Facing East in February

Today is the last day of February.  It's also the second anniversary of Eleni's birth.  Her birthday is worse than her death-day, because it's the day that everything went so terribly wrong.   It's the day that she broke, and it seemed our lives broke too. I'm not having a good day.   Baby Rora is not here to distract me, but maybe that is as it should be.   Not that I should be sad.  But that I am sad, and it seems to fit.

Now that homeschool is done for the day, I have an opportunity to focus on sewing and turn my day around.  Let me start by catching you up on Facing East.

I started this monumental piecing project December of last year.  It's to be a queen size quilt for our master bedroom, but let's not think about how many blocks I need.  Instead, let's just enjoy the blocks themselves. I have nine completed.  Nine!  That's 5 more than I had at the end of January.  Something clicked for me this February so that I kept wanting to make just one. more. block.

Each block is machine paper pieced with 52 pieces!  So time-consuming.  When I first started I made blocks with four different background fabrics, but a unified sashing fabric (as with my very first block at center left). Although I like that first block, I find I'm liking that multi-fabric look less and less.  The block at center right with the white sashing I actually plan to take apart.

I will separate that block into its four quadrants and make three different blocks with it:  one that is all the Botanics foliage print background, one that is ABC's and cream backgrounds and one that is cream with the scissors background print that I have already started. 

I know it sounds fussy, but considering how much time it takes to sew each quadrant, I'd rather take a block apart and sew more quadrants in order to feel more satisfied with each completed block.

Here's a block I particularly love!  It is Kona Snow backgrounds with Carolyn Friedlander sashing in one of her just-released Friedlander prints: Tree Stripe in Iron.  CF fabrics are working really well for this project in general, which is funny since the quilt design is from her book, Savor Each Stitch!  Her fabrics tend to have great textures in low volume suited to a neutral quilt.

I'm committed to making two blocks per month on this quilt.  That quota will keep me plugging away so that I don't get completely distracted by other works in progress.  I wonder what will come of March?