Stuff going on in the shed

 The March #apqresolution project was to finish piecing the Brightly quilt.

When I last worked on this, I had several sections pieced into chunks, and had started laying out some pieces to fill the gaps - but then someone needed the pull out bed and I labelled all the bits and tucked it away.

Turns out I needed to sew eight more blocks which didn't take all that long to piece.

This was where the fabric selection started getting tricky - I had run out of many of the scraps used previously and the ones I did have left were already used in critical places - time to bring in some new fabrics while still trying to make them look like they fit.  Good luck with that one 🙄

Progress...

Then the last few seams to put it all together.

Scraps in all their sparkly scrappiness 🤩

As always, getting to this stage of the process leads to thinking about quilting strategies.  There are some nice negative spaces which would lead themselves to some interesting FMQ opportunities but I'm undecided whether I want to invest that much effort.

There is always some time to choose new fabrics for a block.  The rainbow block colour for this month is pink - even though technically it's not in the rainbow 🌈.  I'm always surprised by the volume of pink fabric I have - I absolutely hate pink but as the mother of a previously pink loving daughter it had become a necessary evil.

I also purchased some fabrics from Rainbow Stash - look, they have prints too!  A bundle and some randoms, I am slowly building up my love volume stash but who can go past a luscious floral.  I have seen the Cluck Cluck Sew Diagonal Seam tape before, and took the opportunity to buy some from a NZ business.  It has made all the difference in keeping my seam allowance constant with my new sewing machine so I heartily recommend it.

On Instagram I am keeping up with the creative prompts with Amy's creative side... The prompt for your first quilt meaning a little photo session with this cot quilt.

Not bad for a first time of everything 😘.

Finishing my March challenge means I can now jump into all the other March projects.

February catch up

 I attacked all the smaller projects at the start of February - leaving a good chunk of the month free to work on the backing and basting of Amsterdam Stars.  Piecing large backings is not my favourite thing, but is a necessary evil.  So I pulled out my fabric pile and laid it all out.  Turned out some of the pieces were not quite big enough so I added the brown floral print.  #apqresolution for February achieved ✅

I even had a few days spare so I started the walking foot quilting edge stitching through the sashing and out into the outer borders.

I didn't have any problems with the top moving (like I normally do) so no puckers on the intersections!  I think my new Janome M7 Continental might just be magic.  Maybe I should call it Mike 🤔🤪😂.

I managed a tiny bit of hand quilting - rather crooked and not the tidiest but I'll wait and see how it looks once there is a bit more going on to disguise it. 

I managed another star in the #suzandmonikarainbowchallenge - 

I'm planning a plain alternate square layout so fingers crossed for a decent sized baby quilt.

Month 2 of this project was finished on time...

And joined onto month 1.

And I completed another row in the #cutitupwithmollisparkles challenge - the Sidewalk Chalk pattern.

My secret project is working on the It's A Lot Quilt by Sew Be where I have assisted my local quilt shop The Country Yard with putting together three fabric selections for their BOM programme.

This is the Vintage/Retro colour scheme.  Block 1:

Block 2:

Blocks 1 & 3:

I have started sewing block 1 in the Soft & Subtle colourway...

And here is the fabric selection for month 1.  It has been a wonderful opportunity to play with fabrics - my favourite activity.

And now it is March already.  I will have to check what the new challenge project is going to be.