Wednesday, January 28, 2015

WIP Wednesday: the one where I need a weekly to-do list


I think I need a concrete To Do list from week to week so I don't get distracted and run off to do something new.

My Brother NS50 has been running a little bit wonky for a while now: does okay on your basic straight stitch for two pieces of cloth, but isn't so good for anything bigger.

So I borrowed Penny Poppleton's Juki:

Quilting late Jan


Man can that thing go! I sewed a 2.5" HST with it, and was finished the piece almost before I realised I'd started!

I think it's going to be my next straight-line machine.

Commissioned Baby Quilt

Okay, so I fail at quilting on a domestic.

Quilting late Jan


FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL.

Quilting late Jan


My machine started skipping stitches on the back, the result of which is that there are little loops here and there on the back of the quilt.

*sigh* It's decent, but it's not great. And the quilt is finished, if not as nicely as I wish I could have done it!

WIPs

Salt Air Split Square

I don't know what the name for this pattern is, but I saw the quilt on Pinterest, pinned it, and worked out how to do it myself. (I do this. Patterns, to me, are mostly about yardage, and since I always end up winging the yardage anyway, I just work out how to make the block, make as many as I can, then work out if I need to add borders or make more to get it the size I want it. Worst pattern follower ever!)

Quilting late Jan


Quilting late Jan


I've had a Salt Air layer cake sitting around for forever, and just pulled it out on Friday night for sewing over the weekend. The sewing didn't really happen thanks to the heat and the #greataussiedestash.

Quilting late Jan


It'll be sewn over the next couple of weeks, I think. I may need a few more blocks to make a quilt large enough, but that's okay, I have some spare Salt Air yardage. Somewhere.

Quilting late Jan


Various Quilt Tops

I don't know what to call this quilt. Apart from "not my thing". There's supposed to be a thin, contrasting border between the big central squares and the small-square borders. But my fabric choice for the thin border is all wrong and instead of fixing it, I kept sewing bits together. So now it's bugging me.

I feel like I should pick it apart to make it better.

I don't know that it would improve the quilt any, but it might make me feel better.

Quilting late Jan


You know when you make something and you're just "UGH! TAKE IT OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Yeah, that's this one.

So, I started with a very nice fabric collection: Organic Fruit Punch from Timeless Treasures.

And I was going to cut it into 10" squares and make a baby quilt out of it. Easy, right?

WRONG!

Quilting late Jan


As I discovered, two years after putting it in the WIP bag, accurate cutting is an issue with me. (Accurate anything is an issue for me.) Unfortunately, I'd already started sewing things together before I discovered this. So I just kept stitching bits together until I had something approximating a rectangle, then I squared it up.

No help for this one. It's gonna be practise for some FMQ and end up as a floor covering.

Snowflake Quilt

I've pulled this out again:

Quilting late Jan


I have a plan for submitting this to a quilt show. Not the Sydney one (unless I have nothing else) but a show of some stripe or another.

In The Plans

Backings for quilts
- Darling Violetta - purple and gold
- French Farmhouse - yellow bees
- Gothic Summer Sampler - black child-drawing animals (sun, moon, and shining stars?)

Curtains for house

I realised that I have bought three different colours of RK Essex Linen:

Quilting late Jan


This is what I get for not documenting properly! But I sewed my bedroom curtains, and really need to at least start on the side windows so we can block out the street from seeing into our lounge room.

Swarm

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild sew-in this Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Lots of time to get these done!

Quilting Mid-Jan


Sew Togther Bag!

I found the package of zippers from ZipIt that had 'gone astray' - in fact it had been delivered to my old house and was sitting in the mailbox!

Quilting late Jan


Lots and lots and lots of zippers!

--

And for the Australians reading this: Happy Australia Day!

Yes, there are issues with this country - major major issues - but frankly I'd rather be Australian than anything else on God's green earth, cross my heart and hope to die.

So here: have some "Aussie" ombre nails. :)

Quilting late Jan


I'm really into ombre nails lately. They're just so pretty and fun to do!

--

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

12 comments:

  1. You have a lot on but I particularly love the snowflakes!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, the snowflakes have been on my 'to do' list for longer than I like...

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  2. On the Organic Fruit Punch quilt top that needs help, what about cutting it across 2 or 3 times and cutting it down once and then rearranging the pieces? It would then look like an intentionally scrappy quilt.

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  3. I laughed when I read about your "pattern following" habits - I'm just the same! It is extremely rare for me to follow any pattern to the letter, assuming I don't just squint a bit at the blocks and decide that I can figure it out myself. Much more fun that way!

    The triangle things look interesting, what are they going to be?

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    1. "Squinting at blocks and figuring it out for myself" perfectly describes how I make most of my quilts! :)

      The triangle things are presently a secret. I'm making them for submission to a magazine...and have been for the last 6 months. (Hence why I really need to get moving on them!)

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    2. Oooo! *settles down to wait (im)patiently* I have a real fondness for triangle-based quilts. :)

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  4. Wow, you worked on all this in one day, or you're just giving a list of WIP's (I hope) Love teh snowflake quilt, too.

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  5. The snowflake quilt is great!! You need to finish that one! Are you buying a Juki? Is it really that much better to use when quilting? Seems like a lot of bloggers are getting them. I may have to do some serious research if I want to be able to quilt at home. Keep writing updates!

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I try to answer every comment made, but if I forget to respond to you, I sincerely apologise! Thanks so much for coming by and commenting!