I'm Sewing Every Day in July

I have been challenged by Pat Sloan to sew every day in July.  It can be a few stitches to sew  on a binding, cutting out a quilt, sewing for a few minutes, or all day, by hand or machine.     You can read more about Pat's Sew Every Day in July Challenge here.

My first day was spent straightening up my sewing room.  I had fabrics that needed to be folded, and I did some rearranging.

I can't believe I'm showing you this photo.  I have some decluttering to do. It's always a work in progress.  This isn't all of my fabric, by the way.  I keep my seasonal fabrics (Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day, Easter, Patriotic, Halloween, and Christmas) in other places because I don't use them all the time.

Back to the Challenge...

While straightening up my sewing room, I started looking through some of my UFO boxes.  I found a Bow Tie quilt that I had started about 7 years ago.  I already had all of the pieces made, and all of them were sewn together except for the final seam that joins the top part of the bowtie to the bottom part. I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't finish.  I am wondering that, as well!

In the meantime, I was reading in Bonnie Hunter's book Leaders and Enders that you can sew two quilts at the same time by using blocks in one project as a leader (instead of a fabric scrap) and as an ender (instead of another fabric scrap).   I thought this would be a great idea for the project I have been working on for Kim's Scrap Basket Sunday.

 I put my half completed bow tie blocks beside my sewing machine and every time I sewed a seam  on my Quick and Easy Pinwheel scrap quilt,  I picked up a bowtie block and completed it.

I am almost finished sewing all 80 of the bowtie blocks, and I have more blocks to sew in the Quick and Easy Pinwheel.  

I really like the idea of sewing two quilts at the same time.  I'm sure I have more unfinished projects that are almost put together like this bow-tie.  There is no telling how many UFO's  I could sew at the same time.  I'm too afraid to look!   Hopefully, with Pat's Sew Every Day in July Challenge will result in several finishes!  After all, a few minutes here, a few minutes there, and voila!  you have a finished quilt top (or two).  

Have a great day!  

Amanda