What I’m working on -and thinking about – this week

It’s been more than a minute since I’ve shared what I’ve been working on so I thought I’d post an update of what’s on my sewing table (and chair, and wall, and floor… lol) this week.

A couple weeks ago I shared the progress I’ve made on my latest version of the Regent Street Union Jack quilt. You can see all of the blocks here. This week I finished adding the sashing and borders and piecing the backing and it’s actually ready to drop off at the quilter’s today! 

This will be my first quilt finish of the new year. A little slower pace from my past self, but I’m feeling totally okay with that. I’ve been making efforts to slow down, be a little (lot) less hectic and be more deliberate in my creating. It’s been a good adjustment for me.

Here is the border I went with. I chose it because it was one of the bigger pieces of yardage I had on hand, so enough fabric to cut a border, but I’m having some second thoughts. After stewing about it over night and looking at it in the daylight, I decided to stick with it. I think I’ll use the solid blue as the binding to balance the busy colors/design.

The print is from the  Liberty Winter Flower Show collection along with a lot of the other prints in the quilt. (Other fabrics include the Riley Blake Jane Austen at Home collection and Buttermilk Farm Basics. The rest are prints from my stash.)

Pattern details:  Regent Street Union Jack quilt 

Since I was sewing long borders, I pulled out the Baby Lock Accomplish for some speedy sewing. The Accomplish is a straight stitch machine – meaning it only does one thing – straight stitching (obviously) but it does it well and fast. You can read more about straight stitch sewing machines here.

And since I’m on a roll with adding on borders, I pulled out this very long-time UFO (unfinished object). These blocks were part of a sampler quilt-along hosted by the Fat Quarter Shop back in 2017. They were really fun blocks to make. I sewed them together with alternating offset blocks about 3 years ago. And here I am FINALLY adding the border fabric that I pulled 2 years ago. 

Never too late to rescue those UFO’s, right? 

Another finish this month: I finished my Starlit Snowflake cross stitch pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop while watching the Winter Olympics. (Cloth is Noble Grey 16 Count Aida from Cosmo, Floss is DMC 3865.) For the ombre effect I used 2 strands of floss on the center section and 1 strand of floss on the outside parts. I wanted to make the design all white and the floss number helped still create a feel similar to the original.⠀

From Jan 1 to the middle of February we had NO snow. Or even rain. It was pretty sad – especially for this girl who loves winter hikes. (Not to mention worrisome for our water usage this coming summer.) 

I half-joked that maybe if I hurried and finished my snowflake project it would break the spell and we’d get some snow. Well, I’m happy to report that it may have helped – as we finally got some new snow this week. Not a ton, but I’ll take whatever we can get! Unfortunately I’ve had a stupid head cold for the past week which has sapped so much of my energy, so I wasn’t up for a hike. But I drove up the nearby canyon and soaked in as much as I could get.

Also on the sewing table the latest Buttermilk Basin fabric for a mini quilt project that I’ll share next week!

Thanks for stopping by. As I write all of this, I acknowledge that it all feels a little shallow in light of current world events. My husband reached out to friends and clients in Ukraine this week. We are saddened by the very real turmoil they are experiencing right now and are sending our prayers as well as finding ways to help. It brings me hope looking for and feeling grateful for all of the helpers, as Mr. Rogers would say. I know that many of you are among them. Quilter’s have the good hearts and want to help when there is suffering. ❤