WIP Wednesday: the one with kites!

Holy wow, what a week! Here in Australia we had a long weekend public holiday for Australia Day, and I spent a large chunk of it sewing. As a result I have a finish from a 'WIP' that's been around for a couple of years!

Finished!

Meet the Box Kite block, from Modern Blocks collated by Susanne Woods.



Nice little scrappy block, and my pick for the Books And Blocks Bee - a monthly bee that I joined in 2012. I actually received about 14 of these, because a couple of people said their first attempts weren't good enough and sent me a second block, which was really lovely of them.



I still had to discard one for being just a little too short on the seam allowance, but that was okay, I have plenty of scraps with which to make more!

...maybe too many...



This is what happens when you go through just one of your scrapboxes. I have at least another box, another bag, and a couple of containers of scraps from previous projects! And this isn't counting the very small bits that I'm convinced I could all sew together into a bigmassivehuge scrappy quilt...

And now I have to work out where to put these now that I've organised them; and what to do with these scraps...there's just so many of them. And they breed, I'm sure! *sigh*

Anyway, the idea for this was always to sash the blocks in background fabric, and have dark fabric 'posts' that looks a little like the blocky centres. I think it looks pretty spectacular!



So, need to make a backing and get that done...

In the meantime:

WIP

Sunkissed Town Hall



Still don't like the colour scheme very much, but I'm aiming to have it done by the weekend so I can show it off at the Sydney Southern Cross Quilters' group, and at the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild's Super Sew-In. And, I figure, if I get it all done, then it's out of my hair and I can give it away and get onto colour schemes I much prefer!

Shattered Star Quilt

No progress here. Nothing to see...yeah, nope... Maybe on Sunday after the Sydney MQG Sew-In - more on that later!

Simone's Baby Things Bag

Still haven't started the baby things bag - I don't even know if my friend has had her baby yet! *checks FB* Nope, not yet. Should get on that pretty directly, I think!

#greataussiedestash

This was, as far as I'm concerned, quite a success! I got a lot of stuff off to people, and while there's still quite a bit left over, I think I'm going to chop a lot of the yardage up and turn it into smaller colour-packs (and reduce the price).



My sister, upon discovering I'd destashed, looked at what remained and asked, "Are you sure you've already destashed?"

Gee, sis, thanks...

I also bought a few things: mostly books, but a little bit of fabric (to add to collections I already have in FQ bundles): "Scrap Basket Surprises", "Quilts From The House Of Tula Pink", and Angela Walter's "Free Motion Quilting".



To Do:
Sydney MQG: Pickle Dish group quilt (use for those scraps, perhaps?)
Mendocino 2: I still have quite a bit of Mendocino Mermaids left, and I want to use it in square blocks (something that won't waste too much of the fabric) - I was thinking one of the quilts in 'House Of Tula Pink' looks promising. I just have to find a suitable background fabric for the blocks...

And finally...

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild
What: Super Sew-In!
When: Sunday 2nd Feb, 10am-4pm!
Where: Kim Bradley Creations, out Castle Hill way!
Details: More here at the SMQG site - but it's basically a big sew-in with lots of people, lots of chatter, and the opportunity to take a few hours of hardcore sewing time out from the usual distractions of life!

What have you been doing? Did you buy anything from the destash in your country/locale? How are your WIPs?

#greataussiedestash: the rundown

So, we came, we destashed...we bought a few things (a very few, honest)!

I sold four Mendocino scrap packs and two Mendocino fat quarter bundles (blush colourway), Aneela Hoey, Snap Pop, Kate Spain, Bowood House and a bunch of other things!


There's still a bunch of stuff available under the #greataussiedestash tag on instagram!


If you're interested in any of the stuff I have displayed above (much of the 'big name' stuff is gone, I'm afraid) then my instagram is seldear. I'll be doing another destash in late Feb - and there will definitely be more Mendocino!

And now it's time for a drink - a soda cocktail with vodka-soaked fruit! Delicious!


I admit, I was hoping to advertise this through WIP Wednesday...only Lee oopsed and forgot which day it was! So, yeah, nope. Ah well. Them's the breaks.

