WIP Wednesday: the one with lots of finishes!

So, this week, all the stars aligned, the heavens sang, I got my ass into gear and finished a whole bunch of things!

(and yes, there's a little bit of WIP at the end - I promise!)

Finishes

Shattered Star

So, I said I finished pattern-testing the Shattered Star last week, but I only got around to photographing it in all it's giant, subtle glory on the weekend.


It's pretty big - about 85" x 85" - and the star is a lot more subtle than I was hoping it would be. But it's a great pattern (in spite of the horror of all those HSTs) and when Jenn publishes it, I'm sure it'll be very popular!

Simone's Super-Tote!

After a great deal of procrastination (two months since I promised to make it), we proudly present THE SUPER-TOTE!


Once I actually got all the pieces of this together, it took about 4 hours to assemble. And quite a lot of that was reading and re-reading the pattern to make sure I wasn't going to, I don't know, sew the straps inside the lining or something stupid like that. (I didn't. But it was close.)

I changed up the pattern a little because the fabric I used as the bag base had such a lovely design, I couldn't bear to cover it up with an external pocket!


I also didn't do the elasticised inside pockets. Because I couldn't find my elastic. (My notion of storing sewing notions is to shove them in a drawer somewhere. Anywhere!)


It'll get sent out just as soon as I finish the half-dozen 'baby change cones' so Simone's little boy doesn't pee all over her while she's changing him! (On the list of things to do tonight.)

SMQG Pickle Dish

So, the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild has decided to do a 'pickle dish' quilt out of the Kaffe Fassett book 'Quilt Romance'. We purchased the book from out of Guild funds, and have been distributing the patterns to our members for making.


I've had the patterns for these since, oh, December last year. Actually getting them done? Not until this past Monday night. THIS PAST MONDAY.

And only because we have to get the quilt together in time for the submission to the NSW Quilt Guild for the 2014 Show in June!


I'll make a couple more for the guild if they're needed, but in the meantime, I need to actually get a move on my own submission for the 2014 Show...

WIPs

I have plans for two quilts, which will be easy enough to finish before June (the show) but which I need to have in some form of completion for the submission (15th March).

Seeing as the 2014 Sydney Quilt Show now has a 'modern' category for judging, I'm going to submit two quilts in there. We can always do with more 'modern' quilts in the show!


Quilt One: Symphony in Solids

This is a pretty simple idea: HSTs in solids, and the design/layout will be the 'modern' look. Traditional piecing, but with the dramatic look of the richly coloured fabrics and the blocks laid out to decieve the eye.

My current fabric choices are Kona Stone + Reese Scanell's shot cottons. I've had a bunch of Scanell Shot Cottons stored up since the last Quilt Show (or possibly longer) and this seems like an excellent time and place to use them.

I'm not looking forward to the HSTs, though. Expect lost of moaning and whining and questioning of my sanity!

Quilt TWo: Planned Improv

This one is going to be rather more complicated - a lot of improv piecing within framed and formal blocks, some paper-pieced blocks, curves, circles, and perhaps a little bit of code!

It'll be scrappy, but with solid panels for the background, and I'm hoping to 'float' the framed improv bits on the quilt top.

A lot of work, but I think it's time I tried something a little different to my usual process of "chain piece the blocks! Chain piece ALL THE BLOCKS!" And it'll be a learning experience. (That, or a test of my sanity.)

--

So, after all that, what have you been doing this week? Have you linked up to the party at Freshly Pieced?

Is it a block? Is it a quilt? No! It's SUPER-TOTE!

This is my bag, baby!

*does the opening scene dance from Austin Powers*



Because whatever I think of the rest of the series, I really adore that opening sequence. :D

So, my 'baby bag' for Simone is late (her son is just coming up to a month old), but it's been so difficult to persuade myself to actually get moving on this - partly because of unfamiliarity with the pattern, partly because I had a gajillion and one other things to finish off!

But it's done!


The pattern is Super-Tote by noodlehead, although I made some modifications.


No front pocket for starters. Mostly because it would have been a shame to cover up the beautiful Echino fabric pattern on the front, but also because I didn't want to complicate things too much to start with.


I also skipped the inside elasticised pocket, opting for two pockets - one larger, one smaller. I'm not sure how useful they'll be, but they were certainly easier to put together!


It's really quite a neat bag, all up! I just hope its useful.


The 'baby change cones' I'm making, on the other hand, will be useful, since her son has already peed on the curtains during a change!

The pattern is from Little Birdie Secrets, and while the blogger laughed at the name, I can't quite bring myself to call them "Pee-pee Teepees" - the phrase 'pee-pee' just seems so...twee.

I'm putting half a dozen of those in with the bag - along with some nice chocolate. I'd send her a bottle of a wine we both like, but, yeah, breastfeeding. Fortunately, there's no law against nice chocolate while you're breastfeeding! (If they ever declare chocolate off-limits during breastfeeding, there will definitely be a revolt.)

And that's another finish for this week!

Now, for my next trick...my quilt show quilt for 2014!

Shattered Star - FINISHED

Well, this hasn't happened in a while - a post that isn't WIP Wednesday!

