New project - a baby quilt

I've been flagging a little on the quilting front. Yes, there have been round robins and Block Lotto blocks, and a few other bits and pieces, but nothing that qualifies as a "project". This is partly due to a natural winding down on my part as I've packed away my quilting frame and an (hopefully) preparing to pack out a lot more in preparation for house renovations in the new year. Another limitation is that I am determined to use up some of the fabrics in my stash and frankly, I don't like some of them or at least I don't know what to do with them.

But creative salvation came in the form of a pregnant co-worker. I haven't known her that long, but she is sweet and has been such a great help in recent weeks. I thought a baby quilt was just the thing to get me motivated to do something small and manageable.

Ages ago I toyed with the idea of a doing a modern inspired Dresden quilt. Some of the Monday Modern girls recently attended a Modern Wedge workshop with Kathy Doughty and have been making some beautiful blocks. In my usual way, I could not just follow that pattern, so I did some online browsing and designed a block that suited my purposes.

I did a few things to make this block: I only used 12 wedges (30-degree angle) which meant less pieces to deal with and a better size wedge to feature the fabrics. Half of the wedges are in the feature fabrics and the others are cut from a strip of white with a 1" lime green insert. I put the lime green in a different position on each white strip and then cut the triangles by flip-flopping them to end up with 2 sets of white wedges from each strip. I used a similar method for my Hexa-bee quilt.

The other thing I did was add setting triangles to the corners to square up the block so that I only had to trim a bit off.

The feature fabrics are from my stash. My friend does not know the gender of her baby, so I had to pick something that would work for a boy or girl. My girl loves blue and green and I seem to have many blue/green animal prints in my drawers. Once I picked them out, the green was a natural partner and I was off and running.

I have made 6 blocks that each finish at 15-1/2". I think that 31" X 46-1/2" is not a bad size, but I wonder if a border or sashing might be needed to break things up a bit. Or maybe just a border to make it a touch bigger.

I admit that I like these blocks so much that I was tempted to keep them for myself and start something else for my friend. I know that I can always replicate this block, but I never do the same thing twice, so it seems unlikely.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Chilly rabbit

A few months ago I did a pattern test for my friend Robyn (see her blog here). It's been hanging around for a while on the design wall but is one of my candidates for this quarter's finish along.

I decided to make it a bit bigger with some snowballs and corner stars - this turned my rabbit into an arctic hare. My plan was for a pillow, but it seems to be a bit bigger than expected. At 20 inches it's still possible, but I don't think I have an inner for it. Although I have been known to make them from a few recycled cushions, I'm not feeling particularly resourceful right now.

When I finished the piecing it looked very pale. I wish I had used a background with more contrast. My solution was to use a much darker quilting thread and do some dense quilting on all of the blue bits - this has worked well and the blue has more depth now. I also used scrap of puffy polyester batting which has given the hare some dimension that I like.

There are still a lot of threads to deal with, but that's a job that I really dislike, so I'm putting it off. Whether this ends up as a pillow or just a mini quilt / wall hanging, I will add yellow binding or piping to the edges. Now it's time to attached a few other projects...

Linking up with Lee this week at Freshly Pieced.

More sunshine

I finally managed to do a concentrated burst of sewing to move this project forward. I really ran into a creative wall when I finished the center medallion because I couldn't quite work out what to do with the corners. Sometimes putting a project away for a while is the best approach.

I put together the corner pieces on the weekend after making an emergency run to the fabric store - it seemed like I had only small pieces in the colors that I wanted to use. I made each corner different because the 1/2 sun blocks came from a variety of contributors and the colors and fabrics are all different.

I started sashing last night. I have 2 blue solids that are similar but different. Every other block around the edge will be bordered with one fabric, the others will be bordered with the second fabric. I was struggling with the strange sizes of the blocks and didn't want 6" sashing which is what would be needed to have evenly separated them. By using two blue solids it (hopefully) won't appear like there is uneven sashing, but instead a distinct border around each smaller block.

I'm hoping to get the top pieced by this weekend. Then it's in queue for quilting because my green/white HST quilt is still on the frame and about 2/3 finished.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Let the sun shine in

The weather in Auckland has been pretty patchy this week - I woke to hail this morning. But, my day off yesterday was filled with sunshine - at least in my sewing room.

