Something old, something new...

Good morning everyone, hope the sun is shining where you are.  It's a little grey here today, we had rain overnight but the golds, reds and green in the trees outside are making up for the dullness of the sky. 

Well, this was a weekend of trying new things for me.  I've been following Victoria at

http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/ and all the wonderful folks at http://www.15minutesplay.com/ and was inspired to try something new instead of just thinking about it.  Thank you Victoria for your kind words of encouragement.  Here goes...



My supplies, the something old if you will.  This is all I have left of my scraps because I used to be one of those quilters who threw out the little bits and the selvages...oh well, live and learn, right?  The phonebook page on the left is what I used to piece my block together...something new to me, paper piecing.



Voila, my first ever scrappy paper-pieced block.  I cut out an 8 inch square from the phone book page, changed the stitch length to 1.5 and started sewing...sort of, I still couldn't quite let go of the need to direct what fabric I used....I still think it needs a little something though...

Presto!  Two wonky cuts with a batik insert and the block is done.  I call this my 'kitchen sink' block, because it has everything in it but the kitchen sink....
I know, that's a really bad joke isn't it :-)?



Here's my first ever liberated star.  I thought I'd give it a go and use up some of my little triangles from all the flying geese blocks I made for my Cool Blues quilt (which is coming along nicely I must say...there will be photos later this week).  I took a look at my Freddy & Gwen book for inspiration and opted for a vibrant orange background for my blue star.  I cut the blocks 2-1/2 inches square but I think I'll try a smaller block for the next one...maybe a purple batik with a white star?



Here's a photo of my CQC - canine quilting companion - Max.  He likes to supervise from my corner chair in the sewing room.  He was not impressed with me when I took this photo as I woke him from his nap! 

See you all tomorrow,

Mary-Frances