My quilting mojo might be back!

Christmas Day 2015.  Cool but sunny and we started off our morning with a game of tennis with friends.

When I got home, I spent some time in the kitchen and got the ham into the crockpot and peeled potatoes and made a large dish of scalloped potatoes.  Once my kitchen duties were done for Christmas dinner, I had time to head into my sewing room.  On Thursday, I managed to spend 4 hours in there!

First, I worked on my batik quilt and finished taking the blocks off the design wall and getting them joined.  The border fabric is cut and ready to be added to the quilt and this will be first top finished this fall!  Well, guess I should say winter.

And I played around with hexagons and made a mug rug/trivet or wine bottle pad... not too sure, could be used for a variety of purposes.  Fun to make and will get some finished for our craft fair in the fall... only 11 months away, 10 months to get some stitched and finished.

 I also played with a block design called Summer in the Park.  Last fall, I was inspired by a project at the modern guild that I attend and then this week, at the quilting group here, someone once again showed the same project.  So, I dug through my strip bin and pulled out lots of browns.  Funny though, took all those strips out and the bin isn't any less full!

And you can see the progress I am making with the flying geese.  I have a stack sitting by the sewing machine and making them as leaders and enders as I work on my other projects.  I have four projects on the go!
On a blog that I read, there was a challenge to make a 9 patch a day.  That would be 365 by the end of 2016!  I had the brilliant idea to continue to work with the browns since I had a bunch of strips leftover from the Summer in the park blocks (which are all made, just need to be pieced together into four patches... then into the quilt top) and then I also thought, rather than cut 2.5" squares, why not strip piece?

Of course, the problem is that with strip piecing, you don't get the variety for scrappy 9 patches.  My original plan was to make two strip pieces per day and one block per day but that idea won't work too well until I get a few strip pieced units stitched and cut into 2.5" slices.  So now, I will concentrate on making strip pieced units and catch up and make 7 of my 9patch units at the end of the week.  I did spend an hour searching for more strips of neutral colours and more brown fabrics and have a nice stack in a bin ready to use.  These are the 9 patches that I made today but some of them have fabric repeats in them.  By the time I get lots made, they will be spaced farther apart and only you and I will know!

And, just for fun, I cut a batik Christmas quilt to work on for next year.  I have 11 months to get that finished!

Was a busy stitching day.  I am emptying bobbins and feel happy that my sewing mojo is back! 

Of course, my room is a mess, I have too many projects on the go but it feels good.  Hopefully, you all had a Merry Christmas.  We did here in Arizona although the cool, windy weather is helping to give me sewing room time instead of tennis court time!