I won 15 sunrise blocks (7" x 14") from Block Lotto in June and a while ago I started piecing a giant sun to go in the center of a quilt to be surrounded by smaller ones. The half-sun blocks needed to be paired up to make full suns - and this was no easy task. It is always a compromise when you are working with elements in a quilt that were made by a variety of people.

I thought I would share my experience trying to put together some of these blocks. My goal is not to criticize any of the lovely quilters who contributed blocks - but there are challenges, and since this is the fifth quilt I've made from blocks that others have contributed, I have learned some lessons on how to best deal with some problems that come up.

I think that this block especially was at risk of being inconsistent. Different methods were offered for piecing (by hand or foundation paper pieced) and some people (including me) had trouble convincing their printers not to re-scale the patterns that were provided. A lesson to any of us creating a pattern for others: include dimensions on the pattern in both horizontal and vertical directions. My printout seemed correct in one direction, but I realized (luckily, not too late) that it was not correct in the other direction.

In my case, the variation of the width of the suns among the 15 blocks was almost an inch. Most were within 1/4 inch of each other. The sizes of the center half circles also varied, although not as much. My usual approach is to come up with a layout that obscures these differences - either with sashing or offsetting the blocks. But, some block designs are made to be interlinked and can often form intriguing secondary designs between them. For this project, I really wanted round suns, so I had to get creative.

I had three background colors to work with, so I grouped the blocks by background (blue, white, and yellow). Then I matched them up into pairs fitting them together as much as possible. Two blue ones were much bigger than the others and one of those was the biggest of the lot. For this one, I took in the large curved seam, especially at the edges by sewing outside the original stitching. This did slightly distort the block, but I knew I would trim them all square once they were paired up.

I needed to make one more half sun block so that I could have 8 pairs, so I made one with a yellow background to match the orphan that I had left. I admit that no pair is perfectly matched, but I don't mind. Now that they are all squared and trimmed, they look quite good on the design wall. I'm glad I kept every one that was sent to me and didn't give up on any of them by judging them too difficult to save. I can't imagine putting together 16 of these blocks myself - so I have 9 other quilters to thank. I made four of these blocks and they were pretty tricky. Three of them are in this quilt and the fourth (and best one) was sent to another winner.

The blocks were designed to finish at 14" and I've trimmed them down to finish at 13". The big center square will be a 32", so I'll need some sashing so that I can put two small suns on each side edge of the center. I also don't know what I will do in the corners. I guess I'll figure that out once I finish the two other quarters of the center sun.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Progess after 3+ years

My blue snowflakes have resurfaced after taking me almost 3-1/2 years to applique 9 blocks. I thought I had decided how I would lay them out and the number of each type (light on dark or dark on light) was determined by this layout. But, after some analysis, drawing, calculating, whining, and recalculating I decided on a different direction.

I admit that my taste has changed over the years and although I still love the colors and the focal fabric (above), I didn't want to use a traditional on-point layout with sashing and borders which was my original plan. But I also do not (I repeat: DO NOT) want to make any more applique blocks. So, I added 1/2 square trianges to the corners to put the blocks on point without needing to mess with setting trianges. This also made all of the blocks one color, so the mix/match of the dark and light backgrounds would be less obvious.

I kept wanting to introduce some green, then maybe use the focal fabric as a few blocks. But this fabric is busy and it all looked too much. But without it, all the fabrics didn't quite go with each other and there was too much white.

So with mom's advice, I have gone back to sashing - wide 4 inch sashing and borders using the focal fabric. It does work, I think because of all that white to break up the busy print and not distract from the applique. The size of the quilt will be a bit odd as a 58-inch square - not exactly a king single which was the plan.

I'm already thinking about how to quilt it. There will be a lot of negative space, so it will require something interesting. Hopefully it won't be 3 years until I get around to finishing it.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

WIP round-up

I was thinking the other day how I have long-term WIPs (I still refuse to call them UFOs) and then other projects that spring up like weeds, grow quickly, and are fully grown and out the door in a flash. What is it about some projects that cause them to languish in the back of the closet for weeks, months, and dare I say years? Are they somehow flawed and are filed in the 'too hard' basket or is it simply that they have lost momentum and need some fertilizer to get growing again?

