Last day of January

 I don't know whether January has gone fast or slow... probably a bit of both.  I finished my January goals with 10 days to spare, which is always a bit scary because you never know what I might start in the meantime.

January in Northland New Zealand has been hot.  I think many places in NZ have been hot... but its been hot hot!  It has meant that some days it has even been too hot to sew!  I know... terrible!!

One of my "in the back of my mind" tasks was to sew up the Devon Pouch by Sotak Patterns, and today was the day.  I had bought the zips and fusible interfacing last year in preparation... only to discover yesterday that the fusible was not so fusible... I'm not even sure it's interfacing.  Luckily I discovered some left overs from the previous project... so it was all systems go and I just had to decide what fabric to use.

Some left over scraps of Essex Linen were just the right size for the panels on the front, and when I remembered this cute little hedgehog print left over from my Meadowland quilt it was decision made.

 

I used a couple of different coordinating fabrics for the pouch lining...

Although I have a bit of a bag phobia... I carefully followed the instructions one by one and ended up with a successful pouch.  The instructions were thorough and easy to understand so I recommend this pattern, although I'm not in a rush to make a second one just yet :o)

I signed up for a different sew along (they are my downfall) - this one through Farmhouse Quilts blog, Monique has designed a quilt combining churn dash blocks and applique blocks called Winterberries.

The first step was to make 9 churn dash blocks.  I'm almost there.

I have had a starter pack from Treehouse Textiles in Australia for several years... after deciding it was unlikely that I would make the project it was designed for, I thought this might be a good replacement project.  There are some beautiful prints in the pack... the large floral in the foreground is 💙💙💙

And a great range of backgrounds/low volumes.

 I have signed up for a different sewalong for the Aviatrix Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman... this is one that has been on my list for ages, I have the kit and pattern... just needed the kick up the pants to get it started.  The sewalong starts on Valentines Day with choosing fabrics, then getting templates ready.  The first block is an odd shaped star and this has not been conducive to getting it started.  Hopefully the sewalong factor and encouragement will help in getting this started at least... even if I don't keep up with the whole programme.

In other news, I decided earlier this year that I needed to be more active and more involved in things other than quilting.  So the vege garden was resurrected... this is the view from my bedroom window.

 

It's a bit of a mixture on the right... a couple of zucchini plants, beans, silverbeet, lettuce, cucumber, beetroot and sweetcorn (I'm not holding my breath about the sweetcorn).

Then a couple of smaller beds on the left.  The top bed has tomatos, a second lot of beans and some new lettuce seedlings... and the bottom bed has some kumara shoots which have been struggling along.

Although the garden is definitely a work in progress it has been an enjoyable change to be out in the evenings watering and weeding.  I'm not a natural gardener... things have to fend for themselves a lot but that is the way it is.  I always feel that anything that comes in to be eaten is a bonus.  The garden is fully fenced to keep the bunnies out and I need to balance the watering with conserving our water tank water supply.

My other goal this year was to be more mindful of housework and to try to keep to some kind of routine.  That has been going well so far... it constantly surprises me that I can be very structured about so much of my life... school/work/sewing and yet housework has never fallen into any kind of routine.  And I do mean never.  I have always been a reactive cleaner - oh my gosh that's filthy... better clean it/as opposed to proactive... I'll just give this a little clean even though it doesn't really look dirty.  I also procrastinate about it, and often don't even notice how bad things are.  So I am really my own worst enemy.  

I am following a basic programme through @cleanmama on Instagram.  The basic cleaning schedule is:

Monday - Bathrooms

Tuesday - dusting

Wednesday - vaccuming

Thursday - washing hard flooring

Friday - catch up day

Saturday - change sheets/towels

Sunday - rest

In addition, on each day you aim to make beds, keep on top of  keeping the table and benchtop clear and wiped down, clearing general clutter, doing spot vacuuming of the floor as necessary and keeping up to date with laundry.  I am definitely not getting ahead of the laundry but I am slowly chipping away at a couple of clutter areas and they are finally looking clear and tidy, and I can see improvement in all areas.  I'm feeling quite chuffed!!  I'm just starting the 5th weekly rotation and hopefully at some stage it will have become routine.

