Friday Night Sew in for March

I am very ready for this month's FNSI. Valentine's Day yesterday brought six 13 / 14 year old girls for a games afternoon and sleepover. Nick was wondering how healthy it is to have so many bodies in a small space? It's half term here so it's nice for them to get together for a decent amount if time without Mum's having to run them around more than oce in the day.

Plans for Friday Night Sew In depending on what I achieve today and tomorrow:
* Sew the remaining 18 inches of binding on my 2 from 1 quilt
* Solstice star series block 4 is released today
* Fat Quarter stars - block 11 of 12 released yesterday
* If there's time I'll do a little swooning

It's now 8.45 am, when do I let some light into the sleepover room as I think parents are collecting at 11. Is it too early still? LOL

Productive Thursday

I just finished clearing up after our Thursday sewing session, in time for the arrival of Matthew's maths tutor.

Two blocks finished today:
My second Swoon block
Solstice star series - star of mystery

The Swoon block is using two contrasting fabrics from Home Town by Sweetwater and the background is from the Ruby collection by Bonnie & Camille. The FQs I bought are marginally smaller than usual and the cutting of the fabric is tight at best. I made a mistake on one of the red rectangles so had to piece together two pieces to make the replacement rectangle, but fortunately the join isn't too noticeable.



Continuing the star blocks using Flurry by Kate Spain is the fourth star from the Solstice Star Series called star of mystery. Only one more star in the series but they will be added to some other stars to make a quilt.

Up to date with my stars

I am particpating in two star based quilt alongs, Solstice Star and Fat Quarter star along. I have combined the two and am making the stars from the same fabric. Thirteen made to date and both sets are now up to date. Hooray.

From the Solstice Stars we have:

Star 2 - Whirling star



Star 3 - the aptly named Another star




And the tenth star from Moose on the porch is Milo's Star.



Next on the list? Alice's quilt which is ready on my long arm machine, at least one Famer's Wife Sampler block and I guess I should break out my #1 UFO.

January finish

At the beginning of 2012 I decided to participate in the 2012 UFO Challenge over on the Patchwork Times blog, and I made my list of 12 unfinished projects that I'd like to bring to completion this year. Judy chooses a number each month, and that is the project that we work on.

January was project #5 which for me was my disappearing nine patch, a simple small quilt which I just had to sew the blocks together, quilt and bind. I used the baptist fan pantograph to quilt it and hand stitched the binding whilst waiting for Lizzie at her swimming club session on a Tuesday night. Over the weekend I found some extra blocks in my sewing machine case so I think they will have to be donated for charity quilts to Astra.

The UFO to work on for February was released today. Fingers crossed again for it not to be the Jan Krentz star quilt!! Oh heck, my luck's run out already. Project #1 has been chosen. Okay this will be a challenge as I can't remember all the tips we were given and I have this horrible feeling that I may have used some of the fabrics for other projects.

January UFO day success

Eleven ladies at Caesarea Quilters UFO day. The best attendance we've had for a long time. And the first time I've been in at least a year. I find I need to put it in my diary as a firm commitment if I intend going. Lots of chatter and lots of work.

My successes were:
1. Binding sewn on my Building Blocks quilt. Just need to sew it to the back which I plan to do at Astra's group tomorrow.



2. I couldn't find my instructions for my star block so finished my first Swoon block. Looks great, just eight more to go. I cut some more grey strips including the sashing to get complete strips.



3. I then found my star instructions so made it up to go with the Fat Quarter Stars. Block 10 of the Moose on the Porch quiltalong is up so I'll attempt that on Thursday along with a Farmer's Wife block which is long overdue.




Next job is to find my special foundation piecing paper and print off a star and a Farmer's Wife block for Thursday.

UFO Day

I'm heading to Caesarea Quilters UFO day today. The first I've been to in a long time, but it's in my diary and I'm going. I plan to stitch the binding (already cut) on my Building Blocks quilt (already trimmed) which I quilted yesterday. This should in theory be a quick job. I also have to deliver Liz' Thrifty quilt which has one and a half rows still to do. I will do this once the rest of the family should be awake. Not "are awake" but "should be"!! They may think differently.

Once my binding is stitched on I will work on my first Swoon block made from Sweetwater's Hometown range.

I have just come across this sew along and I'm thinking that these stars would go nicely with the Fat Quarter Stars I'm making from the Flurry range by Kate Spain. What do you think?

Friday Night Sew In January 2012

I worked on two things last night:
I sewed in the ends I could find on my cream and blue stars. This now needs to be taken to the laundrette to get the markings out
I finished quilting a baptist fan pattern on my disappearing nine patch sample on the long arm then applied a black and white binding. I have sewn one side of the binding and will finish the rest after a Chinese takeaway.

