WIDRN Wednesday: finishes and quilt shows and new starts

It's been pretty quiet on the sewing front through May, which I knew it was going to be (see last post) because I was going to be emotionally and mentally busy.

After the Australian election, I had to go away for work for two weeks, and while I took a little bit of handsewing, I knew that I wasn't going to get much done, so only finished up one handsewing star.

Then, right at the start of June, I submitted two quilts for the Sydney Quilt Show. They're nothing special - one is from the two quilts that I did with the fractured stars, and the other one is an old scraps-from-another-quilt that I called "It Is Easy Being Green". I really need to get my ass in gear faster for the Australian Quilt Show (which is a different beast altogether), but I'm just not really keeping up with all the quilt shows anymore. Or the making of quilts.

At some point earlier in the year I'm pretty sure I joined a quilt along... Except that I can't seem to find the email. (Okay, went and found it in my instagram messages - Make Modern, Issue 64, has an exclusive quilt-along - the Moon Diamond quilt.

But then I also started a new quilt last night!

The fabrics are various patterns and prints, but mostly around Timeless Treasures' PLUME collection (at least ten years old). I've held onto it for ages, not knowing how to use them, and then I spotted the Communique Quilt Pattern by Mouse In My Pocket and it seemed perfect for this.

Except that I started cutting...then realised I'd cut the blocks too small - the pattern sizing on the printout is the FINISHED block, and I made no allowances for seams. *facepalm* So now I'm adding framing to the blocks, which will make them stand out, sure, but is also adding one more thing to the process.

This is actually going to be two quilts in matched style - I'm thinking they might suit the C1 cousins better - E1 and G2 - in terms of something that they'd use, rather than the 'stars' quilts I just made, which I explicitly linked to the quilt I gave E1's daughter, but which aren't their style at all (IMO).

Also, cousin A5 is getting married in August, after her brother M4 got married two years ago. And their brother N3 got married, uh, at least twenty five years ago. He's my age and got at least one adult kid and another that's about to turn 18 (I think). Eesh.

I've been planning to get their quilts done for YEARS now. I guess this is the kick in the pants that I needed.

(ps. I have no idea how I've previously referenced the names of my cousins. It's all confusing - C1/E1, C2/G2, C3/N3, etc. All the way down to M6, P7, K8, P9...)

Did some handsewing on Saturday with a local quilt group meet-up. The Restless Hands Of Sel quilt is slowly progressing. Slooooowly.

It sheds papers like a chicken sheds feathers at moulting time and is an absolute mess to carry around. Eep.

And then on Monday, I decided I was going to finish a quilt by binding it - I can't remember what I called this. La Luna fabric by Tula Pink, and the Penny Patch quilt pattern:

Another quilt that I'm going to keep because I like the fabric. At least, I'm going to keep it right now. B1 doesn't like it much - she thinks the staring ladies are creepy. (She doesn't know about Día de los Muertos and sugar skulls.)

One more quilt to bind in the collection - need to work out what binding for that one - a Tula Pink Neptune quilt. Don't think I have enough of the darker shades of Neptune to do the entire border.

WIDRN Wednesday: Teal Stars, Green Stars

I've been so busy with Australian election stuff, I haven't had much time to do sewing. That said, I've had a couple of quilt tops hanging up for a while and hadn't had the time or energy to do anything about them. Finished them just this week, so that's a nice fillip! I called them "Teal Stars" but given our recent elections, that may not have a very good association with the recipients. They're going to my two oldest cousins, one of whom got married last year, the other who's been married for...oh, about 25 years. Not sure what I'm going to work on yet - I'd really like to have at my scrap box, but there are so many other quilts that need completing right now! And I still have two quilts to bind, and six to give away! The 'cousin quilts' in particular...this feels like it could be their year... Three tops down, six to go! Tricky question about giveaway quilts: do I offer them to a bunch of guy friends from church? Or do I go looking for old friends who might like a quilt? I think I'll make another postage stamp quilt. I have a couple of blocks and strips all ready for that. Then I'd like to make a 'simple rectangle' scrap quilt - the 'lava flow' pattern from "Successful Scrap Quilts (from simple rectangles)", which has lots of excellent ideas and designs. ...maybe it isn't the cousin quilt year after all...

WIP Wednesday: the one with new quilts

Once a month; that's as often as I have to update this. Just once a month!

I don't have many pics for this one because I've been making videos, trying to put together something for social media in the midst of everything being a little bit crazy.

I'm going with the Moroccan quilt by the Questioning Quilter

Well, it's three weeks later, and I've done absolutely nothing on the video front.

I did end up making the quilt top though:

First the layout:

Then starting to set up the blocks:

The finished blocks:

I've sewn the blocks together into a single top, but haven't taken a photo. It's not very large: 1.6m x 1.6m or thereabouts. It doesn't need to be huge; I don't really do huge quilts anymore. Also: I ran out of the fabric for the background.

