I got the point!

Black & Tan block for October's RSC challenge! If you look closely you'll see that I managed not to cut off any of the (interior) points.  Slightly misaligned, yes, but they're all there. Now, some of the outer points had to be sacrificed for the sake a squaring up, but you gotta break eggs if you're going to make an omelette...hmmm, maybe my happy scrappy orphan block quilt could be called "The Everything Omelette?" 

It's rainy and dreary here today so I hung it from the shades to get some good light  for the photo. I think I might keep it up as I work on putting blocks together for the 4th side, we could use some bright colors around here! 

Thank you to everyone who helped answer my questions last week! I added medical tape to the back of the ruler (thanks to Angie, check out her awesome scrap jar stars!) I also added some tape to the rotory cutter handle which makes it feel more secure since I'm still afraid of slipping and cutting myself! But if I go really slow it should be OK, and a thank you to Angela who suggested a stiletto for keeping my seams straight. I had to google it, but turns out I had one in the supplies I inherited from my mom, just never knew what it was! 

The Dark and the Bright

More progress on my dark October crazy quilt block for Angela's RSC. It'll be interesting to see what it turns into at the end of the month!

It's a fun way to learn some freehand embroidery stitches, but I don't think it'll make it into my orphan block quilt.

Speaking of, I got the top row added and today I'm working on the first side panel! 

Two questions for those of you with more experience. When using your rotory cutter with a long ruler, how do you keep the ruler from slipping? I'm ok if the cut is less than my hand span (~8"), but longer than that is harder to control. Second, when I'm sewing smaller pieces together my seams tend to trail off at the end because there's not enough fabric to guide it.  Any hints to keep the seam an even 1/4"?

Sharing my inspirations at RSC at soscrappy and Happy Scrappy Orphan Block Quilt

Dark October...It's crazy!

The RSC colors for October are brown, black, and gray. I've been busy working on gifts (burp cloths for my sister in laws gender reveal party...it's a girl!, and a tummy time mat for the grandparents to be), so I thought it would be fun to try a crazy quilt block to give me some hand work and time away from the machine. This is what I've gotten done so far. I sewed the center column of the block and then attached it to a scrap piece for the background and then did a stitch and flip for the left and right columns. I then zig-zagged the entire thing to a piece of batting which makes it easier to embroider on. Now I'm just adding all the fun stuff. Any ideas what I should put in the middle? I was thinking a spider web, but haven't found any good tutorials on how to do one!

Linking to the Saturday round up at soscrappy!