Week Two, Day 6 - Saturday

I can't believe we have only got one more day to go, then it's back to work and school.

I got all my "just need to" steps completed on my VQR Blocks, and now I have a finished top!

In this photo I had only pinned on the side borders, but I assure you they have since been sewn on.

I already have backing fabric for this one and started thinking about quilting designs, but until the Stack, Shuffle, Slide quilt is quilted... it is just going to get added to "that pile".  

 I also completed my third TATW block for this week.  Not sure how this four blocks a week timeframe is going to work out once we are back into our normal work/school routines... but it is a chilled out QAL so I don't think that will be a problem.

I had a moment of "oh my god I am going to make a humongous quilt again" and sewed my fourth block as a partial block to see what it would look like attached with half on each side of the quilt.  Hmm, a bit strange.

So I finished sewing the block to make it complete and added it to the ever growing pattern.  A 4 x 4 setting would be nice and symmetrical.

Then I played around to make the layout five blocks wide... and not quite so symmetrical.  Somehow I don't think making a 5x5 grid would work.

So I moved one of the other blocks to make it six blocks wide.  The finished width.

I finished another Dash to the Finish Block...

And relaid out my Tillies Lane scrap quilt, because I just really, really wanted to see how it was looking now that the applique blocks for the centre were all finished.

But wait there's more...

I did a little bit more quilting on the bassinet quilt I had started as a class sample. 

The gist of this pattern is to quilt a spine within the shapes of the blocks in the quilt, and then using the spine as a guide, quilt a filler pattern either side.  So around the centre applique I quilted slightly wavy spines from the heart shape out to the edge of the square, then filled in around either side of the wave with mushroom shaped squiggles.

And then because I had nothing else to do (snort) I pulled out some extra fabrics for my orphan block challenge... luckily I have been adding a few purples and pinks into my stash over the last few months.

And drafted up a 5" finished simple butterfly block.

So things could start to look a bit like this.

I will need to frame the centre block with a 2.5" finished border to make the maths work, but after cutting this Sketch strip, realised it is too big to have as a single colour.

So now I've got that thinking cap back on.

Week Two, Day Three - Wednesday

The goal to blog every day pettered out a bit there... as I got distracted by other non-sewing related activities... but I'm back!

Amongst other things, we have been reorganising the kids bedrooms, evolving Dylan from a bunk set to a queen sized bed.  His room was never really decorated, it just had an assortment of furniture bought for other purposes that just ended up in his room.  Well, that hasn't changed, but for one day at least, his bed looked tidy!

BEFORE!

  With it being winter time, he got several layers of blankets.  As the layers went on, I thought it was a good time to take a photo of his first bed quilt, before it finally wears out.  It also shows that even the single bed size quilts I make are BIG!

And he was lucky to get the Constellation quilt - I figured it was relatively indestructible with the dark background, but still bright and teenager like.  He has made no comment.

AFTER!

In other news, I had a couple of fabric purchases arrive...

A lovely floral

A wide backing

This photo covers roughly a A4 sized view of the fabric, so it's a large print as well as being a wide width.

Some remnants that looked usable to add to the stash

And I visited my absolute favourite fabric shop (The Country Yard) and came home with some black and white prints

which I hope to add to this orphan block to start the process of making it into something larger

...and some boring old Off White Bella Solid to continue with my TATW blocks.

Today I managed to actually sew and get another couple of TATW blocks sewn... I'm really enjoying this whole experience.

First up I choose the three feature fabrics, two florals and a darkish neutral/tone on tone that compliment each other.  This is the bit that takes forever.

It is starting to make an interesting pattern.  Because I'm choosing one lighter floral, and one darker floral, I'm getting a light four patch in the centre of the dark chain, and a dark four patch in the centre of the light chain.

Don't you just want to eat them (well, if you were a fabric eating monster that is)???

I wasn't 100% confident in this large spot as a low volume, but I do love the colours, so decided to just give it a go.  I think it is OK in the grand scheme of things and will include it in several blocks.

And I managed to get all the blocks sewn into rows for the VQR quilt, with sashing attached to two rows.

Now I just need to add a border sashing strip to the bottom... and then I just need to attach all the rows together... then I just need to  border the last two sides and it will be a finished quilt top... actually, that's quite a lot of just need toooos.

And I got my BLUE RSC blocks for the month completed.  Woot!

All in all... not a bad days work.

Week One, Day Five - Friday

Another blerky day weather wise... but sewing these Dash to the Finish blocks helps to make up for the lack of sunshine!  Block Three now complete.

I am gaining momentum with the RSC blocks this month... the second block is now finished... excuse the odd photo angle.

And what will be the three blocks, once I've cut the black pieces for the centre block.  The scraps I've chosen are a definite blue... not aqua, or teal or turquoise... blue!

I have also been plugging away at the VQR sashing... with slow but good progress.  Fourth row attached, and fifth row halfway done.

And just because I don't think the last post embraced all the yumminess that exists in these blocks, we have a rehash of the four TATW blocks for this week, completed yesterday.

A close up of the centre four patch created when four blocks come together.  You can also see the low volume fabrics I've chosen so far.

I've got a few red florals but wasn't sure how they were going to fit into the mix... so far so good.

