My Sister and I occasionally take on “Sister Projects” together. It’s seriously fun to have a sister close who quilts! She didn’t start quilting in earnest until 2001, but it’s as if she’s been quilting with me all along. I used to quilt with our grandmother, and Katy took up quilting a few months after we lost Grandma, so now I can quilt with her. It keeps us connected quite nicely!
The “Sister Project” is usually an annual thing, coinciding with our annual pilgrimage to Paducah to the AQS Show, but for the last 3 years, I haven’t gone. Katy went for a one-day whirlwind trip through the show this past April, and picked out a Sister Project for us while she was there. We’re doing “Martha Washington’s Finest”, a pattern by Lori Smith of From My Heart to Your Hands.
We decided we would start this one on July 1st, so I did. I got seven blocks done before elbow surgery, and that’s where it still sits. But they are cute and fun, and I’m anxious to get back at them.
Meanwhile, we also decided we wanted to do a Block-of-the-Month quilt together, but not the same BOM as each other. But we did choose the same designer! We both Chose designs by Sue Garman. We decided we would begin these on August 1st.
Katy chose this one. It’s called Chain Gang. It’s very Katy, all full of great color! There are actually 3 blocks each month, each of them using a different technique, and so far she’s all caught up.
And I chose this one — Ladies of the Sea:
I’ve had my eye on this pattern for a long time, and this seemed like the perfect time to start it, as a Sister Project.
The problem became that I did not get my background fabric cut before elbow surgery, and when August 1st rolled around, I was unable to rotary cut, so I couldn’t start. But guess what I did today?
I broke it all out and got my background fabrics cut — only 3 months late! I’m ready to prep the first two blocks for appliqué, and I’ll see if I can catch up (pfft!). I chose this marbled light blue for my background. I hope I like it!
I’ll keep you posted on my progress. There are two highly detailed appliqué blocks each month, or a border appliqué section with a corner compass block, so it’ll be intense! I’m reasonably certain that I’ll just get more behind than caught up, but hopefully, I can work steadily on it.
