A good start

 I was so keen to start my MAD piecing that I immediately sewed all the double 4-patch blocks that were cut out, then cut out the pieces I needed for the remainder, and sewed them up too. 

Now I'm sewing them into sets of 4, and I'm hoping that later today I'll have it all in one piece. Then I'll decide if it needs a border or not.  I'm trying to make some smaller quilts, more couch sized rather than bed sized. In our shop the smaller quilts sold really well, so it would make sense to aim for that size. I think a lot of people saw a bed-size quilt as a thing to decorate a whole room around, whereas a couch quilt was just an accent. 

While I'm sewing on these really simple things my mind is reviewing what else is on the list of projects that need attention. I don't want my MAD piecing to just be about duty sewing to make a finish, it needs to be about making life easier too.  My cutting table is strewn with strips and fabrics for all the different projects; making progress means that I can finish the cutting and clear away all those strips and fabrics. In order to piece madly, I need to have cut pieces ready for that. 

In order not to feel burnt out and jaded with just one project, I'm taking it in turns to cut QSTs for my English quilt a while, then piece the double 4-patches for as long as I want, then cut some more. All the while I'm doing that, I'm thinking of what I will start next. I know I love all the easy sewing, the scraps and one-shape quilts that just fly together.  But I would also love to start something that made me concentrate and pay attention, something that required honing my skills, and using Good Fabric.  At the moment I'm leaning towards a LeMoyne Star, or a block containing a LeMoyne Star.

I made 2 Rolling Star blocks about 17 years ago.  Maybe I'm ready to try again.

The other day something Jo said (at Jo's Country Junction) struck a chord with me. She was talking about how she'd concentrated on quilts from one designer, and that it hadn't expanded her quilting skills. For me, that designer is Bonnie Hunter. I adore her quilts, but they don't test me, they don't add to my skill set. I've been quilting since I was 15, so I'm not in the same category as a beginner or intermediate quilter who needs Bonnie's guidance. I will always want to make the quilts she designs (Bitcoin is really tempting me), but I need to try a bit harder to develop my machine piecing skills.

One thing Bonnie has taught me though; I made several of her mystery quilts when she first started doing them, and I learnt that making hundreds of one unit really teaches you how to do it quickly and well.  I hated 9patch units, until Carolina Crossroads made me confront them. Pattern is in Scraps and Shirttails.

I renamed mine Carolina Coverlet, because I didn't put the blocks together the way Bonnie did.

Buckeye Beauty (Jarrod Take a Wife )

I didn't like these arrowhead units either, but after a couple of quilts I've learnt to do them without complaint.

Celtic Solstice

Same with the Triangle In A Square units in the border.

I'm hoping that if I apply the same reasoning to LeMoyne stars, with their set in seams, then they will become just another technique in my toolbox, and allow me to design new quilts around them, without being put off by the difficulty. It would be wonderful if 2022 was a year of developing excellence in my piecing, not just churning out another 20 tops. A year of MAD skills.