2019 FAL: Q4 Finish "C4 Quilt"

Finish Along Q4 Goals

Another one of the original C4 Quilts done.



The only problem is that I've changed the requirement...

2019 FAL: Q4 Finish "Halloween Curtains"

Finish Along Q4 Goals

Two: Halloween Curtains


Now to decide whether or not to quilt it.

First Monday Of The Month: November!

Oh boy, I nearly missed this!

First Monday Of the Month, to push myself to do more sewing (because otherwise it gets lost under everything else in my life that wants doing).

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1. I rejigged the C4 quilts, and have not-quite-finished the first one:


Actually, I've found I prefer it on the vertical rather than the horizontal.

Although either way it feels...chunky. Less elegant than I'd like. *sigh*

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2. I finished the All Saints Curtains for Halloween.

This is the partly-finished version:


This is the full version hanging up against the window:


Fabric is De La Luna by Tula, with the dia de los muertos ladies on it.

Now that I've done that...I'll have to finish the curtain in time for Christmas!!

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Halloween in our area was reasonably busy. We had two bags of sweets and they were gone in an hour and a half.

But I also sat outside in the yard, offering drinks to the parents (it was water! Yes, it was in a vodka bottle, but it was still water!) and working on my garden planning. This was mostly because I'm working to develop community in the neighbourhood, make a few more connections with people. I didn't get dressed up this year - I don't have a light cosplay for Halloween, unless it's the Number Six Cylon dress and I made that 10 years ago and doubt I'd fit into it anymore. Instead, I just put on a nice pink dress I'd made a couple of years ago and a sunbonnet and waited for the kids to come by.

C4 Quilts: rejig

Trying to sort out Design Seed color palettes based off the solids that I have:

Steel - Deep Sepia
Slate - Periwinkle
Ash - Bone
Iron - Metal

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Cousin M: mid-thirties, adventurer, does a lot of rock-climbing. So I was thinking something that carries the idea of the mountains and the rocks and the wild.

Iron: Wander Tones




Cousin P: early-thirties, office professional, gamer-quiet. He and his gf are living in their grandparents' old house (heritage listed, the family can't sell it for love or money), and apparently they have whole gaming campaigns up on their living room wall.

Slate: Shuttered Hues




Cousin K: v early-thirties, professional photographer, stylish. She's always beautifully put together in a casually elegant way, and does

Steel: Color Shore



Alts:
Steel: Color View
Steel: Flora Tones


Cousin P: late-twenties, bubbly, fashionable

Ash: Urchin Pastels



Alt:
Ash: Mental Vacation

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Seriously, though, I'd forgotten how much fun it is to play with color boards!

First Monday Of The Month: October

Gee, I'm really terrible at this business of keeping up the blog. I missed August's first Monday so turned it into the last Monday, then I completely forgot about September!

Anyway, we're back. Hopefully to be a bit more productive these next three months; there are things which must be done!

1. Cousin Quilts - a change in direction

I was planning to gift a set of four penny patch quilts to a quartet of cousins. The cousins are all in their 30s, one is getting married at the end of this month. We're not hugely close - I think the affection is more on our side than on theirs.

However, this morning I thought about it and, looking at the design and fabric I've chosen - traditional in Traditional fabrics - I'm doubtful that that's going to be in their style.


It's a great pattern, maybe a bit busy with this fabric, just probably not everyone's thing.


Instead, I was thinking of something like The Flight Quilt (as rendered by Joanne's Design, although she indicates that she got the idea from a quilt that was labelled 'Simple' but didn't have any attribution to it). It can be done in a variety of colours and with either colours or a neutral as the background.


In Kona Solids, because I still have the better part of 200 FQs of Kona Solids and I'm pretty sure I can work out a way to use them like this.

I'd colour co-ordinate them according to the style of the cousin in question. M would be rich earth colours, P would be bright-saturateds, K would be stylish and elegant, and P would be pretty yet classic.

