I have still been sewing

Some. Not as much. But just because I haven't written anything at all doesn't mean I haven't sewn anything at all.

The biggest sewing accomplishment is that Salt Air is finally a flimsy.

You know how when you first become a mother and everyone showers you with the advice to lower your standards when it comes to housekeeping? Well, that's my advice for making this quilt. Lower your standards. No matter how much thought you put into it, or how many pins you use, you are just not going to have perfect seams. I'm not telling you to consider this good enough:

I'm telling you to consider it GOOD!

Part of the problem is having three sides to a block, rather than four, makes it impossible for seams to always alternate. If you iron to the side, you are going to have times where you have to sew pieces together that have seams ironed the same way. If I ever make this again - and I can see that happening. It's a very pretty quilt, and I can totally picture the day, 12 or so years from now, when this little girl

(Seen here modeling hats for her very victorian vampire costume)

tells me she'll go to college, but only if I make her a quilt out of the Hopscotch pattern. Then I'll make another one. And I'll give completely up on nestled seams and iron them all open.

Now that I've got my complaints out of the way, I will say that I'm very happy with the end result. I'm very glad I separated the colors the way I did. I would have an entirely different quilt if the sides of the triangles weren't limited to the cool colors and the starts limited to red. And for all my agonizing, most of my starts turned out really well:

These colors are so very pretty to me.

And I'm going to add the next shot just because I can. It wasn't my intention to make a shot like this today, but in looking for someplace to hang it for decent shooting, it just happened. Very pretty I think.

In sharp contrast to the difficulties with Hopscotch, this quilt is coming together exceptionally well.

Because finishing one quilt before starting another just doesn't make sense, does it?

I bought a jelly roll of Kensington from Riley Blake from Missouri Quilt Company. Have you ever done business with them? Because I love them. Every day they post a new special and I've gotten two beautiful jelly rolls from them for just over $20 each! They also have tons of tutorials posted, plus weekly specials. I think my favorite aspect of doing business with them is their fun attitude and sense of humor. This isn't a paid endorsement - just one quilter telling another quilter where to get fabric.

Anyway, this was strip pieced and I'm over half-way to a flimsy with it and I've only been working on it for a week! I started Salt Air in JANUARY, for crying out loud.

And finally, because working on one project at a time makes no more sense than finishing one before you start another, I have a crochet project going.

Just a simple ripple stitch. I have a friend with a daughter born with multiple birth defects. The poor girl is only 6 and she's had that many major surgeries so far, and she's about to have her 7th. And they have to go to Philadelphia for their medical treatments for her. And it's being done at Christmas. She's a very sweet girl, and despite all this, the whole family seems to be in really good spirits. One thing this girl has requested several times is a blanket like her sister's, and knowing I crochet, her mother asked me to make her one. Who could refuse that?

I'll be linking up to Freshly Pieced work-in-progress Wednesday, and Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.