I finally finished these socks, and I'm glad to see the back of that wool. It's getting too warm to knit anyway, and too warm to wear socks, but at least I got these off the needles at last. They are lovely to wear, so I'm pleased with the result, but I didn't enjoy the knitting much.
I have been hand-quilting my little doll quilt, and it's so relaxing. I tried to do the lines freehand, but I didn't like the result, so I used Magic Tape to quilt next to, and that worked well. It's a bit firmer than masking tape, and never leaves a residue, so I prefer it for quilting. I think I'm gong to do a Welsh design in the borders, just arcs and infill, but I will try and loosen up a bit and not mark too much. We'll see how that goes.....I started my exercise for Tonya's free-piecing class. I really do like making these, and I got even more daring and ripped the fabric into strips instead of cutting. It was sheer laziness on my part, because I didn't even have to get up from my chair when I wanted new strips; just a snip and rip and it was done. I would never do that with my good fabrics and regular piecing, but it's working brilliantly with these wonky letters.

It's Hard to make them wonky! They want to be regular and nice and boring, but I'm concentrating and forcing them to be a bit offbeat. They still look pretty normal to me, so I'm going to have to get wilder in my snipping, ripping, stitching and slashing. And that 'b'? Was supposed to be an 'a' but I sort of started off back to front. You have to be a bit flexible with this sort of sewing.

The class is so much fun; when I signed up for it I expected it to help me rewrite my attitude towards piecing, but a valuable side-effect is the contact with quilters I might never normally have run across, and their different views and ideas are really inspiring. I have followed links to places I wouldn't have found on my own, and read articles that are so interesting and pertinent, and seen work that makes me think outside my comfy little box. I'm loving it.

And, like Mereth, I'm using my hand-dyes for my Tonya letters, because the rest of my stash is pretty inaccessible right now, with all the work going on in my sewing room. Guess I'll have to let you know what I'm up to soon, but not today....