Placement Challenge and the Friday Night Sew In

Ginger Joe loves projects!
And...whether I am sewing or typing
he wants to be right in the middle!

I belong to the Spokane Modern Quilt Guild. We were given 6 fat eighths from the Jay McCarroll Habitat with the challenge to make a placemat using all 6 prints.  The only other fabrics we could use were solids.  I started to make squares but when I laid this all out on the table, I liked the diagonal aspect with this eclectic group of prints.  As I looked at other member's finished products I realized that my abilities for machine quilting just are not there yet.  However, I enjoyed the project and the process. As you can see, our kitten Ginger Joe liked it too.

Finished project...I should have shown a closeup of the quilting here. It does give it more pizazz.  I am still working on my machine tension while trying to be creative. If I get a bee in my bonnet and use some of my other fabrics to make another one I may just do some applique on top of the diagonals.  All in all, I learned a lot in this challenge.  Now give me a dress or a home decorating project and I have more confidence and surges of creativity.  Why?  That is the question! 

I decided to take the opportunity to finish my project last night, sipping my favorite wine and joining others for the Friday Night Sew In over at Handmade By Heidi's blog where the projects are creative and inspiring.  Heidi and her cousin Bobbi over at Crafty Vegas Mom take turns hosting this monthly event where UFO's are completed and new surges of creativity spread across blogland.  It was fun to participate!

Planning and Creating....

 I will be posting pictures of the Dinosaur Quilt later this week.  In the meantime I have been playing with techniques on my serger.  I have taken the machine down to my Pfaff dealer.  I have unlimited classes for five years because I bought my Serger from them.  They know and I know that I have exhausted that time but in the past year I have become more and more active in my serging hours!  This past Christmas my sweet husband let me order all of the extra feet and accessories still available for my model.  The wonderful Donna, who works there is as excited to teach me as I am to learn how to use all of these feet.  The time spent is companionable and I look forward to going each time.  The lesson learned are priceless.  Soon I will post some of these projects too. Pillows are fun to make and I have two in the works using techniques from my serger. 

Tomorrow night I am going to my second Modern Quilt Guild meeting.  Our group is a newer group and it is going to be fun to get to know everyone and learn from each other as we get acquainted.