I hate not finishing things and it pains me to think about lost hours of investment on works that are yet to be completed. I know that I have some good excuses recently - selling 2 houses, getting ready to move, a death in the family, a menagerie of pesky pets...

A few years ago after finding many UFOs in my closet (some more than a decade old) I set my mind to getting them all finished in a year. I was successful and so pleased with myself. But back then I was not involved with block swaps, groups, challenges, blogging, and so on. And I wonder if some of these distractions are stopping me from moving forward on these older projects. Or perhaps these fun virtual exchanges are an easy excuse for not tackling the big jobs.

Two of these lingering projects are still appealing and occasionally call me back. These are the green HST quilt and the blue snowflake quilt. Either one would reach full-flimsy stage if I dedicated a weekend to each cause.

The third is the butterfly hearts quilt which is a disaster and needs to be reworked. This was a case of me taking one step forward, not liking it, and then carrying on for another 100 steps before I came to terms with the fact that I really didn't like it. I should have trusted my instincts. Now I am faced with unpicking lots of machine satin stitch applique - not pretty.

My more recent projects are moving forward. The wedding quilt is 2 blocks shy of a quorum (I need 41 all together) and after coming up short (4 inches) and mis-purchasing a few fabrics for the sashing I have decided to use the fabric that I picked up for the back - luckily I purchased an extra yard. I have 3 weekends to get this one finished.

My tea towel challenge which was on track to finish this month has stalled. It's taken me weeks to attempt hand quilting (I needed a thimble and a hoop). My attempt last weekend was so demoralizing, I'm already thinking of alternative quilting ideas for the center panel. I just cannot hand quilt. It's uneven, it's crooked, and it takes me about 20 tries to take one stitch. Based on my calculations it will take me 59 years to complete at this pace. I don't have that kind of time.

Meanwhile, the round robin that I'm involved with is progressing. I just received the last round - a little flimsy in need of sandwiching, quilting, and binding. It just arrived this week and I haven't given it much attention yet. It will definitely have to wait.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Waiting for fabric to arrive

I mentioned the wedding quilt that I am making in my last post. I've been so busy and decided to buy some fabric for this project online rather that make the pilgrimage to some of the local quilt shops. I do like to support my local shops and I have been burned buying fabric online that turns out to be the wrong color, but in this case I really could not get out to shop.

Of course, I foolishly thought that there was some correlation between ordering quickly (which I did ) and arriving quickly. Now I regret not making time to go shopping because I would have fabric in hand and would be cutting and sewing rather than checking my package tracking twice a day. And, what does it mean that my package was 'processed through the sort facility' in Chicago 6 days ago? Is it still sitting there? Why hasn't it managed to get closer to Auckland since then? (Okay, I've had my rant now, I've learned my lesson.)

I did manage to pick up a few fat quarters at the Auckland Quiltmakers annual show on the weekend and I have made a few blocks using bits and pieces from my stash. For some reason, I always need to buy lots more than I need - I guess I want to be able to pick and choose from a selection.

...later the same day... one of my two orders was waiting for me at home this afternoon. Apparently the 'processing' in Chicago also included getting on a plane, crossing the Pacific, and arriving at my house. At least this means that the other order currently processed in Los Angeles should show up soon.

My goal was to make 2 blocks per day, but since I am only sewing some days, I might need to up my goal. So far I have made 9 and have cut out enough for another couple. I've run out of fabrics for the backgrounds so the next delivery is needed for more.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced again this Wednesday.

WIPs and more

As usual I have a few things on the go. Although I have condensed my workspace and been away, I still seem to get things done.

I've continued to make blocks each month for the Block Lotto. This year's modern modular blocks have been great (although I have not won any yet) - I continue to be inspired by them. In fact, my latest quilt is made from blocks that we did in December 2012. I liked these so much and I've been waiting for an opportunity to use this pattern.

Some friends are getting married in June and I intended to make them a quilt to celebrate the event. Unfortunately, I am off to a late start and was having difficulty determining what to do for them. I had asked about colors and styles, but that's not always easy for a non-quilter to answer. Finally, I had a chance to speak to the bride-to-be and show her some fabrics from my stash to get inspiration. So, my design brief is: neutrals, green-blues (or is it blue-greens?), and traditional blocks.

