But first, this...

Blogs are a great place to find inspiration for the next big project, but they are also full of temptation! After finishing a quilt at the weekend and deciding to take part in the Granny Squares Quilt - along in March, I mooched round some blogs to see what amazing things other people were doing. (You know, the kind of things that make you feel like an eight year old with no hope of ever being that good!) Anyway, I came across a blog called A Little Bit Biased (clever) and a very pretty stash busting free tutorial. My first instinct was - wow, that's  incredibly pretty, and totally off my skill radar - but then I looked at her instructions and wondered.....

Block #1

#2 - you get the picture.

 The scrap jar stars, as she called them, would look amazing in a quilt for the garden hammock in summer, thought I. And, I mused, I have a massive box of scrap pieces that I haven't touched in ages - all sorts of small pieces of bright coloured fabric that I felt wouldn't be suitable for just one project. As soon as I thought that, I was hooked, totally. (I'm sew weak!) I cut one block to see how it went, just to play and go through the instructions. They are really good - if I was to buy a quilt pattern, I'd have confidence in Amber's patterns because they're so, so clear and user friendly. (For user friendly read idiot sewer friendly.) I'm hooked. Like a fish. It's a good job I'm not at work this week and next, because yesterday I sewed 6 blocks (in between half term activities and the bare minimum of cleaning.)

Lizzie the Quilter must have had the same idea, but she finished hers in lightspeed - I'm aiming for 'before the hammock has to be packed away again.' I just love the finished look for this quilt, it's so pretty for a stash buster. And it's what I'll be doing up to the first of March.