the backings project

I have a new longarm quilter in my local area. She's very fast (turnaround time one week) and very quick (about half of what my previous longarmer was offering). And considering I can afford it right now, and I have a ridiculous backlog of quilt tops, I am getting quilts done.

I have already handed in The Friendship Supernova and 3:10 to Mendocino, and will be handing over the penny patches:

And the scarlet split squares. There are two others, but I'm not sure that I have pics of them.

And that's only around half the quilt tops I still have tucked away all over my quilting room... Also: I have Roman blinds planned for the kitchen window - the kind that you pull up and down with a cord. I really should try to get those done during this lockdown...

Penny Patch Rooftop Gardens - FINISHED!

It's been a while, and my attempt at Midweek Modsquad sadly died after a couple of weeks. There's been too much and not enough going on for me.

I have a new job with a client in Canberra. I'm working from home, it's...not too bad right now. But I still haven't really felt the push to do much sewing. Creativity has felt beyond me, what I could manage was mostly tasks.

However, I have finally managed to finish what originally began as the "c4quilts" - that is, a set of four quilts that were going to be for a quartet of cousins. The fabrics would be from the same line, the theme would be different for each, and the result would be something that was individual to each cousin, while still being connected.

It didn't work. Or, more correctly, I didn't end up liking it for the cousins in question. But I'd started cutting it all up and...well, I figured I'd just continue on.

They're more busy than I like: too much movement in the fabric, too much movement in the blocks.

I think this pattern does best when used with very small prints, 'reads as solids', and plain old solids/neutrals. Large, bright patterns don't really work very well. I should have left the bigger prints for the large squares.

Well, we live and learn.

However, I'm quite happy with the results, even if they're not quite what I envisioned. These will just be quilted with a stipple and...honestly, I'll probably just give them away to any friends who want them.

Final note: We've lived at this house for five years and it only just occurred to me to use the long stretch of the driveway fence as a quilt hanger!

Midweek Mod Squad [Restless Hands, Penny Patch]

Another week, another Midweek Sydney Mod Squad update!


Restless Hands Of Sel

Today, with the loosening of restrictions around visitors, I went around to a friend's place - leebee81 on Instagram - and we did some handsewing. I got five blocks sorted, cut, and glue-basted while there. Now they're all ready for stitching together, which I'll do during various meetings over the next couple of weeks...


And then I laid it out to see how it looked in the overall quilt colouring:


Penny Patch On The Roof

This week, I finished off sewing together the last of the Penny Patch On The Roof. They were originally to be for my cousins, but I decided on a different design for them instead. Which I still have to execute, preferably before the end of the year.

Layout in daylight:

Finished top by electric light:

Still don't have any idea what I'm going to do with these four quilts, but I'm sure I'll work something out...

I could gift them to my bible study group members this year? There are five 'households' who are regulars: J&N, D&D, R&K, A(&S), and L. If I do one more, then maybe I can gift one to each? Hm. I still have the fabric for one more...

Of course, that means I should make some for the group I had a couple of years ago: M, L, J, B, R, Y - most of whom are actually closer friends - but they'd have to be nice, simple ones that I can get done before the end of the year, not too complicated...

(Hm. I could maybe do Plaidish Quilts for them? Mix and mingle my scraps? Oy. Better start cutting!)


Soroptimist's Annual Raffle Quilt

My mother is at me to make the quilt for her group, which needs to be done by September, although she'll need pictures before then. I was thinking a plaidish quilt might work for that, too. Need to work out the palette/fabric collection, though...

-

If you'd like to check out the tag on instagram, there should be a neat selection of work by the Sydney Mod Squad members!

Midweek Syd Mod Squad

It's a Wednesday which means we're looking at a Midweek Syd ModSquad post! And I actually got things done this time!


Restless Hands of Sel

I had all the stars for Column 2 finished by Saturday night.
Now I just have to sew them into a full column so they don't get lost, and then I can start on picking and cutting out Column 3 fabric.

The actual sewing of the pieces goes together pretty fast, it's the organising and sticking fabric onto the templates that takes time and is tricksy to do. Especially when the pieces are pretty small...



Penny Patch On The Roof

Started on the four-patches for the quilt:
And the 'penny patch' blocks:
18 patch blocks to make, then 12 solid blocks, assemble and ta-da!


The other ladies from the Sydney Mod Squad will also be posting their #midweeksydmodsquad progress:
@natasharenstead
@pennypoppleton
@quilting_bushgirl
@pinkyquilts
@leebee81
@skyberries

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.