I've ordered some new fabrics, but have made two blocks from my stash to get started. The narrow strips will be made with jade/peacock/teal and also some darker grays to mix it up. The block finishes at 8 inches, I'm not sure how big the quilt will be - I suspect it will be as big as it gets when I run out of time!

My tea towel quilt is progressing along (more here). I decided to do mostly stitch-in-the-ditch around the piecing and added some semicircles to the white border to echo the pieced semicircles on the first border. I am planning to hand quilt the center panel (my tea towel), but have not managed to get started on that.

The Monday Modern group that I belong to is doing a block lotto as well. Originally, we did bee blocks making them for each member using her own fabric and specifications. These blocks are specified by someone each month, made using fabric from our stashes, and then we draw names for a winner. So far, we have done three including these for May (eek, May almost).

I have also had another stab at my green HST quilt. I've made 32/36 of the blocks plus 8/24 of the 2-square-wide edge rectangles. This is taking me a long time (a really long, long time) but I am motivated to get it put together. More about this one from some old posts - the first one dated July 2011 (really?)

I'll be linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced when it turns Wednesday in her neck of the woods.

Tea towel progress report

I finally decided to add a white border to the outside of my tea towel quilt. It is plain but my plan is to mirror the half circles from the inner border using quilting. I did a lot of calculations to figure out how wide to make it based on the potential size of the half circle motif. And, after all that I realized that I only had enough fabric to cut a 3 inch border.

While away this weekend, I found some wool thread by Madeira. I've never used this before and I thought it might be interesting to use for the hand quilting on the center tea towel panel - the colors were perfect.

I also thought I'd try to use a polyester batting - I hear that my usual thin cotton batting can be hard to hand sew through. I bought some that was prepackaged because for some reason all of the batting in the store was wrapped up in plastic and I could not feel any of them. I thought I picked a thinner one, but once I pulled it out it seemed very dense. So far, not so good. My next mistake was using a basting spray - also something I never do. After spraying half the can onto the quilt, it did not stick at all. What a waste! So, back to old school pinning.

Now that it's finally basted, I'm not sure how to attack. I think I should machine quilt the inner border first to keep everything in place. I also don't seem to have a hoop or a thimble to do the hand quilting (I think I packed them away). I confess that this is not the first time I've planned to hand quilt, but I have never succeeded. I guess I'm just looking for excuses...

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced.

Owl tea towel progress

I have made a start on my tea towel challenge. My first task was to stabilize the tea towel since it is made of a looser weave linen than the usual quilting fabric. I decided to baste some light weight interfacing to it rather than use iron-on. I've had some bad luck with iron-on stuff lately.

My plan is to use shapes from the tea towel design, so I drafted a half circle block to go around the first orange border.

This morning I made a prototype of a cross block that will be a top and bottom border - this should square it up a bit more. This is a fiddly block that I drafted to match the shape of the owl feet. I have to cut it "old school" using a template because of the odd angles. These will take a while to cut, but they go together quickly like a crooked 9 patch.

I will probably make one more pieced border, no specific plan yet. The beaks are equilateral triangles and I might take my inspiration from them.

One of the parameters of this challenge is to do something that I've never done before. I guess everything I do is somewhat new since I rarely use patterns or do the same thing twice. But, that seems a little weak.

I have been pondering the ultimate "thing I never do" - hand quilt (EEEEK!). It seems appropriate for a little retro quilt like this. I am envisioning chunky stitches in bright colors...hmmm...

English paper pieced hexagons

I am always a little late with the trends, so after everyone in blogland has done some EPP, I've decided to give it a go. While I was in the US I saw a patterns for 'Hexie Bonbons' in a McCalls Quilting magazine. It required 8 biggish hexagons - about my speed considering my reluctance to do anything by hand.

I started this project because after having the day off yesterday, I could not come up with a project to work on - I think I'm a little burned out after the show. Add to that the house auction that we were going to last night, I was anxious and distracted and could not focus on anything. I decided that a little hand piecing while sitting in the sun was just the thing to calm my nerves.

I confess I like the way the parts come together and the paper pieces make the whole thing satisfyingly crisp. This pattern results in all the hexagons being sewn together to form a little cushion of sorts. Imagine a flat version of a soccer ball (also made up of hexagons). I'm not sure how to work them when I get around the back, but I'm sure there's a way. I just have to remember to pull out the papers before it gets too closed in to reach them.