And I think that's just about it for today.  Tomorrow is the first of February (and a holiday) so I will need to think about my new monthly goals.

The Progression of January

 Today I crossed off the last item from my January To Do List - cutting the strips for the Avalon Quilt binding - DONE!

This year I have decided to write directly into my visual diary... including the doodles and hand drawn designs to keep it interesting and leaving out the monthly diary.

I have also made a list of projects that I am attracted to... although there is no way I am going to start all of them.  Honest!  But I'm sure there will be some that get started... and also some that are NOT on this list either!

I have also made a list of Focus Projects... this is a bit of an evolving process - I haven't quite decided exactly which quilts to focus on... although I have got a sizeable list already.

And I've kept the progress sheets from last year - the pre 2020 progress was coloured in pink, then aqua for 2020... and now dark green for 2021.  The colouring process has been very satisfying.  And YES, there are THREE PAGES... and actually a spare page... because you know me... I WILL NEED IT!

I also printed off some Project planning sheets from Zen Chic but as yet haven't completed one.  I'll see how this goes.

I have already started a new scrap project.  Didn't mean to, but after collecting my various curated bundles of scraps last year I had earmarked this bundle for the Super Easy Jelly Roll quilt but when I saw the quilt along for the Scrappy Lines quilt by Side Lake Stitch, which needed 5" lengths I knew it was a perfect match for this bundle that had some leftover charm squares amongst it.  The blocks are set with sashing between - so it should turn out simple and sweet... and will be an awesome low commitment leader/ender project.

And onto the first finish of 2021.  My There's A Square in There quilt.  A bit of wind made taking photos a bit sketchy but this is probably the best image showing how I added the borders to keep some of the eclectic feel of the top.  I think it works really well.

We did have a few goofy photos too :o)

Finishing this quilt was delayed somewhat after waiting over 6 weeks for the labels I had ordered to arrive from Canada.  This was nothing to do with the supplier, their contact, production and posting out were quick and efficient - but Covid postage times are so erratic.  However - they did eventually turn up.

These are 1" x 1" double turned labels - designed so that I can fold them in half and sew them into the binding.

Because I had already sewn the binding on for this quilt I decided to hand stitch it over the binding, sewing first the turned under front and then the back.  It is very low key cute, there were heaps of different pre-made designs to choose from - or you could design your own.

And the quilt had its first turn on the bed...  I may go back and add some hand quilting to the large patterned sections as these have no quilting... and some of the larger areas are a bit puffy.  I'll see how it goes.

In other news I sewed another Sewcialites block - this one has the crappiest points and joins (and it's sewn mirror image to the instructions) but apart from that - it is a very dynamic block.

And because I had been so good this month I allowed myself to FINALLY start the Orbiter Quilt which I have been itching to start.  Libs Elliott ran this quilt as a sew along late last year and I kept the instructions to guide the creation.  There were 7 different units to sew this month, and of those two were just black squares - just need to remember that the instructions are for one quarter of the quilt - so everything needs to be repeated four times.  But still - that is only 28 units.

This is the four blocks that will make up the centre of the quilt.

I have a mix of solid and lightly patterned fabrics

The Long Hot Days of January

 The start of a new year is usually very busy for me... lots of new projects and filling in my long school holidays with endless sewing BUT this year is a bit different with my holidays being a lot shorter, and the weather being super hot (sewing in a sweltering tin shed is not conducive to getting a whole heap done)!

