A New Month - January achievements and February Goals

Wow, the beginning of a new month, and it is February already.

Thinking about my broad goals for the year, I had some mini goals set for January - which I think were achieved.

• I caught up with {most of} my VQR sampler blocks:

I just have to add that pinwheel blocks are among my least favourite block.  Mainly because the center of the pinwheel is the focus point, and it is so hard to get really good points on this area.  So, to combat this I firstly chose two fabrics that were of similar contrast - with the idea of softening any less than perfect areas, and chose a stronger contrast fabric in the outer point position to lead the eye away from the centre.  Secondly I used a small amount of spray starch before sewing.  This helped it stay somewhat in place (not distort as it was being sewn) and I'm happy to report that I ended up with probably the best pinwheel I have ever sewn.  Still not going to make a whole quilt with these pesky blocks though!

• I finished the binding on the Constellation quilt, and yes, it is on the bed!  Love.  Love.  Love.

• 3 1/2 of the 4 My Tweets blocks had their blanket stitch completed.  I was hoping to get all four finished, but just didn't quite make it.  However, still happy with that progress.

• Tillies Lane Month Two goals were achieved!

• Beep Beep! was finished and gifted!  Plus I received a beautiful thank you card which was lovely.

• I finished four more Starburst Cross blocks on the weekend, which makes 13 out of 25 completed.

•  And got two more of the Sugar club blocks upsized.

OK, goals for February.

• Month Three of Tillies Lane.  This involves one large applique block, one small applique block and twenty four small hourglass blocks - which are ideal as leader/enders.  I've started pulling scraps already.

• VQR block - exploding star

•  Starburst Cross blocks - I have 6 more fabric combinations left, which means twelve blocks to complete.  It would be nice to get 6 blocks completed this month, but maybe four would be more realistic?  I'll have to see how this goes.

• Sugar Club blocks - upsize these three blocks with the plain strips so that they will just be needing the final round of triangles added another month.

For example:

• My Tweets: cut and apply the fusible applique for Block 11.  Complete blanket stitch another month.

I did sort of start a new project - playing with this small fabric bundle.

I couldn't work out how to get this bundle big enough to make a quilt from it, because I just didn't want to add extra fabric.  What I worked out was that I didn't want to add any extra feature fabric, but more neutral/grey/low volume fabric was OK.

Once I had made that distinction, it was a small leap to find this pattern on the cover of this book.

And I'm already making progress.  The blocks are quick and easy to put together, although I'm not sure exactly how I'll set these blocks... as I have added a couple of extra fabrics compared to the pattern, and I want to make it a bit bigger, but it will come to me.

And today was Nadia's first day at college - Year 7.  She was all very excited and wow, how grown up looking flash in her uniform.

Beep Beep! Done Done!

I had a finish day in the back of my mind of Monday (yesterday), as this was hubby's first day back at work and it would have been nice for him to take it to his workmate at the start of the year.  But really, I didn't think that would give me enough time to quilt and finish binding... but it was a good goal, and encouraged me to keep at it.  And you know... today I finished the last little bit of hand stitching on the binding and sewed on the label.  Woohoo - my first finish of 2017!

We have a floor shot...

A close up of FM quilting... a mid size stipple that fits in nicely around the shapes but is still pretty quick to get done...

A bit of a binding shot... I decided to use some of my fabric scraps and had random lengths along with some larger sections of grey to give it a bit of space...

A shot of quilt holder-upper extraordinaire  getting his pose ready... note how he keeps the quilt up nice and high off the ground.

And yay... no wind!

And a little bit of wind.

 
Now I can shift my focus onto some of my other goals for January...

2017 The Year of the Epic Quilt

I have a bit of a thing with large, applique quilts.  These tend to get started, or I buy patterns and have great intentions of starting, but very rarely get finished.

Case in point, My Tweets quilt pattern, which was started towards the end of 2011 and stalled completely at the beginning of 2014.  That is three years ago people!

So I've decided that this year shall be the year of the epic quilt, with the goal of getting My Tweets top completed by the end of the year.

Progress to date: 10 of 12 blocks created, four of those blocks needing blanket stitch to be done.

This was Block 7 (bottom right hand corner), which is now blanket stitched.  These little pale flowers take forever to blanket stitch, even done by machine.

And this is Block 8 which as of this afternoon has also had it's blanket stitch completed.

Updated stats... two blocks to blanket stitch, and two blocks to create.  Then there is the border.

Other things I would also like to get done this year:

Tillie's Lane was a BOM I bought, with the intention of using scraps.  [My other huge downfall is starting projects intending to use scraps... so this falls under both the epic applique quilt and scrap quilt failures].

Block One got done pretty quickly, and I spent a bit of time making the little hourglass blocks as a leader/ender project... but somewhere along the line it got put down, away and then forgotten.

So I've pulled out Block Two - and think I should be able to get this finished and a few more hourglasses done to finish the second months requirements.  Let's plan that for the end of January.

I have two untouched bundles of fabric/new projects that I plan to start, but not until some other projects are finished.

First up is this bundle that has now grown to eight fat quarters plus a grey background...

... which I intend to turn into this Thimble Blossom's quilt.

And this bundle which I thought about for years but haven't ever committed to a particular pattern...

... which I am going to turn into this Quiltville pattern:

What I would like to get finished before I am allowed to even think about starting something else is:

The Starburst quilt top...

Beep Beep:
Which is now all in one piece, and backing fabric decided!

And other projects I am still progressing with include:
Sugar Club sampler quilt... mission: upsize my blocks!

I have a few other quilts that are lurking in the back of my mind... but I also know that I can't do everything, and that those I have highlighted could quite possibly take up all of my free time for at least the next year.  So yeah... looks like another busy year at the home of All The Good Ones.  Oops, did I mention that I bought an Aviatrix quilt kit during a Craftsy sale... hmm, I'll have to think about where that is going to fit into the grand scheme of things.  Maybe I need to change my blog name to A crazy person quilts here.
 

All I want for Christmas is...

... a Swoon Quilt on the bed!

 I just wanted something bright and summery to match the lovely weather we have been having.  And the small fact that the binding is not quite finished yet was not enough to prevent the Swoon finally getting its time to shine for Christmas.  For all the angst I had putting it together - I now struggle to find those pesky intersections that just wouldn't match up making the blocks.

Beep Beep has been whizzing along...

This got to the stage where I had to think and assess what fabrics were going to go into the missing slots - pins in my design wall worked well to give the visual aid and make sure it was all looking balanced.

Until finally all the blocks have been constructed!  This may well be a new land speed record!

Do you know that there is only one sleep left?

My kids have the job of decorating the tree and I love that it has that "casual" feeling.  A little house means a little Xmas display.

And this little guy crops up every few years when I remember to bring him out at the right time of year.  I'm still surprised that the glue is holding him onto his rockers (repurposed coat hangers).

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Christmas - hope Santa brings you all something nice!