WIP Wednesday: the one with new blocks

Happy Easter! Hope you had a good weekend, whether you celebrated the risen Christ, the Passover, the coming of spring (northern hemi), or just a day off work and school!

I didn't get many easter eggs or hot cross buns, but I did find my sewing mojo!


WIPs

Swaps

Birthday Swaps - AHBC Party #3

I am nearly caught up! Posted my January gift out and it's been received. And she likes it! (Or she said she does, so I'll take it as said.)

I've posted out March just this morning and it will hopefully arrive by this afternoon.

And I've nearly finished February. Just have the snaps to attach and it will be off.

(And then I have to do April. If I do April, May, and June all at once, that's not cheating, right? Maybe another shopping bag, an Open Wide bag, and another box pouch. I love those box pouches; they're so awesome!)

#igminioz

So, I've had this block design in mind for a while, but never had the energy/effort to put it together.


I call it 'Baldrick's Cunning Leaves' for whimsical reasons.

I've worked out the pattern and am contemplating an entire quilt of this design.


Also: discovery. Secondary patterns!


Now for the quilting... (Ugh.)

#aussietulapinkswap

Still have to think of a design! But I ordered more fabric from Moonlight and the Birds and the Bees and Elizabeth to blend in with my Neptune and Salt Water ranges.

Going Nowhere

- Swarm
- Snowflakes

To Do This Week

Swarm

Done a bunch of trimming this last week, but haven't counted how many I still need to put together!

I've decided to do this in 'bundles' of triangles, to make it easier to put together. (Hopefully.) Sew a few together every night so it doesn't get the better of me and I have a chance to make the seams line up (roughly) straight.

On The Plan

Snowflakes

It needs to be done. I'm still debating about whether to do the Y-seams or not. My inclination is 'not'.

Curtains

Winter is coming and we don't have curtains on our lounge or dining windows. Needs to be done.

Dining room: diamonds in rainbows?

Lounge room front: Concerto quilt pattern.
Lounge room side: Concerto quilt pattern in landscape.

(That'll make four Concerto quilt tops that I'm supposed to be making. Oy.)


Quilt Backings for already finished quilts

I can't even.

Imagine Greater

Really need to do this before next winter!

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And this weekend, I'm going to the Handi Quilter retreat where Angela Walters is teaching FMQ classes. I went looking for whatever classes she was doing in Australia the instant I realised she was here, and found the Academy, which runs from tonight through to Saturday afternoon. I can't make the Thursday, so I've just gone with the Friday and Saturday and booked every since class I could fit in with Angela.

That makes 5 FMQ classes with her, and one piecing class with someone else which sounded interesting. I don't know who's going to be there, I'm probably going to stand out like a sore thumb (They reminded quilters to bring their glasses, which, uh, yeah. Older demographic.) but it's going to be FUN! (I hope.)

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

WIP Wednesday: the one with postage!

Went to Destash Market, didn't sell very much. Am seriously tempted to post pictures of the stash somewhere saying "$200 for the lot, plus postage, or else come pick it up from Sydney north."

Mostly, I just want it out of my workroom and my sight!

But here's a picture of the stall I shared with Penny Poppleton at Destash Market:


Done

#rainbowminiswap

It's been backed and quilted and bound and labelled (snapping a needle along the way), and now it's ready to be posted!


More pics can be found at my instagram, if you want to see more. I'm not posting them just yet, although I'm not even sure that my recipient is still in the swap...

WIPs

compactible shopping bag

Working on a pattern for this, but I get as far as the casing, and then I get stuck!


plain jane passacaglia

Another Rosette 7 done!


And still going! My goal is to do a couple of pieces every day on the commute to work. My eyes (and my neck) can't handle all day every day, but a couple of pieces should be fine.

Swaps

Birthday Swaps

January: I'm quietly terrified that my gift isn't good enough. Then again, I'm terrified every month that my gifts aren't good enough.

February: Working on it.

March: I'm debating whether just to give a little pouch that I made a few months ago but haven't been using.


