one inch sides on this tiny English paper pieced tumbling block
I don't know about other quilters but I am finding I am starting many projects and having fun with each but not finishing them up as fast as I did a year or two ago when I first got started. The excitement of showing and telling about new projects at DC Modern Quilt Guild really drove my desire to finish up and get them ready for the show and tells. Now I am working on more complexity in my designs and taking longer to do the hand quilting and sometimes the piecing. Then there is that Instagram share thing. I find sharing a picture or two on Instagram has taken the place of writing blog posts to fore fill my desire to share as I go... Today I am stepping back from that because I know there are folks like the lady I met in Walmart this week who don't get on Instagram and would like to see some of the work in more detail that a slide show on my iPhone screen. Insert smiley face here. How the world keeps changing faster than I can keep pace with since the information age took off some 25 years ago.
This is my tumbling block improvisational nine patch hanging on the design wall as I was trying to sort out how to join them together and what order to place them in for the finished top. It's together now in a different order with a magenta sashing joining them all up. I really enjoyed working on the English paper piecing at the center of these blocks from my own paper pieces. I decided to try some smaller ones for somewhere in the project. Now I have bunch of those completed and ready to use once the quilting is closer to completed.
English paper pieced tumbling blocks tiny one inch size and the three inch size used for the center of my medallion blocks for size reference as they hang on the felt with yellow pins holding them in place.
below is a shot of me sewing the big blocks 25 inch square together on my small Featherweight Singer sewing machine. Vintage Singer 1937 is a delight to use.
Now that it is together and basted to the batting and backing a solid red! It's laid over my standing hoop to begin the large stitch hand quilting in the center medallion with contrasting colors to stand out.
That tumbler is the big three inch sides one in the middle of this block.
So this is just one report there is so many opportunities to write that slip by but keeping the story short helps make it more do-able for me considering I can't put down the iPhone and set Instagram aside as often as I would like.
This project is on track and the earlier one I began back in January of this year is slowly coming closer to a finish. It's my tea leaf project with way too much detail in the quilting for my neck and hand problems to be done quickly. Still we are learning to slow down in this era of hurry hurry hurry and enjoy the simple pleasure of slowly putting the needle to fabric and working out some of our rush to a place of pride and centered calm.
Next week off to Ipswich Mass. to hang at the river's edge and explore.
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