More of the Same ...

Though I have some new ideas brewing and I did make some blocks for next month's Block Lotto (that I cannot yet share),  and though I have made some additions, my design wall looks much the same ...

I now have made a total of 51 of these little blocks–halfway to my goal of 100 blocks in 100 days.

This week some new fabric arrived at my house and I couldn't resist cutting into it to make some new baskets.

These along with some others will have their handles stitched down later tonight as my continuing slow Sunday stitching.

I have begun to think of these blocks as baskets of worry, fear and frustration.  I've been having a rough time at work–it's safe to say the honeymoon is over there–and when I come home to sew a block or a few in the evenings, I imagine I am leaving my worry, fears and frustrations within them.

Preparing to Stitch with Victoria ...

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions last week.  My plan for tonight's slow Sunday evening stitching will be stitching with Victoria.

No, not this one–this image from PBS who also shared the fun fact that Queen Victoria established the tradition of brides wearing white after she did so in 1847.

BOTH wearing white and NOT wearing her crown were considered quite scandalous in 1847 ...

I will be stitching along with Victoria on Masterpiece and hope it can catch my interest enough to become a habit.

My handwork project continues to be hand appliqué to stitch down the handles on my small basket blocks.

I considered whether to share an updated photo of the now 38 basket blocks on the design wall, then turned and noticed that I had an all fall down situation going on at my design wall.



Nine blocks made this week are waiting to be completed and thread picked to use to complete the appliqué.

Other "slow" work going on at Sophie Junction today is related to the quilt design idea shared yesterday–I've been writing and counting, recounting and cross-checking the numbers.  Come back tomorrow for the quilt pattern.

Finding that rhythm ...

As I was uploading this photo, I realized it was not only the first design wall photo of the year, it is the first since I moved last October.

I have now made 29 of the small 4 1/2-inch basket blocks and finished hand-stitching the handles in place last night, while bingeing on old episodes of Twin Peaks. Twenty-some years later, it's still strange and wonderful. 

I have an idea for design walls in this small space ... but they are not in place yet.  I may venture out into the snow to pick up the rest of the materials and hardware I need to make that happen ... but probably will not.

I thought that setting  a goal for those baskets would lead me back toward the sewing habit, but at work this week, I worked way too many hours to do anything except come home, eat and fall into bed. During the holiday today, my plan for Monday Making is to pull more scraps, match them up for basket and background and cut the pieces so they will be ready-to-go next to my sewing machine so I can continue to chip away at that 100-block goal. 

During my slow Sunday stitching at Twin Peaks, I wondered if I could re-cultivate my Sunday night TV and handwork ... and how Downton Abbey became my Sunday night habit that provided some rhythm to my week. 

Anyone else still working to re-establish the rhythms of their day/week after the holidays (or some other life change) ... or have a suggestion for must-see Sunday night TV to help me get back into that lovely habit?

A Scrappy Sunday Afternoon

A funny thing happened when I went looking for an orphan project to offer up for the Quilt Orphan Adoption event ...

I pulled out the project I had in mind and put the completed blocks on the design wall.

The fabrics in some of these blocks came from a long-ago fabric swap where we exchanged 8 10 inch-strips and 2 squares of fabric, sized and chosen to make two of these blocks. The pattern came from Eileen Sullivan when she was a guest on Simply Quilts. The quilt was called Summer Vine.

(I tried to find a link, but was unsuccessful)

In addition to these blocks, I had a printed copy of the fabric swap guidelines and–fortunately for me–the block directions from the old Simply Quilts website.  There were also many strip sets for more blocks, still in the envelopes they had arrived in.

My plan was to count up the number of blocks that could be made from those strips ... but what happened is when I started to do so, I think I discovered why I probably stopped making the blocks - incomplete swap packages and questionable fabrics.

Then I second guessed myself and thought maybe I had misread the swap guidelines ... so I sat down and tried to make blocks from the swaps with missing strips.  Way back then, I didn't have scraps or much of a stash.  Today, it wasn't such a big deal to dig into my bin of cream and tan scraps and find something close in value to make up the difference.   After making those two blocks ... I made four more.

