WIP Wednesday: the one with no WIPs (well, not quite)

In fact this week I have no WIPs. (Well, that's not entirely true. I have no WIPs that are active right now. The ones that I do have are long boxed up, or long since tucked into a corner of 'yeah, not gonna happen for yonks'.

I did finish a few things over the January long weekend:

I sewed together two quilt tops. The Plaidish quilt pattern, again with the Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society fabrics. The blocks were originally going to be just one quilt top, but I looked at the size, realised it was too large, and turned it into two tops with only the addition of a single block!

(1x 49 block quilt: 7x7 + one added block = 2x 25 block quilts: 5x5)

So that worked out really well!

One quilt top:

becomes two quilt tops:

Over the weekend I also finished a shift-dress that I started about 2 months ago. I made the dress with some linen that I won at a Frocktails a couple of years ago, and...finally...came to the conclusion that the style of the dress I was making didn't suit me. Shift dresses - that is, dresses that don't have a fitted waist at the very least - don't suit me. My shoulders are broad, and my hip-waist ratio nearly non-existent. I look great in things that have a clear waistline demarcation, which are clearly two pieces - a top and a bottom, or which show off my top half: shouders and breasts in particular. I have no butt, I have no waist - those things need to be 'faked' if I'm going for a classic hourglass shape.

At any rate, I gave up on the shift dress being a 'comfy dress to wear' - it's now my 'summer beach caftan' suitable for wearing over a swimming costume.

In order to make it comfy, I shortened the sleeves (they were hanging down to my elbow), unpicked the side seams up to the pockets on both sides so I had better leg movement, and re-stitched the edges around the seams and the hem. (Which was a bit of a mess, too. I have no idea what they intended, but whatever it was, it didn't work for me.)  

Then I overlocked just about every seam in the dress - and cursed that I hadn't done it sooner! Overlocking is a wonderful thing.

(I borrowed a friend's overlocker about six months ago; she hasn't asked for it back yet.)

Anyway, out of this fiasco, I have decided: no more shift-dresses. I don't like how I look in them and I need to stop imagining I'll look good in them. I need to go back to finding dresses that work for my figure and play to those strengths.

That said, I have the Elysia Bow and Flower Dress patterns printed out, and while they're not 'shift-dresses', they are looser-figured dresses, although they do have distinct skirtage. I was hoping to make them out of cotton quilting scraps, but that could get a little bit oddball. Hm.

I haven't taken a photo of it yet. Not sure if I will or when.

WIP Wednesday: the one with a not-so-laid-back plaidish

It's been a while since I posted here. Sorry about that; life got busy, and although I was sewing, I didn't have time to update.

The only real WIP I have right now is a laid-back Plaidish in not-so-laid-back Cotton+Steel/Ruby Star Society.

Slowly sewing it together!

WIP Wednesday: the one with surgery

Right. So, quite a lot has happened since I last posted here.

I submitted my quilts to the Sydney Quilt Show (run by the NSW Quilt Guid), both were accepted. 

I changed work clients, and am now full-time in the office, which means less time for 'puttering'.

I had a hysterectomy and am in recovery. (3rd week of technically 6, although in practicality, most likely 4 weeks.) Have a picture of my Plain Jane Passacaglia on my hospital bed:

My quilt 'Shades of Autumn' won the President's Award at the Sydney Quilt Show!

I started looking at fabric again. This was a BAD IDEA. Fabric lines like Eclectica by Dan Miller, Forest Chatter by Maywood Studio, Hibernation by Tilda... Softer colours, a less brassy palette than I used to do. I still love modern, but softer modern designs. Ugh. I shouldn't look at fabric and this is why!

Sydney Frocktails is coming up and I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR dress patterns that could work!

However, I still cannot for the life of me find the Sew House Seven "Tea Dress" pattern that is an absolutely fantastic casual summer dress! I'm slightly annoyed! And the instant I buy it, I'm going to end up finding it again, aren't I? Because that's the way this works. *grumble*

Still want to enter the "low-value" modern quilt challenge with something provocative: "a new definition: taking up the lowest volume is peak white feminine". Which could really be done in any quilt pattern.

Hm...

I wonder if I could do my "Interconnected" quilt in low-volume? It's a thought!

But I don't have the time, unless I'm going to do the entirety of the thing THIS WEEK before I go back to work...?

No. Not going to manage that. Not even close!

Okay, going to do some more sewing of blocks for the Plaid-ish quilt that I was halfway through last year (the year before) before I got completely sidetracked in sewing/crafting!

