The Reader finds a New Hobby

Thanks to the influence of a few friends (well, two in particular....), I've started a new hobby, project, thing. This will be my "mom needs down time" activity, I think.

It all started some zillion months ago when A Labor of Love turned into a rather relaxing, fun thing to do for a friend, and I found that I enjoyed this task that had seemed so daunting at the get-go.

Then I was in Texas and visited a very dear friend, who excitedly shared with me the Jelly Rolls she got for her birthday, and explained how she planned to use them. An idea began to form in my head, and this friend agreed it was a good idea.

Then I called the other dear friend, the one for whom the Labor of Love was done, and ran my idea by her. She enthusiastically sent me a shopping list so I could start off well.

And then my mom and I went shopping, and I found that a quilt shop, if it's a good one (and Painted Pony 'n Quilts is definitely a good one!) can be a really, really fun place to shop. Oh, my. I wanted to take home so much more than my budget allowed.

But, I was good. I stuck to The Plan. I bought one Jelly Roll, and one Pattern, and then just the extra fabric I needed since I was tweaking the pattern a bit. Then later I went and bought just the tools* on my suggested "must buy" list, as compiled by the two dear friends, and one dear aunt who chimed in.

And now I'm home and off to a running, or rather cutting/sewing, start.
My jelly roll turned into this,

and then this,
(front view)

(back view)

and now this.

One block down, 15 to go.  Plus a border after that.

 Wish me luck -- I don't own a sewing machine, you know, so this is going to take a while. But what fun I'll have in the meantime!

*tools purchased: a 45mm rotary cutter, a 3"x18" quilter's ruler, and a little plastic seam presser/creaser thingy. The cutting mat I had around from my scrapbooking days sufficed for now as a cutting mat.