Progress on my Wheel Around Blocks

I am really liking how this block is going together.  I am using the set of fat quarters I got from Sew Sisters a couple of months ago and they are wonderful.

Here's how it starts. ( I am using a scrapbooking case to store the blocks as they are 12 1/2 inches square )

And...

Then I sew the triangles on all four sides of of the corner squares...

After pressing the seams open I have the corners for two blocks...

And Voila!

I haven't decided if there will be sashing or not.  Then I saw on the cover of a Fons and Porter Magazine that Mary Fons had done this block on point...hmmm....

(If you scroll down the Magazine page to March/April 2013 you can see what I mean)

Lil Twister Tool

So we made a detour on our way home through South Dakota and visited Quilt-tiques in Rapid City.  Sure there were other sights there but this one sticks out in my mind. (Oh, yeah, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse,...)

I bought a kit with the Lil Twister Tool that makes these cool pinwheels.
It went together in a day and here is the small top

Cute and christmas-y
I liked it just this way but the pattern recommends the addition of some ribbon...

What do you think?  This is what they recommend.  But is it necessary??

Embroidery progress

This is a design I made of flowers in a circle...I'm on a bit of a circle thing right now...

I coloured in some of the petals and leaves as an experiment to see how the embroidery looks.  I feel that sometimes it just looks not substantial enough especially in a quilt.  I bought some fabric colour felt pens at Michaels and just started fooling around.  I'll show you when it is more complete.

New Fabric, Yum!

The new addition to my stash has been washed and folded.  I had a great summer, how about you?

I 'needed' some green for my hexagon quilt but I got a bit carried away...where did all that pink come from...?

My Sweater, my sweater

Wow, with all the summer time travel I finished all the pieces of my lacy knit sweater.  It's from the spring/summer 2013 issue of Knit Simple magazine.

It's currently drying outside.  Then I will begin sewing it all together.

A new store discovery

So here I am in the wilds of Manitoba and what should I find but Karens Quilt Shop in the nearby town of Pinawa.  Sweet!

I noticed immediately that she has. Very cool cutter for cuttung the fabric straight across.

Needless to say I had to have one.  I can hardly wait to start using it...

As you can see its taking up valuable real estate on my couch. See the red square towards the bottom half houses the rotary cutter. Just press down and slide.

Lately I've had trouble with pain in my forearms - I'm hoping it doesn't mean more trips to physio - but this might be the ticket.

Has anyone got one of these?