Rounding off October

 I seemed to spend most of the last week of October cutting scraps... finding and auditioning more scraps and then cutting more scraps!

It's really starting to take shape now and I think I have a handle on how the colours need to be placed without laying out the entire quilt... so I've started piecing a few blocks and will lay it out again when there are a few more completed units.  It is quite the process!

In Granny Square news... I've laid out my 14 blocks to see if I could find a pleasing arrangement.  I added some plain floral squares to make 16 blocks... a 4 x 4 layout.

But then couldn't decide if I liked the florals in the corners or the centre?

Having them in the centre helps to spread the blocks around a bit more... and I don't know if my head can cope with another round of block sudoku but I'm also thinking that putting them in the middle is quite disruptive to the flow... so might go back to the original layout.

My husband keeps reminding me that there are new grandbabies due next year and that I had better get cracking...

I chose some soft purples but he wasn't so keen on these for a baby quilt.  The pile grew into this beautiful bundle so I think I'm going to HAVE to make myself something from it.  I'm thinking big moody Ohio Stars... next year...

And last up, the fabrics that met the approved baby quilt list... some lovely bright but not too bright primary colours and a simple baby quilt layout (pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew).  There are twelve log cabin-style  blocks so not too much more to sew.

Ticking off mini tasks

 Well, the first week of the new regime has been a success!  Go ME!

The first step was to finish section 6 of Line Dried.  DONE!

Here it is attached to the end of the second row but i still need to sew row 1 and 2 together.

Lots of mini ditzy prints in this one.  But some solids and larger prints balance them out.

My leader ender project was to finish another 3 Giant Granny Squares.  DONE!

And so onto the next step.  Quilting some more of There's a Square in There.  Just a recap... I'm halfway through quilting the background sections... I have already finished the blocks.  I last worked on this one in May.

The quilt is a 4 x 4 layout... 16 blocks... 8 blocks sashing left to quilt.  To finish by the end of the year I decided I needed to quilt around 2 blocks per month.

So my mini goal in the great To do list is to quilt around one block.  It's all begins with that first step.... a quick clean, a new bobbin, thread the right colour thread (thank you past me for recording the right thread colour on my In the Works list), do a test swatch then change to a new needle... then finally a couple sections of stitching.

Once this section is finished I'm going to have a mini break and do something different before coming back to tackle the second block.

September? Really??

 Who else is wondering what the heck has happened to the year?

My August goals fizzled into a small quivering pile, so it's taken me a few days to pick myself up, reassess... and make a new plan, some new steps and finally some goals for September.

The goals I did achieve for August were to complete my Cloudy Day Sampler block 8 (see previous post) and complete 4 Giant Granny Squares.  Love how these are looking... big and floral and big... did I mention big??

I also partly finished my Timeless Traditions goal and got my last stems hand stitched down.

So then I knuckled down and reviewed my In the Works list... looked at the big picture and made some goals that I wanted to achieve by the end of the year.

1 Cloudy Day Sampler fully pieced

2 Giant Granny Squares fully pieced

3 Quilt Buzz Bingo fully pieced

4 Timeless Traditions fully pieced

5 Sweet Escape 3/4 pieced

6 Patchwork City basted

7 Theres a square in there quilted and bound

8 Avalon quilting started

Whoops... I seem to have started something new... Quilt Buzz Bingo.  A simple log cabin with variable logs... some very old stash and already 25 blocks made and now I'm playing with layouts.

I'm playing with adding some extra stripes in the sashing but i think I'm going to have to alter these as it's not quite right yet.

Next up I made a step by step To do list for each of my main By the end of the year list items.

And finally today made some September goals... monthly chunks of those steps... as well as catching up with my usual monthly projects.

Getting behind on the Line Dried quilt was not a good idea... so having two sections for this month seems like a real challenge... like can I even do it?  But I also recognise that not trying means not getting any of it done... so any progress is good progress.

Here I have laid out the colours for the next section.

And yes... I have 3 quilts laid out on top of one another... no one better want to stay in my sleep out this month!

Mini goals... one block cut out... for section 6

And just enough time to get the units sewn.  This French General fabric is so pretty.

My leader ender project will be sewing Granny Squares...

Order restored... well, everything is still a bit of a mess but I've got a good idea of where I want to head and that is half the solution.  Hopefully September will be a more successful month in the crossing off department.

A Little Bit More...

And so the ticking and sticking continues...

Line Dried section 5 complete...

While this quilt looks huge in the photo it really isn't... I think it's about 60" wide... and there is another row of sections to come along the bottom.

Not on the list but I've been adding to the Giant Granny Squares...

And inbetween it all adding a few more little nine patch plus blocks to the collection.

Just as a reference to the scale... 19" blocks compared to 4.5" blocks :o)

My friend Monika and I went on a shopping road trip and I added some new low volume fat quarters...

Some homespun solids that just grabbed my attention (note neither of these photos actually represents the colours... probably somewhere in between).

I got a large section of fabric to start the pieced back for the Homespun magazine BOM top I completed using Tilda fabrics.

Some other random fat quarters...

A few more low volumes...

And this lovely mustardy coloured FQ.

While this week has been very low key... back to work after the school holidays and battling a mild cold which I've found draining... I have managed today to print off the instructions and pattern for a new skirt!!  It's the Love Notions Allegro, short skirt version (elastic waist and pockets - it's talking my language)... and I'm going to use the fine cord fabric I bought in June.

Ideally I'd like to get this finished before Winter ends as I think it would be great with tights and boots.  But we shall see what happens... no pressure!!