End of month roundup

It wasn't until today, the last day of the month, that it seemed at all possible to get some of my monthly tasks finished. 

The month started with 6 tasks:

I made great progress with the Meadowland blocks... Love this floral and neutral spot!

And to top it off I got these bonus units sewn... not quite finished, but a good start for next month.

Huge news is that I finished off the last of the FMQ on Loosely Woven... so I'm all ready to start binding over the weekend.  Finishing this corner was the best feeling ever!

I wanted to get one more Dash to the Finish block done...

And almost  finished a bonus second one as a leader ender project!

And finishing two Patchwork City blocks seemed impossible on Monday, but a few seams here and there... and the addition of a sneaky stripe in this block...

... meant I got all the units finished today for block 24...

... to add to block 23...

... and June is going to be a busy month finishing the last block - 25, a little bit of sashing, borders and finishing touches and this one will be a top!

Wiggly quilting...

... and binding... this quilt is so close!

So yeah... 5 out of 6 and it felt so good to get those stickers on!

Almost All the things

I've been doing a little bit of not quite everything... but certainly lots of things.

Like Meadowland blocks...

Walking foot wiggly lines on my modern applique Buggy Barn Blooms quilt...

That was after this diy attachment of the seam guide to do my straight zigzags... good old sticky tape!

Then wiggle wiggle I went!  Discovered that your organic lines still need to be somewhat horizontal, resulting in some fix ups along the way 😤.  Also that while they may seem wiggly while you are doing them, sometimes they come out pretty straight.

 After that I developed a method which seems to have worked well for me, stitch lines that are relatively straight about 3 or 4 inches apart to use as guidelines, and work from the centre out to the edges (I did end up marking a starting line and using the seam guide to do these).  Then go back and fill in a straightish line between each of those lines, but having a lot of variety in their widths (this line I just eyeballed and didn't worry too much about)... then finally, doing wiggly lines in each irregularly spaced gap, using wiggles of different wiggliness!

I've only got a strip about 10 inches wide left to quilt on this... woohoo!!

And finally back to some good old free motion as I start the border on Loosely Woven.

With an 8in border, it is going to take some time!

Modern Applique Quilt... quilting take two

Some quilts you know exactly how you are going to quilt them from early on, and that is exactly how it was with my Modern Applique Quilt (Buggy Barn Blooms blocks).  Vertical lines on the grey side... horizontal lines on the patterned side.

Unfortunately there were a heap of other things that caused hold ups in the process... deciding to hand quilt being one of them.  Fast forward several years... then the decision to unpick the hand quilting that was started and remove the backing fabric.

Back to an unfinished top I contemplated whether to make it bigger as it comes in under 80 inches and I felt it was too small to be useful, but it resisted all attempts to construct borders!

Then I considered whether to make a pieced backing... but that wasn't really happening either... so new backing fabric was purchased and sewn to size and the whole thing rebasted...

A nice mid blue chevron for the back...

And a small star/floral  (from stash) for the binding.

And the first few rows of machine quilting on the grey side... walking foot echoes.

Walking foot quilting is still a struggle for me, but with practice I am slowly getting better.  It is still a bit uneven and I struggle with pivoting in the right place, but "it will do Pig... it will do!"

One of THOSE sort of weekends...

I decided to turn my bedroom around late Friday afternoon... it wasn't pretty!

With a little bit of careful cropping, it was eventually safe to go to bed that night.

Saturday was a bit of a sewing free day, and Sunday morning disappeared in a sea of washing.

Finally, something happening in the shed!

Janet has been quiet for quite some time.  First of all she was annoying me with the joins in her plastic rails - so we replaced them with the metal strap bracing used in garages - perfect.  Then I had issues with the stop/start button.  Hubby came up with his own solution involving the brake handle and cable from a push bike.  Perfect.


Finally, we needed a new handle, which was bought for $2.00 from a garage sale - an arm rest off a 10 speed...  you guessed it.  Perfect.

I splashed out on a new second hand machine - a straight stitch Janome 1600P so that I had a dedicated machine on the frame.  We still need to come to an arrangement that gives me even tension and threads that don't shred... but we're getting there!

Throughout the week I got about half of a My Tweets block blanket stitched.