Likewise with the light beige background floral... I think it depends what I team them up with whether they will be successful or not.

I have also spent quite a while sorting myself out for the FMQ class I am teaching tomorrow.  I just need to load up the car now, and I "think" I'm done.

A promising start to the holidays

School term finished on Friday... so it's holidays for me and the kids for the next two weeks.  I will need to sneak in some work time, and the kids have a few plans, but I'm hoping to get lots of sewing done too.

The last week has been very wet and wintery, but I have been plugging away at my "designated task", adding sashing to my VQR blocks, and adding the framing to the My Tweets blocks.  It is always funny that projects that started like... 5 or so years apart are coming together at the same time.

My Tweets now has blocks added to the left, top and right of the central applique panel.  Just the bottom row to frame and add on now.

VQR has sashing added to half the quilt, and those rows have been sewn together.  Woot.  This means I can have half my floor back to plan other tasks (I feel like I should insert an evil laugh here...)

Finally my Craftsy purchase arrived.  Oh, did I tell you I ordered a kit through Craftsy?  It was something I really liked, but at full price + international postage was too expensive to justify.  Luckily it came up on a great special, so I figured, why not?

A layer cake, green yardage and white yardage.  It doesn't look overly exciting so far...

And the printout of the pattern in black and white doesn't look particularly exciting either... but I think it is a cool pattern, and I can't wait to break it all open (maybe on the open bit of floor).

While the design wall is looking free as well, I have moved the floral applique block into the central space.  Still waiting for that inspiration but I have a few ideas.  Need to play with size and fabric limitations.  It looks a bit lonely by itself. 

I've found some free patterns from my internet browsing activities over the last few weeks.  I really like the softness of this pattern, and could imagine it from many of the leftover groupings of fabrics from other projects.

Esther Aliu has many wonderful BOM patterns, and this is one of her current free patterns.

I am also being drawn to a Trip Around the World quiltalong at https://myteaandbrie.com/blog.  I have never really been keen on this pattern, it can be a little full on when all the diagonal stripes are different coloured fabrics, but I have decided to have a few stripes being plain, and a couple of low volume stripes, and the other ones are... FLORALS!  Yes, I have changed my mind from the Granny Square quilt (really because even though I can see those fabrics in the GS pattern, I just had too many fabrics I wanted to use).  So I am going to try out one TATW block, and see how it goes.

She has very comprehensive instructions for completing the blocks, tips and tricks, as well as a great table showing how many blocks and fabric you need for different sizes.  If you've been thinking that this is a quilt you might like to make, I seriously recommend the quiltalong, whether you stick to the timelines or not.

Progress!

This month I had two VQR blocks to complete - to catch up with Monika... the last two from the book (20 different blocks).  One was the second block we were supposed to make... but I had problems with the paper piecing... and didn't like it, so put it aside and forgot about it for as long as possible.

Using some of my new paper foundation piecing experience (both from this quilt and the Sugar Club blocks), I re-printed the paper templates, and this time printed the template piece (which was only supposed to be a cutting template for the large fans), and attached it to my paper foundation.  Then I paper pieced four identical sections.  I also chose fabrics which would hopefully help hide any imperfections.

Woot!  We have success!

My join was still moderately dodgy... but those clever fabrics mean you can't really see it.  It was 100% better than my first attempt with different fabrics.

And the difference with Monika's block is amazing... you view it totally differently.

The second block I needed to make was another paper pieced one.  Great!  But actually, I really like it.

Because my ultimate quilt layout only needed 36 blocks (for a 6 x 6 grid with sashing), I didn't need to finish these particular blocks for my own quilt.  I am tempted to complete this last block for myself, but I don't even know if I have enough fabric to do the same layout.  And if I did make the block, well, I'd need to decide which block it would substitute.

It is so hard to get a good photo of these large layouts, but I'm pretty happy with things so far.  Now for the sashing!

I've also put a few more borders onto my My Tweets blocks, so now I've got the centre panel finished, and the two top blocks attached.  What a moment!

I must admit to being a bit scared of trimming the large centre panel down to size, but finally bit the bullet and just did it.  I did measure twice, or maybe three times before I cut though!  I wanted variety in my sashing - so that it was interesting - but still keep it relatively mid-toned. 

The fabrics I've chosen as sashing have all been used else where on the quilt... well, except for the outer border on the centre panel - that was from leftover border fabric from my Bluebirds and Berries quilt, but it fits in perfectly with this collection of fabrics too.

I have also had some sneaky packages arrive in the mail.

A sale at Grandmothers Garden netted the following metre pieces.  All interesting and useful... but of no purpose at this stage.

From left "Tangier"for Clothworks: different designs in Blue and Cream, African Sky Fabrics, A Quilters Garden by Bird Brain Designs

Fat Quarter Shop also had a sale, and I picked up these patterns.

And a new book which has some good ideas.

And a new solid - Essex Linen in Steel.

I'm thinking that Nadia is probably due for a new quilt at some stage, as although she still uses both her quilts, she's probably outgrown the princess one below...

And this one is just so faded it is almost impossible to photograph.

So the Frances Firefly pattern is looking tempting.  And the Urban Grunge pattern is just so blokey...