#igminioz

I've pulled out my scraps. I'm thinking something bright. Have a few ideas, but nothing really concrete. Might become a pattern idea for a larger quilt...


#aussietulapinkswap

No ideas. None. *tears hair*


Going Nowhere

Oh, everything. I only got my sewing mojo on for the #rainbowminiswap, and I'm not sure how long it will last...


To Do This Week

1. Finish February and March and April Aussie Handmade Birthday Club projects. (Bad Sel.)
2. Get the IG Mini Oz top done. Now with extra scraps!

Good Friday = Good for sewing. :)

Also: for those of you who celebrate it - JESUS IS RISEN! :D

For the rest of you - enjoy the holiday and the chocolate. (Or whatever good things this time of year brings you.) :)

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Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

WIP Wednesdays: the one with minis

Done!

Box containers for twins.



WIPs

Millefiori Madness: Plain Jane Passacaglia

It has a new name after seeing everyone else do the passacaglia fussy-cutting.

And I have the next four or five cut up and ready to go!



Oh, and glue-basting is sincerely the Best. Idea. Evah.

Swaps

Birthday Swaps

Ugh, yeah, nope.

#igminioz

Still deciding what to do.

#igrainbowmini: rainbow interwoven

Top done, quilting necessary!



The HSTs are 1" finished here, and trying to line them up was pretty awful. I'm sure it's not square, but I guess I might have to do some blocking later?

The pattern is from Sally Schneider's book "Crazy for Scraps" and is called 'Interwoven'. I plan to make a full-sized quilt of this from HST scraps. And maybe keeping the colours of it.

#aussietulapinkswap

AHAHAHA!


On the Plan But Going Nowhere

- Birthday Gift for Teddy
- Birth gift for Josh
- Swarm (Must Make 2015/Sydney Quilt Show)
- Snowflakes (Must Make 2015/Sydney Quilt Show)
-

To Do This Week

1. Finish Rainbow mini and send off.
2. Start IG Mini Oz swap.
3. all the birthday things. ever.


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Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

WIP Wednesday: the one with...very little

So. The last couple of weeks, I've been doing almost no sewing at all.

Apart from getting the Salt Air Split Square done and gifted.


They really loved the gift. :)

I'm in the midst of a quilting slump right now. Which is a really bad time to have a quilting slump, on account of the #igminioz swap, and the #rainbowminiswap, both of which are due out at the end of this month.

I think I'm going to have to drop back to the diamond-flowers for the #rainbowminiswap:


I's just that I'm going to be skimming somewhat rather closer to the deadline than I wanted.

So, more white diamonds to fill in the gaps, and then...a cushion cover. (Because mini quilts are beautiful, but not always practical.)


I was going to cut pieces for the passacaglia, but I haven't. Slump.

There'll be sewing on Saturday. There has to be, because it's the Sydney Modern Quilt Group's monthly sew-in. :)

Hopefully you've been more productive than I in the last two weeks!

WIP Wednesday: the one with binding

Not much to report again this week.

I finished a Cotton + Steel scrap pouch for the AHBC swap from this pattern by Kelby Sews.


And got the Salt Air Split-Square back from the quilter! It now needs binding before Saturday (when it's going to be gifted for a 30th/31st).


And the other (Darling Violetta) is for my sister, and I don't have pics of it yet. (It's been colonised by the cats.)

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

March goals and the Sydney Quilt Show 2015

Assuming I can get them finished in time:

1. Swarm.

Need to finish the last few blocks and then start assembling. Lots and lots and lots of assembling...

2. The Snowflake Quilt

For this one, it's mostly a case of getting past the fear of the y-seams. Which, at this point, is easier said than done!

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Other goals for March include:

- catch up on my Birthday Handmades
- finish the igminioz and the rainbowmini
- make at least one Sew Together bag.

WIP Wednesday: the really quick one with diamonds

WIPs

Kinda busy with everything else, so just this WIP pic of three different sizes of diamonds:


The EPP 'star' pattern has been around for ages. I was going to make a full quilt, but I'm think a mini-quilt. Or possibly a cushion cover (for one of those huge 'European' cushions/pillows?)

