Update #4: cutting more strips this morning and happened to slice a piece of my finger in the process.
😭🩸
Downside is it’s my index finger and it’s hard to use now. Upside: rotary blades are super sharp so it was a clean slice and it’s now nicely bandaged.
Is this a right of passage? Do I get a medal? Or just a fun little scar.
Finished another #TheScrappyCornersQuilt (pattern by Emily Dennis of @quiltylove). This is a gift for my special needs daughter’s PreK teacher after 2.5yrs in her class. She is on to Kindergarten SPED next year. Mrs. C. has helped so much and become a big part of our daughter’s life. And yes, those are my husband’s feet holding it up after we did some fishing with the kiddos for Mother’s Day.
(Special extra credit if you can spot the oops!)
Update #2: I have poked my fingers countless times now. It’s a slow process to hand stitch each piece but it’s a bit faster than I originally expected. I’m finding my points are more accurate than when I chain piece on the machine. It’s an incredibly enjoyable process. Lots of seam marking and pinning but they’re necessary steps. I have almost 14 of 98-something blocks sewn so far.
Here are a bunch of progress photos.
1st Update: I have decided to torture myself or indulge myself (I’ll decide at the end which one I’ve accomplished) and hand sew an Irish chain quilt for our bed. The plan is it will end up being 78”x90” with 6”x6” finished units. I am only going to use 100% cotton materials. The fabric I am using is thrifted from Ollie’s (both quilting weight cotton and a 100% cotton flannel queen bed sheet set for the backing) and a daily-deal from MSQC of 108” 3yd cut. The batting is from one of the three giant rolls I bought from Joann’s over a year and a half ago when they were on sale for $80-something. I have cut a few strips and pinned one pair out so far. Planning to start with a backstitch for a reinforced seam and this could very well be the last update if I end up absolutely miserable. I’ll try and stay optimistic. Wish me luck and I’ll provide an update when I’ve made some progress!
April added to the embroidered temperature tree for 2026. The “leaves” are X’s of the high/low from that day. The trunk of the tree is the average for the month. The ground cover is the high/low for each month and at the end I’ll do the average for the year and stitch “2026”. Not my design (gardengirlstudio.com) but it’s the closest pattern I was going for. I like the more natural flow of the design.
It’s been fun so far.
(I have been using DMC floss from Michael’s and came up with my own temperature-color assignments).
Could use some gentle critiquing. I’m hand sewing 2.5” squares together by hand to make a couple coasters. I can already see a teeny tiny stitch compared to the others. Any critiques or advice so far? I also hand pressed.