Work, work, work and ...

Play, play, play!! This is basically how I feel at the moment.
I am "working" on a quilt for my in-laws (which I love BTW) but this quilt doesn't love me.  Or I took more than I can chew. I am starting to believe I don't have the necessary ability/experience to tackle such a project so it feels like  WORK! It is not a very complicated pattern as you can see:

it consists of HSTS and squares.  My problem  My challenge is sewing them straight. Let me explain, please. It is my first attempt to do a monocolour quilt; I have always made ♫ SCRAAAPPY ♪ quilts. With those, even if you have a point that is 1/8 of an inch off, it is ok/good enough because, in the big picture, it usually disappears blends in.  In this blue quilt, if I have 1/16" off, it jumps right out at me, screaming "I am ugly!!".  :-(     I have frogged these blocks so often I could surely make a block or two with the threads I have wasted.  BUT!  I've said I would make a quilt for my Wonderful Parents In-Law and I WILL!! I know my MIL is so sweet she will genuinely love it no matter what it looks like and because she is a crafty person too, she will appreciate the time and effort involved in the making of such a quilt. But, I, yes ME, want it to be perfect.  The pattern is called Heavenly Star and it was spotted on the Quilter's Cache website.

Here, I am testing corner blocks for effects. (If you have spotted my mistake let me assure you that is has been fixed). The stars are sitting on a large piece of white flannel.  It will be a monster of a quilt (if my calculations are exact) finishing at around 87 X 112 inches. I will NOT hand quilt this one. And this is also a first for me; I have never used the services of a professional machine quilter. I am learning so much with this WORK in progress.

But ... there is also PLAY!! or FIP as in "FUN in progress". :)

I have so much fun with the ♫ SCRAAAPPY ♪ quilt, it makes my heart ♫ sing ♪.  This Leader/Ender quilt (like Bonnie K. Hunter taught us to do) is inspired by Natasha at Scraps-a-Plenty.  It is soooooooo easy to sew and to put the blocks together that sometimes I just sew those blocks and neglect give the blue quilt a break. (Got to find a better name than The blue quilt or the In-laws' quilt!) Anyway, these little blocks are made with flannel scraps from when I was sewing pajamas for the boys. I would like to make 3 quilts so I need 210 blocks and so far I have 97 blocks done. I have (was it 23 or 25 blocks) ... some blocks all cut up and ready for assembly.  The middle part of  the blocks are crumbs (little pieces of fabric) sewn together till it reaches 4.5 inches or bigger. Then I trim it and turn it into a star or an uneven 9 patch.  Because it's made of flannel, the little pieces can't be too small but still I am using alot of scraps. Some squares, made with a favorite fabric, are not pieced at all.  (Wish I could crop the carpet from the picture.  Another thing I have to learn.) 

Ok!?! For some reason, the picture is now sideways LOL but it gives you an idea of what it will look like.  Meanwhile, I am having FUUUUNNN sewing this one up!  

Until next time...  ;^)    Smile! ... 'cuz it looks good on you.

Chantal