This is one quilt of two for cousins 1 and 2, my oldest cousins. Cousin 2 got married last year, and I was going to make her a quilt but couldn't find a pattern I liked. I'm not convinced this one is great, but it's good enough and it uses up fabrics I wasn't otherwise going to use.

I have the blocks all ready for the next one, but haven't yet gotten around to squaring them up and laying them out. That'll be in the next couple of weeks, I guess...

Finally, the background fabric is the same fabric as I used for a quilt I made for Cousin 1's daughter in the 'Walkabout' quilt. So that's a nice match for her, C1 and C2.

Finish Friday: seven little quilts!

It's been a month since I posted. In that time, I have:
- had covid (ugh, do not recommend)
- bound 7 quilts
- started binding an 8th quilt
- prepped 2 more 'Restless' stars for sewing
- made plans to prep another 'Restless' star for sewing

BUT ALL THAT IS GOING ON HOLD (okay, maybe not the eighth quilt binding)

I'm going to attempt to make a quilt - two quilts, in fact - in two weeks.

The quilts are for two cousins – E1 and G2 – the two older cousins. G2 is, at the time I am posting this, about to be married. Making quilts for them (for all the cousins) is a project I've had on the books for YEARS (literal years) and I'm planning to turn it into a video project.

We'll see how it all goes!

The pattern I'm using is this one or something very like it. It's just so nice and simple, but effective, and hopefully bright. Plus, I have plenty of jelly roll strips.

Mind you, it might end up a bit scrappy.

OH CRAP. I also have to get the Show Quilt at least sewn together. It'll be another Scrappy Block Quilt, because that's what I have available right now.

WIP Wednesday: the one with holidays!

Back from holidays. Went all around the world catching up with family and friends, and then hopped on a cruise for 16 days. I didn't do that much while with family and friends, but the cruise had a 'knitters and natters' group for an hour or two in the morning which was great to sit with and handsew and chat. I have emails/FB accounts for several of the women, so that might stick.

I'm missing my local group of "younger women sewists", but it can't be helped since their kids are in the phase where mum is the GM, taxi, reminder, clean-up, and therapist, and they don't really have the time/space for meeting up outside of that (although they're mostly still working on projects, so far as I can see.)

One of my goals for this year is to finish 12 projects.

'Finishing' can mean "just put a binding on the damn thing" or it can mean "create from scratch".
- get my growth group's quilts out - I mean, that's at least half a dozen of them straight off the bat! Need to dig out J and N's quilts and get them to the quilter.
- one dress for a slightly-out-of-town frocktails (and damn, I just realised I don't have anywhere to stay for that - oh wait, did I pre-book? *checks* Yes, I prebooked. Phew!)
- cousin quilts: THIS BE THE YEAR

Frocktails clothing:

I'd like to use up the pleated fabric that I have. I don't know what kind of style, though: a skirt, a top, an A-line dress that flares from the high waist? I want something that I can wear, if not 'casually' then certainly without feeling like I need a Special Occasion to do so.

I also want to make a Regency-ish dress, rather like the one seen here (which I'm trying on at Liberty of London), only with the top of the back opening wider and the bottom pointy.

No, it won't be "proper Regency" but also most of the shows being billed as 'Regency' right now are not, in fact, Regency at all. Neither are the romance novels, nor most of the fiction out there, let's be real! I don't need or want my dress to be absolutely perfectly done the way they did it in the auld days (for starters, I'm using modern fabrics rather than Indian muslin, and there isn't a dress on Earth that you could pay me to make by hand.

WIP Wednesday: The One After A Really Long Break

Whew! How long has it been since I posted here? I haven't had any WIPs in ages, haven't done any quilting work or binding or anything in IDEK how long. Anyway, I finally have some updates to post about.

The loooooong WIP of my show quilt was completed on Wednesday, sleeved on Thursday, and labelled and handed off to the pickup lady on Friday. She lives 45 minutes away, in an outer suburb of Sydney. I'm not sure if it's just that they didn't think that the person 20 minutes away was actually closer, or if I was blackballed by 20-mins-away lady after we had trouble matching up schedules last year. She seemed very terse and not very pleased when I dropped my quilt off last year.

Anyway, it's done. Show is in a couple of weeks. On to the next projects!

1. BIND ALL THE THINGS

I have this pile of quilts to bind!

I have these two kinds of bindings to bind them with!

Almost certainly, I'm going to need more binding. I'm also going to need more types of bindings, because those two aren't going to match with all of the different types of quilts I have.

Just gotta get it done. Also: it's not difficult, just finicky over time.

