Rabbit holes

I have fallen down the sewalong rabbit hole again. all of these patterns on Instagram are so appealing. apparently over 800 people are participating in the sewalong which starts in two weeks time.

I decided to use some of my stash of Alison Glass fabrics but of course, some colours, especially red and mauve I don't have in much variety so I ordered the latest AG fabric from Sew Hot. I also needed some fabric for the alternating blocks and when my LQS - Crafty Quilters poste that they have Basic Grey grunge in stock in onyx, I hot footed it around there. Fortunately the invoice hadn't come with the delivery so Jenny will let me know how much I owe, as I had left my phone and purse at home with no means to pay. Jenny know where I live!

I decided to get myself organised in advance of the sewalong starting on 10 March, the day we leave for four nights in Iceland. I had printed the patterns onto carol Doak foundation paper, but need to order some more along with a photo of the whole quilt and the sewalong timetable.

I slipped everything into this book of plastic sleeves and labelled one sleeve for each week to try and keep organised. even the timetable is cute.

I have sine moved the foundation patterns to the sleeve for each week and have started sewing as we will be away for the whole of the first week. And later in the sewalong we have a few days in France at the Pour L'Amour du Fils quilt show. Fortunately free wifi means we can post wherever we are in the world. And the deadline for the finished quilt top is before a two week trip.

In my defence I have also finished the Quilter's Planner BOM quilt top. I need to finish quilting my Violet Craft lion and then I can quilt that BOM along with two customer quilts. I also have suitable binding in my stash to finish the QP BOM. I plan to have it finished by the end of the month to reduce my UFOs for the Q2 Finish along.

February BOM progress

I need to keep focussed on these BOMs so they don't overwhelm me.

1. 2019 Perfect HST BOM Block-of-the-Month program with Freshly Pieced

This is released on the first Monday of each month and I have completed the January and February blocks. I am pleased with how they are looking.

2. Threadology with Fat Quarter Shop

I have decided to use plain white for the background which I have in stash along with Ombre Confetti by V & Co (also in stash).

I have labelled the leftover strips to hopefully make it quicker to retrieve the correct sized strip for the following blocks.

 

3. Quiet Play Pattern Club

The lavender has arrived to turn this block into a lavender bag by Tuesday for my daughter but I have failed to find a background that I am happy with, so this has stalled.

4. The Quilter's Planner BOM

I had made the blocks for January and February but my iron spat on both blocks so I needed to start again. However the patterns come with the planner so I have got ahead and completed all of the blocks. I should be able to put this together in the coming weeks.

Greenhouse table runner

I should be working on items for our local Eisteddfod that need to be handed in on 2 March, and this is the easiest of the projects. This is more of my Elizabeth Hartman blocks, this time from the Greenhouse pattern. I thought I might work on it at the Jersey Modern Quilt Guild sewing day tomorrow, but once the blocks were out and the setting strips cut, it was a quick finish.

First job was to sew the blocks together.  I then quilted it on my Bernina just outlining the blocks and then stippling in the background.

Then trimmed up and a striped binding applied to pull the colours together. I had this done for Wednesday so that I could stitch down the binding at my morning group.

I think it has turned out well. I have since  been working on my Quilter's Planner blocks as we have all of the pattern and if finished that would reduce my sewalongs to three.

Block of the month

You know I love a good block of the month (BOM) and despite setting myself the target to only have two on the go at any one time, I have jumped on the wagon four times!!

So which ones am I doing:
1. 2019 Perfect HST BOM Block-of-the-Month program with Freshly Pieced
This is released on the first Monday of each month so should be simple to keep up with.

 I chose the fabrics for this BOM from a Fat Quarter stack by Elizabeth Hartman. I may run out but I will just add another fabric from the bundle. I even attached a snippet to the handout to show which Kona plain I had substituted with which patterned fabric and got close on all of them. For background I am using Kona steel (or is it iron)!!

So far I have been able to us my Accuquilt dies to cut all of the half square triangles as having paid for the pattern, I am loathe to pay more for the special papers to sew the HSTs.

This is the February block, so far so good.

2. Threadology with Fat Quarter Shop
Not started yet but it is a four month programme so should be easy to keep up with. I will try and visit my LQS tomorrow to choose a background fabric.

3. Quiet Play Pattern Club
I was late to this one and have just made the pattern sent out before the programme started. This is three foundation patterns a month and month two ha just been released early. Again background fabric needs to be chosen and I may take this one to a retreat I am going to in June. It's always good to have a plan!!

4. The Quilter's Planner BOM

I have made the blocks for January and February but my iron spat on both blocks so I need to start again. However the patterns come with the planner so I think I will work on this at our Jersey Modern Quilt Guild retreat in March. I hope to finish this in April so I will be down to three BOMs.

Awesome Ocean mini quilt

You know that I love a good sewalong and quickly jumped on the Elizabeth Hartman sewalong organised by Gnome Angel over on Instagram. Unfortunately the sewalong stalled due to ill health and my progress stalled too.

I had lots of blocks sewn but nothing put together. Our Wednesday morning quilt group had a Christmas challenge t make a small quilt to go into shoe boxes for Romania. I didn't win the challenge, however I realised I could put some of the blocks together and tha would make an etra mini quilt to donate.

With a purpose for the quilt, I decided to start with the blocks from the pattern Awesome Ocean. All of the blocks had low volume backgrounds but I chose a plain white for the sashing. Once the various sashings and borders were cut, it was quick to put together.

A quick look in the cupboard in the room my long arm is in and I found a piece of Bitten by Ikea tht was just the right size, quickly loaded it onto my long arm and two passes using a pantograph called Froze by Anne Bright and it was ready for binding. Such a myriad of colours meant that it had to be a rainbow stripe to bring together the assorted colours.  I machined down the binding as it will well used.

I do love a striped binding and keep all of my multicolored stripes together. My husband and I are planning a return to Pour L'amour du Fil quilt show in Nantes in April so I will be on the look out for more striped fabric, amongst other things.

Improv Xmas tree finish

I started this quilt in December using a tutorial by Amy Smart. I purchased some extra Christmas fabrics from sewhot.co.uk.

I love the mauve feathers. I initially thought that I would make a square quilt.

However I changed my mind to make a rectangular lap quilt. A bit of moving blocks around my design wall, I made one more block and it was soon together.

Distributing the red blocks around the quilt was challenging and I ended up with two adjacent red trees. I then quilted it using a trees pantograph from Anne Bright.

I like the the mix of fabrics by different designers including Me and My Sister, Tula Pink, Aneela Hoey, Cotton & Steel and more. I then machined down a red stripey binding for another finished project in 2019. I am pleased with this quick finish, however I seem to have cut every tree the same, so much for being improv.

The backing was a piece from stash designed by Eleanor Burns. There's just enough left to back one further small project.

Felt mat - sheepy

My husband and I are planning a trip to France to attend the Pour l'Amour du Fils quilt show in Nantes as well as visiting a family friend. I bought this felt kit three years ago at that show so it is good to have it finished. It didn't make it to my UFO list of twelve items for the APQS challenge but it is a finish nevertheless.

Two friends who I haven't seen for more than a year will be at the show so I am looking forward to seeing them. My husband will come into the show with me, but prices are quite high there and tends to be lot of linen and Japanese products so my spending is usually modest. Until I have tidied my craft room I shouldn't be buying anything anyway.