The blue snowflake is for the Snowflake Quilt (still a WIP, may be for a while). The grey-backed snowflake may end up as either kitchen or dining room curtains. Depending. :)

to do

AHBC GIFTS DAMMIT SEL.

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Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

WIP Wednesday: the one with remorse

But not fabric remorse! (Not yet, anyway!)

Didn't get much done this weekend because I was at a two day course on Serious Backyard Veggies by Milkwood farms, Australia. Maximising veggie growing through organic techniques. Really good, very intensive, and with me getting over a cold. I came home on Saturday night, had a wash, had dinner, lay down...and woke up at 1am to climb properly into bed for the rest of the night.


I'm in Hobart, Tasmania as I type this, for two days of work at the same time as there's a major conference on, which has filled up the town full of people and left me stranded at the casino hotel.

With this view:


I have Friday off and while my quilt shopping will not be as exciting as those of us at QuiltCon, I'm kind of looking forward to it.


Even if the aesthetic in the shops will probably be traditional.

Done

Supernova Friendship

And we are done with the Supernova Friendship blocks! Holy moly. I am, if not the worst swapper ever (I do send my stuff eventually and I stuff bonuses in there) then certainly one of the less timely ones...


Moving in the middle of all that did not help my brain at all.


Neither does the discovery that I cannot make myself do an analogous colour scheme. Or, I can, but I don't like it.

We picked blue, green, and yellow as our colours - lovely scheme, right? Unfortunately, looking at my blocks, I've realised that my instinctive lean towards a complementary aesthetic hijacked my colour choices. I don't need to point my blocks out to you - you can guess which ones simply based off the colours in them!


I think I'll streak the border with reds/purples. Rainbow all the way, baby!

WIPs

I've started the Technicolor Galaxy, which is an amazing quilt designed by Alyssa Lichner of Pile o' Fabrics.

My colour plan:


The centre bit is going to be against a black background with really saturated colours that pop, and each subsequent ring will be a little lighter (but not much, at most, I think it might reach shades of Kona Coal.

I'm calling it "Duct Tape (or The Force)" - or, there's a light side (the back), a dark side (the front), and it holds the galaxy together!

Swaps

Birthday Swaps

Yes, I am horrendously behind. January hasn't received her present yet. (Sorry, Leonie.) I'm just...hung about what to do! Which is ridiculous, and I've sat down several times in the last month to start putting something together and then got distracted and eep and ugh and it'll never be good enough and I really need to get in my brain and whack some of those brainweasels. They do me no good at all.

#igminioz

Have plan. Needs pressing.

#igrainbowmini

I think I have someone who's willing to draft the Snowflake Block into a paper-piecing pattern! If so...woohoo!

#aussietulapinkswap

I've decided my Tula Pink Mini is going to be with Fox Field.


And they'll get some Neptune with it. :)

Going Nowhere

- Millefiori Madness
- Swarm


To Do This Week

- birthday swaps! MUST DO THESE.

That's the only thing I'm going to put on here. Because it's the one thing I really need to get my ass moving on.

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Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

WIP: the one with the curtain call

Not much to report this week on the WIP front. Going away for the entire weekend, and then working all day Monday and Tuesday makes it difficult to get things done in the quilting room. And coming down with a cold doesn't help at all. The only reason I'm in at work today is because a client booked me to do some work today, and I can't really delay it because there's a bunch of other things that all need to be done at the same time.

But on to the WIPs...

WIPs

I started on the Millefiori Madness again:


I need to stop thinking about how much still needs to be done or I'll go mad.

Also, I need to stop fretting that everyone else's Passacaglia looks nicer than mine, because they're fussy-cutting the fabric and it looks really stunning when you fussy-cut the Passacaglia.

But I didn't really get very much further with any of my blocks. They will have to be in the 'spare time/space' of the next few days, I think.


Other things

So, we moved into the new house some four months ago. Just after Christmas, we got our curtain railings, and started taking down the vertical blinds on the windows. Putting up the curtain railings meant we had pretty railings...but we didn't yet have curtains for the railings. Which meant empty windows, open to the street.

