Friday Freebie - By Annie's Petit Fours baskets

Our retreat is in a week's time and my packing has started. However I can't find the metal strips for the planned make & take so we have had a quick changeover. Fortunately the programme hadn't quite been finalised as the magnets haven't arrived for the project either. A quick decision was made to use the By Annie's petit four basket. I won a copy of the pattern a few months ago along with the soft and stable to make the basket. You can pick up a free copy of the pattern from here.

I decided to try the pattern out using Create by Quietplay. Directional fabrics are best avoided for this pattern. I prefer the Bosal which is iron on rather than the soft & table which is sew in, but that's personal preference. I have packed some more scraps of Bosal to make another at retreat in a similar but different colourway.

There are some great tips here to avoid a saggy bottom. No one likes a saggy bottom!! I also added two more decorative cotton reels to my collection using discarded scraps and some double sided sticky tape. These are from my mother's stash and a fun way to use them once the reel is empty.

WIP Wednesday - Halloween SAL

Each evening in October the pattern for this Halloween sewalong arrives in my inbox. I download the pdf to my phone and stitch away whilst watching some evening television. I will admit I was initially disappointed that the daily pattern arrives at about 8pm but I have now worked it into a little routine and I love it.

 

Last night's pattern was a spider and its web. I love the symmetry of this square.

I love the haunted mansion too as the colours contrast beautifully with my grey even weave fabric. Not all of the designs contrast as much as I'd like and one of the blocks hasn't yet been finished as I'm not convinced.  Only four more blocks to go. Can I finish it on Saturday night before November starts?

I have slowly started putting out stuff for our retreat in just over a week's time. Very excited, despite the restrictions we will have to operate under. we always have our own 6ft table so social distancing whilst sewing won't be a problem. I am very pleased that in previous years I put all of the single sheets, duvet and duvet cover in one bag, as it makes it so easy to extract it from the airing cupboard. No overseas visitors this year, which is a shame. We will miss them.

Are you looking forward to 2021?

 I know it's not even November but to make the most of 2020, I have drawn up my list of 12 UFOs / projects to work on / finish in 2021. The majority are projects that are smaller than those I had on my list for 2020. I will also delete these from my Finishalong list for 2020 so as to focus on the remaining projects.

So here's my list which is written up in my 2020 Quilter's Planner ready to move to my 2021 planner when it arrives: 

1. Quietplay unicorn block

2. Book block - may end up as a book pillow or bag

3. Poppy Treffey towel to add some coloured fabric and do some free machine embroidery.

4. Tattoo quilt (I hope this isn't chosen in the first quarter as I only have seven out of tweve blocks completed)

                                      

5. Travel bag either an Amy Butler or By Annie pattern 

                                        

6. Linen dress 

                                        

7. 2020 Prairie Schooler Santa 

                                         

8. Minimalist wallet by Noodlehead 

9. La Fin du Monde - just needs ends sewn in and a little unpicking. I think I will donate this to ABC charity. 

                                    

10. Bonnie and Camille stars 

                                     

11. Spring Garden by Durene Jones 

                                    

12. Plaidish quilt from my stacks of black and white scraps and fat quarters.

However today I need to put some time into quilting my Dream Big panel for October 2020's UFO challenge.

WIP Wednesday - Rock Candy Table topper

 

It's been a busy week already with family commitments and a 91st birthday lunch today with time to fit in a doctor's appointment in an hour's time. Not much progress on anything to report, but I have cut out the next Journey to Nebula skill builder project. Again I reached for some Sweetwater charm squares and added in some deep reds. I particularly like the nautical background fabric which I purchased in Winchester some years ago. I think it is a perfect fit as it picks out the reds, blacks and neutral from the charm squares which have been cut into diamonds.

I plan to piece it together today ready to quilt, but I have just loaded this month's UFO onto my long arm so it will have to wait to be quilted. If I don't get it bound before our retreat, it would be a quick Friday finish on the retreat.

