Years ago Keryn gave me some scraps of a darkish pink and I kept them  together, meaning to use them all in a small quilt. Sometimes I scatter pieces throughout several projects and other times I like to keep them together.

When I saw this little quilt (on ebay I think), I decided it was the perfect vehicle and I already had a number of four patches waiting to be used.

There was just enough of the pink to make thirty blocks.

I found a suitable setting fabric

and a matching pink for the borders and binding. Finally, after about twelve years, the pink scraps have found a home.

The colour is a bit cold in these photos, the setting fabric is a nice warm brown, like the original quilt.

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These blocks had been sitting in the drawer for about fifteen years, if not longer. Keryn had made a heap of them and after piecing her top  these were leftover. They were hand-pieced, which indicates how old they are, machine piecing has taken over our sewing  for many years.

Neither of us can even remember the quilt she made or what happened to it. There were only about 35 six inch blocks and I certainly didn't want to make any more of them.

In my efforts to finish old projects I set them together with an alternate block to stretch them out and made this little top. It only took a couple of nights to get it in one piece, and now it's waiting for a backing to be pieced from scraps.

I've been shifting this pile of blocks around for so long, and transported them through at least three house moves, and suddenly, they've been dealt with!  I'm always amazed how little time the actual sewing takes; the time-suck for me is deciding what to do, agonising over setting fabrics, dithering about borders. I didn't allow myself those little indulgences this time and it all went smoothly.

However I had no real investment in this project, and no previous idea for the blocks. There are tops that I'm working on now that I'm really struggling with and the questions make my brain hurt. It's only hard because I care about how they turn out and want them to stay true to some vision I had for them in the first place.

 The trouble is I can't seem to make any progress at all because of the dithering, so I might have to rethink a few of these projects or I might be stalled forever!

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I had a photo of an antique quilt that I wanted to replicate and so I started this set of blocks in January 2017, hoping it would be a  quick finish.

The blocks were quick to make but then finding the 'perfect' pink for the sashes bogged the whole thing down. I must have bought four lengths of material at different times, hoping that this would be 'it' , I shopped Keryn's stash, I looked in every shop we went  to but I was never satisfied.

Eventually I decided to just use one of the pieces I'd bought, but then I discovered there wasn't enough, and I'd have to use a different fabric as posts in between the blocks. So I had to look for a Second pink fabric that went with the first....grrr. I'd bought the end of the bolt or I would have gone back and got extra because I really liked the look of the original sashing.

I hate it when something that is supposed to be simple turns out to be a major headache. I usually put the project in time-out and work on something else but this time I was determined to see a finish. I forged ahead, even though I wasn't happy with the way it was looking.

I had my finish to cross off  my list but I still don't like the darker pink squares. I've even found myself wondering if I should find yet another pink fabric and gradually replace those bits. Would that be a bit obsessive? Or should I just take this as a lesson to not rush into finishing something just to say it's done?

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I decided last year that I would try to clear out some really long-standing projects, and if I didn't want to finish them I'd chuck them out. Brave words, and they inspired me to finish quite a few, even if not exactly to my original vision for them.

Years ago I started these Spinning Rail blocks as leader enders, using 1 1/2" by 2 1/2" bricks. I had a drawer full of precut bits and this was an easy way to get rid of them.

After making dozens  I joined them into fours, trying to use similar colours and they sat like that for even more years. I was originally going to make a large bed quilt with them set on point but somewhere along the way I realised that it wasn't going to happen.

I put the finished blocks up on the design wall and while I kept the original idea of setting them on point I decided to make a small square top, just using whatever I'd already made. I chose a setting fabric without allowing myself to agonise too much, and then a border fabric that was leftover from another quilt and in a couple of days it was all done.

 I arranged all the lighter blocks in the middle and the darker ones in the corners and it worked out miraculously, with only two little four inch blocks leftover. I couldn't have planned it any better from the start.

Amazing, and now it joins the ranks to be quilted, another list that has spiraled out of control. Perhaps this year will be the year of quilting!

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I'm trying to get my head around the technical issues that have prevented me blogging for so long but it doesn't come naturally to me. I'm far more likely to just chuck the whole thing than try to nut it all out. There seems to be enough other problems to solve and this gets pushed to the side.

Keryn mentioned a while ago that I was working on Log Cabin blocks with strips that finished at 1/2". Julie started me off on them and I've been using them as leader enders for quite a while now. I think it's a great use for the teeny tiny scraps. I don't know how I'll set them just yet but I'm having fun in the meantime.

My records show that I finished eleven tops last year  so I'll try and get photos of them posted soon.
However a lot of my time is still taken up looking after these two darlings, not that I'm complaining. Lily is the blondie on the left, Mia on the right. They are very different, in looks and personality, but both equally gorgeous. They're growing up so fast, and are such a joy to everyone.

I'm going to hit 'Publish' and hope  this works!

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