Benita Skinner's Creative Space: Patchwork & Progress

Good Sunday Morning!

As I was looking through my notes, of things I want to share with you, I was looking towards my large - old - wooden - double desk and realized I hadn't posted a picture of this beauty!
This was taken a few years ago, when I hadn't made my pretty Patchwork Sewing Machine Cover yet.
The left side is where I sew & cut fabrics, and the right is my office side.
I also have a very large surface, if I clear it all off, when needed.
[Those who also live in tiny spaces know all about the shuffle of things required.]
As you can see in the picture, I have a love of old wood boxes for my threads, organizing, papers & scraps of fabrics waiting to be cut down.

I'm now enjoying sewing together my newest quilt design, and will need to keep most of that secret until the reveal...but that doesn't mean I didn't take lots of pictures for the tutorial tips I'll be sharing later...and some good quilt tips that I get to share now!

My anchor cloth project helps me keep better organized, when I'm chain piecing batches of patches.
I stitch one in between two batches, so I know easily, when clipping them apart, where exactly the patches for the next block begin.

The arrows are pointing to my current anchor cloth patches (Postage Stamp with a Twist scrap quilt) and includes another finished block.

Coal & Ember keeping me company while I sew. :)

I shut the off-grid system down for a bit this week, while the thunderstorm went on overhead.
So instead of sewing, I trimmed a bunch of small 4-patch units, that are part of my Postage Stamp with a Twist anchor project.
It isn't pretty to repurpose older cutting mats into smaller, pieces - but they're oh so useful!!

My sewing was stalled for part of a day, until the sun came out - as the patches need pressing, before I could go further.
So I picked up my hand quilting (My Blue & White Tiles - quilt as you go method), to stitch instead.
I love using painters tape to mark a line to quilt along.

A bunch of years ago, I thought I was going to buy myself a small pressing mat, to use near my sewing machine.
At the time I covered some folded, corrugated cardboard inside an older flannel sheet - to use temporarily.
It works well enough, I've never bothered to buy one.

In the top right corner you can see my 'thread catcher'.
I shared my tip about how to make one here.

This large pale grey/green spool has been in my box of threads for well over a decade - and I finally have the perfect project to use it.
It's working wonderfully as a neutral for the current quilt I'm sewing, melding well with all the colours.

These 5 Postage Stamp with a Twist blocks were completed while sewing the blocks for half of the quilt I'm currently working on.

All progress is good!

I've come to realize that sewing square patches is my favourite patchwork!
Squares into 4-Patches - 4-Patches into larger units - blocks - quilts!!

There's something about a bunch of squares of fabric sewn together that has always made my heart sing.
My first quilt top was squares (9-Patches) and the first quilt I completed was a queen size checkerboard quilt, with matching shams, that I made as a wedding gift (I never took a picture of that one).
I cut those 3" squares before I even knew there was a rotary cutter & mat tool, which was still pretty knew then.
The fact I made any more quilts after that, shows how much quilting is my bliss!!

Patchwork borders also add such a lovely finish to frame quilt blocks!