Too much of all the things

My normal crafting programme includes just adding new projects until the creative bubble bursts... and I return to focusing on a couple of projects until they are finished.

At the moment, I am still adding projects to my list, and wondering how close I am to that overflow situation.

I have had the instructions for the North Star quilt by Emily Dennis for a while, and just haven't had the fabric or spark to get it underway.  Last time I visited my favourite quilt shop, The Country Yard, they had in a new small line of fabrics that just had SUZANNE written all over them, and the North Star pattern leapt to mind as it is a simple yet graphic quilt, that would suit those strong graphic fabrics.  Coincidentally, this pattern also started a quilt along on Instagram.

After a couple of weeks thinking and plotting, I was still no closer to working out how those fabrics were going to work, as I needed more variety as well as background and contrast fabrics.  It was all a bit too hard and nothing was coming together.  I finally decided to buy SOME of the fabric... not enough to finish the quilt, but enough to do some experimenting.

I was not prepared to give up on this one, and after looking through the quiltalong IG photos, I have found a slightly alternative colour layout that I can see working with my fabrics!  I am beyond happy.

So today I caught up with the Month 7 block for the Tilda Homespun magazine BOM and got all my pieces fused.

Now I can work on finishing the blanket stitch on Block 5 and 7.  I think I also need to vacuum!

Tomorrow is a free day in my crafting schedule as the new weeks blocks for Patchwork City don't come out until Monday... so, I am going to have a little play with my NEW fabrics and see what happens.

My favourite tool I couldn't be without!

People often comment on my piecing accuracy and I think this is half because I am quite conscious of choosing blocks and quilts based on how blocks go together, and how easy they are to get good results, and half because I use triangle rulers and avoid many of the quick piecing methods.

My all time favourite tool is this mini corner trimming ruler by Marti Michell.

See how by lining up the edges of any sized half square or quarter square triangle it allows you to trim the bunny ears off?

When sewing triangles onto a square in this formation, usually you need to guess how far the triangle needs to overhang the square and hope for the best.

By trimming that end piece, it allows the triangle to fit perfectly aligned to the square.

Woohoo... magic.  Pressing these units open makes them super flat but also gives great visibility for matching upcoming seam intersections.

And a perfectly formed unit!

September's Rainbow Scrap Block

Somehow I don't think I posted about the September block, dark blue month.  With nine of these blocks made now I'm considering setting options as this makes a nice alternate block with an Irish chain vibe going on.

Also on the drawing board... or rather design floor is the Timeless Traditions BOM.  This was broken up into 8 months... although month 8 looked like a lot of work.  I have been completing blocks in my own timeframe, but following the same order as the BOM.  Getting to month five I figured it was time to lay out the blocks so far and see how the colours were balanced.

And of course I also decided to cut the star points... because they are a colour factor too!

At this stage I changed the order of blocks and made one from month 8 to be the centre block.  As this is the only non-star I felt this was best in the middle and chose a relatively neutral but still strong colour scheme, then chose fabric collections for the missing blocks.

School Holidays

Week one of the school holidays and it's been nice getting a bit more sewing done.  Now that all our visitors have left I'm free to spend time chilling and sewing... my kind of holiday, although I have spent two days so far at work.

I had a bit of catching up to do with the Patchwork City sew along, but I am now all up to date... awesome!

And so we have W3

W4

And W5

These blocks just happen to fall alongside each other in the quilt layout.  As I am using a solids FQ bundle from Elizabeth Hartmans Aviatrix quilt kit, they are somewhat rainbowish... but not really.  There is no easy step from the apricot/blush block to the tropical yellow block.  But I also remind myself that I really liked the bundle when it was still all packaged up in order... and I am using the fabrics in the same order... so it will all be good.

As the blocks go together, I am also piecing the Timeless Tradition BOM blocks and adding to the ever-growing collection.  This 12in block is particularly pretty and went

And the 6in cutie was fiddley but turned out so well!  In the end the pressing went exactly perfect so it was simple to put the units together.  I love it when the butted seams work in your favour.

The tease of the Unicorn Whispers fat eighth pack and the mixed low volumes finally proved to be too tempting.

More Patchwork City blocks in a different colourway and setting.  This wee project is going to just creep along in the background, and I'll add blocks every now and then.