Strip Piecing Problems

 Have you ever had one of those sewing days where nothing seems to go right?!  Today, I woke up with lots of creative energy, thinking that I was going to get a lot done in the sewing room...hah!  Joke's on me...things didn't really go as planned. 

When I started piecing my strips together for the Cat Walk quilt I've been working on, I noticed right away that something wasn't right.  After a few rows, my strips started to bow, like a big fat frowny face...not good.  Thanks to my good friend, Google, I did some troubleshooting and discovered some tips to prevent this problem.  I really haven't pieced a strip quilt before so this was new to me.  According to some sources I found via Google, I needed to alternate the direction I was sewing for each row, and use my walking foot to make sure my fabric was feeding evenly.  After adjusting my stitch width with the walking foot to make sure I still had a 1/4 inch seam, I tried a few rows, and it went better.  But I still have to go back with my seam ripper and rip out my frowny face rows...ugh.  I'm procrastinating and drinking a glass of wine instead. 

On a more positive note, I did get the cat applique cut out for the top of my brick wall...I like how it turned out!  Since cats are most active at night, I decided to go for a moon and star theme with my cat applique. 

Despite the setbacks, I did make some progress in the sewing room today.  My husband hung my new linen pinboard!  Something about this pinboard makes me feel like I have a real sewing studio now, which has been my dream for a long time, so I'm excited to finally see it come together!  Right now, my pinboard is displaying my Kona Cotton color chart, my ever-growing quilt project to do list, and my kids' artwork, but I'm hoping it will also serve as an inspiration pinboard for future projects. 

And, I played around with some colors today too...I'm dreaming up a macaron quilt.  Macarons have been on my brain lately, so I figured why not make a quilt with macarons too?!  In the past, I haven't worked much with solid colors in my quilts, but lately I've been all about stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new things so...

I ordered an old Kona Cotton color swatch calendar and cut out all the swatches.  My little helper was thrilled to help me with the cutting.  I've also seen people make these swatches into magnets by using adhesive magnetic sheets which I think is a fantastic idea...but that's a project for another day! 

Even though the day didn't go as planned, I still feel like it was a successful day because I learned and I grew...and that's really what this quilting journey is all about.