K11 - Columbine

My new project - the Nearly Insane Quilt - has revived my interest in working on small blocks, and so I thought it might be fun to work on a block from my 30's Dear Jane again.

This one is K11 - Columbine, and it's really rather cute. I used my favourite freezer paper piecing technique once again. And to prove my love of freezer paper - you can see shadows in the background where I've pressed the block to a waste piece of paper to keep the block flatter while I took the picture.

And in de-cluttering news - I randomly selected an old Flylady email and just went with it. The task was to go to your sock drawer and clear out any old and mismatched socks/hosiery. It was easy to do mine, so I did Cameron's too. His drawer contained socks and bootees from when he was born, so that took a little time. It feels great to get these things done. Little by little, this house WILL be organised!

Almost ...

I sewed a little today and got sooooo close to finishing my scrappy quilt top. Give me an hour or so tomorrow, and I'll have this one finished!

It's surprising how many scraps you can use up in one top - but also surprising how much is still left to use. My 2" strips are my favourites, I don't know why, but I always seem to go to them first.

In other news - do you remember me saying the other day that I need to de-clutter in my closet? Well, the very day after I made that statement, a bag showed up in the letter-box. It was a clothes donation bag, and the pick up day was Tuesday. Truly, that bag could not have come at a better time. So, I did a whole lot better than two items out for each one that came in - I put out the equivalent of a full garbage bag of my clothes for collection.

I haven't de-cluttered in the shoe dept. yet. Our trash bin is full - so I'll get some shoes in it after the garbage man comes tomorrow. I'm feeling great about the start I've made in this race against clutter - I hope I can keep up the momentum.

I'm heading to bed now - I'm suuuuper tired tonight. I will really sleep well. xox

Rookie Error

It didn't take me long to realise that I'd made a rookie error. But long enough that there was really no turning back.

You see, I was so excited about getting busy stitching that I didn't think the width of the sashing strips through. 'No problem' I thought at the time - 'The nine patches are 4.5" square, so I'll cut the logs for the sashing strips 4.5" and when I'm ready, I can make nine patches for the cornerstones'. Well ... no.

The nine patches are 4.5" finished. So, I needed to cut the logs for the sashing strips at 5" ... so they would be 4.5" finished. Duh! A truth that became apparent after I'd made half a dozen or so of the cornerstone nine patches and they didn't fit. And of course, I've cut about every 2" strip of reproduction fabric in my scrap box down to 4.5" logs to make up this quilt. So this quilt is taking a new direction - cornerstones, not nine patches. I hardly have any of the navy fabric left (the bane of the scrap quilter) so I've moved on to another navy fabric for the cornerstones and most likely the binding too.

Clearly this quilt is speaking to me about it's own desires for it's finished state, and for now, I'm listening :-)

In other news:

This week two new pairs of shoes have come into my life, and three denim skirts (I guess I'm also on the hunt for the perfect skirt). The shoes are utilitarian, and will be well loved, but regardless of that, it's time I made a new rule. Until April (when I head o/s) whenever I purchase a new item of clothing or footwear, TWO old items have to be thrown away or donated. I have gotten to the point in the closet where I can wedge things in there without coathangers, and it has got to change.

After April I will review the situation, and either continue with this rule, or downgrade to a 'one in-one out' basis. My goodness I hope I can be firm. 2010 is the year of de-cluttering for me.