Today's block...

When I went back to the quilt show the 3rd day I was supposed to hit the French Connection booth and get a big basket, but completely forgot. I think it was CW fat quarter haze...so I came home, looked up their site and ordered one. I love the fact that this basket was made by cooperative weavers in Ghana, and someone who really needs the income to help their family. Not some machine in China. Yippee! My trusty mailman brought it right to the door! I plan to stick it under the table for scraps. It's orange and dark purple.
I swear I really can do other things besides just the diary blocks, but since I've been spending so much time with these fabrics this week it's hard to not grab some of the lovely colors and do the new blocks. Since I had 7 to do this week from Dawn's list, I stared cutting. It's so easy to cut them out and having them sitting ready for me sew when I have 20 minutes here and there.

This morning I started to do the pieces for "A Little Broth". Anyone who does this will realize that it's not quite a 60 degree triangle. I'd say it about 61 degrees, so cutting standard diamonds wouldn't work. I knew it had to be paper pieced so I traced out the pattern, then flipped it on the lightbox and drew it backwards on another sheet. Once I had the pieces cut I just couldn't set it aside. I had to make the block. SO I made my fold lines and got started. I had to cut it on the main center line into 2 pieces in order to work. I pieced the four sections starting with one of the diamonds and worked out to the edges, then added the final triangle on the outside. Here's how both finished sections look: and how they look on the back.I made sure to cut a 1/4" seam line on the edge and then started to pin so the 2 halves could be sewn back together. To do this, the easiest way for me is to stick a pin right through the spots on one piece where I want the seam to hit. Then take the other piece and stick the same pin through the exact spot on the opposite side. It will line right up once you do this. Here's the pins through the seam junctions:And Voila!! A Little Broth....The finished block that looks so pretty! I actually trimmed from the front making sure I had a 1/4" from each point and with a little fidgiting, it worked out.

Libby asked to see our ironing boards. I have my Grandmothers regular stand up ironing board which looks totally normal with it's new flowery cover from Walmart. It rarely comes out of the laundry room. Most times I use a little 14" board on the rolling cart. This past week I've been using the larger board balanced on 2 rolling carts. It's the perfect size for ironing FQ's and half yards.