I hung up some quilt tops to give us a little bit of privacy, although there were gaps.


And, as I discovered on a hot day last week, the sunlight was warping my cutting mat, which is sitting in front of the west-facing window of my workroom.

Clearly, curtains were necessary. I had plans for curtains anyway, using RK Essex Linen, I just had to decide on a collection/colour/pattern. Kate Spain's Terrain fabric presented itself as a viable option, and for some reason I decided to do it in a colour-wave of triangles.


I finished one the other week, and put it up. (Half a window covered is better than none!) My sister approved. (She doesn't always.)


And just last night I finished the second one to mirror the first while finishing my re-watch of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD Season 1. (Time to break out Season 2!)


And here's a pic of everything finished and hung!


Now there's just the dining room window, and the two lounge room windows...one of which is a full 2.5m drop.

I'm thinking I'll make two matching-and-mirrored 'quilt tops' for the big window, and just hang them up. Does anyone remember the name of that quilt pattern with the squares on the diagonal that looked like some of them were falling into place (or falling out of place)? It had a musical terminology name: Allegra or Symphony or something. (It wasn't those and I can't remember the name.) Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

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Finally, while I was away on the weekend...I bought a working Singer Featherweight!


It's a bit heavier than a feather...

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This coming week is blocks. Lots and lots of blocks.

So what have you been doing this week?

WIP Wednesday: the one with lots of pieces

WIPs

Birthday Blocks

Sewing, sewing, sewing...


Swarm

Sewing, sewing, sewing...


Salt Air Twist Square

Sewing, sewing...


Sewn!


And labelled, too!


It's on its way to the quilters, and being gifted to a couple of friends who, along with their 1 year old son, are having a combined birthday party in early March. Excellent timing!

Done

While finding a backing for Darling Violetta, my sister (B1) spotted the quilt top and decided she liked it. She picked out Heather Ross unicorns to back it:


It's off to the quilter's today, along with Salt Air Twist Square.

To Do This Week
- supernova friendship blocks
- baby carry bag for Baby Shower on weekend
- more birthday blocks
- backing for French Farmhouse - yellow bees
- backing for USA Hurray - pieced

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Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!

To Do List - February (and January Finishes)

January's goals were:

1. All the quilt backings ever
2. Baby Quilt commission (Black Widow Wee Wander finish post)

Results?
1. Yeah, no. Not even one. :(
2. Finished, quilted, handed off. (Not very good, but eh.)

Well, 50% ain't bad, right? And I did finish some other things while I'm at it!

3. Boring Floor Covering (top)

I'm really not liking it. I really might pick it apart and put a decent separator border on it.


4. Patchy Fruit Salad (top)

Something else I'm not really liking and which I might do some modifications for this week. If I have time.


5. Salt Air With A Twist (top)

(Don't mind the cat tail or the discarded cat toy...)


February's Goals

According to my Must Make List 2015, my goals for Feb are:
1. Swarm quilt
2. Scrap Log Cabin

I think I'm going to change this. My scraps are still in sorting phase and I've discovered other things I want to do with them!

So, the ToDo list for February is currently:
eta (2 hours later): 0. Salt Air Twist: get it backed and quilted (by my quilter Jo @ Thirroul Custom Quilts) for a combined 30th/31st/1st of a couple and their baby on the 7th March. Plus pillowcases.
1. Swarm quilt: I made some good progress on this yesterday at the Sydney Modern Quilt Group super-sew in!
2. Birthday Blocks 2012: All the pieces are cut out for the remaining blocks, and the lines are drawn for sewing it up! It just needs to get sewn.
3. Supernova Friendship Blocks: only two to go!


4. Curtains for the house windows: I'm tired of anyone off the street being able to see into our house.

5. And of course, all the quilt backings ever. Again. (Ugh.)

So here it is: all the things I'm gonna do this month! (Yeah, it's a short month, and I have a story of, oh, around 80,000 words to finish before the end of it, but she'll be right, yeah?