I have been working on existing projects!  I know!!  Who am I??  I have also decided that I need to be more active - and have returned to vege gardening as something different to do in the slightly cooler evenings, and have been working on following a more structured housework routine (boring but as my natural housekeeping skills are low to non-existent it is long overdue).  As such I have various tidying activities that I try to complete every day as well as having a focus task for each day.  It's not huge... but its a routine and even after just over a week I am already noticing a difference to the household, mixed with some decluttering and reorganising.  Again... Who am I??  I think I am finally becoming an adult.

I've been putting off completing the last four blocks of the third quarter of my Sweet Escape quilt throughout November and December, and finally managed to finish getting these put together yesterday and today.  I'm not sure why I put these off for such a long time.

I am really looking forward to getting this last quarter done and put together... would be very nice if this happened next month but I'm not holding my breath.  So close!!

I have also pulled out the long lost Summer Sampler 2017... and completed another couple of blocks.  I really don't like foundation paper piecing... and I am hesitantly putting it out there that I'm not going to make any more quilts with FPP.

Having said that these are both really cool blocks and I'm liking how they both add an extra dimension to the existing layout... they just seem to have a lot more depth and a bit of a boho vibe.  There is just one more 12" and three 6" blocks... and lots of filler blocks left.  Realistically this will get finished this year.

I also pulled out the Stitch Pink sampler blocks and finished up a few more 12" blocks to fill the gaps in a 4 x 4 setting - you might remember that this started with a charm pack and I added some stash to fill out the gaps - especially for those blocks requiring cuts larger than 5" square.  There are some blocks that I really like that make super good use of the charm squares and I plan to keep that in mind for future charm pack sewing adventures.

Some of the blocks are designed with filler strips on two sides to bring them up to 12" finished size.  For these blocks I resized the block centres to allow the filler strips to be on all four sides and used a contrasting solid to make it a feature.  This also make better use of the charm square so a win/win solution.

This one was eventually deemed too weird modern looking for the setting.

I have now started sashing the blocks and look forward to a finished top over the next few weeks (or months).  The traditional layout just seems to suit the traditional style of the fabric and blocks - there will also be borders... to be decided.

I am finally ready to look at the new projects that have been itching to be started - I'm looking at you Orbiter Quilt.  But work tomorrow... so maybe over the weekend.

2021... happy new year!

We made it!  A new year and a reflection of the old.

Sewing over the past week has meant I  finished piecing my Ray Quilt.  I was finally happy with the placements of all the accent pieces and where the joins in colours met.

This is a close-up of the grey fabric which includes many of the other colours.  I added it into the warm side to give a bit of separation to the oranges.

I got the last few units of Line Dried pieced and sewn together into the last row.

I just need to attach this row to the previous section and then this quilt top will be sewn per the instructions.  It is still a bit petite for my tastes so I will need to design and sew some borders.

My handy dandy tracking system shows I completed several quilts this year:

Dylan's Hawthorn Quilt

The Piggy quilt

Baby Log Cabin

Double Nine Patch baby quilt

and almost the Theres a square in there... I've got about 10" of binding left and need to wait for my new labels to arrive... so I'm fully going to count it as a January finish 😆

I have completed a whole pile of tops, both new and old but I think this needs a post of its own.  I really need to do more quilting this year!

In other news we have been adding a deck extension onto our old small deck.  These large steps lead up to the deck from our small patio area.

I have a new garden area...

And finally a place to plant some roses...

Looking back from the lawn... that's a massive rock!

And the new deck!

I have been working on more  Brightly blocks as leader/enders and I almost have the first two columns completed... one more star block!  I'm doing a 7 x 7 layout.

Today I also pulled out my Stitch Pink blocks to work out a setting and decide on a plan going forward.

I have shifted these around and around and I think I'm pretty happy with this layout.  This will help me decide what colours need to go where for the remaining blocks.  Hopefully the rest of the charm squares will last to make 16 blocks altogether.

A new year... another page in the quilting journal.  I've decided to just journal straight into my book this year but I'm continuing the tracker pages from Patchwork and poodles that I started last year.

I've got a to do list for January so far but no goal for the year as yet.