Before my neck got completely out of whack I was sewing, honestly.  One project that I am trying to work on each month is a UFO that I started several years ago. It is called  Alphabet Quilt  by American Jane. A few years back my friend and quilt mentor decided to have a weekly sew day during the summer and everyone who wanted to could work on this quilt. They met during the day, during the week. I had to work. The rest of the group were all teachers that were on summer break.  So I wasn't going to make this quilt.

One Monday I had off for some reason so I took some sewing and went over to join my quilt buddies. I saw their quilts in progress and I was a goner. In short order I had pulled fabrics and traced tons of pieces onto miles of fusible web. I quickly cut out backgrounds and got everything fused. Then my first stall out. All that hand blanket stitching. I stitched some for a while and got about half of the blocks finished. Then I would look at it every once in a while and stitch a bit then put it away. A couple of years back I had a burst of activity on the quilt and got all the blanket stitching done and  a small section of the quilt together. I was so excited! Then it went back on the shelf.  While sorting thru my UFOs  last fall I decided that this project must get done! So I am working it like a BOM.

You are probably wondering why this is taking so long ( the story and the quilt). Well you see in addition to the applique blocks there are also about 40 tumbling blocks that have lots of  Y seams. And more Y seams to set those blocks. Since I am not good with the Y seam, I have been hand piecing those blocks. Then some of the applique blocks have some framing strips around one or more sides.

Last week when I was sewing I made a record number of mistakes on this section. First I sewed the oatmeal onto the mittens, upside down. Ripped it and flipped it and restitched it. Then I realized when it didn't fit with the piece it needed to go next to, that I had cut the strip between the oatmeal and mittens the wrong size. More ripping more cutting more sewing. I also noticed that the strip that went under the large tumbling blocks was on top  by mistake. Of course it was already sewn to the block above and the blocks on the left . So more ripping and sewing back up. I finally got this section together. sigh  More of this quilt will be showing up as the year flies by.

After having to do so much ripping I decided to knit for a while. I finished a cowl that I saw in a magazine. I didn't know that we were going to get snow right after I finished. I am over the snow. But I like the cowl.

I have had some small wool mats cut for a long while all ready to be stitched together. While holding my arms up at the machine was limited by my pain, I could hand stitch a little at a time. I finally finished my fall and winter wool mats.

Here is my stack of tops that I got quilted. (Mostly all last month). Now they are in line waiting for bindings. All of the bindings were cut but not stitched and pressed. Yesterday while I was listening to Pat Sloan on her live chat radio show I stitched all the strips together. Over the course of the evening I got them all pressed. Now if they would just jump onto the quilts I would be done. LOL

Better get to binding! And minis for the guild auction. Oh the list goes on and on.
Happy stitching