Happy Friday! I Need Some Sew Therapy!

Wow...it's already January 11th...almost half the month gone. For me, beginning January 1st., a nasty stomach virus reared it's ugly head and stayed with me until Jan 8th...I lost 13 pounds! Last Sunday the nasty bug decided to infect my DH and he is still having symptoms. He lost 12 pounds after 4 days!. Boy...that's not how we wanted to start this year. I didn't even make losing weight a New Year's Resolution and that's the most weight I've lost even when making that a resolution...go figure! I'm finally feeling like my old self and wanting to sew. Like most of you, after I've read some blogs, this year seems to be the year for completions...and I'm following suit. I have so much money invested in fabric and half  or one-fourth completed projects that I've decided it's time to finish some of my projects. 

Below is my January "Try-To-Finish" project. I believe I started it last Spring. It's a string quilt and very forgiving since my seams are not meant to match up...well except probably the center of star section...It's great to sew up while watching TV since there is very little thought that has to go into it. I decided to do mine in black and white fabric with the center black as my constant focus fabric. This is eight squares or 2 blocks...I have 112 more squares to make or 28 more blocks to make by the end of January. Put another way... 5.6 squares a day or 1.4 complete blocks a day. No problem! Hope it will put a dent into my black and white stash! Oh..I also decided to use some sparkly white fabric as my second constant fabric that is attached to each side of the center black fabric. 

The design came from String Quilt Revival. I love this book. All the designs in this book have one constant fabric and based on the shape of that piece and where it is placed on the square determines the look of the finished quilt block. It's a nice take on the standard string quilt. Also the authors use embroidery/fabric stabilizer instead of a muslin or other fabric as their base to sew on. I find this gives the block a less bulkier feel.

This is the finished quilt in the book "Diamonds are Forever". It's very striking...but I'm glad I selected to use up some of my black and white fabric. I think it will be just as striking!

 My sister at Sew Much and More, a quilty friend Pam, and I decided to start another blog so that we would have a mutual place to post our progress and finishes of our 2013 projects. Visit and follow us at Friends Who Quilt to check on our progress. We hope that by listing and posting our projects would make us more accountable and committed to finishing. Wish us luck!

Thanks so much for visiting. I love to read your comments!

Happy Quilting! Happy Living!