I'm now envisioning a pig pouf pillow made with 8 huge hexies. I think I'm getting carried away.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP.

Memory quilt for Grandma

Has it really been almost a month since I posted? I have been very busy and productive, but somehow I have neglected to share.

Right now I'm in the USA visiting family. My grandmother turns 100 this week and my mother and I are working on a family tree/memory quilt for her. I admit that we should have planned ahead and I could have done some of the work while I was still at home, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.

I had a major argument with my mom's Mac and scanner, abandoned them and connected the scanner to my Windows laptop. That went fine until I tried to print. Somehow it did not work on my laptop and I needed to move the printer back to the Mac. Finally, I got all of the photos done and added white on white coping strips to make them all 4x4 or 4x8 or 8x8 so that we could easily sew them together into 8" blocks.

We are now embroidering names onto green fabrics. These will be appliqued onto the quilt as leaves on a tree. We decided just to include my grandparents and all of their direct decendents. Luckily our family is small and this only required 22 names.

I am not great at embroidery and those that know me will know that handwork is not my favourite. But, I've managed to do my half and the names are readable, if not slightly rustic.

We have until Saturday to get the whole thing done. I better hustle!

Almost finished

My Monday Modern quilters bee block quilt is almost done. I finished the binding on Sunday night so that I could bring it along to our monthly meeting. BUT, there are still the threads to deal with.

I never know the best method for finishing off the threads. In this case, I have a lot of them. I'm still grappling with the compromises that I need to make when quilting on a frame with a domestic machine. If I had done this using FMQ, I wouldn't have nearly as many threads to deal with - but, the quilting would have taken me 4 times longer. Which is worse? I don't know.

This time I'm threading each loose end onto a needle and embedding it into the batting. This is the best way I know to prevent the stitches from pulling out. In this case, it's tedious - I've calculated that I have at least 12x39+20 threads to put through the eye of my needle and tuck in. Ouch! (Why do I count these things?)

Sometimes I just clip them off and hope for the best. So far, this has worked fine. For wall hangings or pillows I knot them on the back. This time I wanted a more professional finish, so I am struggling to get it done.

I'll do another post on the the whole quilt once all those pesky threads are gone. Meanwhile, I'm counting this one as a work in progress (WIP) and linking up on Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

Two quilts for exhibit

At the Monday Modern meeting this week we started planning our exhibit. This is very exciting except that the quilts need to be done in 2 months, about 6 weeks earlier than I thought. Our exhibit is in mid September but we need to submit the quilts at our August meeting. I understand the reason for this, but it's so soon.

I have progressed on my grey quilt and the flimsy is finished. Here's a peek.

My hexi bee blocks are now on the design wall with the (second) green solid that I have purchased. At first I thought this green was wrong too, but it's growing on me. I need to make a few more and cut some more solid hexis and some partial ones for the edges and then I'll be ready to start sewing.

Originally I planned a pattern that would allow me to avoid having to y-seam everything, but it was too busy looking. This layout is good but it will take me a while to piece them together. Usually I see this as the home stretch of the flimsy construction, but not this time.

My experimentation on the Swiftquilter continues. I signed up for Crafty's "Free Motion Quilting with Feathers" with Angela Walters. It's been really helpful, but no class can replace practice, practice, practice. Here's a sample feather and some surrounding doodling.

I will be moving my blog soon to sit under my business web site. Not much will change, only the location. Stay tuned for details.

Empty pockets

Most of us are rapidly emptying our pockets doing Christmas shopping, but my empty pockets are on the now-completed advent calendar. I finished this yesterday, with 2 days to spare before December. (Yay me!)

I quilted the background with silver metallic thread using inspiration from Leah Day's Icicle Lights FMQ design.

But the pockets are empty, except for one. I have changed my mind about 1,000 times on what to fill the pockets with. My initial (and ultimate) plan was to make little critters to live in the pockets and get moved to the tree each day. But, making 24 critters in the next few days is not possible. I've also changed my mind about these critters - use fussy-cut novelty prints like the pockets, make them out of felt, buy them, no...make them out of felt, maybe I should just buy them, make them out of felt using the novelty prints for inspiration, buy pattern for felt ones (you get the idea).