Stars Quilt along block 9

A nice relatively simple but striking block. the original had background fabric in the centre of the stars which I have changed to a third feature fabric which contains both the red and green of the star points.



And here are the nine blocks so far. I have just about run out of the splattered red on white fabric so have changed over to white on white.

Stars Quilt along block 8

Keeping up with the blocks. This one looks more complicated than it actually is. I've also quilted the blue and cream stars quilt so it now needs trimming and binding. Photos to follow next week.

In other news all of the fabric for my TQS BOM arrived yesterday and today. My Carol Doak foundation paper also arrived from Amazon. I must resist starting this as I need to get my samples ready

Crafty girls

Matthew is at an all day Lord of the Rings watching marathon with David so after I dropped him off I headed to Waitrose to buy some cup cake supplies for Lizzie. She made two batches of cupcakes and iced the neapolitan 99 version.




I finished unpicking my blue and cream stars and it's now on the long arm. I misjudged the size of the digital pantograph which is only 5 inches deep and it overlaps by 2 inches so will take ages to quilt but will look lovely when finished. Inspired by Rachel of the Beaulieu Crafty Mums, I melted down some candle ends and wax to make some new candles. Love the strawberry jam pot I picked up from the charity shop, I have a matching orange too.

2012 Finish along

I've been waiting impatiently to see what the first project is to work on for the Quilting Times and hoping it's not Number 1. It was revealed this afternoon and so the first project of my Finish along for this quarter is:

1. disappearing nine patch for CQ workshop




2. Cream and blue stars - already started to be unpicked and should be ready to start quilting again this weekend




3. 1930s table runner - half quilted




4. Tilda doll - Just in case I finish the others. No photo yet as I just can't find it. Perhaps I need to do some more tidying and it will surface. Found it whilst looking for candle wax!!




5. 2 from 1 - just needs brown border and quilting on the long arm

It's Thursday

And I'm officially up to date on the Moose on the Porch fat quarter stars quilt along. The next block is published on 3 January 2012. In between each block I also pieced the binding for one of my UFOs which I wound on the jumbo spool I bought at the Festival of Quilts. This UFO just needs a border for the top to be finished. Hopefully that number will be chosen as the first UFO to work on.





Today I start my craft room tidy up ready for the New Year. Or should I say tidier, as it'll take more than a few days to get it tidy. Job number 1 is put the 12 UFOs on the top shelf of my cupboard, numbered and ready for the UFO challenge.

Free day

I thought today was Thursday with a committee meeting and funeral, but it's Wednesday, so I've had an extra half day to sew. I have done two of the star blocks from Moose on the Porch and have two more I think to be caught up. As the UFO challenge doesn't start until Sunday, I thought I had a free pass to work on projects which are more WIP than UFO.





I need some more white thread to finish another project so will head out later to search for some and do recycle the mass of cardboard that has built up over the last week.

2012 twelve UFO challenges

1. Jan Krentz difficult quilt - Summer salsa lone star. This is going to be a challenge to remember all the tips Jan gave us and I have a horrible feeling I might have used up some of the fabrics I used.



2. blue and cream stars. Quilting needs unpicking as there was a pleat in the backing and put it on the long arm - in the depths of my cupboard so no photo.

3. rainbow squares - in process of quilting being unpicked



4. 2 from 1 awaiting border fabric


5. Disappearing nine patch




6. TB BOM - almost finished quilting when my machine developed problems




7. Modern V meets Thimbleberries scraps - quilting needs to be finished



8. Christmas table runner - stitcheries done just need to put it together


9. Love laugh live stitchery



10. accuquilt feathered applique - should look like this




11. Disappearing nine patch runner - half way through being quilted



12. TQS BOM - piecing finished. Needs to be pressed and wadding purchased. I have the backing somewhere. I want to do some custom quilting on my long arm for this one, so it may take a back seat for a few months.

2012 UFO challenge

I found the full details of the challenge. I knew it would turn up on Quilter blogs eventually. And here it is just in case I lose it or someone else wants to join in. http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012-ufo-challenge/ Now I need to pick twelve UFOs to work on out of my 17. Some are more WIPS than UFOs like the star quilt along and the Farmer's Wife sampler. I'll post my list tomorrow with photos.

Two more to add

16. Disappearing nine patch runner I pieced yesterday
17. Dear Jane Xmas
Edited to add:
18. Tilda doll

It's worse than I thought and I've just seen the TQS BOM for 2012 which uses the Accuquilt machine. I have promised myself I'll finish five projects before starting another. I think I need to choose the five fastest finishes.