What am I going to do with the Penny Patches? Dunno. Thought I might give them to a friend's family, but...really not sure it's their style, either. I mean, they'd be happy with it anyway, but...hmf.

Oh well, more quilt tops at any rate.

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Otherwise, for Halloween I was planning to make curtain fronts for the lounge room and maybe the study using Tula Pink's De La Luna (which takes inspiration from the Día de Muertos celebration of Mexico), using the Penny Patch pattern again.

The major things vying for my attention right now though are: the garden, the fiction writing. Oh, and the cats.


But that's usual for cats.

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I should probably make an icon and a banner or something, shouldn't I?

2019 Q3 Finish: C4 Quilt #1

Finish Along Q3 Goals

I said I only finished one goal, but I finished a part of another.

Six: Cousin P's quilt

This is the first of the cousin quilts: grey and green with black highlights.



There's also pink and grey with dark blue highlights, orange and grey with green highlights, and grey and green with blue highlights. Still don't know who is getting which quilt yet. Don't even know if they like the style, so that might be a bit of a Russian roulette.

Still, one more quilt top done.

2019 FAL: Q4 goals

A lot of retreads this quarter; I didn't get much done in Q3.

One: Mum's laptop sleeve

Christmas 2019!



Two: Halloween curtains

Tula Pink De La Luna in a Penny Patch Quilt (Quilt Along Link: Stitched In Color 2013).

Penny Patch quilts are actually pretty fast, and this one has a deadline - the end of October (obviously).

Three - Six: the four-cousins quilts

Four quilts for four siblings in Moda's Rooftop Garden line, in the Penny Patch pattern.

Quilt 1: Finished!

Quilt 2: WIP

Quilts 3 and 4 are cut but the pieces haven't yet been put together. They just need to be done by Christmas I think.

Seven: One more UFO

I just want to finish one more UFO. That's all.

2019 Q3 Finish: Soroptimist Raffle Quilt

The only finish I actually managed this quarter, although I have made a start on the Cousin P quilts at least!


Finish Along Q3 Goals

Four: Soroptimist Raffle Quilt


Fabric line is Joel Dewberry's Notting Hill, I didn't use a pattern, I just made blocks and fitted them together.

Done and raffled and the person is apparently very happy with it.

Last Monday of the Month?

I was going to do a First Monday of the Month for August, and then forgot entirely about it. I’ll try to remember to do one next week, but no guarantees on that.

So here’s a Last Monday Of The Month.

I haven’t really done anything during August for quilting, not even the quilt that I promised my mother I would have done for her branch of Soroptimists International.

My original idea was this quilt – the Lava Flow pattern – made out of 2.5” x 4.5” blocks. It’s dramatic and interesting and unusual and modern.


Except that mum asked for a ‘pretty’ quilt. So I dug up some older fabrics that I haven’t really hada use for and have made a ‘pretty’ quilt out of far simpler blocks:


Hopefully can get the top done by the end of the week.

First Monday Of The Month

So, I haven't blogged here much at all the last couple of years. Too many other things to do, including fret about the state of the world.

One of the reasons I stopped blogging my quilting and slowed down was because I didn't have the old WIP Wednesday to keep me going. The quilter who was running it got busy with kids and family and her shop and stopped doing WIP Wednesdays. I think she said it was going to be temporary, but I haven't seen it kick back in.

So I'm going to start doing First Monday of the Month (and maybe Mid-Monday of the Month) to get myself back into quilt blogging. I like talking about my quilts and quilt processes, and yes, it takes a bit more time but even a picture and a quick ramble is sometimes good.

And no, I'm not an instagram influencer, intent on my life being visually elegant. It'll be messy and awkward and very much not instaperfect. I have no photographic training, just an eye for what I like (which isn't necessarily what other people like).

