WIP Wednesday: the one with quilts to finish

OKay, so both quilts got accepted for the NSW Quilt Show. Which I kind of expected (because I've never actually had a quilt turned down, and one time I sent them a drawing of the quilt I planned to make. That year was 2020, so I didn't even get to show it off in person!

2020 quilt design which I submitted to the guild for the 2020 show:

Along with a picture of a pile of fabric:

Actual 2020 quilt (top):

I mean, it turned out pretty well, right? But, uh, I did get an email (or was it a phonecall) from someone on the committee checking if I'd intended to send them those photos.

Frankly, I'm kind of surprised they still let me play after that!

That said, this year, I sent actual photos of actual quilt tops (or, at lest, quilt blocks) to give an impression of what I was going to make:

Title: Brown is so boring.

It's actually a warmer, more goldeny colour than the picture makes it seem. More pink, too. The pattern is the ridiculously basic "Dead Simple" quilt top which I've made a dozen times if I've made it once. It's such a great quilt for fat quarters, or using up scraps, or just trying to make a quick-and-"dirty" quilt. A little more complex than just 5" patches all round, I add a thin border in a contrasting solid, and then a 2.5" border in the same fabrics as the quilt centre. It comes out a treat every time!

Title: Scrapbox Elegy

This one is going to be GREAT for emptying my scrapbox, because you can pretty much shove ANYTHING YOU WANT into it and it still manages to look pretty good.

I have to try it in a fabric line - maybe one of the Kate Spain ones - they were always tricky with the lights vs the darks, some things which had REALLY HEAVY patterns and others which had very delicate ones and I never quite knew how to put them together.

I've been saying I should get some curtains on the front windows for, oh, TEN YEARS now. This might be it.

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Other than that, I shorted the sleeves of my Oodie and am trying to make house booties out of the cut-offs (6 inches of extra sleeve - I don't know if I just ordered the larger size instead of the smaller one - I thought there was only one size, but apparently there's at least two - but I've been swimming in it for about three years now. Nice to have a little more leeway.

Sometime I'll have to post about my grandmother's furs.

WIDRN Wedneday: the one with Show Plans

April could be quilting month...

March was gardening month, and tbh my quilting activities have largely fallen by the wayside.

My focus on April would be getting a quilt submitted for the Sydney Quilt Show (run by the Quilt Guild of NSW). And HALLELUJAH it doesn't have to be a finished top!

In fact, last year (or the year before) the guild was saying they would require a fully completed quilt in the coming year, completely ignoring that most of the younger quilters are entirely deadline-driven, in part because we're so busy (this is a hobby-in-the-middle-of-a-full-life-of-survival, not a something-to-relax-into-in-retirement), in part just because that's how we've been psychologically trained (last minute assignments, anyone? Anyone? BUELLER?)

Also, by 'younger', I am meaning "under 50" because that's how old I am, and I'm technically GenX. And yes, I am in the 'younger' cohort of quilters. When I started quilting around 15 years ago, the women quilting were all over 55, which makes them in their 70s now.

The new NSW Quilt Guild committee have also scrapped the rule that you can't show your quilts on social media before the show. So that's nice - not that I expect anyone will particularly recognise mine. I'm not exactly famous in the Quilt Guild circles.

Anyway, I have thoughts and scraps and definitely want to make a scrappy quilt.

I need to get past the 'but before I start on this project' mindset. I have two quilts to bind - they've been sitting around for a year or maybe more - and they have to get out to friends by the end of this month (arbitrary, just because it's abruptly gotten cold at nights here in Sydney).

It's just binding, I tell myself. It's easily done.

And it is! But actually getting myself to the machine to do it? Something else entirely.

I really do wish I could make my quilt 'Swarm' again. It was just so finicky, with so many pieces! And has gone to someone who doesn't appreciate it, I suspect. And people have wanted a quilt pattern for it for YEARS. If I'd capitalised on it a decade ago when quilt patterns were the thing...

Anyway. The pattern I have in mind is very simple - just solid squares and HSTs, in a gradating rainbow of colours. It's finicky on the seams and putting it together will be hellish - but that's part of the challenge, right? Also, it will use a BUNCH of my HST scraps. So many of those...

WIP Wednesday: the one with a list of things to do

Sorry for the radio silence, it's been a slightly crazy summer and is looking like a slightly crazy start of the year with everything going on...

I have done almost no sewing whatsoever. A little bit here. A little bit there. Focusing has been difficult. Being inspired to act has been nearly impossible. There are plenty of things I'd like to make, but actually sitting down and doing them?

Yeah, nah.

Nevertheless, here are my plans for the year...

Make Nine

Sew House Seven tea dress in green flowers

Scrap quilt

quilt

quilt

quilt

t-shirt underpants

backless black top for mardi gras

zero waste pattern

Finish Nine

Style Arc Paperbag Pant

Plantain Top - DONE!!

peacock flimsy 1 quilted

peacock flimsy 2 quilted

peacock flimsy 3 quilted

Ruby Star plaidish 1 bound and gifted

Ruby Star plaidish 2 bound and gifted

low-backed top for Mardi Gras