Fireworks

With improv, things often don't go as planned, if there even was a plan. And just sometimes, things get carried away. Or maybe that's just me…

But when my @beesewcial mate, Leanne @shecanquilt, announced this month's prompt as "Fireworks," I had a loose idea of where I wanted to take it. Somewhere along the way, the scale got waaayyyy off. My original layout is shown below. See the 'center' is already pieced, and I was thinking I'd fill in all around it. So far, so good. I'd used bright colors for the fireworks, and a variety of sky-colored fabrics for the background. Most of the fabrics were quilter's cotton, but there were a couple of shot cottons as well, which was fine by Leanne.

But before long, I knew I was in trouble. Things were getting big fast. At the point shown here, if I'd trimmed it, I would have ended up with a block approximately 13" x 36"…. larger that our normal equivalent of two 12.5" blocks. 

I could have cut the slab into two or more smaller blocks, but knowing Leanne, I suspected she'd enjoy cutting into the slab herself when it came time to puzzle blocks together. So I wrote her and we chatted about it and agreed the piece had possibilities that could be determined at a later date. Whether it's as filler or smaller blocks or whatever, I'm going to send it Leanne's way for her to use as she sees fit once she has the rest of the bee's blocks. This isn't how things usually go when I make bee blocks, but that's improv for you.

W.i.P. Wednesday

I was happily able to make some good progress this last week!

Completed projects

Mouse Pads - No, you're not seeing things . . . I made more mouse pads!

I actually made one more that I gifted to daughter dear before I got a picture! But in doing all that text and typewriter sewing, I did take time to write a tutorial. Hope you enjoy it!

Lined Drawstring Bag - That gifted mouse pad needed a gift bag and I turned once again to Jeni's no-fail solution. I love it every time.

Bee Freebie - I was so smitten with the paper-pieced bee that Badskirt posted over the weekend that I just had to make one! The bee was made from a variety of scraps, the background in Essex linen in denim. I'll be incorporating this block in an upcoming as-yet-to-be-determined project! (And just fyi, I copied the pattern 150%, so each side measures 3".)

Ongoing projects
Lucky Stars BOM - Just in the nick of time, I got the May block done, so I'm ready for June's!

City Sampler Quilt Along - Not sure if I'll be able to keep up along with cohosting an upcoming sew along (starting MONDAY!), but I did manage to get the first 3 blocks done on schedule. I'll share them soon.

x and + blocks {#xplusalong} - This has been the main excitement in the studio the last few days! I finished my 80th block and began piecing them together. I decided to piece in 20 block sections (4x5), and have 2 sections done! I'm super excited to have made it this far on this one!

Improv Slice and Insert Quilt - No progress here.

Polaroid quilt - Still receiving blocks. Pretty excited about this too!

Upcoming projects
* Patchwork, Please! sew along projects
* baby quilt - need to start soon!
* June bee blocks
* prepping more City Sampler blocks
* pillows for Mom/pillow for grandgirl
* mail bag

Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.