I stumbled across these on Etsy and bought all three of the woodland animal patterns. They are by Aimee at Little Dear Tracks and are super cute.

DD and I put together one little bird last night using the few bits of wool felt that I had on hand. I have ordered some more but won't see it until Monday. So, one critter down, 23 to go! Maybe I can make one a night and keep ahead of the game (I think not). Somehow I think that most pockets will contain chocolate Santas.

The stocking for Monday Moderns is not quite finished. I did the quilting for the front and will do some quick quilting on the back before I can sew them together. DD saw this stocking and wants one just like it - that gives me 25 days to get it done. (Sorry, no pictures.)

Meanwhile, I saw a tote bag on an old episode of Quilting Arts and decided it would be quick and easy to 'throw together' for some Christmas gifts. Finding the large eyelets/grommets in Auckland has proved a major job and after going everywhere and an aborted attempt to order them from Amazon, they are on their way from Fabric.com. I hope they arrive quickly - I have to get these bags made and shipped to the US last week. (I love Auckland, but I'm amazed at how hard it is to find easy things and how easy it is to find hard things - I found a sail maker who could put marine-grade stainless eyelets on for me but thought that was overkill and I'm not sure the boys in the workshop would have appreciated my bags.)

My plan is to do something less angular than this. But I liked the construction method and want to make big ones for the grown-ups and little ones for the girls.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

Christmas projects

The advent calendar is pieced together and I hope to sandwich it and start the quilting this weekend. I really wish I had a wall to hang things on for photos, but the effect of the light through the window is pretty cool too.

The other Christmas project is a stocking challenge that Monday Moderns are doing. I designed some tiny paper-pieced trees that finish at about 2-1/2 inches. They were inspired by a few things I saw on the web, but I did draft them myself. I absolutely love them and need to come up with lots of things to use them on.

The rest of the stocking was pieced with bits of red, orange, and coral that I had. The front is sandwiched and ready for quilting.

I'm going to experiment with some metallic thread. I know it can be troublesome, but a small project like this is ideal for experimentation.

Christmas presents are not happening. I finally had some inspiration but no fabric candidates are jumping out at me. There's still time, isn't there?

Linking up with WIP at Freshly Pieced.

Advent calendar

The other day DD asked me - can we make an advent calendar? Years ago (many, many, years) my mother made one out of felt and each day's pocket held a handmade sequined ornament to pin to the tree above. I asked about it when DD was little but apparently it came to some untimely destructive incident. I loved it as a kid and even though I had to take turns with my brother I made sure that the ornaments that I liked best were strategically placed in my days.

My mom apparently said that she would make another one, so I called her: "It's started," she replied. Hmmm... "Like, in the mail in 2 weeks started?" - no. I love my mom and she does great work, but here's the deal - an advent calendar has a limited life span and timing is everything. So, I am making one instead.

The recent Auckland Festival of Quilts provided some fabric inspiration. DD has been collecting owl prints and with the addition of a few more woodland critters I had enough to do something with. Still unsure of the exact design, I started with the centerpiece tree.

I have a wide variety of greens and greys and quite a few whites with silver designs. These scraps formed a foundation-pieced tree. Each row was started with a strip of lightweight muslin and a center green scrap. Then I added more green pieces ending the tree row with an angled piece of green. The grey/white/silver scraps finished each row for a snowy background. (No, it never snows in Auckland and Christmas is the start of our summer, but snow still seems right.)

I will add a trunk to the bottom once I figure out the final layout and how much trunk I need.

The pockets are all made of fussy-cut squares using the woodland prints (okay, one is a koala, but it's woodsy enough) and lined and backed with a coordinating blender fabric. I took a hint from Elizabeth at Oh, Fransson! for the construction. Her method for making the pockets allows the whole calendar to be constructed like a quilt - other approaches make the areas with the pockets a non-quilty add-on.

The pockets are in various stages of completeness. The zig-zag stitching around the numbers was a challenge - and swapping the thread for each one was a hassle. Each pocket is sashed in the same grey/white/silver prints as the background. The pockets will surround the tree.

Progress is good and I'm confident that it will be finished by December 1st. I decided early on, in the interest of time, that I would not make ornaments. If I can find some mini ones, I'll put some in the pockets and fill the rest with treats. Eventually, I should be able to collect enough ornaments with a woodland theme to fill each pocket. Better start shopping!

