Sew Saturday & Family Share

My small star shadow blocks are finished for the wall hanging I intended to make.  :)  I made my sewing goal for the month with time to spare. Which would be great, except now I have decided to make it a lap quilt.  Back to cutting and sewing, but it is such pretty fabric that I don't mind.

Before I started cutting and sewing again though, I decided to lay out all the blocks and see how it looked.  I'm glad I did because I think I will be making a couple of changes to the original pattern.  Isn't that the fun of having a design wall?  You can see what your quilt will look like and make changes before you sew it together.

I forgot to add in the sashing and I haven't made the flying geese for the border yet, but this gives you a pretty good idea.   After seeing it all together on the wall I've decided I want more "white space".   Perhaps I have been looking at too many Modern Quilt websites and books.  :)  I'm excited to see what the final quilt will look like.

My son was in the room with me when I was putting these up, so I played around with the placement of the stars.  Can you spot the difference between the two quilts?  I really was having too much fun!

Above is how I keep my WIP (Work In Progress) organized.  I store them in a 13x13" box I picked up for scrapbooking.  It's a great size to hold my pattern, fabric, thread and tools so it all stays together.  Each individual cut piece is kept in a baggie with a piece of paper stating its size.  All 5 1/2" white squares together, all 2x3" swirly purples together, etc.

It works for me and I can take it with me if I am going to sew away from home.  Actually that's why I organized it this way.  We had to bring the cut fabric with us to class and I didn't want to lose any pieces. 

Last weekend we took the kids to Longbeach, WA for a family fun day.  They have this great arcade there with Laser Tag.  Usually I join in the fun of laser tag, but with my recent bout of vertigo I decided that I probably shouldn't run around a dark room with strobe lights and lasers going off.  :)  Instead I took a short walk to Boardwalk Quilts. 

Two games of laser tag go by pretty fast when you are spending that time at a quilt shop.  I bought a couple more yards of fabric to match what I bought a few days earlier for Michael's quilt.  It's fun to find new fabric from a line you have fallen in love with.  As a souvenir I bought this darling purple fat quarter cup for myself. Isn't that the cutest idea?!

When I got back to the arcade the boys asked Scott and I to join them in a 4 player game of air hockey .  It was a lot of fun, but I lost every game we played.  That's alright with me though.  It was a great family fun day. 

Here are some more pictures of our little trip.  Michael with his new shades. 

Tyler smiling with the ocean at his back.  :)

We went down the coast a little bit and visited the lighthouse.  It was super windy there.

My husband got a couple of picture of me too with his new cell phone.  It's rare that I am in front of the camera.  

He thought it was pretty funny how short I looked compared to the lighthouse behind me and my son in front of me.  Whatever.  We were on a steep incline and I know I am short.  :D  Did I mention how windy it was?  Take a look at my hair. 

Creative Blessings,
Heather North