Something New: Trapunto and Cathedral Windows

I've been busy working away at my Something New Sampler blocks.

The next block up was Cathedral Windows (tutorial HERE).  It's true what they say.  These blocks ARE time consuming and there are so many places for things to not line up, but once you finish the whole thing and take a step back, it looks pretty awesome.  Mostly.

I had an issue that I didn't see anyone else (in the Flickr group) struggling with.  The raw edges of my window pieces sometimes got stuck outside of the white stitched down sections.  See that little corner at the bottom of the blue window?  Yeah.  I don't know.  I did end up using Heat N Bond on both my window pieces AND my petal pieces so that I wouldn't have to sew them down, but wouldn't have to worry about them budging.  It made my block a little stiffer - I noticed that those outer petals (the ones with no window fabric behind them) were easier to sew down.
Ha.  That probably made no sense to those of you who have never made a cathedral windows block before.  Mostly it was just for my own benefit.  I'm thinking of trying a bigger version of these blocks for my second Cathedral Window block.  There is quite a bit of improvement left for me in this block.
See?

I also finished my Trapunto blocks (tutorial HERE).  I really like trapunto.  I have used it once before (check out my "Why Hello" mini HERE), so it was nice to have validation that I did everything more or less correctly.   I'm not sold on the color choices I went with, but hopefully these blocks will still look alright with everything else in the quilt.

And here's my second version, in keeping with the patriotic theme:

I used my Crayola Washable Markers again.  They are awesome.  I'm never buying a disappearing ink marker again. ;)

Oh yeah - I also made this lanyard for my keys.  Long story short - I learned that it is not a good idea to set your keys down on the hood of your sister's car without remembering to retrieve them before she drives away.  Blah.  Had to get a brand new set of keys.  I also learned that I pretty much lose my keys every time I put them in my purse or pocket - unless I have a big long leash attached to them.
Anyway, this lanyard was SUPER easy and took like half an hour (once I narrowed my fabric choices down considerably).  As always, I found a tutorial to make things easier on myself.  I used THIS ONE HERE.  It was great. 

Stay tuned to see the awesome skirt I made!  I'm feeling so domestic!