WIP Wednesday: the one with destash!

So it's been a slightly crazy fortnight for me, what with a work project ramping up and lots of stress and cross co-workers. Quilting has been something of a refuge, but I haven't had the chance to post any progress.

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild

We had the first Sit & Sew for the Sydney MQG on Saturday, in the new Greta's Handicrafts store, and while it was small, it was cosy and chatty and much fun was had and much sewing was done.


I'm thinking of making a smaller version of the Rainbow Connection. (Yeah, I know.)

The next meeting for the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild is the big bi-monthly Super Sew-In, which will be taking place up at Kim Bradley Creations on the 2nd Feb. It will be big. And awesome. And with lots of sewing! Details are here - you need to RSVP - and both Guild members and guests are welcome.

Also: a list of meeting dates for 2014 on the site, as well as a contact email if you’d like to come along!

Pattern Testing for Penny Poppleton

I'm pattern testing for Penny Poppleton, which involves a lot of HSTs, sewing, cutting, ironing, trimming, arranging, sewing...


Pattern testing is actually harder for me than it should be. My instinct is to look at something and just go "oh, I can do that" and start making blocks. A 'can do' attitude is fine when you're looking at the finished product...not so good when you're trying to test a pattern for someone!


The questions that are easy to ignore when you're doing it on your own steam are crucially important when pattern testing! 'Is there enough fabric?' 'Have I got enough yardage?' 'Did I completely screw an instruction along the way?' 'Does anything need to be clearer?'


While sewing and cutting and ironing, though, I got through 5 episodes of Almost Human and 2 of Sleepy Hollow! Catching up with TV for the win!

So I'm getting there. I just got a little distracted along the way...

Let's Go Fly A Kite!

These are the blocks I received in the Modern Blocks swap of 2012 - 12 participants, everyone picked a block, everyone else made it and sent it along per month. It's kind of fun, but also quite a lot of effort over the course of the 12 months when I have a dozen other things on the brain.


There'll be posting and sashing - small posts of dark-coloured squares, and white/cream sashing.

But I need a couple more blocks (I want a slightly bigger quilt), so I've been cutting and sewing pieces this week.


Incidentally, when you get the triangles the wrong way around, it's a PITA to unpick and resew!



But I think it's going to look gorgeous when it's done!

Result of all this cutting? My sewing space is a mess. You know those bloggers whose sewing rooms are beautifully arranged and organised? Classy spaces! Elegant machines! Past projects hanging on the walls! Colour-sorted stashes?


So. Not. Me.

The Great Aussie Destash

And then on top of all that, we have the #greataussiedestash scheduled for this THURSDAY (I had the wrong day initially) on Instagram. Which occasions a massive clean-out of a whole bunch of fabrics that I bought and tucked away and am, frankly, never going to use.


To say nothing of a bunch of fabrics that I've been intending to sell for a while.


Yes, that is Mendocino Mermaids, yes, I will be selling those two packs in the destash. Also Secret Garden (1/2 yards), a lot of half-yards of varying patterns that don't really take my fancy anymore, and a number of precuts: Honey Honey (Kate Spain), Pop Snap (Sandy Gervaise), Indian Summer (Riley Blake), Make Life (Sweetwater), and some batik strip packs.


I need to clear out a lot of my stash since I'll be moving this year - most likely downsizing to a smaller house, although the possibility still exists that I'll have to find a unit. However, I will almost certainly have a separate room for sewing!

Further details are up over at Penny Poppleton, and I’m seldear on instagram if you’re interested in anything I have.

TO DO

1. baby bag for Simone - HIGH PRIORITY (she’s due this week!)
2. Mendocino Mermaids quilt background (including paper piecing, although not of Mendocino fabrics)
3. backings, backings, backings (and then quilting quilting quilting!)

What about you? What have you been doing these last few weeks?

The Great Aussie Destash!

Attention fabric lovers all across the blogosphere!

In honour of Australia Day (26th January) and copying the US and UK quilting bloggers, the Great Aussie Destash is scheduled for this Friday 23rd January on instagram!


