On the Cutting Mat

I am having so much fun with Instagram Quilt Fest hosted by Amy Ellis.  If you haven't heard about it yet, it's a daily photo prompt on Instagram for the month of March.  See here for details ;)  Today's photo prompt is "On the Cutting Mat" and it made me think of what I have been working on the last few days and I wanted to share the updates with you. So think of this as a Work In Progress Wednesday straight from the Cutting Mat ;)

First off, I am hoping to get all of my hexagon starts trimmed today so I can start adding on the next set of strips ;)  I fixed my first row that I sewed at the retreat and figured for the rest of the 25ish blocks, I would chain piece each step.   This will be a great "filler" project when I have 20 minuites or less to sit and sew.  I can just piece what I have time for and I don't have to think one bit ;)  Super fun!!! 

And talk about inspiration to get it done . . . Barbara already has all of her blocks sewn!!!  Aren't they just so fun!!  I love the rainbow of colors from a mixture of April Rosenthal's fabric lines ;)  And this moment was to precious not to capture.  Josie asked if she could help Grandma "design" the quilt, and she had so much fun placing them all up on the wall, with a little color placement help of course.  But she was adamant, that purple block by her head went right in the middle ;)

And in other Cutting Mat projects, I managed to cut up a little secret sewing project that I mentioned back here using Sweetwater's new Overnight Delivery line over the weekend.   And yesterday, I was about to put all of the scraps in my scrap bins, when I realized, they would make the cutest little pieced strip in the back of the quilt.   The strips were 2" x 5" and I was able to sew them up in just a few minutes.   I am so glad I thought of this, as it is going to be the cutest little "pop" in the back of the quilt, and honestly, it made me think I should do this more often when I have such standard size scraps, at least it would help cut down on my scrap drawers overflowing ;)

And finally, I am so super excited to share that my little oopsie last week is back in full swing sewing!!!  I cut out the new pieces and managed to make some progress on the blocks.  I can't wait to share this quilt and tutorial with you all.  It is going to be so fun!!!

And that is what has been On the Cutting Mat the last few days :)  And now, it's time to hurry and go finish a quilt on the Long Arm so that the next thing on my cutting mat will be a Queen Size beauty that is having the binding put on.   Yippee!!!

So what's on your Cutting Mat???  You can add a picture to the #igquiltfest or just leave a comment here if you don't do Instagram ;)

I hope you all have a very Happy Quilting Day!!!