Finishing up to start anew

With winter being so close to being over (I know, technically it is spring but tell the thermometers that!) I figured that if I wanted to get my black denim pinafore dress sewn... so that it could actually be worn this year, I had to pull finger.

But first I had to get my sewing shed floor clear, to have a big enough space to lay it out.

All these 36 blocks needed to be sewn together.

And the baby quilt had to have it's last few rows finished and sewn together too.

Lets just say it's been a busy week!

I need to get a couple of willing helpers to stand outside and hold up my quilt... it is just too big for inside display.  It has been crazy wet the last few weeks... so this is the best you are going to see.  Believe me... it is all in one piece!

The cot quilt on the other hand is just perfect size for one almost 12 year old daughter to hold up inside... I am very happy with how the piecing of this top has gone together, and look forward to getting it quilted soon.

Always wanting "something under the needle" as I finish a seam, I cut up the pieces for Month Two of the Zen Chic triangle quilt-along.  These are triangles with a contrasting tip.

And my blocks so far... in no particular order.

Right, onto clothes sewing again.  I download PDF patterns, so first up was sticking the whole thing together.  Then after a recheck of what size to cut and what length was best (with surprisingly short legs I am so used to cutting the shortest version that I was glad I took the time to check this one... even the long version is short!), I laid out my fabric and pinned out the pattern pieces.

Today I cut things out, and started on the bodice.  I know... a pattern flash enough to have a bodice!  Makes a change from Front and Back!

This is after the darts have been sewn...

And I decided to go with a fun contrasting lining...

This has the bodice front and lining basted together, the straps attached, and the bodice band attached to the top... sewing through all these denim layers was slow going but achieveable. 

And that was the end of my sewing adventures for this weekend!  I still have the pockets to experiment with, the skirt to attach and a zip to install.

In other non-sewing-related news... I bought a new peg bucket!  This was from Briscoes and it is just so cute.  Wouldn't it be good for storing scraps?

Something Old Something New - How I make fabric selections

Sometimes its fun to start something new.  Actually, I'm pretty sure it's always fun to start something new.  I've discovered Instagram is BAD!  Anyway, Zen Chic started a sew along last month which is hosted on the Bernina blog http://blog.bernina.com/en/ and I started thinking that it could be a fun thing to participate in.  The quilt is a modern triangle quilt - with lots of scope to make things your own.  No, I rarely sew with a 60 degree triangle, but undeterred... I started looking at fabric options...

Initially, I had a completely different idea about how this was going to look... maybe kinda masculine, and had some fabric in mind as a start off point.  But then, once I had figured out that the triangles involved are relatively small, that using a charm pack as a start off point wasn't such a silly idea, especially since it was going to be heavily supplemented by stash.  Then, when I looked at the charm packs in my possession, I pulled out the least likely one of all, and not one bit masculine looking.

I had bought this Moda Kate Spain "Central Park" charm pack years ago without realising that there were only 5 prints included.  The moral of the story is to check the back of your Moda charm packs to see how many different prints there are, and what to expect about duplicates... anyway... it is a slightly odd mix of fabrics.

Pulling out the orange print helps the remaining prints to make sense.

And it was time to start pulling some friends from my stash cupboard:
Text print: Blithe by Katarina Roccella by Art Gallery Fabrics
Gold print: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass
Blue Dot: Bluebird by Melody Miller
Purple floral: Simply Colorful II by Vanessa Christensen
Gold Floral: unmarked
Greenish weave: one of the Robert Kaufman linens
Black Text: unmarked (although it will be something along the lines of Mama Said Sew definitions)

Returning to the cupboard to find a deeper green, I pulled out some more to add to the pile.  It was starting to look very interesting!  As always, adding more means you can add even more, and I found a toning larger floral and a large geometric that helped to create a cohesive grouping!

Blue Utensils: no marking
Dark green dot: no marking
Log cabin print: Dwellings by Michele D'Amore Designs
Triangle Print: Simply Eclectic by Hoffman Fabrics

Floral: Hope Chest by Blend has a funky purple/brown background, which is similar to the triangle print background.

And both are reminiscent although not the same as the original floral print from the charm pack.

The instructions call for an accent fabric, and a background.  I'm thinking that the Zen Grey Moda Bella Solid will be a good background, and I'm keeping the accent fabric open just at the moment.  I quite like the black print (the purple flowers do have a black centre), but I also like this textural dot as it has that same funny purpley tone.  But I've never mixed the heavy weight linen-ish fabric with regular patchwork cottons in a quilt.  Is it a disaster waiting to happen?