Too many of the fabrics either seemed too old and uninteresting or the quality just isn't very good, so I decided not to pass them on to a potential adoptive quilter.   But since I have quite a few blocks made and all those unwrapped strips sets–and they're not all "bad," I am going to cut the strips to make block kits and assemble the rest of the blocks as a leader/ender project.  I still haven't counted the number of potential blocks ... or decided what I'll do with them when I'm done making blocks.

I am joining the party for Oh Scrap! with these very old, very scrappy blocks.

I also haven't decided what will become of the scrappy Wavy Gravy blocks I have been hand-piecing. Now there are four.

For me the most fun has been finding fabrics in my scraps to use in this block.  I thought I would stop at four blocks and make a pillow cover (and that still might happen), but yesterday, I put together 2 more groups of four fabrics (in pinks and grays) ... and will likely prepare some more pieces for some slow Sunday stitching.

I'm joining the party for Monday Making.

Design, Redesign and Some Hand-Piecing ...

Yesterday, I shared this block, designed for Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine's Everything Old is New Again Challenge.

The blocks this month are supposed to be inspired by the traditional Rail Fence block.

If you are curious to see all the entries and vote for your favorite, here's the link:

MQU Challenge

After my Curvy Rails block was made and posted, I wondered if maybe it wasn't quite ready for prime time.  Part of it was my choice of fabrics.  I also wasn't sure about the circle in the center, which I liked in my drawing, but not so much in my block.

A happy coincidence I discovered when I created the templates for this block was that it was constructed from two shapes - 4 s-shapes and 8 of the pieces on either side.

I liked the symmetry and wondered if I could accent that symmetry a bit more.  Here is the revised design.

I thought it might be a fun block to make in many colors for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.


I also thought it would be a fun block to hand piece ... and so here is my plan for Slow Sunday Stitching today.

I created templates for hand-piecing a smaller, 8-inch block, cut up some purple scraps and grabbed my hand sewing kit.  After I run some errands this afternoon and make a start on cleaning up the garden, I'll be good to go.

I'm joining the lists for Oh Scrap!  and Slow Sunday Stitching.

Last Chance for a Slow Stitch Sunday with the Dowager Countess

Slow stitching on Sunday evening while spending an hour with the Dowager Countess of Grantham and everyone else at Downton Abbey has become my habit.

It sounds silly, but today I have been thinking about my need to create a new slow-stitch Sunday habit to replace it that feels as much of a perfect match. I am thinking about Sunday afternoon listening to classical music while stitching ... wonder if I can make that habit stick?

I haven't posted many Sunday slow stitching posts, because I have been slow knitting instead of something quilting-related and I appreciate that most of the followers of this blog are interested in quilting ... my current project is this hat, which is double knit on tiny size 2 needles which I also refer to as "toothpicks."

Double knitting is a curious technique where you knit one stitch on the outside then one stitch facing the other direction on the inside.  if you are using two colors, as I am here, then you can easily see the outside/inside stitches alternating on the needle and you switch threads for each stitch ... like I said, it's slow-knitting. The result is a two-layer piece, which is only connected at the edge and wherever the yarns are switched to create the color-work pattern.

If you have followed this blog a while, you might guess that this project came out of the 365 Feathers project, and it did, but I ended up waiting until I was prepared to try something new and challenging.

Because I used the 16 inch circular needles prescribed in the pattern, I really can't tell if it is actually going to fit my 23-inch head when I'm through. It's a long, slow, leap-of-faith project for me.

The pattern is called Feather in my Cap.  There are only a few projects for it on Ralvery, including mine. Because I am knitting the cloche version of the pattern, I refer to this project as Feather in my Cloche.

Although I am knitting it gold-side out, to make it easier to see the stitches, I will likely wear it the other way 'round, brown with a gold feather. You can get a peek from the other side here.  I have a long, down filled brown coat and a camel-colored wool toggle coat and picked colors that I thought would work with both of them.

I still have quite a ways to go and after the color work for the feather is done, it's going to be VERY BORING KNITTING which always slows me down ... maybe it will be ready by the time winter rolls around again. 

Does anyone else have a Downton Abbey habit they need to replace or a good idea for me of an anchor that will keep me slow stitching on Sundays? 

Another Slow (Knit) Stitch Sunday

It's counter-intuitive, but the easier a knit pattern is, the more slowly I work myself through it ...

