getting the quilt top put together - yay!

Wow!!! You guys are awesome!  That's the biggest group of sew & tellers that we've had since we started last fall!  Thanks to all of you who come each week and for those newbies among you, we are so glad to have you!  I love seeing what everyone is up to! (even though I can't always leave comments as my time is limited these days. boooo.)

I also wanted to clarify one thing about all the bags I make.  Only about half of them are gifts (mostly for family).  I do sell a lot of them (mostly to people I do know).  Some of the comments made me feel like maybe you all thought I was way more generous than I really am - and that made me feel funny.  As well as writing this last paragraph....anywhooooo....
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So I've been working away on the baby quilt! I finished sewing the top together on Saturday!

Here's what I did, once I decided on a layout I liked.  I know, I'm nutty.  I did end up changing a few things around to anchor those dark prints a bit better.  Thanks for all of your input!!

First, I stacked up each row and labeled them so I could just pick them up and start sewing.

Then, once I had the rows sewn up I pressed the seam allowances as I sewed each row together.  When doing a squares quilt, I like to press the seam allowances to the side, alternating the direction with each row.

That way, when you sew the rows together, the corners 'lock' into place.

And you end up with some pretty straight corners that match up!

 I can't take credit for this technique.  My mom taught me how to do this.  Thanks, Mom! (How's that New York Beauty coming along?)

I'm really going to try and get this quilted this week.  We'll see how that goes.  I'll show you the whole thing once it's finished.  Oooooooh!  The suspense!!
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In other news:
I took this picture in San Diego while we were there in January.  (I kind of feel like that big fat seal sea lion there on the right.)

It was picked up (from Flickr) for inclusion in an online tourist guide!  I'm totally flattered! It's not a huge picture - but it's up there in the right hand corner with my name on it!