I'll be destashing a bunch of the fabric above - with the exception of the Kate Spain 'Good Fortune' FQ bundle, since one of my fellow Australians has bagsed it (do people in other countries "bags" things? eg. "I bags the front!")

In that photo are a lot of Secret Garden by Sandi Henderson, Washi by Rashida Coleman, along with a great many other fabrics (usually 0.5 yards, although some FQs). Good stash builders!

Not in that photo are the other fabric bundles I have. Including several Moda lines, Aneela Hoey, and at least one Mendocino Blush 'pack'. (I don't like the colourway as much as the others, so there'll be some swimming sisters, and some seahorses at least, and I'll see if I can't dig up some octopi and mermaids to go with it.)

Postage is going to be the kicker, I suspect.

Within Australia, it could be anywhere from $4 upwards, depending on weight.

Internationally, it will be at least $20 for air mail, and that's not even including tracking! (It's around ~$26 with tracking.)

For those of you who'd like to participate, I'm seldear on Instagram, and the hashtag is (probably) going to be #greataussiedestash!

WIP Wednesday: the one with Christmas photos!

Happy New Year! I hope your Christmas/holidays went well and that you weren't haunted by hollow-eyed Santas:

I think he's supposed to be wearing sunglasses. But, yeah, really bad art!

Here, have some cute kitteh wearing Christmas ribbons to rinse out your retinas!

Good lord, but my cats are cute. *pets them*

Anyway, my Christmas break was great - two weeks off from work - except for the bit where I'm now back at work and, ugh, it's awful. The horrible thing about holidays - coming back!

Anyway, to top off the horribleness of the week, here's a list of all the things I haven't done these last two weeks:
- sewn together the Sunkissed Town Hall blocks into a top
- finished the baby quilt for the baby shower last Saturday
- made quilts, wall-to-wall for the two weeks I was off work

Ah, the good intentions we have, so easly derailed!

What I actually did instead:

Made A Messenger Bag

For a friend whose 30th involved getting dressed up. No pics of my costume, which was a very simple Melinda May, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, featuring a leather jacket with S.H.I.E.L.D logo patches, a pair of jeans that were way too hot for the weather, and an ordinary work top. :)


I thought the bright colours would suit my friend nicely, and she really liked it, so yay!

Around The World mini-quilt
I was putting this together from the 2 1/2" strips I cut from my Kona solids collection (left over from making the Eternity Quilt) and then realised I don't like the colour scheme very much. So a mini-quilt it's going to stay.


But that's one more thing off the WIP-tops pile!


I think I might have to start a WIP 'finished quilts' pile, because these babies are building up...

Heirloom Summer Dress

With summer at its peak, we had a few ridiculous hot and sticky days, and I discovered the joy of a slip-on dress - about twelve years old, lightweight and comfy, Unfortunately, I also realised the dress is nearly falling apart - and a really simple design. So I laid it down on some remnant Joel Dewberry Heirloom voile that I had left over from making another dress back in April/May last year. And then I had to make a lining slip for it, because it was just a little too see through!


But it looks pretty good, I think. And I have more voile about the place, as well as some cotton that I always intended to make into a dress of some kind. And although it's not fitted, I think it's pretty much my style - that comfy casual look, not quite so fitted and zippered...


Still needs hemming - and possibly a small 'hemband' since I'd like it just a squidge longer. Probably not more than an inch or two, but just down to the tops of my knees would be nice!


More will be on the way - it was really much simpler than I expected!

Ate ridiculous amounts of food

I had a good Christmas - three of them, in fact, since my two stepbrothers were neither of them in the country at the same time, and neither on Christmas Day. This meant a lot of meals - dinners mostly - which meant a lot of food.


A lot of food.


Did I mention the food?


And now I am about 7kgs heavier than my ideal weight. Mostly around my waist, which makes me feel tubby when I try to get into my work trousers, although I don't look it so much. And I need to get back into the gym habit again soon, because there's one right outside my work and it has lunchtime classes and everything!

Not looking forward to the first few classes, but it will be nice to feel that exercise-endorphin rush again!

Anyway, let me leave the last word to my kittehs:




How's your 2014 going so far? Have you done any sewing these last few weeks? And have you linked up to Freshly Pieced?