I admit it; I’m sad to see this sew-along come to an end.  This is block 19 of 20; last week is the last block and then it will be time to sew on the outer sashing and border, and then quilt it.   I’m usually more drawn to primary colors over soft palettes.  My favorite pattern is regular patchwork (although EPP is growing  on me!) .  But after that, I’ve realized just how relaxing hand applique is.  It doesn’t take long to trace around the templates onto  Pellon.  It doesn’t take much longer to sew around them, even with 13 pieces plus 2 stems this week.  It does take some time to sew it all down and this quilt came into my life at just the right time.

I’ve needed some extra time to just have thinking time in this period of my life.  And I’m so glad to thoroughly and completely enjoyed the pace that hand sewing brings.

I think I mentioned earlier this year that I had an Accuquilt die made for Lucy Boston templates.  I know the card stock pieces aren’t overly expensive but why pay for them if I can do something constructive with my junk mail?  I’ve started collecting anything in the mail that is thick enough to hold its shape.  I prefer the ones that are more paper-like, but even the shiny ones easily adhere to the glue when I’m basting them.  The only trick is to not cut too many layers at a time because they will shift and then you won’t have an accurate template.

And the last bit of news came out of the quilt market this past week.  AccuQuilt announced 2 new qubes, including one by Edyta Sitar.  That link is likely to be outdated before too long but as of this evening, it’s live.

Also, Handi Quilter announced 3 sewing machines!  The comparison of the 3 machines can be found here. At some point, I’d like to have an embroidery machine so these don’t fit the bill for what I’m looking for, but the price points for these looks very competitive to me.
Quick edit – http://whileshenaps.com/ has the story as to why Quilt Your Heart Out podcast was killed. Hmph!