Sunday, I Was "In The Pink"...

Sunday was a really nice day. Handsome spent some time doing yard work and I was in the studio. I was sewing sashing to the pink flannel quilt blocks.

Of course, after he had finished his yard work, a swim was in order, so we both went on break and spent about an hour in the pool. I'm so sorry if you're in the North and subjected to the premature cold weather already. It's still in the 90s around here and we so were anxious to cool off.

After our swim, I headed back to the studio where I put together all ten strips - each made up of six four-patch blocks and separating sashes. I was pretty proud of myself for matching up all the seams when I joined the first two long strips together, then gave myself a beaver slap to the forehead when I realized that I hadn't attached the long sashes yet. (There has to be a long sash between each long strip of blocks to match the ones I stitched on the sides. The finished effect is a contrasting block around each four-patch. It's a necessary step, since we all voted for sashing!) You can see the side sashes in the second photo. My bone crochet hook - which I use to guide fabric through Miss Ellie's presser foot - is pointing to the sash fabric.

I should say one more thing about my technique here. I do not stress over lining up plaids or stripes in my quilts as I do in garments. I like the random, haphazardness that comes from just sewing them together as they want. You'd think with my Type A personality, I'd be working toward perfection. I'm only that way when matching seams, not when lining up those straight fabric patterns. I tell you this so that you don't think I'm just a sloppy quilter. I do this on-purpose.

Anyway, you guessed it. When I realized that I had missed the long sash, out came the seam ripper to unsew that one long seam. By the time that was done, it was time to prepare dinner, so I turned off Miss Ellie, the fan and the studio tv and walked away.

Today, I've got a fresh outlook. I'll first cut all the long sashes, and then I'll set about correctly joining all the long strips of blocks together. When I'm finished, the quilt top will be all assembled. Then, all I'll need to do is assemble the backing and it will be off to the machine quilter's this week.

I want us to be able to keep all these completed quilts straight, so I'm calling the nine-patch quilt from this post "Garden Magic", after the name of the fabric line. This pink flannel quilt I'm calling "Cotton Candy" because that's what I think of whenever I see the pretty pink fabric. Of course, there's no better name for the red and grey quilt shown here than "The French General" named for the designer of the line. Besides, I don't know how to pronounce the fabric line (Rouenneries)!

I don't know how long it will take for the quilts to come back from the machine quilters, but you can rest assured that as soon as they do, I'll be crowing about her work and showing you the finished pieces.