Maple and Eucalyptus 1 to 90

Our Maple & Eucalyptus journey with Gnome Angel and Karen of Just Get it Done started on 1 July 2023 and day by day we made and shared a daily block. It's difficult to believe that our journey will end on 8 October.

There are only blocks with yellows left in my plan, no more pinks, reds and oranges as we move into the greens, turquoises and blues.

Whilst all of the blocks for row 9 are mostly sewn together, block 82 definitely needs some cosmetic surgery with an unpicker. I will leave that job until all of the blocks are complete but I am pleased to have pieced the other 8 rows together already. This project is definitely too big for my home-made design wall. It will be good to have a blank wall to put up other projects to work on.

 

Buttoned up week 2

I cut all of my pieces in week 1, except for some small squares for button B as I ran out of fabric and the borders and sashing haven't been cut, as suggested in the pattern.

I was excited to start so I started by stitching up the bonus heart button block first. These blocks work best with small scale prints and I love the floral and strawberries combined. I will substitute this block for one of the other button blocks. The spare block can then be made into another mini quilt for SCBU.

Then I made the four A blocks. This is the simplest block to get us started. I am making the lap quilt and you make four of each block for that size.

Keeping to schedule so far. I'd like to finish my Maple & eucalyptus quilt soon so as to free up my design wall.

Monday make - mini charm cushion

During our recent Scottish tour, we visited Banchory on the way back from Ballater, near Balmoral. We had a lovely lunch and strolled down the High Street, found a great hardware store where we purchased a toilet brush as a joke gift for our daughter. I then spied Deeside Stitches on the opposite side of the road. I had to visit and sent my hubby back to the car park, so he didn't have to lurk. I had a lovely chat with the owner and bought a mini charm pack of Astra by Janet Clare.

I had an idea for a cushion for my son's new home and shades of blue are in his comfort zone. I paired the mini charm pack with some leftover denim blue fabric from a Stevie dress that I recently made. I should have starched this fabric within an inch of its life as it shifted and distorted no matter how carefully I handled it.

A clever friend once told me that she only makes cushion outers the size of a standard Ikea cushion inner. I'm hoping I've converted from centimetres to inches correctly!!

I quilted the cushion front with a pattern called fast feathers but should probably have chosen a blue of darker grey thread as the medium grey dominates.

I used some Cam snaps to close the cushion at the back.  I hope Matt likes it and that the cushion inner fits nicely. I have to make some wrist straps for Matt too, at his request, which will probably be a last-minute make before my hubby goes to visit him on 9 October. I also need to buy him some decent pillows as his are very thin. My hubby will take the car on the ferry so I can load it up with all manner of things.

 

Maple and eucalyptus blocks 1 to 80

Maple and eucalyptus is a collaboration between Gnomeangel and Karen of Get It Done Quilts. There are 100 blocks to sew over 100 days. The sewalong hasn't had the joy of Angie' previous sewalongs as she has been ill and hasn't posted daily on Instagram or interacted with participants.  However I'm still sewing along and we have now finished 80 blocks. The finish line is in sight.

My quilt is moving from the warm colours into the cool colours and I particularly liked this block bridging yellow to green through to turquoise. I am starting to sort through the warm scraps and get them ready to give to a friend at a retreat in October - only three weeks to go.

I have stitched the first five rows together and rows 5 to 8 are also pieced. This means it should be quick to finish one we get to block 100. I am still trying to stitch two blocks a day during the week and none at the weekend which is working for me.

WIP Wednesday - Buttoned up QAL

 

I couldn't resist the latest pattern from Pen and Paper Patterns. It's called Button Up. Like the typography quilt I made last year, I'm going to be using a mix of Ruby Star Society fabrics on a navy background. My background has been ordered and despatched. Saira of Olive & Flo Handcraft is so prompt to despatch and refunds the UK sales tax.

We are now in week 1 and need to start cutting out our fabric. I am going to make the small throw size with one heart button which is a pattern bonus. I think I need to be very organised for this QAL as there are six blocks to keep separate. Looking at the timetable, I would hope to be able to piece the quilt blocks together at the Modern Quilt Club retreat in October, ready to quilt on my return home.

Monday make - scrap mini quilt

I had a much overdue tidy up of my Alison Glass fabrics on Saturday. The large pieces were sort of stored by colour with scraps sorted by colour too. I sorted all of the large pieces of fabric, folded them nicely and they are now stored by colour. I then went through the scraps and pulled out any pieced blocks which were from the maple and eucalyptus sewalong. Several of the blocks produce two half square triangles when only one is needed. These were then trimmed to either 4.5" or 2.5" square. I then worked from the middle, vaguely in rainbow order, filling with squares cut from the scrap bags. I didn't need to get any of the larger pieces out at all.

This was pieced into an 18" square mini quilt for donation to our local SCBU by our guild. I used backing and binding to hand. No effort there!! The neutral thread that I used for piecing also worked for the cross hatch quilting. A quick finish from scraps that will be contributed to the Guild efforts tonight.

