Waypoint progress

I am still making Waypoint test blocks for @Saraditty. I thought I'd have been finished by now, however I keep making mistakes. I didn't spot that in my original eight blocks, that I had the corner four patch blocks wrongly orientated. Once that was fixed, I thought the end was nigh. 

I put the rows together to find that I had one too many yellow blocks and one too few green blocks. My job for today is to make another green block and finish stitching together the quilt top.

I need to get that one this morning as I have a lunchtime appointment for a Covid booster. I hope I don't have a reaction to this injection as the flu jab knocked me out for two days.

Retreat finish - Santa sack

For my next retreat project, I had filled a Santa sack that I made many years ago with some Christmas fabrics and some IKEA Bitten for the lining

This is a simple pattern of a 12” finished Ohio star for both front and back with a 3” border. I then created a channel at the top of the sack and used a neon pink paracord to close. A simple make.

Retreat finishes - Clam Up Pouch

Last weekend I was away at the Modern Quilt Club retreat in the Leeds area. The second project I worked on was the Clam Up pouch which is a By Annie pattern.

I used a Tula Pink fabric for the outside and a Kona solid for the lining. This is the large size which to me is fairly small. Probably not even big enough to fit a Terry's Chocolate orange.

Retreat finish - SCBU Mini quilt

This block from Me Time Delivered from was my Guild UFO challenge piece for November. I pieced the blocks on my embroidery machine before the retreat. Laid them out and pinned them into three rows ready to stitch together.

I was hoping for a quick finish and added a binding by machine on both sides. It was at this stage I realised how many things I hadn't packed - wonder clips, scissors and labels. I'd also left tooth paste behind but Alex came to the rescue.

I am not a lover of green and there was much teasing about how much green I'd used! However, it's complete and ready to donate to our local NICU. I donated seven other mini quilts before going on retreat to try and clear the decks.

Waypoint eight

 

I am still making Waypoint blocks to test @sariditty's new pattern. I have stitched eight blocks and have ten more to stitch at this weekend's retreat.  All of the blocks are now cut out and I have found a potential border print. I need to double check one more time that I have cut the right number of yellow stars and green stars. Then they can be packed way for Saturday's retreat project.

How to get the best out of your long armer

I have had a Handiquilter Avante for more than ten years and here are my top tips for getting th bet out of your longarmer.

1. Your backing should be 4" bigger than your quilt top on all or sides. This gives plenty of room for loading the quilt and using the horizontal clamps to keep the backing smooth. If there is insufficient backing, I will either decline to quilt your project or add borers to make the backing big enough which takes time and cost you money.

I now have the confidence to tell potential customers that I can't help them rather than risk damaging their project or my machine. I learnt that through experience!

2. Quilt tops and backings should be pressed and lightly starched. I advise using trouser hangers to keep the fabric crease free once prepped.

3. Get the best value for money by loading two quilts onto the same backing. By Annie recommends in her bag patterns to quilt more fabric backed with soft and stable so you have ready quilted fabric for more bags. I now use car interlining for the foam layer as it is better value for money

4. Whilst your quilt is being quilted, prepare your binding so it's ready to o once your quilt is quilted.

WIP Wednesday - waypoint

I am making progress on testing the Waypoint pattern for @sariditty. I have raided my stash for low volume background which are paired with yellow and green fabrics for the stars. I have sewn together four blocks and two more are in progress. I have worked out that I need a total of eighteen blocks for a quilt to donate to Quilts for Care Leavers.

I have a further seven blocks cut ready to sew at retreat in ten days' time and need to cut a further five blocks. I have some customer quilts in my queue at the moment so I can cut the blocks whilst my long arm is doing its thing.

Moda Blockheads 6

 

It has been a little windy here and a little difficult to get good photos. However, my Moda Blockheads 6 blocks are now quilted and bound and ready to donate to Quilts for Care Leavers next week. That will make a total of three to donate to Q4CL and I have our mini quilts to drop off to our hospital's NICU tomorrow.

I enjoyed making the blocks and combining the two different sizes of white spot on black fabrics worked. The purple block is too big for me compared with the other blocks, most of which are 9" square.

We have flu jabs today and a customer is dropping of some advent calendar panels and lap quilt for quilting today. Otherwise, I will be concentrating on stitching together some more test bocks for @sariditty.

Waypoint testing

I have made my first test block from the Waypoint pattern by @sariditty which is being released later this year. I am continuing to stash dive with more low volume prints paired with yellow and green fabrics. However, I realise that I have many low volume text prints which are directional and not suitable for this project.

My plan is to cut two blocks each day, stitch one and put the other aside to stitch at retreat in a week's time My long arm is all connected again so we need to add the pole when it's not raining outside and I'll be ready to quilt my Q4CL Moda Blockhead 6 project this weekend.

 

WIP Wednesday - Moda blockheads 6

On of the first thing I planned to do on our return from holiday was to catch up with the Mod Blockhead 6 blocks. I had them printed ready to cut out and stitch. Fortunately, I put the completed blocks on my design board and was amazed to realise that I had enough blocks to make up another Quilts for careleavers quilt with the blocks that were already completed.

I added a 3" border and it is ready to be quilted. My next job is to get my longarm set up properly with the cables plugged in where they are meant to be and put back the poles.  I have a customer bringing some projects on Monday so it would be good to get this quilted first.

Plans for the next few months

I am back after what seems like a long break. We did get away to spend three days in Istanbul with our daughter, but I wasn't well enough to do much on the cruise other than rest, read and eat. Our trip back was eventful with an unplanned stop in Bucharest, so we arrived home a day later than expected. I brought home with a nasty cold which has knocked me out for a week.

I am now planning for the next few months and have started with choosing just five cross stitch projects to work on. All of the other projects have been unkitted and the threads returned to their storage boxes. This will make pulling threads out for future projects much quicker.

Winter Wonderland - kitted up in about five minutes. My first small project to work on.

A honey of a tiny town. One house or tree between projects should result in progress.

Frosty Tiny Town. Again one house between projects should see progress. 

Polar plunge. one and a half units stitched out of six and planned to be a Christmas gift. One unit to be stitched between other projects.

Hello Autumn should be my next project but three of the threads were mixed up with stuff being moved back into the playroom as the floors were refinished whilst we were away on holiday.

Friday finish - book sleeve

Making up this book sleeve was not on my bingo card for this week. I honestly planned for it to be a project for the November Modern Quilt Club retreat. However, I received a phone call from our local hospital on Monday, recommending that I cancel my holiday which starts today. That did not put me in a good mood!

I needed a simple project for my sewing session with my daughter over FB messenger. I cut out most of the pieces on Monday ready to sew, which I did on Tuesday morning. I had already sewn the book block from Me Time Delivered, a few weeks ago.

WIP Wednesday - scrap stash plus quilt

This was my jelly roll day project using a jelly roll friendly pattern from Emily Dennis. I have worked on it steadily making ten blocks every week from the fabrics pulled or the Moda blockheads 6 blocks. I started by making a positive and negative block from each fabric, but for the last blocks, I pulled from my scrap bags and did just one block from each fabric.

I still have plenty of yardage of this perfect rainbow striped binding from Quiet Play. I thought this fabric from Rainbow Fabrics was the perfect backing. We bought it at Stitch Festival earlier this year. This quilt will be donated to Quilts for Care Leavers when I'm in the UK in November.

Monday make - Frankie top

 You'd be forgiven for thinking you've seen this top before a I've made the Frankie top by Tilly & the Buttons twice before in the same Chicacheetah fabric from Guthrie and Ghani, but in royal blue and light blue. I need to come up with a plan to use up the scraps of the three colourways.

Having made the top before, you'd think I'd know what to do but I made all the mistakes, lots of unpicking and I even sewed my label into the seam for the sleeve and not the body of the top. However, it is now finished. Disappointingly the fabric is from two print runs so the back has a greyer tinge and the front is pinker. This was highlighted on the website, but I chose to buy just one extra metre.

My resident photographer is back from the UK tonight having visited Matt and Lizzie, so my photos are very basic today. Next project is either trimming and binding a scrappy quilt or making a dress to wear on our forthcoming holiday.

Friday finish - 7t7 autumn challenge

 

This week the autumn challenge with Studio 7T7 has been running on Facebook to make a tote from vide instructions and tips posted daily. The first challenge was to choose fabric for the body and lining. I have been following another challenge with Stash Hub, also this week. This inspired me to look at the leftovers from other projects and I selected these two cotton dressmaking fabrics.

Fortunately, my zippers by the yard are all in one place so I chose this celestial blue zipper but not wish I'd chosen a star zipper pull. The only purchase I made was the iron on fleece for adding to the main fabric.

Emma demonstrated how to add a professional element with rivets on the bag handle. Unfortunately I couldn't in them this week. I will look for them once we are back from holiday in October. The house will be messy before we leave as we are having three floors revarnished whilst we are away, so a lot of things will be temporarily stored in the kitchen and lounge. 

What to work on next? The dress for my holidays, a quilt that is almost complete or my new cross stitch project.

WIP Wednesday - Moda Blockheads 6

 

This is block 14 of Moda Blockheads and was released last week. I am disappointed in my choie of fabrics, which are very pretty but it doesn't fit into the aesthetic of the other blocks as there's so little background in the block. For now, it's gone in my charity donation pile. 

I also made up some scrap stash plus blocks from the fabric that I used and as I only needed six of each colourway, I now need to focus on turquoise. The last Moda blockheads 6 block pattern is released on 19 November so there are plenty of other blocks to be sewn.

Sorting my stash of stretch fabrics

I definitely have more stretch fabrics than I thought!! However, they are now corralled into a tub (must put the lid on) and I went through all of the scraps, and any reasonable sized scraps were bagged up an listed on Ecycle. They were claimed in minutes.

Out of the larger scraps of three fabrics I sewed up a pair of shorts to use as pyjamas.  The pink hearts fabric was made into a dress about two years ago.

I really wish the label said the cat's pyjamas but it looks very cute.

Post finish tidy up

I will admit that usually I am very lazy when I finish a project an the remains of the project remain strewn around my work space. I don't know what came over me when I finished A Quilty Little Xmas, but I tidied up!

I started with my basket of Christmas fabrics and donated many of the scraps to a friend who loves improv. An overflowing basket and two bags of scraps were sorted to half a basket with a part jelly roll cut for a small throw. Perhaps this might become a retreat project. I just need to add a background to the bag. I have also added some Halloween fabrics to the basket and rehomed my low volume fabrics to its own basket.

I also got out all of my Glide threads that I own as well as the ones used in A Quilty Little Xmas and sorted them by colour. Even the bobbins I'd wound for the Easter event last year were tidied away with the correct colour spool. I just need to reorder the colour Linen as its running low.

I had planned to throw away scraps of iron on interfacing, but they came in very useful to glue large scraps of light interfacing together when I finished the bolt of interfacing but still had some blocks to stitch.

A good start to tidying my space, even if I'm the only person who would be able to spot an improvement.