February Bernina Block Party

Hooray, I finished the final big block for Bernina's Block Party! It's actually a great accomplishment: the instructions have been horrendous. Really bad. My biggest issue with them was that every single pattern had cutting instructions to cut triangles. To make half-square triangles. Seriously. And, not only that, but every block that needed HSTs needed at least 4-8 of any given pair, so why not use some quicker methods? Same for flying geese. Instead of using the square-on-the-rectangle method, or even better, the four-at-a-time method, she included instructions to cut triangles for every piece. Yuck.

Anyway, I redrafted most blocks to include making HSTs or Flying Geese the easier way. But I tire of doing my own math so I'm glad this project is almost done. I'm also excited to see my quilt put together! The pattern is really pretty.

This is the biggest block, at 24 inches, and it went together in a couple of hours, even with my need to redo the math. That's been one good thing about these blocks: none of them have been very time-consuming.

Oh, and I did get the backing for my Summer Sampler finished, too! I'm feeling a pinch on our budget right now, though, so it's not going out to a long-armer just yet. :-)

I'm linking up to Elm Street's One Monthly Goal.

One Monthly Goal: February

So, how is it February? Because, I'm pretty sure, Thanksgiving was like two weeks ago. Even still...February...

I'm checking in for the One Monthly Goal link up for February today.

Last month, I did okay with my goals. But, I didn't get everything done I'd hoped, although I pretty much hit my written-out (modest) sewing goals. So, this month, I'm trying to refine my personal goals better based on how thing went last month. That's what we're supposed to do with goals, right? :-)

So, here are my goals for February.

• Bernina Block Party block (I'm SO close to finishing! One last block big block coming this month, and then some spacers and setting, which I'm expecting they'll post in March!)
• Prep my cappuccino dress out of quilting cotton.
• Sew a couple of a reversible bucket hats for my babies.
• Pick a pattern for my Grand Canal fabric (finally! I've had a pile of fabric pulled in my sewing room for MONTHS. It's time to get things decided and cut).
• Continue to spend less time on my phone. I've been better, but not as good as I'd hoped, so it's staying on the list until it's a habit I'm happy with. :-)
• Do one organized activity with the girls every week. Sounds pathetic, but scheduling, and twins, make it overwhelming to plan outings or fun things with the girls. Do note that I don't mean fancy. I mean, a trip to the library or art museum. Or painting together after school one day. My bar is pretty low, ha ha. 

My ONE monthly goal is the block party block (see a number of the blocks together in the picture). To be honest, February is a short month and it's super busy for me (more on that later, I'm sure!). I want to lump the backing in because that's just a to do list item that just needs to get done. But then that's two goals, isn't it? So the block party block. That's the thing I'll be most disappointed in myself if I don't finish, and it's also doable (obviously, since I've kept up with the sew along thus far).