Last week on Art With a Needle

Lots of piecing this week -- one more small top finished and another one (this is #4 in the last three weeks) with a good start.  Last week I compared machine piecing to riding a bicycle -- you don't forget how, when you don't do it for a long time, but you are rusty.  And three days ago I decided my self-evaluation skills are also rusty -- it took me until this week to realize that the first three pieces aren't really what I call very good. 

I had high hopes for number 3, with one quadrant of the quilt composed of colored stripes for the fine line "roads" to contrast with the black-and-white stripes in the rest of the quilt.  But when the whole thing was sewed together and put up on the wall, I wasn't happy.  I think it's repairable, with a lot of fussy, fiddly ripping and remaking, but I'm not going to do that right now.

But number 4 -- I love it!

Here's how far it's gotten in two days.  Another two or three good days in the studio would probably be enough to finish it, but looking at my calendar makes me wonder when those days are going to be possible.  What's more frustrating than having to interrupt your huge burst of creative energy with a bunch of other things?

Here's my favorite miniature of the week.  I've always loved those red berries on wire stems that you're supposed to wrap around branches on your Christmas tree.  Hardly ever wrap them around branches on the tree, but I love to have a bunch of them on hand.  This week they got stuffed into a tiny (half-inch diameter) spool of thread.