And all together... spanning fabric purchases from at least four years ago to current...

And my Month One triangles.

Because I do sometimes keep to my WIP list, I started back on my RSC blocks for this month, pulling out and ironing my orange scraps, and got my first block pieced.

During the week I managed to sew together my 36th TATW block!  That the last one folks.

And the blocks all laid out...

And looking at it from the other angle.

I have also been plugging along on the baby quilt piecing...

The rows are not joined together yet - but some good progress is being made.

Hoping to link up with Lyn at What a Hoot, RSC at So Scrappy, and Sunday Stash with Molli Sparkles.

Let there be SEWING!

I've had a really crazy week - being selected for jury service (even though I didn't end up on the jury) caused a lot of stress and upset... not something I enjoyed at all.  I also had emotional ups and downs after investigating a possible new sewing machine... but unfortunately that fell through.  So instead I bundled up my trusty little Bernette machine and took it off to get serviced.  As a result, I turned to some FMQ which I compete on my larger Brother machine.

Last time I worked on my Stack Shuffle Slide quilt, I was partway through the second quarter...

Working on this interlocking boxes sort of all over pattern.

A week later and I've now got three whole quarters finished! Woot.

Looking at it from the other angle, you can see all that lovely texture.  Yum!

Once I had reached this milestone, I was itching to do some more piecing... so even though my Brother can be a bit of a pain to piece with, I set it up and away I went... my strip sets have been slowly decreasing on the TATW quilt and that was great motivation to get some more done.  I think I've lost a week somewhere in this quilt along.

And now I have a heap of new blocks.  I needed to pull some more fabrics as I discovered to my surprise that I had already cut up most of the original pull!  I found some Stof fat 1/8ths that fit the bill, and they have a lovely subtlety that combines well with my other fabrics.

 Only TWO left to go!  Hard to believe that is 36 blocks, with a finished quilt size of 90" square.

With the stink weather we have been having, I figured a nice Spring like quilt was due on the bed (even though we had a frost), so straightened out my Swoon quilt - and remembered that I love it.

Also remembered that it is not quite finished.

I also started a new project!  Oops, but I can't control other people from having babies now, can I?  I really like these green, aqua and yellow geometrics for a Spring baby boy quilt.

Simply Retro by Camille Roskelley has some great simple but effective designs.

And it started looking good pretty early on... I decided to make it slightly smaller than the pattern with only 4 squares across, and 5 squares down.

I've got the top row pieced now, and working on the first sashing strip.

And, because I have other projects already on The List, I pulled out all my orange scraps for this months RSC colour.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to get these ironed and cut out this week.

Winding Down to the End of the Month

Somehow August just seems to keep on going... I managed to piece together all the Tillies Lane blocks into one huge square.  This was one of my Epic Quilt Challenges from the start of the year.  Now I just need to make some final decisions on borders.  One challenge at a time.

I have also sewed and sewed and got through "almost" all of the TATW blocks for the last two weeks.  These blocks I had sewn the strip sets, but not subcut or repieced.  One more block to go, and then these 8 are finished, and only 8 more to go until the quilt top has all its blocks pieced.

I decided to trial a Saturday night sew in with Barefoot Quilter on instagram... I'm not much of a night time quilter - having my sewing cave in an external garage means it is not overly social or pleasant to disappear to in the middle of the night.  And having something move in there that was not me, kinda put me off the whole experience.  Once the heart rate had returned to normal, I reorganised my blocks into a totally different layout, and am now pondering whether I like the offset square look... excuse the dark depressing middle of the night photo!

or whether to go back to the multiple radiating squares...

As the month end approaches, I realise that I haven't started the Carol's Quilts mystery for this month (don't tell Charlotte).  So today has been spent cutting and piecing the first few units of this months mystery.  We are up to Month 4 now, so only two more months to go before the mystery is revealed.  Very exciting!

No Rainbow Scrap Challenge for me this month - this months colour was neutral, and I decided that my rainbow didn't need neutral.  I'm looking forward to next month to see what colour we are working with and get back into this project.

And I think that about finishes my monthly roundup.  Next month I'm keen to get the last four My Tweets blocks framed, and attached to the centre unit, and get back to FMQ on the Stack, Shuffle Slide quilt.  Lots going on here...