Do you like my sandpaper board that I use to cut out my hand piecing shapes? Keryn made it for me as a Christmas present many years ago, and it's a bit the worse for wear- it used to have little metal corners, and it's a bit grubby, but it still works fine. She used to do this pretty painting as a hobby and I thought she was quite good at it, but life became too busy for her to continue with it. When she retires?

 Look at this pathetic little handful of fabric I was able to throw out after my diamond cutting session. No wonder my bin takes forever to fill up, when I can only bear to get rid of these tiny pieces and every other bit is squirrelled away in bags and tins and containers. I recently read on a blog that the writer just threw away any fabric left over from a project, and I was in awe of such an action. She is perfectly entitled to do what she wants with her leftovers, and if she knows that she will never ever use scraps she's quite sensible to get rid of them. (Yes, she could give them away etc, etc, but it's her fabric after all...we can't be judgin'.)

I just know that I have on occasion chucked stuff in the bin, and then crept back later to rescue it, sigh. At least now that I'm cutting the tiny diamonds I have a purpose for it, as I don't really like to do either crumb or string piecing. Little scrap too small for anything else? Cut it into a diamond and put it in the box- Done!

But I won't mention the fact that I've had to start sorting the diamonds into colour families in different boxes so that I can find the bits I want. I was reminded of the boys forever scrabbling through their Lego to find  one tiny piece; I seemed to spend more time pawing through these piles than actually sewing them together. So now I have a stack of little trays (they're actually the tops and bottoms of those flat Whitman's chocolate boxes, great use for them!) and at least I can find what I need. And if I only want to work with two or three colours I just pull those trays out. Just think, I could have put all this in the bin....why does that suddenly seem to make more sense? Oh well, we are what we are.

 I've come to a standstill with some other projects, so I thought I'd get an old project out and see if it was worth going on with.

  I made these blocks as samples for a Mariner's Compass demonstration I did for a group of ladies, and then never sewed them together.  I have been looking at this box of stuff for so many years I had ceased to even see it anymore.

 I'd told myself I didn't like the fabrics I'd used and it wasn't really my cup of tea, so the box stayed unopened until this morning. Now I discover that I DO like the blocks and I've been playing with settings and borders and I'm quite enthused about finally getting this  together.

  I never intended to make it large, so it might end up as a wall hanging, but I think it's too pretty to be overlooked anymore.