...and more blocks!

Remember all those batik-look flannels I cut up? I've started stitching them into blocks.

I have been overwhelmed with Linus stuff, so my sewing space is a mess, which means I'm less inclined to work on a project. And then I got this virus followed by a cough so bad I cracked my rib coughing, so I haven't felt much like doing anything. But yesterday I was feeling better and really wanted to get into my projects. So the two blocks I just posted and these were easy to make without setting up a lot of stuff. Now I'm inspired to clean up the space (shouldn't really take too long) and get back to it!

I do love these flannels, and after I had cut them all up, I found I was regretting not making off-kilter squares, like Jan Mullen does. It would have been great, but now that I've started putting these blocks together, I'm happy with them.

Could have been an 'oops' (or Why I pre-wash my fabric)

Boy, do I love these batik flannels! Totally love them. As Woody Allen told Annie Hall, it's more than love -- I lurf them. They are gorgeous! I bought some for the back of Jocelyn's African Coins quilt and more for the back of Val's Ocean Waves Monkey Wrench quilt. When Sew Sassy put all the batik flannels on sale, I bought a little of each of them because I knew I would use them eventually. Eventually is now.


Flannels can shrink. Actually, they DO shrink -- they are more loosely woven than quilting cottons and when you wash them, well... they shrink. With all the dye in these batik-like flannels, they also bleed. When I prewashed the flannels I threw in a Shout Color Catcher, as I always do when I wash new fabric. Sometimes they get a faint tint, sometimes a more noticeable one, sometimes you can't tell they've been through the wash. But look at this! The blue sheet was washed with the flannels. The unused white one on top of it shows what it looked like when it went into the washer. Nuff said.