Monday making and Tuesday thoughts.

On Monday once I'd finished work for the day I went hunting through my sewing cupboard. I was looking for the Red House Mansion Quilt I'd started. This was offered as a block of the month by the Quilters Guild and because I liked the pattern I signed up for it. It had already been running a while but all the back patterns were sent to me by email and for the remainder of the time I received them monthly. I had already made the house that is at the centre of the quilt.

Next I added a narrow border around it and then I was ready to start on the next border. This border has diamonds in it and they are made using FPP. Now I've tried this before and didn't really enjoy doing it but this year I'm all for trying new things and giving them a fair chance. The pattern was supported with video instructions so I settled down and watched it. It gave a load of helpful hints and tips on FPP and gave clear instructions. Armed with this knowledge I attacked my stash to find the fabrics I wanted to use. I spent a little time printing out the template and getting them the right size. Done at 100% size they were a little too small but 104% enlargement gave the perfect size. Thank goodness it was so easy as our all singing all dancing printer copier usually takes a bit of sorting out.

I needed to make 12 diamonds, three for each side border. There are also corner blocks. The first couple of diamond blocks went quite slowly but I soon got into a rhythm and soon I had complete 8 diamonds. I love the sharp points you get with FPP and I enjoyed making the blocks. I think I may be changing my opinion of FPP. Helpful hints and tips really do make a difference.

I have the pieces I need for the final four blocks all ready for Wednesday morning when I next have sewing time.

Today is shrove Tuesday or pancake day. I promised the family that I would make pancakes. I wanted a double dose - a savoury pancake main and the traditional sweet pancakes with lemon and sugar. I haven't made pancakes in ages which is odd since we all like them and they aren't difficult to make. Mmm delicious. Nice and thin, just how I like them.

Tomorrow I'm going to sandwich the quilt I'm making for the Show your Stripes blog hop and make a start on the quilting. I'm really enjoying squeezing sewing time into the limited time I have. Because I don't have a sewing room, I use the dining table as my sewing space. This means I can't leave my machine set up and in the past I didn't get my machine out unless I had several hours available before I had to pack up. I realised that I've been missing out on a lot of fun. Since the beginning of this year I've been taking a different approach. If time is very limited I tend to do my fabric picking, cutting and hand stitching. If I have more than an hour available then I'll get the machine out and piece the blocks I've got prepped. I'm managing to get a lot more done as a result.

Today was a busy work day so no sewing time but I did have thinking time. I need to go through my UFO's and set myself a plan to get some of them finished. I love starting new projects but with limited storage space I can't have too many unfinished projects. The main UFO I want to finish this year is the Grandmother's Garden Quilt. I need to do some maths to work out how big to make the quilt and how many hexie's I need to make to get it to that size. I'm sure completing the quilt top this year is doable if I get myself organised.

I'm linking this post with Beth from Love, Laugh Quilt for her Monday Making link up and with Judy from Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for her Design Wall Monday link up  I really enjoy seeing what everyone is working on.

Take Care

Lyndsey