A New Project ... Block Swap

Isn't it fun to start a new project?  I think sew.  One of the benefits is that it's a good excuse to tidy up a bit after allowing too much chaos to take over my studio.  The new chaos always seems more welcome.

Here's my work area with gorgeous batiks waiting to become flying geese.  In the corner, you can see the final blocks.
 

Our guild introduced a block swap last month.  It's been fun to talk with the two coordinators of the swap and here how the interest has caught on like wild fire.  Only a few more openings and we haven't had our Feb. meeting yet.

Indian Star block

I made 2 sample blocks to make sure I understood how the pattern would go together.  Also, I bought a Flying Geese tool and wanted to how to use it before I used my swap fabric.  My first attempt to use the tool resulted in a cutting error.  That's why the block on the left is a bit (two inches) smaller than the right.  I think both of these will make nice mug rugs, which is why I added an extra strip on one side.

If anyone is interested, I could demo the Flying Geese tool here with a tutorial.  There are many more geese units to make, so there will be photo opportunities.  For this swap, we'll each make 25 batik blocks and turn them in to the coordinator.  She'll sort and return a set of 25 different blocks to each participant.  Then we'll all reveal our quilts later in the year.  There's also a group of swappers with a gorgeous red fabric, not batik.  We might start a 3rd mini group tonight at the meeting if we need to accommodate more participants.

As guild president this year, I'll share more about our activities.  Some of my online friends have wonderful guilds which are enthusiastic and they find lots of ways to bless their communities.  Other online friends have used the word "boring" to describe their visits to nearby guilds.  I'm looking for ways for ours to stay enjoyable and busy.  Our guild's purpose is education, so I'm also mindful of keeping us on that track as we go.

The 880 pounds of concrete doesn't show here, but it's keeping those posts in place.  WHew!

In other news, construction of our tool shed has begun.  This is to replace the one destroyed in the tornadoes almost 2 years ago.  This one will be a bit more substantial than its predecessor.  It's also larger by a factor of two.  We're now racing the calendar to finish this (our labor) and then have the fence replaced (hired) before the 2 year insurance deadline of 27 Apr.

My engineer husband loves the process of building stuff and the joy of re-measuring and double checking the levels to see that everything is square and level and matches the design perfectly.  I'm happy that he's happy.  To help me stay patient, I usually bring an ipod and docking station with speakers outside when we work.  It's fun to sing movie tunes with Pandora's stations while we work.  Sometimes I dance too.  Just to embarrass my teens.  I consider that aspect of parenting to be one of my strengths.

For the past several weekends, this project has been one of those Family Fun group projects.  However, this weekend, the teens will be gone on a retreat so we have a few friends (also engineers) who will pitch in to help. They plan to take a basketball break Sat afternoon, so I can sneak back to my studio and quilt my plaid shirt top which is resting on the frame now.

Enjoy your day!
- SeeingStars