The past week was certainly busy and varied.  I have had most of today at home alone so there’s been time to catch up on some of the ‘to-do’ things that didn’t get a tick last week and to dive into some of this week’s to-do’s (if you know what I mean!).  I’m glad to report that we did visit Mother-in-law in hospital at the weekend and she was doing ok – in fact beginning to get a bit bored and impatient to be home (generally good signs that recovery is underway!).

The sixteen 14″ log cabin blocks sewn together in a whirligig pattern.

On Friday I had a quick tour round our local Hobbycraft store, just on the off-chance they might have some fabric suitable for the log cabin quilt.  They stock very little quilting fabric so I wasn’t  surprised to come away with nothing.  Well!  I say ‘nothing’! On the way out I spotted a big display of half-price fat-quarter bundles!  What’s a girl to do?  So, home I came with several bundles and started yet another project!  I initially intended to use the fat quarters to make a quilt using a pattern in a magazine I’d bought the day before (excuse for magazine purchase: having to sit in hospital outpatients waiting for younger son to have ears syringed) but changed my mind and decided to make a ‘puzzle quilt’.  This will involve choosing and making different sized block patterns from one of my favourite books – ‘501 Rotary-Cut Quilt Blocks’ by Judy Hopkins – and then puzzling how to fit them all together!

The fat quarters and the first two blocks.

So far, I’ve made two blocks and nearly completed a third.  I’m going with a star theme so there has been plenty of opportunity to practice making flying geese blocks.  I re-discovered a great tutorial I used a couple of years ago to make a border of flying geese. (Check out the tutorial – Marcia Hohn gives explanations for three methods of making flying geese blocks along with how to make them the size you need).

On 16th January 2015 Colleen at piecemaker quilts wrote about the history of pincushions (and using crushed walnut shells as filling!), posting photos of some of the sweet pincushions she has made.  She asked for photos of pincushions any of her readers may have made, so here is my one and only attempt at a cathedral window block (thanks for you patient tuition, Penny).

And finally, a little tip. To stop seams flipping back as they pass under the machine foot, use a seam ripper to press down the seam as it travels under the foot.

Wishing you happiness as you plan/dream, cut, piece and quilt!

Allison