Winding Down to the End of the Month

Somehow August just seems to keep on going... I managed to piece together all the Tillies Lane blocks into one huge square.  This was one of my Epic Quilt Challenges from the start of the year.  Now I just need to make some final decisions on borders.  One challenge at a time.

I have also sewed and sewed and got through "almost" all of the TATW blocks for the last two weeks.  These blocks I had sewn the strip sets, but not subcut or repieced.  One more block to go, and then these 8 are finished, and only 8 more to go until the quilt top has all its blocks pieced.

I decided to trial a Saturday night sew in with Barefoot Quilter on instagram... I'm not much of a night time quilter - having my sewing cave in an external garage means it is not overly social or pleasant to disappear to in the middle of the night.  And having something move in there that was not me, kinda put me off the whole experience.  Once the heart rate had returned to normal, I reorganised my blocks into a totally different layout, and am now pondering whether I like the offset square look... excuse the dark depressing middle of the night photo!

or whether to go back to the multiple radiating squares...

As the month end approaches, I realise that I haven't started the Carol's Quilts mystery for this month (don't tell Charlotte).  So today has been spent cutting and piecing the first few units of this months mystery.  We are up to Month 4 now, so only two more months to go before the mystery is revealed.  Very exciting!

No Rainbow Scrap Challenge for me this month - this months colour was neutral, and I decided that my rainbow didn't need neutral.  I'm looking forward to next month to see what colour we are working with and get back into this project.

And I think that about finishes my monthly roundup.  Next month I'm keen to get the last four My Tweets blocks framed, and attached to the centre unit, and get back to FMQ on the Stack, Shuffle Slide quilt.  Lots going on here...

Unexpected Progress

Unfortunately my littlest munchkin was sick last night, so today was a stay at home day - offering drinks and small snacks, feeling foreheads and sneaking in some sewing.  BONUS!

This week I decided I really, really needed to catch up with my Carol's Quilts Mystery blocks for the third month.

There are actually two different blocks to make this month, but I seem to have only photographed one.  This block I have sewn in two slightly different fabric combinations.

Version One:

Version Two (just rotated to confuse you).

And look at the magic when you put the blocks together...

or alternatively...

With that monthly challenge completed, I spent a bit of time on my Orphan Block Medallion Quilt, making more butterflies until I had enough to complete the next border.

This is measuring 35" so far

I have been using Jen Kingwell's Midnight At the Oasis pattern as inspiration, so plan another round of Sketch, then the floral basket applique border. 

Then I'll have to see what happens next.

The Week that Was

Most of this week has been spent plodding along with my RSC yellow blocks, and making hourglass blocks for Tillies Lane, after completing the blanket stitch on my applique units.

This means my RSC blocks for this month are finished already!  And I've got 14 of 24 hourglass blocks finished.

We have Papa Bear..

Mama Bear...

And Baby Bear, with the rest of the family!

Carol's Quilts Mystery Month Two instructions came online... so I read through those, and started worrying about everything... as you do.

When in doubt, start with a small step.  On Saturday I made up the first section of the instructions, four blocks, and then just kept on going.

It's fun to play with the blocks as they come off the production line... this layout gives a nice diagonal stripe effect.

With alternate blocks half rotated.

All blocks with large square to the centre

All blocks with small green square to the centre

It will be interesting to see how these blocks end up working together.

And a bit of a close up showing the variety of fabrics.  I added a tartan style print to the dark mix... which worked well in the construction of this unit.

The second part of the monthly instructions was for the creation of some long pieced units.  I have been undecided about how scrappy to take this quilt.  I know that I don't have enough fabrics within each category to make it truly scrappy - more of a controlled placement of multiple fabrics.  I had pulled out some additional background fabrics, as I worried that the spot background might take over the subtle nature of the other fabrics.  Plus, big spots... not always a good thing.  But, it was a safe choice to keep the spots in all the background positions; being a mystery quilt makes the placement of multiple fabrics a bit of a gamble.   This months units meant that I had to make a decision - to go with just one background... or several...??

