Absent Week

Moving has taken all the wind out of my quilting sails - not only because I packed all my fabrics and sewing things away, but also because unpacking and sorting takes just about all the time I have brainspace for.

Plus, getting rid of the excess of a 600sqm+ house after splitting a household into a 125sqm house and a 60sqm apartment is a big effort.

The only photo I have of a quilt in the last two weeks is this one - 1, 2, 3, Go Momo!



I did this quilt back in 2012, and only just got it quilted. And while I'm trying to sell the bedframe, I thought I'd take a pic or two of the bed with a quilt on it. 1, 2, 3, Go Momo! was just the right size for it.

I feel like I need enough time to breathe, but we're still packing up the remainder of the old house (where the bedframe and furniture is), and unpacking at the new. My ginormous 5x5 IKEA Expedit is all set up in the workroom, my machine is sitting on my Horn sewing cabinet (the machine platform needs a new rim), and I've started unpacking boxes. The problem is primarily one of organisation - the urge to start sorting now is hard to resist. But, really, I'm better off getting everything into the shelves and then working out how I want to arrange it.



Maybe next week I'll get some sewing done?

No Actual WIPs were worked on this week...

So it's not really a WIP Wednesday post...

Basically, I'm supposed to be packing up my quilting space for the move on Saturday.



I was just going to do a bit of sorting and cutting of scraps, before putting my 'current projects' away.

...
...
...

Yeah. I know.

Next thing I know, I've found a bunch of 5" x 5" charm squares from a Bella Solids pack and I'm sewing.



It just turned into a quilt in the space of a couple of hours!



I'm calling it "Licorice Allsorts" although it's informal name is going to be "A Quilt Top Called Procrastination" (after the Tennessee Williams play, obvs).

Not a very complicated quilt, or a terribly precise one. (Not that you can see - I haven't ironed it: all the seams are finger-pressed at best!) But it's probably going to end up covering our floors in the new house - or possibly not since I spread it out for a photoshoot and Smokey promptly rolled on it, leaving a little furry patch on it that's pretty visible. Visible fur = bad floorquilt. We'll see after it's quilted - time to practise some FMQ, I feel!

Speaking of floors - the ones in the house are polished!



That's just the first coat. It looks pretty good, though! I'm about to head over to the house to check out the final product.

It's the final stretch - move on Saturday, unpacking Sunday and next week... It'll be nice to be stable again, not in the middle of everything, but hard to get used to living somewhere else after so long where we've been.

There will probably be no WIP Wednesday next week either, unless I end up doing some sewing on the way in to the city tomorrow night.

WIP Wednesday: The One With Sherbet Binding

Back in the swing of things!

And so: a finish!

1, 2, 3, Go Momo!

On the lawn of the new house:

I was hoping to get something rigged up to hoist it for better photography but no time and equipment! This is at Kim Bradley Creations, during the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild's Sunday Super Sew-in.


I put the binding for this quilt aside when I first made it, and I'm so glad I did: it looks so good with the binding in the matching colours - and the short, colourful lengths.


I called it "the sherbet binding" while making it, because that was what I thought of while putting it all together...

My cats are particularly pleased by it...or rather, by the fact that I've left it lying around, suitable for lounging on.

Smokey:

Mal:

WIPs

Quilting Area

It's a mess right now, between sorting and packing and selling my IKEA EXPEDIT (where I've been storing my fabric these last couple of years).


Most of the fabric is now packed away, and I've decided to put the finished tops away (I was hoping to manage to put some backings together) but I'm cutting up scraps and trying to finish a couple of small projects and bind some of the quilts that have come back (apart from MoMo, I have three other quilts that need binding)...

My sister (B2) moves next Wednesday, which means I need to have my sewing area all cleaned up so she can get the piano out. Then the Saturday after that, my other sister (B1) and I move out into our new house. It's going to take some getting used to: we've grown up in very large houses, and this is really a very small one. Adjustments will be necessary.


Floor Quilts

I have managed a mess of scrap cutting:


These are being turned into quilts for going on the wooden floors of the new house. Don't want rugs - they're awful to clean cat vomit off. Solution: make darkly colourful floor quilts, then wash as necessary.

I can even change 'rug' designs as I please!


The Passacaglia

Have started basteing again. Remembered why I stopped: these pieces!


I have decided I really really hate the B-pieces of the passacaglia. One very acute angle, one very obtuse one, and the fabric never seems to co-operate. *grr*

I'm going to start sewing through these ones; they're just too fiddly and annoying, and they need to be, at the least, decent so they sit right in the rosette centres.


To Do (before moving)

- bind California Girl quilt
- bind Spinning Diamonds
- make at least one floor quilt top

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

To Do list of quilts

Notes for myself - to be added to

to do

snowflake quilt
- make extra snowflake
- put together

Aviatrix Medallion quilt
- maybe early 2015

Heather Ross: Imagine Greater (Imaginary Creatures)
- simple log cabin
- order some unicorns yardage for backing (with pink swimming sisters and gold mermaids)

Magic Stars by Aneela Hoey
- something bright for this

Juliet Dress in Washi Tape Fabrics
- do in new house ASAP - SUMMER IS COMING

baby quilt for Teddy W
- eek

My own design
"Swarm"
- finish the blocks at this month's super sew-in

"Arroyo/Adobe"
- draw up the design

"All The Leaves Are...Brown?"
- draw up the design
- plan the process

House thing:

curtains for house
- Essex Dyed Linen (steel)
- Kate Spain fabrics
- triangles down the length of the curtains?

floor coverings for house
- scrappy
- cut up scraps today
- Moda Modern building blocks?

WIP Wednesday: the one where I get back on the horse

So, my finger has finally healed up to the point where touch it to something doesn’t produce bizarre tingly feelings, so I’ve started doing a little bit of sewing again. Some packing (not half enough) and some sorting.

WIP

This is supposed to be coming together as a shopping tote.

Yes, even with the Kaffe Fassett Pickle Dish blocks.



Except that the colour isn't working. (It's not just the filter, I promise!)

You know when you have this really good mental idea of what something is going to look like, and halfway through you think it’s horrible and awful and WHY DID I DO THAT OH NOES, and then it turns out really really good?

I don't think this is like that. I just can't find this fabric's mojo.



Which is a pity, because I rather like the collection, it's just not working for me.

--

There’s not much more in progress than that. Most of my sewing stuff is packed away, so I can’t just browse fabric and decide to work on something. And I'm in a bit of a lump right now, struggling with all the stuff that needs to happen right now.

Although one bright spot is receiving the Massdrop bundle of Heather Ross’ ‘Far Far Away’!



Far Far Away is a lovely, lovely collection and it will most likely go in the ‘Imaginary Creatures’ quilt which is going to be made up of the Mendocino Mermaids, Gnomes, Unicorns, and aliens from HR’s other collections.

And I need to buy some unicorns yardage for backings. Because.

What have you been up to this week?