Ending the Hiatus

Not long into 2013 I gave myself my first critical quilting injury. While trimming stars from my Wonky Stars/Sparkle Punch quilt, I zipped my rotary cutter across the top of the ruler, rather than alongside it, and ended up slicing off part of the tip of my left index finger. It was a planar cut that measured about 1/2" by 1/4" (but thankfully not too deep), so having it stitched wasn't an option, and it kept me out of commission for quite a few weeks while it healed.

It was pretty frustrating, as I had just been getting back into sewing after our move. However, a couple of days after the incident, Jeff surprised me by giving me something to dress up a different finger on my left hand, and gave me an engagement ring! So, in the coming months, there may be some wedding crafting going on.

In the past couple of weeks I've managed to get most of my star components done for the Wonky Star quilt, though every time I've tried to lay it out on the floor to figure out the layout, cats decide they need to run around it and mess up the components.

In the meantime I have also been working on some smaller projects. Last weekend I made a small backpack using the Fig Tree Quilts "Daisy Girl Backpack" pattern. Originally I'd gotten fabrics together to make one like on the cover, with Aneela Hooey's Sherbet Pips, but Miss Matilda decided later that she didn't really like those fabrics all that much, and as a project it just hit the "maybe later" pile. With one of Matilda's little pre-school friends moving to Singapore at the end of the month, I decided to make it as a going away present for her, one that would be a functional traveling gift.

I'm really happy with the end result, though I had a few issues with the pattern. My being a bit of a novice as far as sewing bags may have had something to do with it, but I found some instructions a little vague or confusing at times, and that could have been aided with more pictures, or clearer illustrations. There was also a mistake in the pattern with the slip pocket's measurements (folding a 7" x 13" piece in half is never going to give you 7" x 7" square). But, in the end it came out looking very nice, and the recipient was very happy.