New duvet cover in progress and a new pressing table

I made the duvet cover I have on my bed when I was living in a postage stamp sized apartment in Brooklyn a few years ago. I called my little apartment there Carb Corner. :) It was 3rd floor walkup above a bagel shop and across the street from a bakery. Every night the bakery would bake bread for the next day, so walking home from the subway after a night out, all you could smell in the air was butter and fresh bread. And then I'd wake to the smell of fresh bagels in the morning. I think the only reason I didn't double my weight was all the walking!  But I digress (and am now craving bread...)..Back to my duvet...I think it's really gorgeous and it's definitely one of my favorite projects.

My duvet with my beautiful Zoe cat who I miss so much... Sniff.

But I've been hankering for a change and have been collecting fabric for the last few months with big plans for a new duvet cover for my bed. It all started with the new collection of Denyse Schmidt fabrics for Joann Fabrics and I've been steadily adding to my pile of fabric with visions for my duvet. Last week I started digging through my collection of quilt books to figure out what pattern I wanted to make. Then I remembered an awesome string quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. It's a great book with some fantastic patterns and great tips.

As I was working on cutting strips the other night I realized that I needed a few more yellow and a few more red fabrics. (Well, maybe not 'needed' exactly ...) My friend Margaret, who owns Form and Fabric, just moved into a new space and even though her business is online only, she was nice enough to let me come drool over her fabric and pick up a few additions for my duvet. She's got a bunch of new stuff that I was dying to take home with me, but I was very controlled and managed to leave with only a few 1/2 yard cuts.

I'm making good headway on my blocks and have half of them complete. I've never done any foundation piecing and it made the process so easy. And my blocks are so tidy! I can hardly wait to see the whole thing come together. The green blocks are next. :)

One of the things that I quickly realized making a string quilt like this is that there was an awful lot of up and down to the ironing and cutting table. And then I remembered a little pressing table I spied somewhere on Flickr. So I traipsed off to Target and found this great little table for $15. I cut 4 pieces of batting and covered 1/2 the table with some of my Urban Circus fabric. A bit of folding and a staple gun later, voila a pressing and cutting table! I can even slide a tiny cutting mat under the fabric for storage. And the whole table can slide right under my sewing table when not in use. Love it!

So stay tuned for more duvet progress!  What's on your sewing table this weekend??