That being said it has been a rough week for me. I am still struggling with this asthma flare. I am feeling better but not well. I ended up coming home from work early one day last week and then stayed home the next day as well. Unfortunately all I did was sleep during that time off. Having trouble breathing makes one very tired. This week is not boding well either. May boss is at his other plant this week so I have to be at work.
Progress for this week was minimal. I managed to get all the squares for the second ribbon quilt
trimmed and I will start chain piecing the blocks tonight. It is starting to feel as though I may get this project finished. I would really like to get it done by Thanksgiving. But that is only about 19 days away so I am not terribly optimistic.
This is the first time I have done the Easy Eight Method for half square triangles. I have done the two at a time method and do a fairly decent job. The thing is I am not always as accurate as I need to be. (Usually when I am rushing a project or getting bored with it). With the two at a time method, if you mess up, you end up with one block that is too small and one that can be cut down. So you may lose one block. With the Easy Eight method you may lose 4 blocks. It can be a little frustrating to see that pile of blocks start to diminish.
I think I know where I went wrong though. When marking the layer cake, I drew diagonal lines, then drew lines 1/4 inch on either side of the diagonal lines. The thing is my 1/4 inch ruler wasn't long enough and well I probably didn't get things lined up correctly. Also my stitching my not have been as accurate as it should have been. I used my regular presser foot and stitched on the lines.
Next time I think I will only draw the diagonal lines and use my 1/4 inch presser foot. I am definitely going to do this method again. Just need to take my time doing it.
This past week I told my husband that I may have my two year old grandson, Emerson, organize my studio. That way I will know where everything is. He is a great little helper and has some very strong ideas on organization. I have a very long level for my Millie. It is hanging in one part of the studio. At the other end, I have a couple of yard sticks hanging on the wall. I kept finding my level (which has markings on the side for measuring) over by my yard sticks. It finally dawned us that He was putting all of the measuring things together.
Emerson loves to be in the studio with me. He loves machines and tools. He is very good about picking up and putting things away. Unfortunately it isn't always where I put them. I have been looking for my Fiskars rotary cutter for about a month. Some time ago I picked up a Omni-Grid rotary cutter on clearance at my local Walmart. This is the one I have been using for the last month. It is taking some getting used to. This rotary cutter doesn't have a button or slide for opening the blade. You just press and cut. It is probably a good tool to use when you have little ones around. Especially if you are like me and tend to forget to close the blade when you set the rotary cutter down. I am starting to get used to it.
The other day I was working with Emerson's sister Aurora on a project. I heard their mother say "Emerson what are you doing?" He calmly replied "I helping". He had found a bag of 4 inch squares and had them spread out on the studio floor (fortunately it had just been mopped) and was "pressing" them with my (unplugged) steam iron. He was getting them ready for me to quilt. I love that kid. I should mention that he had carefully sprayed each block with what he thought was starch (in reality water) and was spreading them out to dry after pressing each one. I helped him move the blocks up to my long arm table and when they were dry we stacked them very carefully. Later I put them back into the bag I was storing them in.
Another thing he did to help was he clipped some blocks together with my wonder clips. Which gave me an idea. If you look at the picture of the blocks at the top, you will see that I have them clipped together. I didn't have enough random clips sitting around the house so when we were at the flea market I picked up a couple of packs. These will help me keep sets of blocks and rows of blocks straight until I can revamp my design wall. I was really pleased with Emerson coming up with that idea. I think I will try and keep him engaged in the whole quilting process. He may help me improve my process in other ways.
What progress have you made this week? Who is helping you in your work space?
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