WIP Wednesday TQS BOM 2012 Sedona Star

 This project was randomly selected as our group's April project for our UFO challenge. At the beginning of the month I hadn't even added the blue sections to make the project into a circle. I thought it would be interesting to share what I've achieved in April and perhaps revisit it at the end of May. 

As you can see the quilt top is pieced and ready for quilting. However every block is stitched on a foundation apart from the blue setting pieces. I use the app todoist and scheduled in to spend one hour a day takin out the foundation papers. A mammoth task as you can see.

So far I have removed the papers from the outer border and one corner. I have quite a way to go still. Once April is over, I will need to work on another UFO for our challenge (please let it not be project 2 chosen this month) and will probably change to working on this UFO for one hour twice a week).

Monday makes - virtual retreat finishes

I have three finishes from the virtual retreat organised by The Thread House. The first, I finished on the first day and I was pleased with the result as I used leather straps for the first time, though I did break a few needles.

The theme for Sunday was New York Beauty. I completed both of these projects last week. First is a cushion cover for my kitchen. I stitched simply in the ditch and then used masking tape to join points and stitch the star in the centre.  No marking and only two ends to sew in. All of the fabrics for the cushion front were from my overflowing scrap basket. Very satisfying.

I used a favourite Tula Pink Christmas fabric which looks like an irregular stripe to bind the cushion and black poppers to close the back.

Then Jo Avery showed us how to turn two blocks into a butterfly. This time I dived into my metallic ombre scraps. I then used my own tutorial to turn the block into a project bag.

I was pleased that I had enough of the Elizabeth Hartman butterfly fabric to line the project bag. You can see I quilted the block very simply in the dditch.

Freebie Friday - Finch bucket by Stitch Mischief - free for now

It is good to have a large bag for a large project such as my bits and Bobs blanket - a pattern by Kay Jones of the Bakery Bears. I purchased the Finch Bucket pattern having seen it on Stitch Mischief's YouTube channel. It comes in two sizes and the large is very capacious. I love the velvet cord that I purchased locally at Rachel's Textile Studios.

I made this some time ago, but whilst we are in this worrying time, Jade is offering the pattern for free here during this difficult time. When you make one, do tag Jade over on Instagram @stitchmischief

This week's plans

Last week I decided to focus on a WIP every day rather than working on a number of WIPs each day. How did that go? My hubby fixed my long arm so I am back on being able to work on my choice of projects but the order I placed for fabric and zips didn't arrive so I adjusted my plans.

Tuesday

I finished the key by Barbara Ana Designs and shared it on Friday here.

Wednesday

I also started and finished the Hello Friend cushion - full details here.

Thursday

Year of the Tiger by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. This progressed well but I am a slow cross stitcher. I started with this.

And made significant progress as follows. I am loving the storage for small projects as you can see your floss clearly. I have also started putting a hand cream with my work as I have oodles of lovey hand cream and it makes sense to put them where they will be used.

Friday

Cross body bag by Mister Domestic was pencilled in for Friday but my order wasn't processed until Friday, so instead I decided to make a rope basket. Full details will be on my blog on Friday.

Weekend

I finished one out of three retreat projects so they are my focus for this week so they don't become UFOs. So this week my plans are:

Monday - finish New York Beauty cushion from the retreat

Tuesday - finish butterfly block into a project bag from the retreat

Wednesday - Year of the Tiger again

Thursday - Elvira quilt as now my long arm is working again, I can finish the quilt top on Thursday and then quilt it.

Friday - sees the release of part 5 of Alice in Wonderland. So far I have finished Chapters 3 and 4 completely and Chapters 1 and 2 I will work on for an hour a day until Friday. working on this may spill into the weekend as I'm a slow stitcher.

Pleasingly I started the month with 27 WIPS / UFOs and I am now down to 21. Happy dance. Can I get below 20 before 1 May? I have also made about 30 face masks for family and friends.

Monday Make - hello friend cushion

I purchased the Hello Friend pattern from Sewhot.co.uk and decided to make it for my daughter who is still in the UK, not Jersey. Her bedroom is being decorated and I thought a new cushion would be lovely. First I stash dived for the focus fabric which is in Lizzie's favourite Tiffany blue. This fabric was from a friend's destash and is Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott. Then I found some leftover Kona now from another project and the pink fabric was still on my table from my TQS BOM 2012 so I was almost good to go. I redrafted the pattern to read Lizzie rather than friend which only needed a "Z" to be drawn.

The foundation piecing went quickly and then I cut the pieces for the speech bubble and background. I have recently organised most of my Aurifil spools by colour so I found colour 1148 was just the ticket for blue background. I started the quilting before lunch and was going to quilt around all of the letters which would have been 24 ends to be sewn in so decided to do half inch spaced horizontal lines in Aurifil.

This is a 20" pillow so I had to find half a yard of fabric for the backing of the cushion. I tend to buy Fat Quarters but I found this Lizzy House Constellations which worked well. I used poppers for the closure in hot pink bought in Berlin from Frau Tulpe.

I now have a completed cushion apart from the cushion pad. I am not sure that I would do the faux piping again. It looks more like a faux binding and a regular binding would have been quicker.

This was my second finish of last week from a week spent focussing on one project per day. I may do the same again for another week depending on whether a fabric order arrives or we get my long arm working again without having to ship it to the UK.

Freebie Friday - The key by Barbara Ana Designs

There are some lovely free cross stitch patterns on Instagram under the hashtag #bewellandstitch. The two released by Barbara Ana designs are my favourites so far. If you go to her Instagram page and click on the linktree, you can download several free patterns.

