Today was an unscheduled, but much needed, rest day.

I actually woke up early, let Sadie out, and enjoyed a mug of tea while I pieced a few quilt blocks for my bee group’s next collaborative quilt. An hour or so later, Big Girl signaled it was time to go back to bed. She waited patiently for me at the bottom of the stairs while I turned off everything in the sewing room.

Every dog I’ve had has enjoyed the ritual of going back to bed – whether it be for 15 minutes (as on a work day) or for a couple of hours. Boomer would dash upstairs, hop on the bed and wait on me. Sadie escorts me upstairs and sleeps on the floor next to the bed.

We didn’t stir until around noon. The rest of the day was spent puttering, going to the park and sharing a hamburger from our favorite local burger place. The smile on Sadie’s face as we drove home from the hamburger place made me happy. I called my parents and checked-in on one of my nieces. I tidied my sewing space and completed 20 puzzle blocks for my bee group’s next project.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a a couple of days completely to myself with nothing on the schedule – no therapy dog events, no sewing events, no home maintenance and no social events.

It was truly a low key, no drama kind of day. Think I’ll rinse and repeat for tomorrow, except I’ll scrub down the back porches (get rid of all the pollen) so I can enjoy my morning cuppa and a bit of hand stitching on the screened porch.

Just for the day, limit your screen time, turn off the TV and get outside. Talk to your neighbors. Read a book. Drink a glass of ice cold water with lemon. Journal. Hang a wreath on your front door. Plant spring flowers. Play with your kids. Take a walk with your dog. Craft. Sew. Bake banana bread. You get the point. Find joy in your everyday.

Group sewing projects are fun. My bee group has made a handful of quilts to donate to our guild’s community service in the two years our group’s been in existence. We work on blocks independently, then schedule sew-ins at a local quilt shop 2-3x per year to lay out projects and assemble the top(s). We get to use their big classroom space for a modest fee of $5 per person.

Today’s quilt top was made from alternating 9 patch and snowball blocks. The blocks were suppose to be 6-1/2″ unfinished. Some had to be set aside because they were either too small or too large. Many others had to be “stretched” or “centered” with the adjacent block so the two blocks could be sewn together. We all started with the same 2-1/2″ and 6-1/2″ squares. The differences are basically attributable to varying 1/4″ seam allowances and pressing with steam.

So how can you consistently make your blocks the correct size?

1. Starch, Best Press or Magic Spray fabric before you begin. Allow it to cool and dry before cutting.
2. Cut accurately. Use a nonslip ruler and rotary cutter with a fresh blade. Use a die cutting machine or specialty ruler such as the Shape Cut by June Tailor.
3. Use a fine piecing thread like Aurifil 50wt with an 80/12 Microtex needle. Wonderfil’s Efina 60wt and Hobby Lobby’s 50wt cotton thread (on the cross-wound spool) also work well.
4. Sew with a scant 1/4″ seam. I have to move my needle position 1 or 2 clicks to the right to get a scant 1/4″ seam allowance. Test your machine with your preferred piecing foot.
5. Sew a sample block before cutting everything out. It’s okay to have to trim it down slightly. It’s even okay to come up occasionally 1/8″ short on a side. This variation can easily be worked into a row of blocks. Anything more and you’ll need to make adjustments to your piecing process.

Making snowball blocks here. I trimmed the corners using my Simple Folded Corners Ruler from Doug Leko. Stitched seams using O2 Janome 1/4″ foot and my needle position one click to the right.

Before leaving our sew-in today, I made a sample block for our next collaborative quilt – Puzzle Box. Used the same needle position as I did for the snowball blocks, only my block was a tad small. I made another one at home. The second sample block using a needle position of 3.5 yielded a near perfect 8-1/2″ square with only slivers needing to be trimmed away. Winner!