How many squares can fit in a 6" block?

In this block, you get 169 squares in the 6 inch finshed block. I recently purchased Terrie Sandelin's book, Miniatures in Minutes, and while it took me many minutes, it was fun to do. This particular block is not in the book, but I used her method and my design to make it. You start with a 13 x 13 inch grid and lay out your colors the way you want, and since I want a small wall hanging for Valentine's day, I came up with this pattern. I like most of her technique, except she uses glue to hold the fabric pieces in place before you sew them. I found this messy and made removing the paper foundation tedious. I also did not like taking a chance of gumming up my machine with the glue. She also uses translucent vellum paper as a foundation, and that I found GREAT!

So, I tried a different technique of actually basting the pieces in place with the longest stitch length on my machine. Once I sewed the row together, I removed the basting stitch. It went much faster and the paper came off much easier. I went with color and a different design for my second block. Yep, this is fun, and I think the blocks are impressive as all the points match and they are sooooooooooooooo tiny. My husband suggest I make an entire full size quilt out of these blocks, hmmmmm....NOT happening!

This weekend, I managed to get the guest room and the new play room for the grandkids almost done. My parents dresser that my dad made is now cleaned, polished and in place in the guest room. I think it cleaned up real nice and am so happy to have it. The dresser scarf was made by my mom and has lace that she crocheted around the edge. That is a picture of my parents on the dresser. In the mirror you get a hint of another treasure that my husband and I have owned for 33+ years...it is the kitchen cabinet that belonged to his grandmother. I painted it white 32 years ago and used it in the nursery for my twins. It was great for keeping diapers, blankets, sheets, etc. Then it was moved to the guest room and the rose stencil added and used to keep guest towels, toiletries, etc....then back to the "nursery" for the grandkids and held blankets, extra clothes, wipes, diapers, etc. Now it is once again in the guest room. I just love this cabinet and it holds a lot of memories.

I have had 101 hits since I posted the last post about the purple fabric swap, and can you believe I got no takers?????? Is that not amazing? LOL, I am definitely being sarcastic here and I guess you all don't like chain letters any more than I do. So I am officially withdrawing my offer to participate in this swap and will have to return the two squares I received from my friend. Sorry B....its just not meant to be.

Happy Stitchin,
Teresa
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