All the things... little by little

Sometimes just choosing the easy block makes for some quick and simple sewing.  The next 12" block in the Summer Sampler 2017 series... Plaid Star.

Joining the sew-along for Sugar Bowl Crafts scrap blocks during lockdown... I may be the slowest participant ever... finally my two blue blocks have been joined by a purple one and you can kind of start to see the finished effect of those lovely variations of depth of colour.

This purple block has a few fabrics from the second ever quilt I started (and did eventually finish)... so many memories!

My goal for this month was to get a few more rows sewn together on The Proverbial Quilt.  I managed to get all but the last row of text attached!  It is such a cherry project... especially on gnarly rainy days like today.  AND I managed to cut out the rest of the strips!  So close!

I made some progress on my Starburst Cross Quilt.  I had always intended to attach plain borders.  I was so glad that my organisation skills from all those years ago meant I had the rest of the fabrics, leftover backing and the half completed final block all in the same box!  After finishing that last block and sewing together the top, it reinforced the fact that a 5 x 5 layout of 12" blocks makes a pretty petite 60" quilt!  Adding 4" borders still wouldn't add enough area, so 8" borders were on the agenda.  I realised that this matched the size of the centre star... and new star cornerstones were created... allowing me to showcase that troublesome red print in a third location.

Finally balance... and while I had initially thought those large plain borders might need a bit of applique to busy them up... the plainness has grown on me.

YAY... a finished top!

The sixth block for the Happy Cloud Sampler was another simple sew...

And I've slowly been adding a variety of black and white prints to the design wall for the background sashing.

I've still got plenty to keep me busy for the last part of the month... fingers crossed that as many goals as possible can get ticked off.

A busy week and start to Easter!

I have been doing a lot of pottering... a bit of this, a bit of that... cutting out a new block, or choosing fabric combinations... checking out new patterns... reminding myself I'm not supposed to be starting anything new, a bit of FMQ and back to sewing blocks.

Pulling out my Theres a Square in There for a bit more FMQ meant finally deciding what was going to go in the sashing.

I knew I was going to break up the area with random shapes, but hadn't decided exactly what was going to fill them... until this combination of spiral and pebbles occurred and I love it.

Each block is the same size... but because some blocks have the background colour around the edge, it means it blends in with the sashing... making the blocks look different sizes.  Quilting over all the background and sashing with the same pattern reinforces this.  I have almost got this first quarter done... WOOHOO!

Block Four of the Cloudy Day Sampler is done... another cool block in a fun mix of scraps.

And I have made excellent progress on my Nordic Star quilt compilation.  I had always got stuck on how to reinvent the proportions of the original pattern considering my elements were different.

Just using my ruler I measured the picture in the book to work out that the top section made up half the quilt.  Bam!  That was the key measurement and the rest has just fallen into place.  Why did this not happen 7 years ago?

And on to the progress... the top row of pluses is attached to the light and dark strips, and the wider light strip and the rectangle strip.  Next is to add a light strip to the lower rectangle strip then I can concentrate on the bottom row of pluses.  Many of the widths chosen have reference to other areas of the quilt... an important consideration when designing.

I bought the Iris quilt pattern because it seemed a perfect match to a bundle I had played around with.  A quiltalong is happening on Instagram and week 2 is to concentrate on cutting.  I think I have the layout sussed...

And cutting has commenced.  The construction is similar to the Trip Around the World quilt which sews strips into tubes before subcutting and opening seams.

And my last new time waster is based on The Proverbial Quilt by Denyse Schmidt.  I have chosen some song lyrics... and a bit of a rainbow layout... more scraps... and just winging it.

... and so the first word is done!  I decided to approach the project in order, rather than doing all of one letter as recommended, as I have a variety of colours throughout the quilt, and any efficiency gained by doing repeat letters was immediately lost by doing different colours.

I also got the first 6" block finished for the Summer Sampler 2017 for this month.

The Extra Week of February

Proclaiming the first week of March as an extra week of February has made a huge difference to my February productivity stats.

I got my two 6" 2017 Summer Sampler blocks finished, and the triangle block which joins them finished as well.

Although this wasn't straightforward... notice the bulging AND the pucker!  So much for "easing" the seam 😂

After unpicking all the units and trimming down... just a smidge off each unit, it all went together so much better and sits flat.

I finished sewing the second row of the Ultimate Beginner Sampler, using quilt as you go... and got my two rows sewn together.

It's still not 100% perfect... but it's OK.

My little scrappy leader/ender 9 patches have been slowly growing - 11 so far.  It is going to take a while to get enough blocks to make anything substantial but I suppose that's not the point.

I got the second section of Line Dried sewn and attached to the first section.

Block Two of the Happy Cloudy Sampler... I really like how this one turned out and could imagine a quilt out of this block.

Getting Dylan's quilt 3/4 quilted leads me to goals for March, which include finishing that quilting and getting the binding done (my main focus for this month).  Also getting the next sections/blocks done for Line Dried, Summer Sampler and Happy Cloud.  Row 3 of the Ultimate Beginner quilt would be nice too!

January Month End

Time for a quick update on January's goals and progress....

The journal layout...

1 My main focus goal for this month was to finish This Little Piggy.  Finish quilting.  Bind... label and blog.  Yay... big tick for this one!

2 Second goal was to finish piecing Bursting Star.  Also done!

3 was to baste Dylan's Hawthorn Quilt.  Done!  Although this horrendous hot weather was not helpful!

4 My Butterfly Patch BOM goal involved finishing the last block and assembling the remaining pieces.  I added to the goal and finished the border.  Bonus!

5 Ultimate beginner quilt... Finish row 1... after much angst this finally was completed.

Then I had some additional tasks...
A  Complete first block on the Happy Cloud Sampler scrap edition

 B Finish section one of Line Dried

I ahmed and ahhed about whether to start the Summer Sampler 2017 and finally pulled the following from stash.  I'm pretty much following the colours suggested although with a bit of leeway depending on how the stash fabrics fitted together.

And the first block!  This is actually block 9 of the sampler but is the central block.  I wanted to see how the fabrics were going to work together in this focal spot.

I also had a couple of projects that didn't have goals, but I wanted to remain on my agenda.

Sweet Escape... I managed to complete enough blocks for the first quarter and have just started sewing these together.

And finally my scrap Transire Quilt... little 2" cut scrappy plus block/nine patches.  I have actually made a few more since this photo was taken.  I've worked out the best way of fitting this project in is to ensure I lay out at least one block at the start of the sewing session and use it as a leader ender as necessary.  I don't have a huge collection of squares cut out, so I am just adding a bit of cutting time each session to cut a block or two.  The colours are just meandering as my scrap collection changes...

And that's January's progress.  As I work casually throughout this month, I usually start heaps more projects than i can carry on with through out the year.  We will have to see how successful this year turns out.  I have way too many projects needing quilting which is often a long slow process for me.  My overall goal for the year is to get a mix of old and new projects finished... both just tops finished and completely finished... although i am not going to put a quantity on that.  January's success has been a confidence builder that i might just get there!