Blue Dog Sews

A few recent makes:

I participated in a mini-quilt swap a while back. Rather a disappointment because it hasn't turned into a true "swap" to this point, but I hope the recipient is enjoying this. Skulls are not my thing, but my partner said she likes them. So I found this pattern on Craftsy, and it turned out pretty cute. The grid quilting was fun and easy with the guide on my walking foot. I didn't need to draw any guidelines. I love scrappy binding and decided to use it on this mini. It's always a little bittersweet to send that swap package off after you've worked so hard on it.

This block...wow. I didn't know what I was in for. About 60 tiny pieces, an inset square, and y-seams galore. I foundation paper-pieced it, though, which saved the day. Otherwise, no way. I am so close to the end of this 99-block challenge. It really is a dream come true. I have drooled over other peoples' Farmer's Wife blocks for years thinking it was probably too hard for me. But I put away my fears and tackled this. Nothing is impossible if you really want to achieve it!

Primrose was not quite as difficult. I changed up the colors a little with random scrappy triangles. I love the way it turned out. Again, FPP'd this one. Too many tiny pieces to do otherwise.

I am debating how to put all my Farmer's Wife blocks together. I am a little daunted by the thought of quilting a huge bed quilt. I have never done that before. There's no rush, so I will continue to mull it over. I know one person who is slowly hand-quilting hers, and it is a slow, years-long project. She will get it out and work on it a little, then put it away again. I kind of like that idea, but maybe I would just get sick of it. I would really love to get better at handquilting.

I also did not deliberately lay out all my FW blocks as I went. I chose a stack of fabrics I liked, and I have just made different combinations as I have gone along. Some are more primary colors, like Primrose, and some are more low-volume. I hope they look OK when I lay them all out.

One thing I have observed from this quilt-along is how fear can paralyze you. It's sad when people let fear of color, or of a hard technique, or of others' opinions, stifle their creativity. This is not supposed to be a scary hobby. Pick something and go for it. It's only fabric. No fear allowed!