The sleeves for the sweater I am knitting are seed stitch, which provides an interesting texture, but feels a little like Knit 2, Purl 2, Repeat forever and ever ... ad nauseum

The pattern is Helga, which is available for free on kitty.com –I have modified the pattern to make it a few inches longer and to knit the body and sleeves in the round to eliminate some seams ... the only thing I avoid more than boring knit patterns is sewing together knit garments ...

I have been itching to start hand-piecing a quilt block I designed, but I know I need to push myself to finish this ... so I will be knitting along with the ladies of Downton Abby tonight.

I hope to finish this and get to some quilt-related slow Sunday stitching soon.

Post-Holiday Re-entry into Normal (whatever that is)

Yesterday I woke up too early–from something that happened in a dream, I think. I was immediately wide awake, feeling well-rested and happy and knew I had been dreaming about something, but couldn't grab hold of anything that would help me remember what it was.  It must have been a good one. I wandered into the kitchen, fed the cats and made my morning late, decided it was too early and too cold and crawled back into my warm bed.

Out of (a bad) habit, I grabbed the iPad on my nightstand and checked for email ... and ended up chatting a bit with someone who plans to suspend disbelief and jump into the Old MacDonald's Mystery Sampler and quilt along with me.  Her vote of confidence reinforced my inexplicable happy, optimistic mood.

I quickly filled up my morning pages (journal), then turned on the TV for some breakfast television–I know, TV in bed, another bad habit–enjoyed an interview with Lily Tomlin on Sunday Morning and the luxury of staying in bed a little longer than I should.  I picked up my knitting–more on that later–and wasn't really paying attention to the TV when Sunday Morning became Face the Nation with Donald Trump doing his thing and provoking us all (OK, mostly women and especially Hillary Clinton).  Thank you, Donald, for that push out of bed. 

When I returned to the kitchen to find breakfast, I glanced at the clock, saw that it was later than I thought and decided to make the effort to treat myself to brunch for one.

I had some cooked black-eyed peas left over from New Years day and some rarely-seen-in-my-house tortilla chips and bacon and decided to make the Homesick Texan's New Years Day Migas with Black-eyed Peas Salsa.

While the eggs were cooking, I was thinking how some recipes are like souvenirs from travels or experiences. I found the Homesick Texan's blog after my first trip to Quilt Festival in Houston. I had gone with a friend to Ninfa's for dinner and loved their "green sauce" so much that when I returned to Michigan, I went looking online for a recipe. I found it on the Homesick Texan, a blog written by a woman who was living in New York and recreating the foods she missed from home. I started following her blog, way back when.  I had never heard of migas (eggs scrambled with various things including strips of crispy tortilla strips) until I lived in Austin. She suggested this recipe for New Years brunch last year.

The calm of the day felt like a return to normal life after the holidays. As a bonus the sun was shining and the temperature had climbed to something above freezing.  I decided to run a quick couple of errands and come home and quilt.

I went to Santa Fe Quilting, looking for Michael Miller fabrics so I could make the next block in the Everything Old is New Again challenge for Modern Quilts Unlimited.

The traditional inspiration block this month is the Double Pinwheel.

I had a design idea I liked and walked into the quilt shop–the only one in town–planning to pick up Cotton Couture (solids) or some other Michael Miller fabric (a requirement for the challenge) in bright red, dark red and gold.

But, incredibly, there were hardly any Michael Miller fabrics in the shop. With the help of a friend from the guild who was working there, we went through the whole store, color by color, theme by theme and found a total of 8 to 10 bolts of ANY kind of Michael Miller fabric ... all but three–three that wouldn't play nicely with one another–were Fairy Frost. Those sparkly Fairy Frost fabrics just aren't me ... but since time I don't have enough time to order anything online or make the trek to Albuquerque or Las Vegas (NM) to continue the hunt, I will be making a glitzy, sparkly Double Pinwheel-inspired block for the challenge this month.

It all took so much longer than I thought it would to look through all those bolts and the result was disappointing, but that, too, was somehow a return to normal. For whatever reason, I rarely find what I am looking for at the only quilt shop in town.

I quickly made the trip to the Trader Joe's to pick up a couple odd things I needed for a recipe I wanted to try, but couldn't find at the nearby chain grocery: fennel, preserved lemon, dried apricots ... can you guess what they might become?

