I continue to make basket blocks. I've only a handful left to make before I lay them all out and muse over which blocks I will put where in the final layout. I really love that stage.
To make my blocks I like to prepare 5-6 at a time and piece them together with chain piecing. When I cut each block, I lay the pieces out on a felt board.
Do you use felt boards? My friend Barb introduced me to these some time ago and I find them wonderful. They are simply made with a sheet of Templastic, and a rectangle of felt. The felt I purchase is from a general craft store, it's rather stiff and about 1/8th inch thick. Using double sided tape, the felt is stuck onto the Templastic. The felt I use is slightly smaller than the sheet of Templastic so there is a little trimming to be done. My boards finish roughly 16 x 12 inches.
What do I like about the boards? The fabric pieces cling to the felt and are less likely to move about compared to just placing the block pieces on a table top and the board is easy to move from table to machine, or machine to iron. What I like best though, is that having the smooth Templastic bottom, you can stack multiple boards together and the fabric pieces will not move out of place. Multiple blocks can be prepared in advance.
If you're travelling from home to a sewing day, you can secure multiple layers together with bulldog clips and the pieces will stay together without moving. They have certainly helped me become a lot more time efficient with my piecing.
And just another little hint, if you make these, you will need one of those cheap sticky fabric rollers that remove fluff and loose threads, the boards do hold little fabric fibres and threads. I have one sitting on my sewing bench and after each block I roll it over the board to keep it thread and lint free.
Hope you're finding time for sewing, back to baskets for me.
Lenora.