2. Restless Hands of Sel

Restless Hands of Sel:

I'm starting to think that the stars are just going to get lost in the colours, you know? Although it will be very pretty, it won't be very distinct! Oh well, I'm going to be a bit less stringent about the colours of the stars now, spotting in a couple of randos to give the quilt some unexpected pop. That's the theory anyway; it may end up looking awful!

3. Cousin Quilts

Cousin M got married in late July, then had a wedding lunch in Sydney mid-August. We gave him and his wife money as a gift, but I was planning a quilt for them.

It was also a chance to chat with all the cousins, and one of them mentioned to her new partner that I made "the most gorgeous quilts ever!" And that both she and her sister still use the zipper bags that I gave them for Christmas maybe a decade ago!

So nice to know!

Anyawy, I have Cousin M's quilt pattern picked out, the fabrics for his quilt chosen, and it's just a matter of putting it all together. If I can get it done by the time I go to the UK, then it can be a belated wedding-gift-slash-Christmas-present.

That's the plan at any rate.

Finish Friday: Cousin M's c4 quilt

Finished the top at least. Quilting for later.

Hopefully M likes it: simple and earthy.

Cousin Quilts: the c3quilts - Cousin M Five

Finished Quilt One of the C4 quilts. It's not quite the planned colourway but close enough. I'll post it as a 'Finished Friday'.

I might have started on the next quilt in line - the one for Cousin P (Number 7 Cousin), but due to a trip I'm planning to make to Europe, I was thinking I'd make (and hopefully finish) the quilt for Cousin M (Number 5 cousin). They're the C3 quilts, and I've decided on the quilt pattern: The Bird's Hill Quilt by Stacy at The Blanket Statement. Modern style but will look good with some solids and some patterns, too.

Cousin M (Number Five) is getting married next year, I'm not sure whether we'll be invited to the wedding. He's been overseas for at least 5 years now, and we've drifted apart since then. Fond memories, but no guarantee we'll be invited to his wedding anymore. Anyway, I'm going to be in the UK in October and might try to see if I can meet up with him (and his fiancee). Hopefully with a quilt!

This is his colourway:

The problem with this colourway with the Birds Hill Quilt is that a background colour is needed. I don't have enough of the brown, and I think the blue is the best choice, given the background of the image above - the other colours are accents, which should probably be used quite sparingly.

And this is the fabric pull:

The browns are not quite as red as they're depicted, and the blue is more aqua than royal/ocean/pacific. I'm trying to decide if it's an okay choice for a forty-ish guy with a fairly bubbly personality.

Cousin Quilts: C3quilts - slowly making my way through!

Colour thoughts for cousin quilts:

N4: Number Three
M7: Number Four
A8: Number Five

It's a bit confusing: I've numbered the cousins by the birth order of the entire lot of cousins (with my sister and I being 3,5, and 6) but named them by the order of cousin they are in relation to me (so, N is 4th in the cousin scale, but Cousin Number Three to make a quilt for, by birth order).

Number Three is the closest in age to me. A friend of mine once met him and said "I think he has a lot of respect for you and your opinions" and I guess I feel the same. He and his wife live in a lovely house, both homey and welcoming as well as stylish and elegant. So something with a stylish-yet-neutral feel about it, I think.

I'd use the cream/beige solid for the base and add other designs

Cousin Number Four was always a little hampered by being the second son in his family to Cousin Number Three. Let's just say that I feel like Cousin Number Three outdid me in many respectable respects, and I didn't have to live with Number Three in the same family. Cousin Four is getting married next year, though, and I'd like to make a quilt for him. (And his fiancee, but really, it's his since I haven't met her.)

I think of Cousin Number Four as exuberant and personable, less constrained by virtue of not being the oldest son. A dash of mischief and independence, a deliberate choosing of the 'wild side'. Something with a spot of serious jazz to it.

I could use the Buttercup/Daffodil solid as a base, then add the other colours in from my stash.

Cousin Number Five is what I think of as the 'youngest' of the older cohort, with the next set of cousins (the C4) being all grouped together and a few years younger than Number Five. She's a little sharp and sarcastic, but also has been seriously hurt by stuff going on in her life. So classy colours, cool and sober, but with a pop of colour.

I have a large volume of dark blue (I think) that I could use as the base solid.

Now I have to decide on the design. That's still up in the air...

I do like Half square triangle quilt: sew a bunch of HST from squares, then sew them together to make a rectangle. Do so with patterns and solids all together, and differing values of the same hue. Maybe. Possibly. Hopefully? IDK. I think this one might work better scrappy and for children/young teens.

Back to the pinterest board...

EDIT: this pattern?
The Monument Quilt Block? (a lot of paper piecing)

FINAL THOUGHT: The Birds Hill Quilt (#birdshillquilt) by Stacy Kenny