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Monday, September 24, 2012

September Sewing

Ba{M}S-September Block 2

I had some sewing to get done this month and I'm happy to say, I got it all done. I had a non-shower/shower for two of my sisters-in-law who are expecting in the next two months. (This is the second baby for each, so it was sort of a celebration of moms and babies, without being a full-blown shower.) I managed to get a couple of cotton knit blankets made in the wee hours before attending the non-shower shower. Wanna see a pic. Oh, you can't because I didn't have a camera :( It's something like this but I make them double-layered.

I also finished up 16 blocks for the Not Your Granny's Bee block swap. I missed the deadline but looking at the "blocks received list," I'm gonna give myself a pat on the back. I'd love to show you pictures, but yet again. I don't have any. Another lesson learned - when you're sewing under the gun, you're almost always going to make mistakes.  And by "you," I mean "me." I sewed up my first set of 8 back in May or June - right when I had drunk the Kool-Aid and was all high on just-signed-up-for-a-bee energy. I followed Katy's instructions to a T and ll was right with the world.

Fast-forward 4 months (four months?!), and I was feverishly sewing on September 14th at 10pm, trying to make the September 15 deadline. Did I re-check the directions? No, I did not. Did I glance at the 8 blocks I had already made for reference? No, I did not. Did I make the deadline? No, I did not. Did my blocks come out exactly as they should have? (Say it with me, now...) No, they did not. I defaulted to pressing my seams open, instead of pressing them to the side. As a consequence, my Snow blocks are nice and flat and my Charcoal and White blocks are a bit puffy. Blerg.

The seams notwithstanding, I love the blocks and I'm looking forward to receiving the others. Embarrassed to be the swapper who sent messy blocks, but I hope they will forgive me and use them anyway.

I was able to finish up my September Bee a {Modern} Swapper blocks this weekend. Mosaic blocks take me forever! This time, I laid out my scraps and tried to make sure I'd have enough for a 12.5" square block with the sashing. Did I? No, I did not. (OK, I'll stop doing that now.) But I was able to find enough scraps to make them work. Mary asked for Mosaic blocks in fall colors.

Ba{M}S-September Block 1

I had only made one before (I mistakenly thought that I had made a pair of them, but the one probably took me so long I thought I had made two!). So, this time around, I figured I'd do a little more planning, cut my pieces a little bigger and it would all come out right.

Well... it was fine. It was a little better than the first time. No seam-ripping, at least. Hopefully the pieces aren't too big. Lots of old scraps in these blocks!

Onward and upward, as my professor used to say!