By the time I got home and put things away, I had run out of steam, probably because really, I didn't get enough sleep before I woke up feeling all happy and rested.  My plans for dinner were simplified. I didn't have the creative or physical energy to settle into a quilting project afterward, so my Sunday evening Slow Stitches were of the knit and purl variety.

I am working on a sweater, made from yarn reclaimed from a commercial sweater I couldn't resist in the store a few years ago. It was on sale and I bought even though it was probably two sizes too large.  I did wear it for a while, but ultimately decided it was just TOO oversized and I unravelled it and put the yarn in my stash until the right project came along.  When I saw the Helga pullover sweater in the new patterns for winter on Knitty.com, I knew it was the one.  My gauge swatch was exactly what was needed for the pattern, so I jumped in.

I was on a roll, happily knitting the 3 inch ribbing at the bottom of the sweater, until I noticed this.

Eagle-eye knitters will spot that I have done that thing that you're always supposed to guard against when you are knitting in the round–twisting the stitches when you join them into a circle.  For the non-knitters, I found myself knitting a mobius, which can work if you're making a scarf (AKA infinity scarf), but not a sweater.

So I ripped it all out and CAREFULLY, started again one evening–wrapped in a cozy flannel quilt with the company of my ever-helpful, textile-loving cats.


I snapped this iPhone photo to capture the moment.

The new year prompts us to make resolutions, plan for the future and reflect on what aspects of our lives are worth bringing forward with us as we move forward in life and blogging and which things, people, habits are maybe best left behind.

A few months ago, I wasn't sure I would bring the Block Lotto forward with me in 2016–obviously, ultimately I decided it was worth it.

Last weekend, I knew I needed to get back to the practice of Slow Sunday Stitching ... the return of Downton Abby last night was a nice bit of synchronicity with that practice.

After my twisted start, things have been progressing quite quickly–or as quickly as a knit with all that cabling can ...  The front and back (knit together in the round) are done and I'm now working on the first sleeve, which I am also knitting in the round–more carefully joined to avoid the mobius affect.




I suppose this rambling, steam-of-consciousness post is also a sure sign of a return to normal (for me) after the holidays ;-)

If you have read this far ... I'm sorry.

More Slow Stitching in the Pumpkin Patch

I have finished the appliqué on all the parts included with this orphan and have pulled a couple of fabrics from my stash for the moon in the original pattern and an additional border to make the pillow cover that I plan to make from this a little larger.

I will be pin-basting a couple quilts this afternoon–a task which is my least favorite in quilt making–with the reward of some relaxing slow Sunday evening stitching to add the silvery moon and call this done.

Finishing the last quilt in the Cotton Robin

I am determined to finish the last quilt of this year's Cotton Robin this weekend.  After I finished the quilting, I went looking in the purple bin of stash fabrics for binding ... but none of the purples were quite right.   Turquoise was another possibility, but when I auditioned from turquoise fabrics, they all felt like too much turquoise.  And then I found a small piece of this hand dyed, hand screened fabric. 



The splotchy mix of purples and turquoise made me think of old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercials - "You got chocolate on my peanut butter!"  I think it's going to be perfect.

We can't reveal the little round robin quilts until they have all been finished and returned home–probably sometime in July–but here's a peek of the corner of this one, with the binding, ready to go.  

This will be my Slow Stitch Sunday project later today.

July's Goal for a Lovely Finish (on my Design Wall)

I haven't yet finished quilting May's Goal (and hope to do that this month), but in the meantime, I am setting a goal for June to finish the appliqué the top for the MQG Spring Fabric Challenge.  At this point, I have only gathered the challenge fabrics and enlarged the Noshi pattern that I plan to use and pinned it to my design wall.

The appliqué pattern is from a book of Japanese quilts that I picked up off the free table at the guild's quilt retreat earlier this year.  I plan to hand appliqué the noshi ... which will likely make this my slow stitch Sunday project for the month as well ;-) 

Pumpkin Seeds?

This block design seems to go by many names: pumpkin seed, melon, orange peel.  What do you call them?

I think I first learned it as orange peel and in Barbara Brackman's book, Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, the pieced version has been called Orange Peel, Melon Patch and Flower Petals ... but it looks so much like a pumpkin seed, that's my favorite name for this shape.  I am making mine by using needle-turned appliqué.