 

WIP Wednesday: Plaidish 2

Another Plaidish quilt, because I had pieces leftover from the previous one.

I've started introducing new fabrics, not just C+S ones anymore.

Light blocks done. (6) Dark blocks half-done. (12) Medium blocks (15).

And then I'll do another one with the leftovers from that quilt and just start adding in others from my fabric collection.

Or maybe I could make more of the light and dark blocks, such that I can mix them up together and make a 'series' of quilts (again). Suitable to give away to a group of friends. Or something.

Ugh. I hate making these decisions!

Finish Wednesday? Plaidish

It counts when it's a completed top, right?

So, the Plaidish quilt. It's a bit of a stunner, isn't it? You can see why it's so popular!

I still have plenty of pieces leftover, so there'll be at least one more, possibly a couple. I also have a better idea of the way that the colours/values work (or don't) together, so I'll try to keep that in mind when putting the blocks together for the next one.

It's also a little smaller than the actual size - more lap/throw size than single bed size.

I gave my quilter five quilts to do - all fairly small - but she did them in 10 days, easy! So I have a pile of quilts in need of binding!

I hate binding.

I trimmed the edges down a little last night - just to make them manageable - so this is now the neatening/binding queue. Not in any particular order, mind you. On the top is the 3:10 to Mendocino and at the bottom is the Friendship Supernova. Three of the five Penny Patch On The Roof, and the Split Square Pair (two quilts, matching).

Did I mention that I hate binding?

WIP Wednesday: laid-back plaidish

I've been planning to make a Plaidish Quilt for a while. Nice large blocks, easy sizes, just keep making the blocks and it's all good.

Over on instagram, @jessicaquilter started up a Laid-back Plaidish QAL with the following timeline:

Monday 6th - choose fabrics
Friday 10th - cut fabrics
Monday 13th - dark blocks
Friday 17th - medium blocks
Monday 20th - light blocks
Friday 24th - assemble and finish

I guess her idea of laid-back is not my idea of laid-back since I am way way way way WAY behind! Still cutting pieces, in fact. Mind, you, I'm planning to make several plaidish quilt tops all at once, and then get them quilted all at once. (My quilter has already finished the four or five quilts I gave her 10 days ago. YEESH.)

Anyway, I thought I'd cut into my Cotton + Steel/Ruby Star Society prints - I also had a lovely charm square swap that really needs to be used up, so I added that to my collection of basics and prints:

So far I've only managed to get through some of the dark blocks:

Although there's a lot more stuff cut out - just hasn't yet been sewn together yet.

I'm going to try to sew for at least 10 minutes a day. More would be good, but at least 10 minutes will move me along quite nicely, I think...

WIP Wednesday (late): Everything And The Kitchen Curtains

Still on the kitchen curtains, although the piecing is pretty much done, just got to measure it into size, back it, and make the roman blinds.

EASY!

(ahahahahaha)

One side of the window:

Other side of the window:

I want to back them with a white fabric, in part to keep the sun from fading them from the back, in part because it'll help keep the loose threads under control, particularly for when one of the cats decides she wants to nibble at the thread. Sure, it's cotton, but it's still not good for her!

I need 1x rectangular rod (2m total), 4 thin dowel rods (4m total), 2 larger dowel rods (2m total) , 4-6m of curtain cording, little plastic rings that I can sew into the curtain to run the cording through, 2 cleats for tying the blinds up. I already have the velcro strips for attaching the curtains to the rectangular rod, although I should probably check if it's long enough - at least 2m will be required.

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The Power of Three design is pretty spectacular, espcially with a solid background colour that allows some of the blocks to 'float', but it's just so fiddly with the small blocks! It might be okay as a cohesive scrap quilt idea, done bit by bit, building up the number of blocks over a year, before all being laid out and sewn together.

Takes more organisation than I can manage!

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Next project: Plaid-ish quilts. Just keep sewing, just keep sewing, just keep sewing...

Of course, spring is coming, and with it my garden will take up a lot of time, so...may not be all that much happening for a while.

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For my next occasional project I've been thinking of doing something like the tinypricksproject on instagram: sewing the words of politicians onto fabric as catharsis. They're mostly the stupidest and worst quotes; the ones that later fill you with frustration because if they meant it (and none of these guys ever back down) then it betrays a particularly awful way of looking at the world from where they are.

I'd be doing it for Scott Morrison's "I don't hold a hose, mate" and "It's not my job" and "that's a matter for the states" and "It's not a race". And other politicians who say dodgy shit. And then IDK, maybe I'd hang them up in the boughs of my trees and my chook pen and let them age. Because they won't age well.

It's a thought.