Monday make - T-shirt quilt

 

I am so pleased to have finished this T-shirt quilt for a client. I have been asked numerous times and have said no, but with this customer, that it was the right thing to do. I asked for the T-shirts to be washed, pressed and the fronts cut of so as not to incur extra costs and some of the T-shirts were discarded before arriving with me. I knew the first job was to apply iron on interfacing to stabilise the fabric. I sorted through the T-shirts first and grouped them by width / size.

I then sewed them into vertical strips having put them on my design wall and done some maths on a scrap of paper. I kept to the length of the middle strip an worked from there. A few of the strips were too long so the blocks needed to be shortened and this approach worked well. A quick trip to my local quilt shop and I sourced a wide baking - Basic Grey purple Grunge and the quit was loaded onto my long arm. I had read that a ball point needle was recommended and I had then had to wit a couple of days for them to arrive. I then stitched in the ditch around all of the blocks. The middle column was too wide for my long arm so I finished those blocks on my Bernina.

For the binding I use the wrong side of the backing so it looks like a solid and I will be contacting the client today to arrange pick up for tomorrow.

At our Jersey Modern Quilt Group on Saturday, we held our AGM, it was decided to proceed with our local retreat in three weeks time. This is dependent on Covid cases not rising and groups being allowed to continue to meet. It will be different as we will have to adapt, but everyone is looking forward to three days of uninterrupted sewing and our friend Michelle's delicious food. I will be working on my Tattoo Quilt and Alaska rainbow at the retreat unless they are finished in the next three weeks. Very unlikely!!

WIP Wednesday - Chinese zodiac

Month seven of this eight month sewalong with The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery is about to be released. I have just completed month 1 which is the central medallion and the first three animals!! To complete month two I need to add the small ornaments in the top right hand corner and do the back stitching on the fan in the top right hand corner.

I have been working on one animal per week and just have the details to add to all of the animals apart from the rabbit which needs to be completed. I have scheduled this project into my daily to do list and manage to work on it for at least 30 minutes about five out of seven days a week.

After an exhausting day yesterday which left me dehydrated, sugared up and overtired like a small child, I am going to work on the two corner units today. I should finish at least one apart from the back stitching.  This is a very pretty pattern and the centre medallion is done with DMC etoile which is sparkly and the Petite Braid used for the gold details is nice to work with.

Monday Make - Alaska Rainbow

 

When I saw this stunning quilt on Instagram by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts I was smitten. I bought the pdf pattern from Edyta and then ordered the templates and one FQ from Sew Hot. Whilst waiting for the templates, I printed out the pattern and set up one of my files with the instructions and block instructions. The block instructions are printed two to a page, so I cut them apart and put each block in its own sleeve. My plan is to add the cut pieces to each sleeve as I cut the fabric each week.

I have added scraps of my fabric choices to the cutting instructions and thought I was very clever to have worked out my choices for the first half of the blocks. However Edyta has planned the sewalong schedule very well and we are doing the blocks in order of difficulty. This week we are sewing blocks 1 and 3. Unfortunately it look like next week we will need the pink which I haven't quite sourced yet.

I am pleased with the two background fabrics I picked from stash. I mainly buy Fat Quarters, so was surprised to find sufficient of the cream dot but I will need another background fabric as I don't have enough of the Cotton & Steel for the whole quilt. If I can work it out, I will use the Cotton and Steel for the outer blocks and have a different fabric for the inner blocks.

It is pleasing to be able to source most of the fabrics from stash but also eye opening to see that my stash is deficient in reds and pinks. My plan, which I have added into my Todoist app, is to cut fabrics on Friday when the block numbers are announced and then sew the two blocks on Sunday. So far I have cut up to fabric 10. I now need to choose the rest of my fabrics before Friday.

Friday Finish - lucky charms cushion

My red white and blue star Kam snaps arrived earlier this week, but I had used the cream fabric from the back to extend a quilt backing on a client quilt, so I had to finish the quilt before I could finish the cushion.

The red and white stripe from Riley Blake was the perfect binding for this project as it picked out the red from the fabric range - Reunion by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics and it is destined for my kitchen sofa which is grey and white with read accents.