I have not yet started my other Christmas presents. Time is running out quickly - I like to have gifts in the post to the US by the first week in December. Could be a buy-stuff-on-Etsy-and-direct-ship year.

One other Christmas project is in the pipeline - a stocking challenge with the Monday Moderns. I have the design sketched on the back of an envelope and a pile of fabric picked out - maybe next week's post will show some progress on that one.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Progressing well

The quilt I'm making for my friend is progressing well. Two weekends ago I took it to our beach house thinking I could get a lot done. When the wind started blowing and the rain falling, I thought: "Good, excellent weather for sewing." That was until the power went out on Saturday night and the only way home is on a ferry thrugh rough seas. So we "camped out" for the night all the while me grumbling about my quilt and no power.

The sun came out on Sunday morning but not the power. DD and I headed home in calm conditions and left DH to work on pruning the trees that probably knocked our power lines out.

Much progress was made when I returned home and by Monday it was all pieced, sandwiched and ready to quilt.

Quilting began last weekend. I decided on a simple design and am pleased with the results so far. I did some of it with a walking foot and some using FMQ. I think FMQ is sometimes easier than pivoting a quilt around. I've done all of the grey background and have also finished the blue flower petals. The thread I used for the blue gave me much grief and broke about 20 times. I was surprised when I started the coral leaves because that thread (the same but a different color) has been fine.

DH & DD are off to the mountain for a final skiing weekend so I am sewing (and working) on my own. The going away party for my friend is next Monday - now I only hope she has room in her suitcase for this quilt...

Linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP.

Started something new

I promised that I would not start a new project...BUT...the need arose to make a gift. My friend (and hairdresser) is moving to Melbourne Australia. Not only does she look after my hair (a tough task indeed), she has looked after my crazy dog and elusive cat several times. To give you an example of what a kind-hearted person she is - when she was staying at our house while we were away for 2 weeks camping, she welcomed us home with a dinner of homemade gnocchi. She will be missed, and I hope that Melbourne is good to her.

So, as a going away gift, I am making her a quilt (what else?) I have been collecting grey fabric for a while and have recently purchased a few coral/cerise/persimon pieces. I've been conjuring up a quilt in my head for a while, and decided that this was the time to give it a go. Besides the coral fabrics, I've added a bunch of aqua-ish blues from my stash.

Unlike my usually organic process meandering towards a quilt, I planned this one beforehand and cut all of the pieces out first. Usually I cut a little and sew a little, but with only 3 weeks to make this quilt, I knew that an assembly-line approach would be the fastest option.

The block uses some drunkard's path quarter circles, some squares, and some strips to form a leaf-flower motif. I'll make 12 of these 15" blocks and alternate the blue and coral.

So far I've finished all of the coral/grey component squares and am progressing through the blue squares now. Considering that I just started last weekend, I'm doing well. I hope to have it all pieced by this weekend so that I can do the quilting next week. If I slip a little, I have a 1-week buffer. Nothing like a bit of pressure to motivate.

I'm linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP.

I really want to start something new

On my day off today I was itching to start a new project. But, I spent some time deciding how to quilt my first plaid quilt. After sketching out a few ideas, I had to consider what would be the best option. There's a lot to weigh up when making a decision - how much time do I want to spend, is the design practical, will there be lots of starts and stops, what will enhanse the patchwork design, and so on. Sometimes I take the hard way, sometimes the easy. Considering my desire to start something new, I chose an easy option and am glad that I did.

I've started quilting an 8-loop flower pattern centered on each block and it's quick and easy. There's no marking and the design softens the strong squares and perpendicular lines of the blocks. I've done half the blocks and should finish the others this week. I'll use the same motif on the borders although I have not yet decided on the scale yet.

Last weekend I also made some progress on my green HST quilt. I've now completed 15 blocks - I think I have at least that many more to go plus the borders. I have this project at our beach house so I don't get a chance to work on it often, especially this time of year. I know that over Christmas when we are there for a few weeks it will definitely get done. (Sorry for the bad photo, I can't manage a good one using my phone for some reason.)

I have 5 bed-sized quilts in various stages of completion. I would love to get them all done this year, but it seems unlikely. I haven't started thinking about Christmas presents yet - have you started yet?

As usual, I'm linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.