Enjoying Each Moment in 2012....

Since I had not worked on any piecing over the holidays, I wanted to sew something that was sort of fast & mindless.  I didn't want to plan much but just sit at my sewing machine & piece until I got tired.  What could be more enjoyable than piecing all those selvages I've been saving. First I had to group my selvages by color.

Even though I didn't want to have to think too much about what I would sew together, I didn't mind thinking a little bit about how I would sew these selvage edges together.  I've been wanting to make a quilt using this technique from, "Quilts From The Selvage Edge", by Karen Griska.  However, I didn't want to follow a set of instructions or patterns.  I loved Karen Griska's idea & wanted to do something on my own.  The first step was to cut my muslin foundation the size I wanted & to group a few more selvage colors together.

I found that I didn't have enough selvage strips so I decided to get creative.  I would make faux selvage strips using an alternating white strip.  I would write on the white strip using a fabric marker.  Guess what?  It works great & it solves the problem of not having enough selvage strips. 

I've found that selvage strip piecing is a little bit faster than other types of blocks.  I love this method for using up what would have otherwise wound up in the trash.  So far this is what's on my design wall & I'll keep working on it until I can have a one person quilt top to use.

The trick to keep going on any quilt project is to remind yourself to enjoy the process of sewing each piece of fabric together.  I found I had to remind myself of this each time I wanted to give up & move on to a smaller project.  In fact, I think I'll make this my new year's resolution about a lot of things for 2012.  Simply enjoy the process......