FMQ on AMQG raffle quilt

At times I regret organising a quilt to raise funds for the Auckland Modern Quilt Guild (AMQG), but I admit that I am enjoying the process even though it has been time consuming. Luckily (maybe) I have been home sick these past few days, so I have had some time between naps to sew.

Members of the guild have made blocks and we have had 2 working days to piece together the tops (we have enough for 2) and sandwich the layers. I have volunteered to quilt one of them and another member (with a long arm - lucky!) is doing the second one.

I stressed over my foolhardiness, but came to terms with my decision to quilt this. I've done big quilts before, but only for me, not for someone else - and certainly not for someone willing to pay money for a raffle ticket. But, I am looking at it as a learning experience.

So, my first step was to engulf myself in anything I could to learn more about FMQ - books from the library, a course on Craftsy, a few books downloaded to my Kindle. And what did I learn? That I knew what I was doing and that none of these things could give me what I needed - courage!

So, yesterday I dived in. I started with the stars - each one requiring a different color thread. Luckily, I have a lot of thread (some are mine from years of sewing; others from my MIL when she moved into a nursing home).

For each star, I've done a square spiral in the center and curvy zig-zags on the points. I admit that none of them are perfect, but altogether, they look good.

I have 3 more stars to do and then I will start on the background. I'm planning a swirly pattern although I have not yet committed to the exact motif - I've done about 10 samples on paper and on fabric, but am still undecided. I have a pale grey veriegated thread already for the background, so I should be moving forward on that this weekend.

Here's a wider shot of the quilt - or check out a full photo of the flimsy on the AMQG website.

Slow progress

I seem to be having trouble progressing on anything in particular. Everything is progressing a little bit, but no one project seems to be close to the finish line. Perhaps I just have too many WIPs.

Here's what's happening:

• Butterfly Hearts: I've managed to sew on some more hearts and I like the way it looks so far. I was struggling with finding matching floss to sew each one to the background but suddenly remembered that I had a huge collection of floss from my MIL. I suspect that there are about 500 colors - each one neatly hung on a hanging card and cut into manageable pieces. I am very grateful to have taken possession of this treasure.
• Plaid Block Lotto #1: I added some borders and am not sure about the bold red/black/white plaid. It should work, but it doesn't. I've put it aside for a while to have a think.
• Plaid Block Lotto #2: After working on paper and trying a few settings, I've chosen one. I need quite a few narrow bright sashing strips and I did start cutting, but that's about it.
• Blue snowflakes: A few inches of needle turn applique (maybe?).

This is the Butterfly Hearts quilt so far.

I'm also mulling over the AMQG raffle quilt that I'm organizing. I have about 56 wonky stars set on white backgrounds. My initial instructions were to create different sized stars and not necessarily centered, but most have come in the same size and centered. I didn't want the stars to look aligned in rows, so I'm working through options for adding coping strips to one edge of each and offsetting them. This Sunday we're having a working day to piece together the quilt, so I better come up with the ideas quick...

Sorry, not many pictures this post - makes it a bit dull.