Midweek Mod Squad [WIP Wednesday]

Let's see how long this goes for! I'm going to try posting a 'state of the WIP' regularly, even if it's just to say 'didn't do a single thing this week'.

My main sewing group is the Sydney Mod Squad, a bunch of women in their 30s and 40s in the northern part of Sydney who've become friends over sewing and quilting. Currently, we're doing zoom sewing meetings because of social distancing, but we're still enjoying ourselves and welcome the chance to talk with each other while working on our projects all at the same time.

I have been rather remiss about posting for a while, and I have many many WIPs over the last few years, but the three relevant to the moment:

Penny Patch On The Roof #3
Half sewn together now, have to sew the other half.
The Restless Hands Of Sel
Another few for Column #1: blue-purpoe, purple, purple-pink.

Mum's Alison Glass Bag
Sew Sweetness' Clydebank Tote in Alison Glass.

Possibly with a leather bottom and some leather sides, because the AG isn't sufficient for the bag...I'm still thinking this one through. How to connect everything. What colour leather I should use. How to sew the leather without completely wrecking everything else...

I've just done some cleaning of my sewing room, and have realised just how much fabric I have, and how little of it I've used. I have a whole box for Heather Ross, Tula Pink, Kate Spain, and a half-a-box of Cotton+Steel, two boxes of leather, and innumerable fabrics that I bought for clothes, most of which are very impractical right now as the weather cools. Not to mention the many bags of scraps that I have lying around and which need dealing with.

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild: QUILTED OMG

So, those hexagons I was sewing through December, January, and February?

Well, they were for a group quilt being put together by the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild, according to Tacha Bruecher's book Hexa-Go-Go, which was published last year.

The quilt is titled "Over The Rainbow" in the book:

Guild President Penny Poppleton asked permission of Tacha to use the quilt design as one of our guild quilts for 2013 - not all participating members would have the book, although quite a few do - and Tacha gave her permission! (Thank you, Tacha!)

We made up kits using paper hexies donated by PaperPieces.com and sent them out to Guild members who were interested and willing. And Tacha herself offered to make a block for the quilt!

A bolt of Kona White was donated by the lovely people at Victorian Textiles (along with fabric for the backing) and once we had all the blocks back, two crazy days of 9-to-5 cutting and sewing ensued!

And here are the finished blocks (well, most of them) up on the design wall at Penny Poppleton's house:

Laying out:

The slightly dizzying perspective is because it was taken from the top of the stairs at Greta's Handcraft Centre (Lindfield).

And then sashing, posting, and adding the borders! (I don't have a picture of this because it was done by Penny Poppleton (Guild President).

Finally, the quilting! Which was my job. A long one. Six hours' worth of free-motion quilting from setting up on the frame on the Avanti at Hobbysew Top Ryde, to quilting and quilting and quilting and quliting until it was DONE LIKE A DINNER!

I took a few photos during the quilting process...

"Baby, I'm ready to go!"

"Oh, we're halfway there!"

And finishing it off...with a swirl! (Okay, a signature, but whatever!)

It's supposed to say "Sydney Modern Guild" in case you can't read it.

And finally, as much of the quilt as we could display in the shop, given that it's a MAMMOTH size - 112", in all it's colourful, beautiful glory!

So very pretty, even unbound and unhung! (Great design, Tacha!)

A look at the back detail - we ended up with 50 blocks (no idea how that happened) and tucked one on the back instead.

It will be (should be) displayed at the Sydney Craft And Quilt Fair in June 2013. If you happen to be in town, come by and take a look!

Afterwards, it will be sold (we're still working out how) and the proceeds are to go to a shelter for women escaping untenable domestic situations. All the fabric was donated, as were the paper pieces, and even the Aurifil thread that was used to piece and quilt it all together was donated, so the only cost incurring is that of the time spent on the quilting machine.

Whew! So glad that's done. :)

WIP Wednesday: the one with hexies

Back from Vietnam - it was a wonderful holiday. I even got a bit of handsewing done for the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild charity quilt!

Starting with on the plane:

At my dad's house in Vietnam - the red hexies:

And the red-purples:

And the green-blues - handsewing on the train going in to work this week:

I'm pretty sure I did the yellows and the oranges while in Vietnam, but I can't seem to find them anywhere. *grumble*

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quilting projects 2013

It's going to have to be a productive first half of the year, because the second half is going to be quite seriously disrupted by a trip to the US and Italy for six weeks.

Woodland by Natalie Lyman

I'm going to do something small and sweet with these charms squares of 'Woodland' by Natalie Lyman:

Probably a very simple rail-fence-like design.

Round The World

It feels like nearly everyone's doing the Round The World right now - it is a lovely, simple quilt to make - and great for scraps.

Not that these Kona strips are 'scraps' exactly. I cut them out while slicing strips from which to cut the Eternity Quilt triangles - I figured since I had it all out, I might as well make some strips for a project of unknown specifications. :)

We'll see how it turns out. I may regret using these strips for a RTW which looks like it would work best scrappy, but I guess we'll find out!

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Going to the US 2013

I need to make quite a few quilts this year - I'm planning to head over to the US and while there, I'll offload a bunch of quilts for friends with whom I've stayed through the years, and take back a HEAPLOAD of fabric. :)

I also would like to make some clothing for cosplays since I intend on attending at least one fannish media convention in 2013 while in the US. Think the Victorian-style dress I put together for Halloween, only based around a specific character.

Only perhaps more complex.

These are some lovely dress designs based on the characters in the Avengers movie and designed by Kelsey Michele.

I particularly like Thor, Maria Hill, and Hulk, although I suspect that, based on my figure, the Captain America dress is a better choice than the Thor one.

(I have broad shoulders, and a nearly non-existent hip-to-waist ratio, which means I need something that really nips in at the waist and flares out at the hips.The Thor dress would look best on an hourglass, or a girl with good hips.)

Over-ambitious, I think. Still. *sighs*

Anyway, a slightly scattered first WIP Wednesday for 2013! What have you been working on?