What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

My Pandemic Quilt is finished and I have lots of photos to share with you today. Our Covid situation is improving, and we are keenly anticipating the lifting of some restrictions that has seen us at home for what seems like all year. It does mean I have had lots of time to reflect, ponder, prioritise, and of course sew. There have been some dark days, but we're optimistic, grateful for family, friends, and that Spring is finally here to help lift our spirits.

I am pretty happy ...

Next on my to-do list was to finish this English paper pieced hexagon quilt. I started this quilt top in October 2018 and finished it in December 2018. Since then the quilt top has remained untouched, although not forgotten, as quilting it was put in my mental too hard basket. I am not sure what it was that caused me such anxiety; maybe it was the fact that I had spent so much time fussy cutting the fabrics and English paper piecing the many hexies, or even the mix of fabric bases ~ quilting cotton and cotton/linen ...

My Scrappy Cross Quilt is finally finished. It's taken several weeks to get around to stitching down the binding, and longer still to take photos. For the last decade or so I have worked almost exclusively on one project/quilt at a time. It's just how things rolled. But over the last 12 months I've added more and more projects to my steadily growing selection of works in progress, and whilst all that is good and well, I have knuckled down and I am keeping myself occupied by completing those quilt tops, basting, quilting and binding. Done ...

English Paper Piecing (EPP) was what kept me busy not only for the month of March, but also the month of April. I haven't kept a stitching diary and the days, weeks, and quilts have blurred, but my Instagram account tells me that the last seam for this quilt top was completed during the first week of May 2020.

I started cutting the hexagons for this quilt in January 2020 but I lost momentum and diverted my energies into hand-piecing my Trip Around the World Quilt. In April ...

English Paper Piecing (EPP) has kept my hands busy and my mind at ease during the long and frightful pandemic days that were the month of March 2020. We will surely never forget these days. I really do enjoy EPP and can happily spend hours basting papers and whip stitching. The quilt top - pictured above - was started and completed during the month of March, then quilted and bound in April.

Finally an update! March 2020 came along and everything changed and this new "normal" is difficult to come to terms with for everyone. I know that here in Australia we are in a very fortunate position with relatively few Corona Virus cases, a health care system that has had a chance to prepare, and now a gradual easing out of restrictions. We are so very aware of how lucky we are and I am practising daily to be that glass half full kind of person.

I have been home. My family have been at home! I have ...

When I say things are slowly returning to "normal" I mean super slowly ... like snail paced ... but I am good with it. I am embracing slow and as well as being keen to learn new techniques. This quilt is entirely hand pieced. Hand pieced as in - - - - - running stitch with needle, thimble, and thread.

It turns out that I can do slow, I can hand piece and sew secure seams; the quilt top did not fall apart when I picked it up, nor when I pressed the seams! In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed hand piecing the quilt top ...