My first paper pieced block

After many (many) trial runs I finally finished a paper pieced block. I used Carol Doak's Barbara's Block from her book 40 Bright & Bold Paper-Pieced Blocks: 12-Inch Designs.

I'm thinking that I need to make different fabric choices in order to really show off the nifty piece work. 

More contrast and either smaller prints or solid colors. I have 6 more to make for the ladies in my Quilt bee hive. I'm really looking forward to seeing how each one turns out. 

A little of this, a little of that

I've been putzing around my sewing machine. Finishing odds & ends. My sister-in-law's b'day is this week and I was told she was wanting to get a sewing machine so I made this for her:

Not the sewing machine, but the nifty little caddy that hold's stuff. I found the tutorial via Pinterest. God bless that site. I put the above photo & a little something to go towards the sewing machine in one of the pockets. I wasn't sure she'd know what it was without some sort of reference. It went together really quick and made me think I should make one for myself. All in good time. ;)

I did sew up my February block for InColorOrder's Half Square Quilt-a-long.

This one was a pit of a pain for me to get lined up as well. I'm thinking I may start pressing my seams open. It also turned out about an inch smaller all the way around than my January block. Reviewing the January instructions I realized that I didn't square each block to 3.5" before sewing each block together, which I did do for the February block. So, which block should I redo? Who knows. I'm leaving them for now. 

My curves class starts this week and I'm trying not to start any new projects so I can focus on the class. It'll be a whirlwind of curvy sewing.  Plus I've been working on the block for the Quilt Bee I signed up for and so far I don't have anything photo worthy.

One Shirt Down (sort of)

I finished up the first shirt for Ian's Wardrobe and was fairly pleased with it....as I was taking a photo of it though I thought the neckline looked a little small. Since he was sleeping I had to wait to try it on him. 

As soon as he woke up I tried to pull it on over his head. No matter how I tugged on it, it would not come down over his head. BLAST! So I took the collar off and pulled it on over his head no trouble. I even took the neckline piece and pulled that over his head, both fit just fine. Guess I needed to stretch the  neckline more when I was topstitching it. {sigh}. I need to fix the length of the sleeves as well, they're about an inch and a half too long. Adding that brown stripe across the chest really helped make it the perfect length. 

In other news, I've signed up for the Curves class being taught by Rachel Hauser at Stitched in Color. The first projects, bunting, bibs & a clamshell pillow, have been posted and I'm really looking forward to trying them out and improving my sewing skills.

I've also signed up on Flickr to be a part of the 6x3 quilting bee. There are 7 to each group/hive and my hive will be creating a paper-pieced 12 1/2" block. We'll each sew the design we've chosen in each of the color schemes that we've each selected. I've got my block design in mind and my color mosaic is lots of jewel tones.

Now I get to go buy some lovely fabric and start trying out my paper-peiced block. It'll be the first time I've ever sewn a paper-pieced quilt block. Hopefully my hive won't be disapointed.