Multiple choice it is!  Units pieced but long strips still requiring sewing. It passes my "squint" test.  I guess I will just need to wait until the mystery pans out to see whether it really works or not.

I've added an old fashioned ledger type fabric...

And a fine grey stripe.

While I was at it, I added a small piece of brown spot into the dark fabrics... just because I could and I found it among my scraps.

Rock on next week, in which I will attempt to get back to my VQR blocks for Monika.  I have printed out the paper foundations, so at least the first step has been made!

A Really Great Week

I've just had a really great week.  This month I was a bit light on my monthly goals... mostly because I wasn't sure how the clothing sewing was going to go and how much time it would take up.  With one dress down, I can put that aside for a bit, and now that I can focus back on patchwork goals, I feel a lot more settled.

Charlotte's mystery quilt appeared on Carol's Quilts blog, and I searched out a possible selection of fabrics... but still had to read through the instructions to work out whether what I had would meet the requirements.  It took a bit of figuring... but I think it has all worked out.

I started off with a feature fabric and bunch of possible team mates:

While I had intended to chop up the feature fabric, it then became difficult to slot the other fabrics into the necessary positions according to the requirements.  So I made an executive decision, and figured I'd use the feature as a border... and use the other fabrics as the main contenders, and listed them as follows:

I added this Denyse Schmidt fabric into the B section of darks... it gives me four good dark options, although I've left the stripe in there because (a) I don't know where else to put it and this seems like the best fit and (b) while I would like to use it... I'm not sure whether it will work out in the long run.  The down side of participating in a mystery!

And I got my month one's blocks finished.  Four four patches...

And four four patches with a half square triangle in one of the  positions.  Then I had a bit of fun spinning these around...

Okay, on to the rest of the week.  I've been buzzing through the Tillies Lane hourglass blocks, and sewing triangles to my Sugar Club blocks... enough that I have completed not one...

but two upsize blocks!

I left a comment on someones blog about the interesting variety of blocks on the design wall... so just for full disclosure, there are remnants of three very different projects littered all over my one at the moment!

New Things

I wore my new dress to work today.  Although it was a bit cold... I really need to buy a cardy or something warm that goes with it.

I have this scarf that is almost the perfect colouring... a bit more is more, but it looked OK.

And Me, excuse the odd photo angle... these things happen when you get your 11yr old to take your photo!  At least my eyes are open and I don't look cross... you don't want to know how many photos it took to get this to happen.

Righto... and onto other new things... my good friend Charlotte has designed a Mystery Quilt on another blog... Carols Quilts.  You can check it out here.

Now, I have been sneaky and checked out the Mystery Quilt (don't tell anyone)... so I know it's a good one.  Not too long (6mths) or complicated (squares, rectangles and triangles), and ends up with a mid sized quilt that you could easily grow to the size you want.  I've been waiting for the first months instructions, to see exactly what the fabric requirements are, and have pulled the following as a possible grouping.

It started with this fabric - Secret Garden by Sandi Henderson, Michael Miller Fabrics which I have had in my stash for ever!

It's quite a large print, and I am imagining just cutting it up into small bits

Then I found these that I quite like to go with it... not too samey/samey but a nice blend of blendy and contrasty.  Don't you love making up your own words?

From left to right:
Newspaper print... unnamed selvedge
Small dot... 11993 Daiwabo for EE Schenck Company
Stripe... unnamed selvedge but I wouldn't be surprised if it is a Stof Basic
Dark grey solid... pretty sure this is a homespun from Spotlight
Lighter colour small dot... same marking as darker dot above
Large multicolour dot... printing is actually half off the selvedge but its something about Habitat (a philosophy a refuge) by Benartex
Even lighter small dot... same as above
Neutral stripe... no markings but similar to a shirting
Green floral... Quilt Gate Mary rose collection
Green solid... either a Spotlight homespun or a Bella solid
Bird detail print... Field Notes by Blackbird Designs for moda

Now I need to actually read the instructions to see what fabrics I really need...

If you are looking for a new project, or just want a bit of low commitment fun, I really do recommend the Mystery Quilt.

I'm going to try linking up with Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash.