Quilting with purpose

On my third week of constant quilting, and I have to be honest, it feels wonderful.

My process has been to poke at my fabrics and pair them up during the week, and maybe go as far as to cut out the pieces and have them all trimmed. Then, usually by Saturday or Sunday, I'll sit down and go through the blocks I have picked out for that weekend. It's a system that seems to be A: working, and B: one that I can keep up with. 

I got all arty with this one!

It's also a soothing process, because in the midst of stress from work I can retreat to my office at night and go through all the fabric I've been hoarding for so long and find what looks like it will be fun to pair up with, and what really ought to be left out or hoarded until I get another fat quarter or two to play with.

I just love how this one unfolded throughout the process.

Today's quilting had to wait until Sunday morning because I ran 14 miles for my marathon training Saturday morning, and I'm getting to the point where my long runs are literally the furthest I've run in my entire life. And while this past run went much better than the week prior, I'm still pretty pooped out by the time I get home!

Little butterfly wings.

If you look closely at the block above, you'll see where I accidentally pieced it together wrong. That's probably my biggest struggle--I fall into the rhythm of sewing pieces together, and start sewing together parts that really shouldn't be connected ever or quite yet!

All fixed.

And finished!

I was a little worried with this block because of how heavy the batik felt to me--I haven't been washing my fabrics before I cut them lately, so this one I'll have to keep an eye on for bleeding. I've been really lucky to date with bleeding and my fabrics, but given how many batiks are going into this project it will be an interesting proposition.

The two I finished this weekend.

But wait! I hear you say. Marisa, where did that wheel come from? Well, I'd be happy to show you in our first tutorial video!

If you click on the video above, you'll get to hear my dulcet tones as I explain how I do curved seams! And if you listen closely early on you'll hear TC chirp a bit in protest that she's not the center of attention.

Hope you enjoyed this post--next week I'll hopefully be both brewing and sewing, so expect at least three blocks to get finished by Monday!