The back of the pillow is from deep stash. I decided to only use the red and navy stars as the back is cream and not white. I quick project with great Instagram videos from Jaybird Quilts.

WIP Wednesday - TQS BOM

 

I started 2020 with this project part pieced and number 2 in my Guild's UFO challenge. I am now down to three projects to complete for the challenge, but this number was chosen some months ago. However, I did get it pieced during the correct month and it has been a slow process of removing the foundation papers form the reverse.

I made several rookie errors which have contributed to making this process lengthier:

1. The pattern had you machine around each applique shape to aid positioning. Thiss adds an extra line of stitching holding down the paper
2. In areas I followed the pattern and used a glue pen, so those areas need to be damp to remove the papers
3. Some areas I used regular photocopier paper and even sellotape. What was I thinking!!

Added to this all of the applique is blanket stitch so it really holds onto the paper. However the applique does look good. One good thing I did was to keep a separate box of threads for the project and I had written the stitch length and width on my sample which was also in the box of threads.

I laid out the quilt earlier this week and the end is in sight. I have almost finished taking out the paper from the blocks with the yellow background, then I need to check all of the seam allowances for rogue pieces of paper, fix a couple of seams that popped when the paper was removed, and then repress ready for quilting. This is my oldest UFO from 2012, so it will be exciting to get it finished.

I plan to get the top ready to be pressed and then put it aside to work on this month's UFO. I have blocked off a week from client work so I can finish the Hoffman Dream Big panel. 

Monday make - Show me your drills and pencil case

On 1 October, another session of the FREE Show me your drills class started. Sign up at The happy ever crafter This is a very professional class run on the Teachable platform and you can then progress to learn more about the different letters, lower and upper case, numbers etc, for which there is a charge for the work books. I have signed up several times and never quite make it to the end, but I have added the daily challenge to my To do list, so perhaps this time I will make more progress.

Whilst I retrieved my supplies for the class which are mostly stored in one tray next to my computer, I realised I had more pens than I realised without including any boxes of pens. So I thought about making another slim pencil case by Svetlana of Sotak Handmade. I shared the one I made for a  retreat gift, and have made one for my daughter, but thought it would be perfect for a few pens.

Svetlana's pattern is free on her blog. A few days ago, I spotted that Svetlana has a new video tutorial on Youtube so I decided today was the day to make one for me. I grabbed this denim look fabric from the top f my chest of drawers, the lining was neatly put away in my stash and the zip was in my bag making stash. Unfortunately I didn't have the requisite 7" zip so just added 1 inch to the width of the pencil case to enable me to use an 8" zip.

The pencil case took me a total of 45 minutes to complete and the video takes you step by step through the process. I am envious of Svetlana's Babylock sewing machine which cuts the threads at the end of a seam. I will just have to continue to use scissors.

I should have been quilting a Customer Quilt today but my long arm is playing up so I stepped away from it and will check all of the leads, cables and timing tomorrow.

October UFO update

I started September with 12 UFOs and finished with 11. I have added several more projects into the mix especially two SALs that finish this quarter. I have not included the Tattoo quilt with @happysewlucky,  nor my Bonnie and Camille stars.  However these two projects will be added to my Q1 FAL project list and UFO challenge in January.

1. TQS BOM 2012

2. Tate Modern quilt which was our challenge March project which is now ready for quilting.

3. Hoffman Dream Big Panel - I have started this and took it off the machine to work on customer quilts. I think this will be made into a bag once quilted.

4. Linen dress Realistically this may be added to my 2021 UFO challenge list.

5. Libs Elliott sewalong - quilted and bound but it just needs some ends sewn in.

6. 1985 Prairie Schooler annual Santa

7. The light by Barbara Ana designs

8. 1987 Prairie Schooler Santa

9. Spellville by Barbara Ana

10. Spring sampler by Durene Jones

11. Chinese Zodiac  by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

12. Techno Garden by Karlee Porter

13. Halloween SAL