Each time I see them on a blog (or in a quilt), I want to make some ... the scrap bag challenge presented an opportunity.  I am using any of the scrap in the ziplock I received that are at least 4 1/2 inches wide for the backgrounds–I was a little surprised to find that there are only a couple.  I'll be making a few more later, as my Slow Sunday (night) Stitching project.

This happened ...

I've finished quilting the string star quilt ... and decided it needed string binding.  And so, last night,  I started making the 10 yards of it I'll need. I didn't get very far ...

The binding made so far is on the left, the strings I have cut from scraps so far are on the right.

The "strings" for the binding are a bit wider than I used in the stars (to try to keep the thickness of all those seams to a minimum).  I will continue cutting strings from my scrap bins and sewing them together with a goal of spending my Sunday evening Slow Stitching down the binding.  Wish me luck!

Here's a peek at the quilt after it was washed–lint (from the exposed batting) and all.

Quilting Progress

I made a lot of progress quilting the string stars quilt during the Friday Night Sew-In.  Here's a peek at where I am now:

I've quilted everything that's marked and done some straight line quilting (with the help of a ruler) to add some stitch-in-the-ditch and echo stitching in the spaces around the stars.  I've added some unmarked, much more typically "me," quilting in the star blocks–I haven't yet decided if it's too stridently different from those classic marked feather shapes. 

I will be adding some fill designs around the feathers and inside the plain squares. 

In the evenings, I've begun stitching down the red binding on the kids charity quilt –since I've already shared so many photos of that quilt in the last week, I'll show you how I stow quilts waiting for handwork in my den.  I expect to finish the binding on the little quilt today, as part of my Slow Stitch Sunday ... and I might think about unstitching some quilting on the other quilt that I started last fall, then decided it was wrong and needed to be ripped out ... 

Catching up with (slow) handwork projects

The sweet Welcome Spring embroidery that I started a week ago is complete.  (Gail Pan's free pattern is available here.) I've been thinking about some improvisational pieced borders ... but haven't yet made any forward progress on making/adding them.

This finish is timely... it is definitely beginning to feel like spring around here.

I have made some progress with the hex rings and have now moved onto the next step–appliquéing them to a background.

I have been working on these projects slowly, by hand, in the evenings while I watch (probably too much) television.


The process is relaxing, meditative and gives you lots of time to let your mind wander and think about things like how I will quilt this little piece.

Last night, it was an opportunity to get my creative mind to calm down after a day of sewing with the Northern New Mexico Quilt Guild–come later today to read about that adventure :-)

Last night while I was stitching away, I had a new idea for the quilting design–it was an a ha moment and now I feel ready to jump into quilting this ... as soon as I finish the slow stitching needed to finish the appliqué.  So that's what I'll be doing for Slow Stitch Sunday.

Do some aspects of quilting wind you up or help you unwind?

Two New Handwork Projects

I started two new little projects this weekend and all the blame credit goes to the two bloggers who inspired me.

Earlier this week, Gail Pan shared a sweet stitchery pattern, Welcome Spring, that I found irresistable. Click over to see the blue pillow and red wallhanging she made from the design and download the free pattern.  It's a quick bit of stitching, I expect to finish this tonight.

My plan is to feature it in a small pillow with some Springy blue and yellow print fabrics.

A couple days ago on her blog, Angie mentioned picking up a Fiskar's hexagon punch at half price ... and I thought that was such a good idea, I bought two.

I quickly opened the smaller one and repurposed some junk mail.

My yellow scrap bin was sitting on the worktable–yes, I am finally getting around to making some rainbow scrap challenge blocks–so I grabbed some small scraps and made a sample for an idea for a new small quilt idea.

I will be slow stitching away later today on these and am joining Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching list with this post.

  

The Calming, Meditative Quality of Handwork

I planned to spend this afternoon in the studio. I knew I would come back from the quilt show full of inspiration and would be itching to quilt.

After I had followed up on some lovely blog comments and email messages, I felt torn about what to do next: play with the pressure foot and rulers I bought at the show to do ruler work? Baste the big broken dishes rainbow scrap quilt and start quilting it (with threads acquired for that purpose at the show)?  Finish the thread work cat? Something else?  Something New? Make more January blocks for the Block Lotto? Make the February blocks and get the pattern written for the sneak peek next week?

I decided to retreat to the den, pull out the flannel zig-zag quilt, stitch down a bit more of the binding and think about it.

