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

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.

A busy week and start to Easter!

I have been doing a lot of pottering... a bit of this, a bit of that... cutting out a new block, or choosing fabric combinations... checking out new patterns... reminding myself I'm not supposed to be starting anything new, a bit of FMQ and back to sewing blocks.

Pulling out my Theres a Square in There for a bit more FMQ meant finally deciding what was going to go in the sashing.

I knew I was going to break up the area with random shapes, but hadn't decided exactly what was going to fill them... until this combination of spiral and pebbles occurred and I love it.

Each block is the same size... but because some blocks have the background colour around the edge, it means it blends in with the sashing... making the blocks look different sizes.  Quilting over all the background and sashing with the same pattern reinforces this.  I have almost got this first quarter done... WOOHOO!

Block Four of the Cloudy Day Sampler is done... another cool block in a fun mix of scraps.

And I have made excellent progress on my Nordic Star quilt compilation.  I had always got stuck on how to reinvent the proportions of the original pattern considering my elements were different.

Just using my ruler I measured the picture in the book to work out that the top section made up half the quilt.  Bam!  That was the key measurement and the rest has just fallen into place.  Why did this not happen 7 years ago?

And on to the progress... the top row of pluses is attached to the light and dark strips, and the wider light strip and the rectangle strip.  Next is to add a light strip to the lower rectangle strip then I can concentrate on the bottom row of pluses.  Many of the widths chosen have reference to other areas of the quilt... an important consideration when designing.

I bought the Iris quilt pattern because it seemed a perfect match to a bundle I had played around with.  A quiltalong is happening on Instagram and week 2 is to concentrate on cutting.  I think I have the layout sussed...

And cutting has commenced.  The construction is similar to the Trip Around the World quilt which sews strips into tubes before subcutting and opening seams.

And my last new time waster is based on The Proverbial Quilt by Denyse Schmidt.  I have chosen some song lyrics... and a bit of a rainbow layout... more scraps... and just winging it.

... and so the first word is done!  I decided to approach the project in order, rather than doing all of one letter as recommended, as I have a variety of colours throughout the quilt, and any efficiency gained by doing repeat letters was immediately lost by doing different colours.

I also got the first 6" block finished for the Summer Sampler 2017 for this month.

Labour Weekend Progress

This weekend I am officially the mother of a 16 year old!  How has this happened?

Luckily some crafting has also been happening.... in an effort to de-stress and keep those grey hairs at bay 😂

Today I finished putting together the last 3 applique blocks for This Little Piggy.  There is still blanket stitch to do... but such good progress!

I also finally decided to just DO IT!  And started the FMQ on the There's A Square In There quilt... which has been basted and waiting patiently for inspiration for months!

I am using rulers to outline the cream background sections of the blocks and then filling them with a mixture of swirl and pebble quilting... depending on the size of the space.

It's been a while since I really did any FMQ and it shows!  Trying to track over the top of previous stitching lines was a bit hit and miss but I do need to approach this as finished is better rather than perfectly unfinished.

I have quilted the first 4 blocks... and have an idea for the background/sashing between blocks but will come back to that once the blocks are finished.

Things to Think About

Pondering the next quilting project, I pulled out all the quilt tops that were waiting patiently for their turn.

I thought I'd do a bit of a vote, and see which quilt was the most popular to get to the finished pile first.  So check out the following, and feel free to leave a comment or send me an email to vote for your favourite:

Giant Star:

This one even has a gorgeous bundle all put aside for a backing.

There's a square in there:

Oh Eiko... I love you.

And this one has backing and binding!  This is the joy of finding fabric on special and just buying it.  It also shows that you never know what you're going to get until it arrives.  This fish fabric was described as a "feature fabric" - so I imagined the fish would be large.  I didn't expect them to appear in rows and be in this scale (ha! pun alert!)  But as the backing, I'm not too worried either way.

Rainbow Modern Sampler: OK, no backing or binding on this one yet, but with that rainbow gradient going on, I don't think it would be hard to find "something" amongst the stash.

Avalon Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman (will need to go and investigate what this one was originally called): now this one is not quite a top yet - but the finished blocks just need to be sewn together.

Right, time for some fabric.  My delicious little fat quarter purchases from The Country Yard.  I may or may not be a sucker for florals... This large floral is from Tilda - Flowercloud dark slate.

And even a smidge of sewing.  What I love about this star block is the lack of commitment required. I can make progress without even really trying. Cutting two fat quarters simultaneously sets me up to make two blocks.  Then with a little bit of sewing, I have the block units pieced.

Then with a little bit more time... or another day... those little units get pieced into a pretty easily put together nine patch.  So as one gets finished...

Another gets to the pieced units stage...

And this little skerrit of space provides the visual "this is how it's starting to look"

Don't forget to vote!