So I'm going to try First Monday of the Month in just over 2 weeks. No muss, no fuss, just some progress on my projects. Which means I need to have projects and I need to have projects. So. That should get me moving...

2019 Finish Along: Q3 Goals

One and Two: complete at least 2 UFO Challenges out of the six remaining that have been optioned for this year

I've been really remiss with these:

Jan - 100 Tula Blocks
Feb - blue stars from 50 states
Mar - QAYG FMQ blocks
Apr - Bard of Avon - scrappy
May - Scarlet Split Square (sew together)
Jun - Rainbow Neutrals
Jul - Kona: Around The World

So my goal for the next quarter is to finish two of these such that they're quilt tops. I thought about putting down just one as a goal, but if I do that, I'll probably finish three. That's the way my brain works...


Three: Mum's laptop sleeve

...This was supposed to be her Christmas present. And then I made it and got the dimensions wrong and, ugh, I just don't feel like redoing it.



Four: Soroptimist Raffle Quilt

In her retirement, my mother is involved with the Sydney branch of Soroptimists International (Facebook | website), and they run a raffle and a high tea every year. The last couple of years I've made a quilt for them to raffle off, and apparently it's a big selling point.

So I have to put together a raffle quilt. Something bright and simple and not too large, says my mother. I definitely have an idea, as usual, it's just a question ot getting it all together.


Five: Start the Kinship 100

Two of my Australian quilting friends - Gnomeangel and Skyberries - have put together a pattern of 100 blocks, called the Kinship Quilt. They're running it for the #100Days100Blocks2019 challenge which started two days ago.

I'm not registered for the challenge this year; I didn't prepare, didn't set up for it or anything, but I have the pattern and I'm going to do it! At the least, I'd like to start sometime in the next quarter. I'll probably do it in Kona and Tula fabrics again.


Six: Cousin P's quilt

Cousin P is getting married in October. She's the youngest of the 12 grandchilden on my mother's side of the family, and a good fourteen years my junior. We haven't been close for a number of years now, so we're not invited to the wedding (also, due to scheduling issues, many of the cousins couldn't make it to the engagement party and apparently P was rather disappointed that we weren't there so: no wedding invite).

Still, I'd like to make her and her husband a quilt. There's a slightly cynical side of me that says, "if only to use up my miles of fabric" - but...I'd like to make more quilts for giving away to family.

Anyway, P gets married in October, so we'll see if we can put something together before then...


I think that's the outside limit of what I could get done this quarter. It should be enough, don't you think? :)

Mid-Year Shutdown

I always struggle a little after the Quilt Show. It's like I'm all quilted out and now just want to take a break.

Plus, these days, I have the garden, I have writing, I have a job, I have a house... So many things to worry about and not half enough time to do anything about them.

But I have a room still full of fabric which isn't being used quite fast enough. So...it's a conundrum.

FAL Q2 Finish: Send Jeremy's Quilt

Q2 Goals Post

Jeremy is the son of my oldest cousin, a teenager with a love for...a football team in the UK with blue and yellow as their colours? (Can you tell I don't follow the European football leagues?) Anyway, I gave his sister Stephanie the Walkabout quilt, and have been promising him one for two years...

I finally got it backed at the end of last year, and quilted by Jo at Thirroul Custom Quilting.

It came back, got bound, and got sent.


I got a nice card back, which was a bit amusing because I know his mum probably nudged him into getting him to write it. Hopefully he really does like the quilt...

I can't seem to find a full picture of it bound and completed anywhere, unfortunately. But it is! I promise!

FAL Q2 Finish: Bind and send Birthday Stars

Q2 Goals Post

binding
- Birthday Stars: it's sitting around taking up space!

Done and sent!

This one's been around since, oh, 2013-ish as well. I did a birthday block swap for a couple of years (2011-2012, I believe) and while this one went better than the first one (where the sizes were all over the place, and people used rather crappy fabrics), I still didn't feel like the blocks were me. I ended up making another five blocks to make it 4x4 blocks and a 'colourwash' (sort of).

