April in review... a month of lockdown

The lockdown situation has been the most weirdest environment to live in.  On the one hand it has been quite enjoyable having the time to enjoy my creative endeavours... on the other... sometimes there has just been too much time to worry about every damn thing.

I started the month working through the various BOM activities I set for myself
Happy Cloud sampler

Blocks 7, 8 and 9 of the Ultimate Beginner sampler

Two more six inch blocks and flying geese joiner for the 2017 Summer Sampler

My huge One Monthly Goal was to put together these orphan blocks and I finally made the whole design work together and it just flowed... Check out everyone else's goal progress  Here

It is massive... 95" x 98"

So there is a decent overhang...

And onto the quilting pile it goes.

Then back to BOM blocks... Line Dried  with the itty bitty 3" Ohio stars

And now I've got the whole top row sewn!

And because I'm a sucker I pulled out this Timeless Traditions quilt that stalled out... maybe last year... maybe the year before...

So I got the blocks sewn together for the third quarter...

Started the applique on the corner section...

And fused the fourth wreath block.

And then I got caught up in the excitement of 2" scrappy strips and made this log cabin top from the Growing up Modern book...

Although I added a wider white border and added colourful strips top and botto  to make it rectangular.

Then proceeded to go completely mad with sorting my blue scraps into similar bundles of blueness...

Choosing the soft dreamy blues to start and made some 2" strips which were sewn end to end...

And so began a different scrap quilt from the blog Sugar Bowl Crafts.

Sometimes when I just start playing with my fabric stash I can just put it all away again...

Other times it knows exactly what it wants to be!  An Iris Quilt!

This quilt is constructed similarly to the tube version of Trip Around the World...

I'm using a charcoal for the sashing and am not quite sure whether I love it yet.

To infinity and beyond...

Seven years AFTER 2013 I still have some of those projects started that year unfinished.

1. Large star: awaiting quilting

2, 3, 4. Dresden quilt/Modern cross blocks/Plus Cross blocks - this combined three different projects into one quilt and as of this week... WOOHOO... this one is pieced and awaiting quilting.

5. Jelly roll sampler
This is tucked away in a box somewhere...

6. Seeing Squares
This was redefined as a cot quilt but has never been quilted 😕

7. Friends stitchery: top finished awaiting quilting

8. 100 modern quilt blocks: top finished awaiting quilting

9. Tillies Lane
Quilt pieced per pattern but I have fabric to extend borders... then on the quilting pile...

10 & 11. The two symposium class projects are still just bits... Taupo Tiles and Flower Pots which i cant even be bothered to find photos of... and that makes up 11 of the unfinished projects started in 2013.


In my previous post there should have been one more quilt that was finished... to make 7 finished from 2013:

Chevron Baby Quilt

The two wips that I worked on in 2013 that we still unfinished are unsurprisingly both large applique quilts.

My Tweets
I have got further along than this picture... all the blocks are appliqued and are partially sashed.

Large floral applique... millions of hand blanket stitch required.

So... getting quilts quilted is my major downfall... although they do drip feed through eventually.  I am a sucker for starting large applique quilts but struggle to finish them.  Other than that... it's all good! 

Disclaimer:  This of course doesn't represent all the other quilts that were started, finished or remain unfinished in years other than 2013.  Of which there are many 😂

More about that year... 2013

On top of starting a whole heap of new projects in 2013, i worked on a variety of already existing projects too.

Of those 10 projects I have now finished 6 of them, and have two in the almost finished category.

These items are all completely finished, either in 2013 or since...

Swoon:



Lola's Medallion

Hometown wagon wheels (this is on the bed at the moment)

Bluebird and berries

And two cots quilts made with orphan blocks

And the two projects that are still not quite finished but have had enormous progress are

Modern Applique... which is still very slowly being hand quilted in the 3 applique blocks, although it is fully bound and machine quilted elsewhere.

And Avalon which has just been basted this month.

So good things really do take time 😆

2013... the year of the start

As I pull out old projects... I'm amazed by how many relate back to 2013... and then I remember that was the year I decided to use all the things I have... fabric... books... patterns etc.  It also explains why there were so many unfinished projects from that time!

Skimming through my blog, I started 18 quilts and two bags that year.  I did actually finish the bags 😂 a 241 tote by Noodlehesd and Elizabeth Hartmans sewing circle tote which I still use regularly.

I have since completely finished a mere 6 of those quilts:
Robots and rockets

Playground Quilt

Tokyo Subway

Constellation Quilt

Japanese Ladies

Craftsy BOM x 2

Well, that's enough reminiscing... back to the current day sewing.  I wonder if I will look back in another 7 years and look at all the projects I started during lockdown.