Square dancin'

Happy 45th post! Yes, I know others celebrate so-called big milestones like their 200th or 1,000th post, but who decided that those were important numbers?! I tend to think the number 45 is sadly overlooked (as it's just a few years away in terms of birthdays I guess I better start liking it!). I frankly never thought I'd have a blog, so having 45 entries so far seems kinda noteworthy to me!

I'm linking up with Lily's Quilts' Small Blog Meet, so check out all those great blogs out there!!

For those who know me, I'm not exactly the typical quilt block kind of gal . . . it requires a sort of pattern following and precision that seems to challenge my sensibilities! I think that's why I've always been drawn to all things wonky! Now why I started with paper piecing, I can't begin to imagine, since the precision that calls for is extreme, but it feels creative and forgiving in a way that working with quilt blocks just doesn't! I know, I never said I make any sense! Anyway, a month or so ago one of my dear sewing friends suggested a granny square exchange and my desire to be a joiner overcame my block phobia and so I gave in. Having recently conquered my Rainbow Sprout baby quilt, I thought it was another BGP (Big Girl Panty) moment!

Here's block #1!

1 down, 23 to go! I meant to fussy cut the center block, so I may end up redoing that one so that I can highlight the ultra cute vintage '30s circus animals in the yellow fabric. So cute! And, I must confess, this block thing isn't nearly as painful as I might have thought! Here is one thought for the quilting community, though, whoever is marketing Granny Squares might think about upcycling the name to something that sounds a bit more hip and appealing! This is more fun than it sounds! We're using the great tutorial from I'm a Ginger Monkey.

On other fronts, I've been meaning to finish my update from my fabulous retreat experience a few weekends ago, but I had to upload other photos. In addition to finishing my Rainbow Sprout quilt, I also completed my pin cushion and scrap basket -- thanks to the amazing (constant) guidance of Sue!

I'm not sure you can tell from my photo, but it requires a lot of gathers, which I had not fully mastered. I had done a few in the class that accompanied my machine a while ago, but it's a whole different thing when you're trying to make them under pressure!

This looks far more simple than it really is--at least to me! It has a great, weighted pin cushion that is attached to the scrap bag that hangs over the edge of the table. Sue and April have brought theirs to the past few retreats and we have all envied them theirs, so they finally gave in and gave a tutorial on how to make them! I clearly needed a little more hands on help, so Sue was amazing and pretty much walked me through mine!

I made mine to match the sewing machine cover I made at the previous retreat:

Look how well those go together! My next project is to make a traveling ironing pad with a paper pieced iron on one side, also with those same fabrics. 

Happy weekend everyone! It should be up in the 90s here, which should be quite a change from my snowy travels last week! Not sure I'm ready for the weather!