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.

The Podcast Episode

Those last four rockets got made during the week, and even sewn together to form the quilt centre.  Woohoo!!  I like how the colours play so nicely together.  This was a mixture of remnants (bigger than scraps but leftovers from other projects) and small scraps for the star points, plus a light blue homespun background.

After a discussion with my quilting buddies, it was agreed that I should use some of the black star fabric I purchased as the backing, and add it as a medium size border.  I can always add a bit of variety to the back if it turns out I haven't quite got enough fabric for both areas.  I have my fingers crossed... ever the optimist... but I'm really pretty sure that there won't be enough for both.  Variety is a great thing!

I have also been busy stitching down this binding on my secret project.  I love this text print - and it makes an amazing binding!  More on the secret project probably next month.

Not much else happening on the quilting front.  However, if you happen to read Ms Lotties blog (The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady)... you'll know that she has started recording quilt related pod casts.  For those of you who like to listen, perhaps as you sew... it is a mighty fine was to multi-task - and learn a bit about what's going on around the world.

This episode she bought her voice recorder to our once a month Saturday quilting group (this time at my place), and recorded as we discussed this and that.  Then!  She interviewed me!  The evil woman!

So, if you want to know what I sound like.  Learn a bit more about me and how I see the world.  Find out how this quilt came about....

My first quilt!

 ... and a few other bits and pieces, tune in to her latest episode here.  It's a great bit of fun.  If you would like a bit more information... her show notes are on her blog post which is on my sidebar... or click here.

Be sure to let me know if you have a listen - and let me know how terrible my accent is!  Or if you would like more information about any of the things we discussed.  You have been warned!