Making progress on catching up

I have still not completed all my blocks from the three bees I entered in 2010, and it is seriously oppressing my creative activities.  I feel too guilty to throw myself into the new things I want to try in 2011 because I feel - and rightly so - that I need to honour my obligations to others before I indulge myself.  So this past weekend I worked on clearing the decks.
I made this block for Solidia, and with it, I finished my blocks for the Incredible Shrinking Quilters.  Speaking of shrinking, I am down 17 lb, although with still quite a ways to go.  This block is made with HSTs - and I like the layout so much that I've decided this is what I'll use for that Maison de Garance HST quilt that I was puzzling over a few weeks ago.

These blocks are for Rachel, in the Modern Tradition bee.  I love the saturated colours in these fabrics.  They were so much fun to make.  Now I have only one block outstanding in this bee - it is for Sandra and it requires the dreaded applique.  I admit I've been putting Sandra's off because I'm scared I'll make a dog's breakfast out of it.

This pretty thing is for Nicole in the Maple Leaf Bee.  There's a poverty block in here - can you see it?  Despite careful cutting, I didn't have enough of the gray solid.  I must be the only quilter who doesn't have my own stash of gray, so I had to piece together scraps to make one leg of the inner border.  This block was easy to make but so effective.  I love her colour palette.

Finally, I made Katrina's block, also for the Maple Leaf Bee.  Katrina asked for wonky quarter log cabins.  This block is big, finishing at 15".  I think this quilt is going to be stunning when it is all assembled!  The only block in arrears from this bee is for Brenda.  I have been avoiding this one because it requires foundation piecing, and I seem to always run out of fabric.  Fortunately, she pre-cut the majority of pieces, leaving only the background for me to mangle on my own.  If I screw up, surely I can muster up some black solid fabric to cover my tracks,

And then, because I felt that all that sewing or others deserved a small reward, I made a couple of zipper pouches.  I am trying to perfect my technique on these cute little things, and they are like Lay's potato chips - no one can make just one.  I really like them when they are quilted with batting instead of lined with interfacing, and I've been working on figuring out how the cut the batting so that it doesn't give too much bulk in the seam allowances.  I'm pretty happy with that aspect of these pouches.

This one is about 6" x 7", with a centre zip, made from Echino linen.  I made this one to hold the precut diamonds for my hand-piecing project.  It's the perfect size - I put the coloured pieces on one side of the zipper and the background pieces on the other side.  Sure beats the sandwich bags I was using before.  However, in my zeal to get this one finished, I sewed one of the linings on backwards.  Since it is a pale aqua print, the right and wrong sides don't make a dramatic contrast.  So I just left it, because I hate picking out around a zipper.  But dang!  I hate it when something so foolish happens.

And this one is about 6" square, withe the zipper on the top.  This linen has storybook scenes on it - Thumbelina, the musicians of Bremen, Red Riding Hood, etc.  You can't see the lining, but it is a grey Lecien print.  This one might be my favourite.  I can't stop petting it.

In other news, after 12 years living in Kingston, I finally got a Costco membership.  Thinking ahead to outfitting my daughter at university in the fall...  Oh, and I also went on Twitter.   So if that's your bag, you can add me using button in the sidebar.