I feel like I've been making this forever! Probably because I promised Jenn of Penny Poppleton that I'd pattern test at the start of summer and then got...distracted by everything else going on. So I didn't actually start this until January!


And the HSTs went on forever.



It's not really, it just feels that way, with all the HSTs.

So many HSTs!


And I don't count my HSTs as I make them, so I have no idea if I have enough or if I need more!

And then I discover that, yes, I need more. And that I'm out of the exact feature fabric I used before, and that I'll have to improvise a little.


But slowly, it all starts to come together!


Just not as clearly-defined as I'd like!



Nevertheless - and with a little bit of emergency repairwork for a corner that was seriously short (as in, a 1/2" short of fabric along the diagonal - I finally made a big push to bring it all together!


Assisted by an adorbsable, yet unhelpful cat:


I admit, I wasn't very pleased by the lack of definition of the central star in the first pictures I took after I completed the quilt:


But in broad daylight and hung out to be viewed, the star does appear - and looks wonderfully subtle - as Jenn herself predicted over on instagram!


It's a ginormous quilt. about 85" square - but it'll be great for a queen-sized bed!

WIP Wednesday: the one with the Shattered Star

Sorry, not much to report this week! Since I wrote this post, quite a bit has happened!

Finished

Shattered Star

Finally - the top is done!

It doesn't look quite as spectacular as I hoped (it's not as distinct in colour difference as I anticipated), but it's still a lovely, subtle star.



More detail tomorrow or Friday, when I put together a post. In the meantime, you can see the pics on Flickr or Instagram (seldear).

WIPs

Simone's Baby Bag:

Cut, but not sewn. I'm hoping to get that done this weekend while away at (writing) camp:


URGENT TO DO

Also to do at (writing) camp:
- plan out my Sydney Quilt Show quilt: something modern. I have ideas, I just need to work them out more carefully.
- finish the block for the Sydney MQG which is having an Emergency Sew-In to finish off the blocks for the Sydney Quilt Show.

Linking up to the party at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday: the one with not enough of anything...

Only a moderately productive week, alas!

WIP

Shattered Star Quilt

Still going! But it's all starting to come together now!


There's been a lot of counting in the last ten days. How many HSTs do I have? How many HSTs do I need? Do I have more of the correct fabric? What if I don't?


(I didn't have enough HSTs, I needed to create about 30 more - that was my use-of-fat-quarters, and my lack-of-counting-blocks, not a pattern issue!)

Anyway, one quarter of the center top done - three to go!


And the borders - let's not forget the borders!

Simone's Baby Things Bag

I started cutting, realised the front pocket would cover the lovely Echino pattern I'm using - Wish Birds in Purple - and so dumped the front pocket. And then I ran out of interfacing and had to find time to get some more. Newsflash: I work 8-5 and can't easily get to a shop that stays open later than 5pm.

But I will get it done! I will! I must!

(Still) To Do:
Sydney MQG: Pickle Dish group quilt

Sydney Quilt Show Quilt: AUUUUUGH! I need to have something laid out for the submission by the end of March! WHERE ON EARTH AM I GOING TO FIND THE TIME?

I did sketch out some designs during the week while bored at work, though. Don't know if I actually like them. But I'm deliberately focusing on entering a Modern Quilt this year - which, to me, means a traditional pattern, with modern influences of negative space, solids, and patterning. I'd really like to include ombre in the colour themes, too.

I feel like I need to print out a bunch of tiny little block patterns and then play 'put them together in pretty patterns'. Which probably isn't such a bad idea...

I hope your week has been less frantic and more productive than mine!

WIP Wednesday: the one with pattern testing!

Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate it!

My family pretty much just have a family dinner and that's about the extent of it; we're not at all superstitious, and while my grandmother kept the cultural traditions, we tend to only carry them on in her memory.

So there was dinner with my parents and some family friends. Not as much food as usual, in fact. Which is fine. One can eat too much.


But I did learn how to make Tzin Dui - deep fried glutinous rice balls filled with red bean paste.



Inching along! Some progress on a few things that I've been working on for far too long!

Finished!

Sunkissed Town Hall

I've been working on it for at least a couple of months, but I finally got it done! Hurray!



WIP

Shattered Star Quilt

So, pattern testing. I am the wrong person to pattern test, because I don't follow instructions very well. And I think we developed a small problem where I was using fat quarters, but the pattern assumed yardage, so I'm a little short.

And then I didn't count how many blocks I had.



But I did discover an error in the actual pattern!

And so now it's time to rectify things. And do the counting. And hope that I haven't miscounted somewhere else along the way!



But it's otherwise coming along quite nicely!



Simone's Baby Things Bag

Yeah, nope. Baby was born on Friday, still haven't done anything about this bag. BAH.

#greataussiedestash

Last few things from the Great Aussie Destash!






And some fabric from Hawthorne threads:

Voile:


Low-volume:



(Still) To Do:
Sydney MQG: Pickle Dish group quilt (use for those scraps, perhaps?)
Sydney Quilt Show Quilt: I still haven't decided what I'm going to do about this. I need to hurry up!

And finally...

The Sydney Modern Quilt Guild sew-in was great fun - six women, five machines, and lots of sewing and chatting and getting things done without any distractions!