The October Curve Ball

 My To Do List had been roaring along... I ticked off my initial items and started some additional tasks... and still had a couple of weeks left of October to go... wow... what to do with all that time??

I started a declutter challenge...

Repurposing and reinventing... sorting and cleaning.

I did the next #sewcialitesQAL block

I started planting some vege seeds.... this cupcake packaging is the perfect size to act as a mini starter environment.

I did some new #modastitchpink2020 blocks... 

And I decided to pull some new project collections by raiding my stash containers.  I started by choosing some fun, colourful prints...

Then trawled through my colour sorted scraps to see what blended.

I really liked the bono vibe of this collection...

Surprisingly this group never really jelled even though the feature fabric had some great colours.

This mix was bright and cheerful.

I really liked how this mix was shaping up.

I had made a list of possible scrap projects, and jotted down the measurements of the key scrap units.  Not surprisingly, I really struggled to match fabric piles with projects!  Eventually I decided to cut the bright and cheerful pile above into the Brightly Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew.  The pieces are all cut to 2.5 and 4.5" measurements so while some scraps were too small (in particular the bright oranges), there were still plenty of others.

The first placement of fabrics was a bit flat... it was actually even worse than this!

I wasn't sure whether I liked it... but started adding in some black and white prints and it started to zing again.

The start of the star unit and a bigger area and the pattern is starting to reveal itself... I can see I need some more variety but it also looks like it's going to work.

In amongst all this my daughter broke her collar bone... those spare two weeks disappeared with plenty of days of no sewing... and my dreams of finishing multiple projects disappeared in a puff of smoke.  The perfect time to start a whole heap more.  I think this is called Stress Sewing 😆😆.

Charm Squares

 Charm squares... those little 5" rays of sunshine made from a coordinating range or grouping of fabrics.  I had bought a few as part of a Pulse nightclub shooting fundraiser... and also the odd one here and there when they have proved too tempting.  But the real question is... what do you do with them?  They dont really have enough yardage to achieve much... and sometimes the charms just dont all go together.

Well, I decided to use two of them in two different sew alongs happening at the moment.

#sewcialitesQAL  (which is one block per week) is using my Blue Carolina charm pack, and this plus a white background are the only fabrics.  I am using the charm squares with the intention of utilising the size of the squares to the fullest... so blocks are being resized to whatever the measurement turns out to... based on those original 5" squares and doing little to no trimming.  It's a challenge!

The 3rd block:

And the three blocks together.  The charm pack has a nice range from very light to very dark prints... so it creates a soft yet dynamic look.

The #stitchpink QAL has new blocks every day for the month of October to raise breast cancer awareness.  For these blocks I have a Basic Grey Stiletto charm pack and have added some neutrals from my stash to fatten up the project.  I am trying to use the charm squares strategically but this time I am keeping to the instructions size of 12" blocks and using the stash fabrics when the pieces need to be larger.  There are some blocks I don't like, so I'm allowing myself to pass on those ones, and also some blocks that don't really suit the 5" square... and it's OK to pass on those too.

Block one used one charm square for the centre cut to 4.5" and the small triangles in the corner squares used a second one.

Block 2 was a bit more tricky.  Again the centre is a charm square, and I cut a second into the inner star points.  Then two more charms were used for the tan in net star background.  For a change... this charm pack actually has few doubleups.

For the 3rd block, I cut two charms in half to create the large triangles.  A third charm was cut into 4 small squares to form the plus shape.

This process is turning out such different results!  It really is very exciting.

The tale of Three Borders...

 There are times when the crafting magic just happens...

On a roll from the successes of September I just turned the page and wrote out a new list for October and got stuck right in.  With Sweet Escape still laying on the design floor, it made sense to get the next four blocks done.

This will finish at 80 x 80"...

Then, although it was super tempting to make some more blocks I put it all away and unpacked Timeless Traditions, because really... this is the EPIC goal challenge for the month.

The 2nd half still needed the last few chunks to be pieced together, and I added the top and bottom cream borders to the half sections before joining them in the middle seam.  Much procrastinating had happened up to this stage 😆... I really hate sewing together these large pieced sections.

I had already auditioned my inner accent border options...

Green spot...

Cream text...

Beige bubble print...

And realised that I only liked the green spot... duh!  This decision has been  floating around in my head for months... and for a change was so simple to make.

With the borders to go on, I used the "sew the thing to the thing" method... having sewn the cream border strip to top and bottom of the quilt top... I then sewed the cream border sides to the green dot sides... before adding these new side units onto the sides of the quilt top.

It may seem like a strange variation to get excited about but it is so much easier to manage two border strips together, than wrangling the whole quilt top for all four sides of multiple borders... round and round the machine.

The next step was to add the top and bottom green border to the top and bottom floral border strip... .

then those get added to the quilt top and finally the side floral borders are added last...

And finally... after around two years of off and on progress... we have a finished top!  90 x 90"... it's a stunner.

I love the layout of the pattern... and the colours are all tied back to the floral border.

Beavering away in the background is another Giant Granny square...

And section 7 of the Line Dried quilt.  I have chosen the fabrics for section 8 so will be ready to crack into this next.