Current Project

Our chickens went out today; what a relief to have the whole day without walking through chicken houses! When the chickens are big it takes some time to go through them and so I get back to the house too late to do much before lunch. My quilting project has been worked on in spurts for the last two weeks. This is my current project, Railroad Crossing:

The arcs and flying geese units are paper pieced. I don't do paper piecing for the speed but for accuracy; I'd never get good points otherwise. Before removing the paper, I do a machine basting stitch along the seam line to follow. Just another step to help make good points. I have set the arcs and quarter circles together on the machine, sometimes using as many as fourteen pins to hold them in place. Instructions for the top said to applique the top of the arcs to the main part of the block (the green plaid); however, those sharp points didn't want to turn under, so instead, I used pins again and sewed them together on the machine. The finished top measurements were too small for a bed quilt, so since I have enough green prints I'm making an extra row. The rows, above, will be set together with flying geese units, and there will be two borders. At first I was afraid the colors were a little too dull, but when it's spread out they look really soft and pleasing, perfect for my little white iron bed.

Maybe I will have time to finish the top after Christmas and before we get more chickens.