a new project

I started a new project today.  Correction:  I started a new project several days ago, but undid it and started again today.

I love to sew and quilt and whatnot but I am not the worlds greatest piecer of small things and so when I decided on this particular pattern I must have been having a mental moment.  Lots of small squares to piece in rows that need to be perfect.



This project is a commission, and came about when my mother-in-law asked me to create a quilt for her mother for her birthday this month.  Joel's grandmother is a lifelong quilter with a great deal of talent, so this is VERY intimidating!

I decided to do a more traditional pattern to reflect the kind of work that she does in her guild, but that I would quilt it in a more modern fashion so that it has a bit of my personality in it as well.  I love the look of a sawtooth star and thought about doing a quilt much like the one from Quilting for Peace by Katherine Bell.  In the end I decided on something similar to this.  Apparently it is from a book of historic quilts.  I could never find the book so I made up the pattern myself.

(As I am typing this I realize that I really should have been taking pictures of my process.  I apologize!)

For those of you that read Oh, Fransson! you are probably aware that she (Elizabeth) has been creating mini quilts for the winners of her Giveaway Day contest and one of them was a mini map of the Tokyo Subway system.  This woman is a formidable quilter and she has created a tutorial over at Sew Mama Sew for what she calls her Stamp Collection quilt.  It's a fantastic tutorial and such a great way to piece small squares and get perfect seams.  Thank you Elizabeth!

Last night I went out to The Fabric Store That Shall Not Be Named and picked up 4m of light weight fusible interfacing to help me piece my blocks.  Amazingly, they had what I needed and how much I needed and at a way lower price than I thought it would be!   Only $2.50/m!

I rushed home and didn't look at it until morning.  This morning however, I ripped out all of my previously imperfect stitches and got to work!  And this is what I got:



Ta Da!  I am SO happy with this block.  (Sorry about the crappy picture, no sun today.)  It is so satisfying to spend all that time cutting and organizing and ironing and sewing and whatever, and to have it turn out exactly as I wanted.

Only 8 more to go!