So Little Sewing...

Oh my, where has the time gone? I haven't really been doing much sewing at all. Just getting back into the swing of working outside the house (i.e., not in my pajamas!). (For my primary job, I telecommute, so what I am wearing is usually incidental to the work :))

All I have to make note of for the last couple weeks is a little bit of progress on my December surprise. You know how the proverbial "they" always tell you to make a sample block first, before you cut out all your pieces? I never do that. Well, almost never. I did it for this project (that's the one, up there) and I'm glad that I did because I made a mistake and I squared my background fabric to the template, which was wrong, wrong, wrong. Good thing it was just a sample!

The main problem I'm encountering (aside from lacking time and motivation) is curved piecing. I'm new to it. Finding my 1/4" seam is vital to these blocks and I seem to be a bit all over the place resulting in rectangular blocks that bulge at the end with the inset half-circle. My machine, being old and discontinued, does not have a 1/4" foot. I have a generic one for it but it doesn't rest on the plate of the machine and sometimes it just falls off! So I use a satin foot and move my needle to approximately 1/4" from the right edge of the foot. But I've got 36 half circles to do, so I suspect by #36 I'll have it down. For the time being, I have to rip a few seams.

It's a tale as old as time, no?

My second project, which is sitting patiently waiting for me, is a diaper bag. I have the fabric, the notions, the pattern, my proposed alterations, and yet... there it sits. It's always this way. I have three other quilts I'd like to start, but time is ticking on my deadlines and I won't let myself start anything else before I finish these two projects. (Well, I did allow myself to open the Terrain charm pack that Kate Spain herself sent me, just so I could ooh and ahh over the colors.)

I only have the one charm packs and I was initially thinking about doing this quilt and then I thought about some sort of disappearing nine-patch layout, but I kinda just like them in asymmetrical groupings and a lot of negative space... I think I might go that route if ever I finish the projects above!

As for my blog diet, I'm still refining my thoughts and the scope of the experiment, but I'll probably toss up a post in the next day or so. I initially drafted it on October 21st, so it's been percolating since then. So far, I've had mixed results :)