Getting back to it...

It's been way too long since I last had the sewing bug. I wasn't in the mood to sew for about a year. I finally built my armoire for the sewing room a couple of months ago. I still need to organize and get rid of a lot of stuff in that room, though. I want to sew up some One Hour fabric bins to help contain the chaos.  :)

A friend of mine recently passed away. :( She was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2013. Several friends and I were making a quilt for her, hoping to get it done before she passed (it happened quickly and unfortunately, the quilt was finished just days after her passing). Sewing that quilt got me back into it, though. She would have loved it.

For Mother's Day, I made my mom a tote and printed up a bunch of patterns to put inside.  I finally used that Kate Spain Sunnyside fabric that I adore so much! I made the bag from a "3-piece 10-step Lined Tote" pattern I found for free on Craftsy. I did a little modification by adding a pocket, a magnetic closure, stitching around the top of the tote, and connecting a zip pouch (with a beaded chain with a clasp). Here's the pattern I used: http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/sewing/accessory/3-fabric-10-step-lined-tote/123714?_ct=fhezusj-tujqyb-fqjjuhd-ydifyhqjyed&_ctp=123714

I really enjoyed making that tote set! 

So next I decided to try my hand at sewing a 3-D pinwheel quilt block.  I've been wanting to try sewing that block for ages. Here's the tutorial I used to make the pinwheel: http://www.schlosserdesigns.com/2013/04/spring-pinwheel-potholders-and-giveaway/

I decided to use one of my precious Sunnyside charm packs for this block, along with a solid gray charm pack. I'm looking back now, wondering if I should have used the gray as the flip side of the print and white for the back, but it's too late now. I think what I'll do is frame all of the blocks (I plan to use the entire charm pack) with a skinny solid white jelly roll. What would be cool is if I could find a mini Sunnyside charm pack to make 'rosettes' with. Hm...

Without further adu, here's the block. Not too bad for my first pinwheel attempt. I'll be cutting the square down a bit, so the finished block will be 8" before construction of the quilt. The gray background actually hides the seams better than white would, but I do love a white background on a quilt. ::sigh::

I hope to get a few blocks knocked out each week.  We'll see how that goes.  Right now I'm sewing at about 11pm at night, so I'm rather tired. I am ordering a white jelly roll and a mini Sunnyside charm pack. I think I'm going to create a cool looking charm pack/jelly roll border. I'll make mini 2D pinwheels with the mini pack (on a white back) to go at the corners.