What have I been doing with my time?

I haven't worked on my son's quilt at all.  It seems like he's always around when I have a moment to sew.  I think I'm going to call it the Happy Robot Quilt.  The fabric has funny robots and the block pattern is from the Happy Hour book.  So there you go.

Instead I've been eagerly anticipating some goodies in the mail.  I got these goodies from overstock.

No, I'm not getting paid by them.  I wish!  The big O, (No, not Oprah) is an oft overlooked source for all sorts of stuff.  I got a smokin' deal on my sewing machine from them last summer.  This week I got a set of square rulers, one of those suction cup handles and a straight ruler.  My wrists get sore when I cut a lot of fabric at once.  Plus, I'm seriously tired of one end of the strip being an eighth of an inch thinner than the other end because my hands slip a little as I'm holding the ruler.  I think the suction cup handle will be a big help.

So what have I been working on this week?  I tried an exercise is letting go.  I took all the little scraps and miscuts from the Happy Robot Quilt and I've just been sewing them together.  No planning, no cutting, just going with the flow.  I've been doing rough log cabin blocks and aiming for about 9.25 inches square.  Here are the first few.

 I just pick two scraps to start that have at least one side that is approximately the same size.  Sew them together, add a third along one side and so forth.  Or should I say, "Sew, Forth!"  Oh, geez that would make a great blog title.  I can't help the puns.  It's a genetic thing, from my father and his father.  It's in my blood.

I had one block left over from the front of the quilt and it is a 9.25, so that is my guide.  I'd like to do a cuddle quilt.  For real this time, it's not going to turn into another full size.  I think I'm going to have to sash it pretty heavily to get the size I need.  I love scrappy quilts, but I use my scraps so efficiently that I rarely have material to just play with.  My first quilt is double sided, because I used ALL the scraps from the front to make a second quilt for the backing.  Now, I'm sad that there isn't anymore of any of that fabric to play with because I used it all.