The first pattern released was "The key" which I finished on Tuesday. I love the colour of the linen, I see more of this in my future.

Threads - as per pattern apart from subbing 223 for 3727 which I found didn't contrast at all with 778
Fabric - Picture this Plus Crystal Cashel 28 ct even weave in the colour Coastal from The Home Makery

I found the floss keeper that I made with left over Wonderland fabric from Rifle Co very useful and the perfect number of slots for this pattern.

I have sufficient of the Picture this Plus fabric to stitch the companion piece "The Light" which is kitted and ready to start.

Work in Progress Wednesday - #miniseriessal

We are on week IV of the sew along with Guicy Guice and Alison Glass. Do have a look at the hashtag on Instagram, quilters (but not me) are so inventive with the patterns. I have combined Alison Glass scraps with Oakshott Fabrics vintage silver.

Week 1 - log cabin

Week 2 - courthouse step

Week 3 - pineapple

Week 4 - hexagon step

Week 5 - bonus block

This week's plans

As I mentioned yesterday instead of progressing a number of projects each day, this week I am going to try and focus on one project each day from my WIP list. some have already been started and two I have only just ordered a few bits of haberdashery to kit up the patterns so I may have to change my plans. A part for my long arm hasn't yet arrived which is a shame as my plans for this week would have included quilting two of my own projects.


Tuesday
Finish The Key by Barbara Ana designs.  I have made good progress on this free pattern but I am eager to start the companion piece caked "The light" so will start the second piece if I can finish this one. I am loving the Picture This Plus linen which is a gorgeous colour and sparkly.

Wednesday
Hello friend by Berene Campbell which has been published as a PDF pattern for stores to sell. I bought my copy from sewhot.co.uk

I plan to change friend to Lizzie for my daughter's bedroom which my husband is repainting. It could be some months before we see our children as there are only two flights to the island at the moment, one with the mail and the second from Southampton for those going principally for cancer treatment.

Thursday

Year of the Tiger by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. I tea dyed and baked the fabric for this but hadn't taken into account that the linen might shrink.  I have only made a small start to this project and I am looking forward to starting the Chinese Zodiac which is released every month for eight months starting on 22 April.

Friday

Cross body bag by Mister Domestic for which I am waiting for interfacing and zips.

Weekend

I am participating in The Thread House virtual retreat and plan to sew on Aneela Hoey's new bag pattern. Again I have ordered haberdashery to make the bag which may not arrive. However I want to finish the projects we start during the retreat so I might not even start this project.

Monday Make - 2019 Priairie Schooler Santa

One of my crafty plans for 2020 was to stitch up a Prairie Schooler Santa every month. That means by April I should have completed four Santas. Unfortunately I have only completed two. I have most of the patterns as my children were very generous for Mother’s Day recently and they also gave me some of the 32 count Belfast in vintage stormy night. So I have plenty to keep me busy.

To give the pattern is a more modern look I have changed the red and green flosses to a brighter shade. I am also stitching them on grey instead of beige linen. These patterns have been released annually since 1984 so by my calculation that means I have 36 to sew.

I have just completed the 2019 Santa with his sheep. The only other one I have completed is the 2018 pattern with the snowman and hare. As you can see I have started two other Santa patterns and if I can complete those in May then I will have full done instead of the planned five.

On my to do list I schedule in time to work on these patterns. However this week I have changed my plan and I am going to focus on one project each day. Come back tomorrow and I’ll let you know what my plans are. Today is a bank holiday in the UK so I’m using the day to catch up on other crafty things (and dye my hair)

Friday freebie - #minimakerstation

My second finish for April is the mini maker station which is a free pattern on lillyella.com

https://lillyella.com/tutorials/ It is a beautifully presented and detailed pattern in two sizes and it's FREE. This is the larger size we which are hoping to do as a make and take at the Jersey Modern Quilt Group Retreat in November. I asked a local sheet metal fabrications company if they could cut the metal for the internal strip in the middle, which they did.

I paired Constellations in spice by Lizzy House with leftovers from a FQ stack by Elizabeth Hartman. Our lounge is orange, reds and yellows and looks great on the sofa arm. A very useful project finished.

Wednesday WIP - TQS BOM 2012 Sedona Star

The fabric for this quilt was purchased in 2011 from The Fat Quarter Shop and stalled because I didn't like the technique for the points surrounded by the green. It is applique and I had expected it to be foundation pieced. It has been in one drawer in my sewing room for the entire time so everything was together.

Some progress had been made on the project over the last few years and I had most of the appliqué blocks with the pink surround stitched to the centre. This was chosen as the Group challenge project for April 2020 so I have cracked on with it, working at least one hour every day.

Yesterday I bordered the whole centre with the pieced border, but was dismayed that I didn't appear to have all of the blocks made for the final border. However when pulling out the four corners necessary to turn the circle into a square, the final square in a square blocks surfaced from inside the folded corner applique blocks. Happy dance.

So today I have spent the morning adding the corner blocks to the centre, which went quicker and better than I had expected. Then I finished stitching the borders together and added one border to the square quilt top. I am excited to get the piecing finished. Then I need to press the whole and remove al of the foundation papers, which is going to be a mammoth task. I have removed papers from a few sections, but I need to go over those blocks with tweezers to remove all of the foundation paper. I think that could take a few days.

Then I need to either fix or get my long arm fixed so I can quilt this mammoth quilt. I wonder what my oldest UFO will be once this is finished?