I made more progress toward finishing this old UFO and I came downstairs feeling more centered and equipped with a plan for my afternoon.  Since any progress is progress, I'm joining the WIPs be Gone list on a Quilting Reader's Garden.

Kathy asked for a show of hands for Slow Sunday Stitching today ... here's mine, wearing the tailor's thimble which is my choice for hand sewing. I will return to this binding later today ... the end is in sight and I'd love to be putting this snuggly quilt on the bed soon.

Approaching Normal

For those who wonder, I am still, surprisingly, hurting and am frustrated by the things that I still cannot do, but I continue to act as if things have returned to normal and make the effort.

Yesterday, I took advantage of the sale on holiday fabrics at Santa Fe Quilting and came home with these ... and an idea on how I want to use them.

I felt bad about leaving the store in a bit of a mess because I just couldn't push the bolts back in place on the shelf.

I have owned the Art to Heart Book, 12 Days of Christmas and the stand for the little quilts for a while and I love the idea of using these little quilts to count down to Christmas ... and perhaps, with these new fabrics in hand, I will be able to make it happen this year ... if I can get past the pain of applying pressure with a rotary cutter necessary to cut the fabrics.

I have also pulled out my orange scrap bin and the die cutter to make the blocks I need for one of my rainbow scraps challenge project (and goal for a lovely finish in December), but ... I am afraid the motions involved may not be possible for me to accomplish without pain ... yet.

I know that getting back to working with fabrics will be good for me, emotionally and creatively, though, so if I cannot work on these two December projects, I will find do-able others.

Although I missed the deadline for QuiltCon, I am still motivated to finish this quilt, from the Michael Miller challenge fabrics.

I had just finished arranging the randomly colored log cabin blocks and started sewing them together before the crazy life events of the last few weeks ... and left them on my design wall looking just like this for almost a month.  I am still excited about the quilt design I have in mind for this quilt and am motivated to finish.

Perhaps, the best choice for me would be some handwork ... I keep thinking about getting organized for some comfortable, restful, hand-quilting. I just have to get past the physicality of reaching, pulling, arranging involved in basting a quilt.   If I can make this last one happen, I am looking forward to a Slow Stitch Sunday evening of hand quilting and stress reduction.

An 11th Hour Finish for the 11th Month of A Year of Lovely Finishes

When I fled the house with cats, all their stuff, all my stuff, etc., friends suggested I be sure to take some hand work.

I'm sure I sounded like a whiny baby when I explained that I couldn't stand the physical pain of carrying one more bag or the process of putting together a project to bring to the hotel.

Yesterday, I did manage to trim a quilt, make binding, sew it on, and pack up everything I needed to stitch it down in the hotel last night.  The electric heater that the heating service guy loaned me made it possible ... until I turned on the iron and blew the circuit in the studio ...

I have a bit more stitching until I'm completely done (and I'll finish today for my Slow Stitch Sunday project).  Last night I noticed that the colors of the quilt worked well with the decor of my hotel room and couldn't resist spreading it out over the king-size bed for a photo.

The lighting isn't great, but ... good enough for me to share this Lovely Finish.

I'll have more details to share later, but I couldn't wait to share my November Finish (and the first EVER Block Lotto sampler quilt I've finished in the same year as we made the blocks that are in it.)

Update - here's the finished quilt hanging in my VERY COLD studio.

This one was also long arm quilted by Lynn Horpedahl. 

It was a dark and stormy Sunday Afternoon

Ugly overcast days are so rare here that when the wind picks up and it starts to feel a little like the big bad wolf is huffing and puffing at the door ... it makes us all feel a little under-the-weather.

And by all of us, I mean me and the cats.  Their reactions are predictable and very different.  When the thunder started, Grace went into the kitchen and let me know by meowing non-stop that I needed to open the pantry door so she could go curl up in the back of that space.  Then Johnny followed me upstairs into the bedroom when I went to grab a sweater and insisted he needed to go out into all that wind and weather onto the roof deck (it didn't happen).

On days like this all I want to do is wrap up in a quilt and do some hand-stitching ... and that's the plan for tonight.  I'll be trying the new pincushion pattern.  These are the fabrics I pulled for my first effort.

Do you have a project for Slow Sunday Stitching? Check out what everyone else is doing on Kathy's Quilts.  It looks like there's a whole lot of appliqué and hexies going on today.