UFOs and WIPs to finish in 2012

I need to find the challenge that inspired this post as they choose a number between 1 and 12 and you work on that project during the month. I start each year with good intentions to finish my UFOs but 2011 was definitely a fail in that for the most part the same quilts are on the list unfinished and the list has grown longer. And all of this despite buying my long arm machine. In no particular order and I reserve the right to add to the list:

1. Jan Krentz difficult quilt - Summer salsa lone star. This is going to be a challenge to remember all the tips Jan gave us and I have a horrible feeling I might have used up some of the fabrics I used.
2. blue and cream stars. Quilting needs unpicking as there was a pleat in the backing and put it on the long arm
3. rainbow squares - in process of quilting being unpicked
4. 2 from 1 - started yesterday
5. Disappearing nine patch
6. TB BOM - almost finished quilting when my machine developed problems
7. Modern V meets Thimbleberries scraps
8. Vignette
9. Elephantz
10. Flurry sew a long star blocks from Moose on the Porch Waiting for some more Flurry fabric in my Christmas stocking.
11. FWQS
12. I'll add my cowl in here as progress has slowed
13. Just remembered - love laugh live stitchery
14. Oh and the hugs cushion
15. accuquilt sample for class next month which I need to start today.

I will add some photos in the next 15 days so that I can remember what the projects are!! And no doubt find a few more to add to the list. A photo for the first project by Jan Krentz is pictured above.

16. In anticipation of not getting to it this week Stitchery Christmas table runner.

A good FNSI

I finished Sarah's quilt yesterday and it was getting dark when I was ready to take a photo.




That freed me up to tackle another item from my to do list for my FNSI so I decided to choose a quick make. I had cut several of the pieces out for Lizzie's present so it didn't take long to put this together. I just need to slip stitch the edge closed and buy some velcro for the fastening. The instructions for this can be found at Fresh Lemons Quilt



Unfortunately whilst browsing the internet I've found a couple of other items I want to make:

Circle ear bud pouches from




Christmas present blocks from united notions for a guild Christmas activity for next year.





So my to do list now looks like this with Monday's deadline for two items looming large:
1.
2.
3. Machine applique sample for January workshop to show at CQ;
4. Disappearing nine patch sample for January workshop to show at CQ;
5.
6.
7.
8. Table runner - blocks completed and now need to be set together and quilted; and
9. Tree skirt - pattern and backing fabric purchased yesterday

I have decided for the samples for CQ, I'm going to do an applique border for the disappearing nine patch sample and combine two samples into one.

Yesterday was a good day

Having shared my list of nine items to sew in the next week, I completed threee yesterday. Then at about 2 o'clock my long arm started playing up which is a shame as I was on target to finish Sarah's quilt too.

So I finished Liz's quilt which looks beautiful. See it here. I was looking for a project to teach for Sirens WI on 3 March so I have now chosen this quilt pattern. Contact me for further details if you'd like to attend.

Fiona's Christmas present is now bound. I finished this whilst waiting for Lizzie to do her hour of swimming.



I also did a Heart of Friendship which is meant to be peach on cream, mine's more pale orange on beige but I'm sure there will be many variations on the theme. I used my new Sizzix dies which only arrived the day before - very timely.



I also finished my Christmas cards which will be posted today. So my list now looks like this. The remaining items will take a little longer to finish. Sarah's quilt definitely has priority.

1. Sarah's quilt to be machine quilted;
2.
3. Machine applique sample for January workshop to show at CQ;
4. Disappearing nine patch sample for January workshop to show at CQ;
5.
6.
7. gift for Lizzie which is planned but that's about it;
8. Table runner - blocks completed and now need to be set together and quilted; and
9. Tree skirt - pattern and backing fabric purchased yesterday

Two FNSIs in December

What a nice gift, two Friday Night Sew Ins for December. I couldn't participate last Friday as we were in Nottingham visiting Welbeck DSFC, but apart from being Matthew's taxi, I'm free this Friday.

I have started a list of what needs to be accomplished for Monday first (our quilt guild Christmas party) and then for Christmas. I'm having an at home day today so after writing my Christmas cards, I'll make a start on the list:

1. Sarah's quilt to be machine quilted;
2. Liz's quilt to be machine quilted;
3. Machine applique sample for January workshop to show at CQ;
4. Disappearing nine patch sample for January workshop to show at CQ;
5. heart block (number 1 priority)
6. Gift for Fiona which is half bound
7. gift for Lizzie which is planned but that's about it;
8. Table runner - blocks completed and now need to be set together and quilted; and
9. Tree skirt - pattern and backing fabric purchased yesterday

Hopefully I can do at least items 2 and 5 today. If not I'm in trouble and should start panicing now.