Really I accomplish more!

Here is my offering today. I finished these four blocks. Two of them are for the same project as the two blocks I did yesterday, it's a Christmas Sampler. The other two, the ones with the blue backgrounds, are for my Chicago fire quilt. That's a long story and I'll tell it later when I get around to finishing it. But for now I'll tell you about this Christmas sampler.

I started receiving these patterns, which all fit in a notebook. They came in installments and cost about $18 each including shipping. Little did I know that I would paying for about 30 of them. It's a very cute pattern, and I was employed at the time so I went ahead and wrote the check every month. Yikes. I don't even like to think about how much the pattern cost me.

So I started making the blocks and (as usual) lost interest in them after a time. Every so often I regain momentum for this project and as a result I have most of the blocks done. Of course the hardest part is finishing the applique blocks. they are very ornate and have lots of tiny little pieces. So many that I often lose them. Yesterday I made two of the more difficult pieced blocks. Today I made two fairly simple ones, but here is how the project snow-balled (pun intended).

First I got out the rest of the blocks yesterday and decided that I might try to put a few more of them together, trying to finish what I can of the top. I worked on that for several hours last night. Then I got out my stash of Christmas fabrics, that's always an invitation for getting creative. I just love how certain fabrics go together.

I found a piece of fabric that I'd forgotten about with kitties all over it with little Santa hats on. It's just precious! So I spent a goodly time then trying to figure out what to do with that fabric. I found several more that went with it. Then I fell into a dead sleep (yeah it was after midnight).

This morning when I woke up after a cup of coffee I started looking through magazines, actually just one magazine, and I found a cute pattern that I could see the kitties going into. So I got out some other fabrics and did some calculations (which always takes a long time because I'm Mathematically challenged) and discovered that I had enough to make a full sized quilt. So I cut out the pieces and then rummaged through my file drawers of 2 1/2 inch squares to find reds, greens, and golds. I found plenty of course. I used to collect greens and I have so many of them cut into 2 1/2 inch squares which is why I needed the four drawer container, but that's yet another story!

While rummaging I discovered a pile of greens all in the same basic color and value, so I pulled them out. At this point I started getting the overwhelming feeling that I was biting off more than I could chew, BUT I surged forward none-the-less. I counted them and found that I had enough for about 44 nine patches, and I thought, OK, that's enough for a single Irish chain quilt. So I pulled out some light yellows, creams and a white and cut them into 6 1/2 inch squares and 2 1/2 inch squares. I put all the pieces together into a baggie for later sewing. Likewise the Santa Kitties and all those pieces went into a baggie for later sewing. So I have two new projects for lull sewing times (Yeah Right!!!) Then I went back to the Christmas Sampler. I made the four tree blocks (see above, yes thank you, I did finish them!) And now I am Blogging. I have to update my other Blog as well before I quit. But then I think I'm going to go back and finish as many more blocks for the Christmas Sampler as I can. There are a couple of blocks that I wasn't really interested in hand appliqueing, like the Noah's Ark block (two of everything). So I'm thinking that in order to get this project finished I'm going to go ahead and dig out the fusible web and slap some of these together with raw edge applique. I've been working on this project long enough! So that's the plan!

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. You look at the four little tree blocks and think, gosh, is that all she did today? Nope, it's the tip of the iceberg, it's only what I finished today!

Cindy K-K
finishing things, but accomplishing more.