Back on Track

Yesterday was a productive day for me, sewing wise and other wise. Sometimes it seems that I can go, go, go for 4 or 5 days and then I kind of crash and do nothing for a day.  After a day of doing nothing sewing wise, I'm raring to go again on my projects.

Yesterday, I was back on track and in addition to sewing, I also did laundry and cleaned bathrooms, AND read a couple chapters in my book! Whoo Hoo!

First thing was to attach borders to the red and taupe table runner I began the day before.  Done! I like the gentle curve in the border print--a nice contrast to the squares in the center of the piece.

And I love the little deer in this print. They have teeny, tiny white polka dots!  And this Danish fabric is so nice to work with. It feels like there's a kind of finish on the cloth that gives it just the slightest stiffy-ness. (That's a word, isn't it?  Well, it is now.)

Instead of beginning on the next UFO, I decided to skip ahead and make a third Solstice Challenge block.  After all, I'm 6 blocks behind and want to get caught up. This is a simple half log cabin made of 2.5" strips and it went together so well.  No seam ripper needed on this one!

I also set up a light "box" so I could trace the last two blocks of Among the Pines.  I don't have a true light box--it's on my list--and at home, I usually simply trace on the white table top.  Here at the Gulf, the dining table is huge and has a glass top. I brought in a lamp without it's shade and set it up under the table and then I could easily see the pattern I needed to trace. Actually, I traced both blocks, so they're ready to go when I get to them, which should be in a week or so.  

After dinner, I continued to work on the embroidery, but I also took out the next UFO that needs to be worked on. It's Bonny Hunter's "Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll" which I began last year at the class I took from her while here.  At home I finished the center of the quilt and now I need to put the borders on. Bonnie's quilt calls for a pieced border made up of 3 rows of diamonds but I'm not sure I have enough fabric for that.  Before I got up this morning, I was thinking about it and decided to change it out to a piano key border. I'll have enough fabric, I'm sure, since I can use a lot of the neutral strips in addition to the colored (aqua and green) fabrics.  So that's on my agenda today--begin assembling the border for this quilt.

And, NO, I didn't forget that it's Valentine's Day.  I hope to get a gift like this from my sweety! And I hope you do too.