this is my favorite of the 4 blocks I’ve done so far. This week is the Around the World block seen above and with 169 tiny squares to piece together, I was yet again glad that I’m working 5-7 days ahead of the sew-along schedule. The progress photo above was taken last week but I finished the block last night.
It was a doozy! My seam allowance drifted slightly as I sewed the rows, and the middle of the block bows out a bit — to the tune of being about 1/4″ wider than it should be. I don’t want to trim it too much because that would throw off the rest of the grid. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to shape things up with a very slight trim followed by easing the rest of the extra width in when I put the whole top together.
(p.s. I’m tagging all of my Long Time Gone progress shots on Instagram using #saroyLTG.)
I’ve also been working on something for the Modern Quilt Guild’s fabric challenge. This year they provided 6 fat-eighths from the Creative Rockstar collection and I had a lot of fun drawing up my own paper-pieced mini pattern to show off the fabrics. I had to order a bit more of that red plus fabric since the fat eighth wasn’t enough, but it arrived on Saturday and I finished the top on Monday night. The mini isn’t square, so I even figured out how to miter the borders for a more polished look! I totally patted myself on the back for that one when it turned out so well.
Now it just needs to be quilted — I’m thinking there will be some big stitch hand work going on.
And in case you missed it, I finally finished my Intertwined quilt pattern and it’s for sale in my Craftsy shop!
(Linking up with Let’s Bee Social from Sew Fresh Quilts)
I really like the fussy cut moon (?) in the center of your Around the World block. You chose great colors and fabrics for the LTG quilt along! I haven’t done a challenge in a while, and drafting your own paper piecing pattern sounds like a fun new skill to try out. I look forward to seeing how the quilt finishes. 🙂
The colors in your LTG quilt are really gorgeous. Hope you can make the size work and planned. – And your mitered corners are peferect. Enjoy the quilting procress!
Thanks Melanie! I’m really loving the shades-of-blue color scheme.
Intertwined is very pretty! Love the circle quilting. I always find it amazing how much a block like around the world shrinks from layout to finished piece. The little moon center is very cute!
I know — it seemed so tiny after piecing since I’d had it laid out for several days!