Designing Monday

I pieced a top for the local homeless shelter this week.  We were given a packet of 6" squares at the last guild meeting and asked to piece a top that is 11 x 15 squares.  As I started sewing, I found that some of the squares weren't cut quite right.  Some an inch or two too long, which is okay.  But some were cut skewed or 1/4' too short.  I also really don't like the idea of trying to match all those corners. This is a utility quilt that will be washed over and over, so it doesn't have to be perfect piecing, but I still want to do the best I can.  So I decided to offset the blocks like tiles.  This meant adding a few pieces from my stash which I am always happy to downsize.

Here is the top in progress.  Wow is that fuzzy!

Looks like I got a little carried away adding blocks on that row!

I'm currently trying to piece the September block from the Threads of Memory sew along on the Civil War Quilts blog by Barbara Brackman.  I seem to be making it a lot harder than it should be.  I'm sure I will get it figured out in my lifetime, but today it seems to be eluding me.

I somehow got sucked into the vortex of Lori's Humble Quilts Sew Along this week, too.  I don't know how that happened.  One minute I was reading her blog and the next I was dashing around my sewing room finding every little scrap I could find and voila!  Here are the first two steps of the mystery:

I received my silk scarf from the teacher of my class.  Here is the finished product.  I really love it.  However, I haven't been able to find anything in my closet to match it with, so I guess that means a little shopping excursion is called for.

Hop on over to Judy's blog  to see more beautiful designs.