It looks much better now!




On the back, I made another quilt top, experimenting with 'wonky' log cabins. (I know, they don't look wonky, but they are a little.)


I had to add a border to the Birthday Stars flimsy to make it large enough for the Wonky Cabins, but I like the result.

I didn't take a photo of it hanging, so I'll have to ask my friend to send me a proper photo when she receives it.

Three QAL finishes!

FAL Q2 Finish: Quilt Show Quilt 2

Q2 Goals Post

Diamonds Are A Quilter's Best Friend


This one has sat around for years - since 2013, in fact! The charm squares were part of a charm swap of Kona solids.

WIP Wednesday: the one where diamonds are a quilter's best friend

I always knew I wanted to quilt it myself, but I didn't do FMQ on my own domestic, and the longarm was no longer available to me...


It's done! I learned a few new things while quilting this, and I need a whole lot more practise with it, but...I'm happy with my work on it, even as I can see all the things I could have done better...

Ah well. Done is best!

FAL Q2 Finish: Quilt Show Quilt 1

Q2 Goals Post

Where The Forest Meets Suburbia

a.k.a. #100KonaTulaBlocks

Quilted, bound, submitted to the Sydney Quilt Show at the Craft Fair, and hanging:

You know how sometimes you make something and halfway through you just hate it? I had a lot of that with this. Put it away for a few months when I knew I had the quilt show coming up. Ended up quilting and binding in the last month. Whew!

But all done, generally well-liked but nothing standout, I think. I would have liked to quilt down the sashing a little but I think it's softer this way.

It goes to my mother, who seems to get first dibs on all the most complicated of my quilts!

2019 Finish Along: Q2 Goals

Right, so starting over again...



complete at least 2 UFO Challenges out of the 3 for this quarter
For the APQ UFO Challenge, there'll be three challenge months. I have to finish at least two. (Ideally, all three would get done, but I'm not particularly hopeful.)



Mum's laptop sleeve

For her birthday, I suppose...



binding - DONE
- Birthday Stars: it's sitting around taking up space!

Sending - DONE
- Jeremy's Quilt: it's been bound and sitting around for FOREVER

Quilt Show Quilts

ETA: DONE


ETA: DONE

I won't get them all done, of course. I have a job again, and things are looking pretty hectic. But we'll see how many easy wins we can get this month...

FAL2019 - Q1 Finish: 100 Kona-Tula blocks

Link to First Quarter Goals

The only thing I actually got done in the sewing realm!



Sadly, I was just too busy doing something else (writing) and just didn't get anything completed... *sigh*

Sydney Quilt Show: trying to decide

So, hello to any Spoolettes who've decided to follow this blog - I'll try to post more often, and hunt back your own posts. Life's just so busy these days, isn't it?

One more item on my 'to do' list right now is working out the second quilt I'll be entering into the Sydney Quilt Show this year.

First quilt is a no-brainer:


I'll quilt it over the next few months (I hope) on my domestic machine

Second quilt?

Well, that's more difficult. I have a number of quilt tops that need quilting, and at this point, I'm mostly debating if I can be bothered quilting them myself.

My options are:

Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend



Finished several years ago, as yet unquilted. Might as well do this one myself.


3:10 to Mendocino


A lot more movement, a lot more interest, but that fabric is incredibly precious - it's original Mendocino Mermaids by Heather Ross!


Break Free Or Build Upon



I've been trying to enter it into the quilt show for the last two years and each time I was stymied by life, the universe, and everything.

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I don't enter the quilt show to win prizes - my quilting's not that good. I enter to display new ideas, broaden minds, and/or make other people think, "Hey, I like that; maybe I could do that too?"

Thoughts?

If you want to go back through my posts and point out a quilt that you think I should enter, then be my guest! I don't promise to take your advice, but who knows? You might give me ideas I've never had before.