Focus = Finishes

Why is it when it's my day off, I can get out of bed and jump right into things by 6:30 a.m. yet during the week, I struggle to drag my butt out of bed by 7 a.m.  I think it's because I went right to my sewing room after filling up my snowman mug with steaming hot coffee.  I was on a mission of finishes today and I have the pictures to prove it!

The final two sides are sewn on my Christmas Log Cabin Star, the edges are all stay stitched 1/8" in from the edge, the binding is pieced and pressed.  I didn't participate in the Red and White Snowball challenge because I had already started this baby......and because I have a tray of red strips for a different red and cream quilt... but I digress.

Although it's not quilted, I'm thrilled to move this project out of the sewing room for now. Since I have so many piecing projects in various states of completion, I'm only allowing myself to start an applique project and it will be needle turn applique. This isn't my strongest quilting skill, so I decided to do a warm up project. This is what I've got.

I tried a tip that I picked up from the author of this book. The five circles down the side of the heart were cut from freezer paper and traced. The circles in the stars were made using removable dots from the office store. They make perfect circles and the results are definitely better.This finished out at about 12 x 16. It's the perfect little stand to showcase one block. My goal is to make challenging blocks for this stand and be able to rotate them throughout the year. A Feathered Star, Pine Burr, Tree of Life? There are lots of strong blocks that can hold their own.

And finally, the other job that took up my afternoon. Don't believe it when enclosed paperwork says "estimated time of assembly - 15 minutes" 15 minutes my ....well, you know what I'm saying. It took me 15 minutes just to open up the box and sort and count all the pieces.

Let's just say, 2 screw drivers,a hammer and my power drill later, I got one of the two bookcases together. I also went through every book and magazine that I own and did a little purging. I'm going to be sore tomorrow, but it was worth it! I took this last section of my longarm studio that looked like this....

And this is what I have now. Although I'm not a good organizer at home, it sure felt great to accomplish this today. I didn't have my buddy Lisa with me today, the queen of sorting and purging, but she was here in spirit.

A job well done.....sort of. I have another shelving unit still in the box. Maybe next weekend?
Sit and stitch for a bit.
Sharon