 

I am pleased with how the piece turned out given that it was all scraps. Once I have finished the Maple & Eucalyptus quilt, I am going to give all my scraps to a friend who loves scraps.

Friday finish - Stevie 2

 

We returned from our trip to Scotland on Monday and we did so much walking in the eleven days, that I am absolutely shattered. we also did a lot of eating!! Whilst in Glasgow we attended the Big Sew Off session at Sew Confident. 

I was very bold and decided to sew another Stevie dress. I prepped all of the pieces before we left and even applied the interfacing. I had a button packed and a bias strip for the button loop. Of course, I put it in a safe place (inside the pattern envelope) and only discovered it as I was packing up.

Lizzie managed to not only sew a shark block (pattern by Elizabeth Hartman) but she also zig zagged together some strips of waste to make scarves for refugees for winter. Fortunately, I had taken scissors, thread pins etc. as Lizzie had travelled very light.

And yes, I did finish the dress. I was so chuffed and wore it that same evening. The weather was unseasonably hot in Scotland, and I had packed only one summer dress which appears in most of the photos of our trip!! I am not sharing a suitcase with my husband again as he packed a road atlas weighing .75kg and I pared down my packing and left a second summer dress.

August 2023 achievements

I was away for a total of seven days in August and came back exhausted from both, add in two stints in A&E with an elderly relative and I'm happy with my achievements this month.

My first objective was to finish my project for Make Modern Magazine which is done and photographed. I need to write the pattern next.

There was a 31 August deadline for our Trinket project - pattern by Alison Glass and I achieved that too.

I not only stitched Gathering Stitches by Luminous Fibre Arts and even managed to buy two copies of the pattern, but I framed it!! 2024 needs to be the year of framing and finishing pieces.

My daughter and I made vinyl boxy pouches over FB messenger video. I had a plan and it worked. You can find my outline instructions earlier in the month.

A relatively quick make was this Japanese apron with the perfect label on the pocket.

September 2023 plans

 As we are away in Scotland for 11 days, I shouldn't expect too much of myself. There are a few items brought forward from August and I don't know which of my projects will be picked or our UFO challenge. Hopefully one I've already completed.

My top priority has to be writing the pattern for Make Modern Magazine. The photographs have been taken so I just need to get on with the writing.

2023 collector's heart is my travelling project but I'm not sure I'll get a lot of time to stitch when we're in Scotland.

Tilly and the Buttons Stevie dress will be stitched on whilst in Glasgow but I'm expecting a lot to get it finished there.

Two cushions from shirting for my son's new home as my husband will visit him early in October.

Maple and eucalyptus blocks 1 to 70

I can't believe we're already on block 70. I've kept up to date and most of the blocks and rows are stitched together. Now I'm back from holiday, I will be catching up on this part of the process and making at least one block a day.

I'm loving the turquoises and blues which are coming more into play as we get to the end of the pinks. I also love these simpler blocks and I'm working on my accurate 1/4" seam.

The blocks are looking great together. Some don't have a lot of contrast which adds to the effect. I've just realised that this project comes to an end in a month's time. I will still have the weekly mini block sampler to work on but that's a much smaller commitment.

Christmas Decorations- Peace

 

My plan was to make these three decorations for my son's new home but as my hubby will visit Matt in early October, I think it will probably be just one. I have finished PEACE and started on JOY. I bought my pattern from Peakside Needleworks.

Now I need to work out how to finish the piece. I have worked out a 3.5" circle is about right, but I need to rewatch Cathy's videos and see if she says how to finish them. I'm rewatching episode 84.

Japanese Apron

When your friend gives you a ready cut project and prefaces it with how easy it is to make, you grab the gift and put it aside. The video is by Olesya and if you click top right on CC to get the close captions which has the written instructions. 

Lorraine picked up the fabric at a local charity shop that we have had patterns and corduroy from, along with cheap duvet covers from which to make a toile.

I will admit I'm not an apron wearer, but this fits well and covers a lot. I particularly like my choice of label from Kylie and the Machine as it picks out the pink and yellow from the dotted fabric.

My two recommendations would be:

Use your walking foot if your fabric is like this heavier linen

When adding the straps, position a little in from the side seam.

Trinket quilt

The deadline for submitting our completed project to receive the finisher pin was 31 August and I managed to submit the photo on 27 August. Four days to spare!! I used my stash of Ruby Star Society fabrics to make the 42 blocks (including two bonus blocks). 

The blocks have been complete for some time, but I was deciding on a striking design to put them all together. In the end I decided to do the same as last time and alternate the blocks with a patterned fabric square. I accidentally went for a landscape orientation so went with the flow (i.e. I was too far into finishing the piecing and too lazy to figure out how to fix it.) I was able to fit 41 blocks on the front as the small red star had conveniently been sewn with the fabric used for the alternating background squares.

Block 42 is on the reverse of the quilt as a label. I will at the very least add the year to the block. I had just enough fabric for the backing and binding. The quilting pattern is called pick up sticks stitched with Granite by Superior Threads.