So just the second half to do next week.

I also finally did the last few seams for my Swoon back.  If I ever suggest doing anything like this ever again - shoot me!

And after much procrastinating I did finally get the last applique block applied to the background for this Gypsy Blooms quilt.

I'll have to give my focus projects for next week a bit of a think... so I'll let you know...

Something [old]... something [new]

I had instructions on Saturday... work all day in your sewing shed... so that hubby could finish doing his thing in there on Sunday.  Gosh, I wonder if I could find something to do ALL DAY!!!

First up, I finished the blanket stitch on the Bluebirds and Berries BOM side panels AND attached them to the central panel.

Now I just need to put my thinking cap on and come up with some ideas for the top and bottom panels.

I've made great progress throughout the week on my Swoon back.  Just four more seams and it will be done.  Whew.  Tokyo Subway block 21 is half constructed.  Double whew.

The hand work focus this week was my mystery stitchery.  I'm pleased to report I have finished Block 4 and started tracing Block 5.

Because I was evicted today (and I'd made good progress on my focus projects), I took advantage of the situation and some quiet time with the kids actually playing outside in the SUN (yes, it seems it does still exist) - and pulled out my orange, grey, green and black bundle from last time...

and this sketch of a pattern...

Decamped back into the house, and ended up with something a bit like this...

Or like this...

Or like this...

Or even like this...

Just to get the perspective right thanks to my Pink Assistant... we're talking 72" finished.

Now - was there a favourite?  I ran out of fabric for the two empty opposing corners (which will be the plain cream) and haven't made the final decision on the corner opposite the grey square.  Do you think the black is too dark/domineering?

Ceiling progress... it's all done. 

And I have a hessian board wall which is just perfect for hanging my mini quilts.  Not that there are that many of them!

So, focus projects for this coming week:

Piecing: finish the Swoon back and keep plugging away at the Tokyo Subway blocks for this month.  I'm looking forward to this one NOT being a focus project the following week :0)

Blanket Stitch: reacquaint myself with the My Tweets BOM.  Remember this?

Hand work: stitching down the overlaid applique blocks on the large floral/modern quilt - goodness, this one really needs a better name!  And a more up to date photo - because this was not how it ended up looking!

Where Plan C became Plan D

Plan B had the most obvious problem of not having enough fabric.  Thanks for pointing that out Rona!  I looked at plenty of other options, including adding a contrast border to the bottom but in the end didn't want to stray too far from my original idea - so decided (after receiving much needed support from Monika) to try attaching my 1/4yard length of the same fabric to the bottom.  Yes, pattern matching!  I used the technique Elizabeth Hartman describes in her Modern Pieced Backs Craftsy Class, and am happy to report it worked like a treat. The join almost lines up with the LH corner of the bottom block.

As you can see, a length of grey got added, and the green split between both sides.  I like the balance - the mix of hectic and plain, and the strength the green gives to both sides.  I've got the blocks pinned on, and will handstitch them down once I've finished some of my other hand work.

I'm also thinking about possible backing fabric... the brown??

 
Or the blue??

Plus the eternal question of how to quilt it.

Talking about hand jobs (boom boom) - the hand quilting is roaring along progressing quietly...

From the back...

And the front...

I love the texture.  I've got 3.5 circles which need to be echo quilted.  Then 5 circles need to have the internal petals done.  Two lengths of sashing need to be outlined, then last up, circles done around the cornerstones.  But good progress.

And the last news for today is these three orphan blocks finally have a home, or at least a quilt to call their own.

From Material Obsessions Book One... a little lady:

A wonky-ish house:

And another wonky-ish house.

I started these blocks using leftovers mostly from Nadia's bed quilt made when she was about two.  After making these few blocks, I realised that my idea of scraps was quite different from the books idea of scraps - and that I really didn't have enough pieces big enough.  So they have sat for the last five years doing nothing, occasionally being looked at, and put away again.  It does feel good to get these to a useable state.

Don't you love this birdie print?

 And look, some quilting from the back... those squares again...

FMQ straight lines with curly-wigs in the middle...

A feather up one side...

From the front...

And a still to be stitched on binding... what a busy day it has been!

More things crossed off my to do list.