Q2 2019 Finish along

My oldest UFO has been finished so my oldest is now from 2012 rather than 2010, progress is being made!!

1. TQS BOM Sedona Star from Jan 2012. Not yet pieced together but progress was made in 2018.

2. Tula Pink butterfly from October 2017. I need to move a few blocks and then quilt it.

3. My small world from 2016 which is pieced and partly quilted. This is the April project to finish for the APQS UFO challenge

4. Five impossible things

5. La Fin du Monde which I started as a quiltalong late 2018, but the background fabric got lost in the post, so progress stopped.

6. Tate Modern quilt which I need to start drafting again. I had made some templates but some were wrong and I might be able to use  circle ruler instead.

7. Miscellaneous Elizabeth Hartman blocks - three mini quilts finished so far from the stack of blocks.

8. Geeta Gamma globe

9. HST BOM  - I want to keep up with the blocks each month and finish it in December

10. Tula Pink Hex on the beach

11. Oops I forgot the improv quilt from Poppyprint's class for London MQG.

12. Trinket sewalong - this will definitely be finished in Q2.

 

13. Hoffman Dream Big Panel - I need to load this and practise my free motion quilting.

I have more projects planned on the go than I thought. However I now have no unfinished cross stitch projects, but I seem to have replaced them with knitting WIPs which I will list once this list reduces to under 10.

Improv Dresden plate finished

Once I had taken this UFO out of my cupboard, I realised that there wasn't that much to do, which is fortunate as I can't remember how we made the Dresden plate blades. I drew up an oval in CorelDraw and printed it out onto light card to use to applique a centre in black and repeated that with a second oval in the butterfly fabric which picks up the colours of the blades.

I did simple quilting in white extending the lines of the blades to the edge and a simple swirl in the centre oval. Then I machined a 2.5" folded binding to the front of the quilt. I think another time 2.25" would suffice. I chose this size as the quit is destined for Romania and will be well used, so I felt a machine stitched binding would be better. I then pressed the binding outwards from the centre and got out my Elmers school glue.

This glue is now widely available in the UK from WH Smiths as it's used to make slime. My 20 year old daughter couldn't believe how excited I could get over glue. It was an unexpected find in our town centre. I apply the glue along the stitching line of the binding on the back of my mini quilt and then press the binding to the back of the quilt and the heat of the iron sets the glue and holds it firmly for the next part.

 You may have noticed that I haven't matched the stripes on the binding. All I had of this stripe was one fat quarter, so matching was not an option, and as it's a busy design, I don't' think the mismatch is too distracting.

I swapped to the number 10 foot on my Bernina as it has a central guide. The only difference to how I've seen others machine the binding is that I turn and take four stitches into the mitred corner to hold it down.

I should have fussy cut the centre of the oval better and made a narrower binding, however it's a pleasing finish which will be given to a Romanian family through a local aid charity.

Quilters Planner BOM 2019 finished

I did propose that I would finish this before the Trinket sewalong started and that starts tomorrow, so I call that a result. Though I have half finished my blocks for the sewalong. Just don't tell anyone.

It is a very windy day here today so this is not the best of photographs but I wanted to share this project with you whilst we are in Iceland. The blocks are to be completed every month, sometimes one block, but mostly two a month.

I spent a couple of days making the blocks and focussing on only this project and I am amazed that it came together so quickly. I usually underestimate the amount of background that I need and have to reorder but I have a whole bolt of this white Kona, so that helped.

The layout of the blocks is designed to look like a snowflake so I chose a snowflake design with swirls and a white thread.

I chose a red and white stripe from Riley Blake for the binding which looks great. The backing was what I had to hand and picks out the navy in some of the locks. A bit random but you generally only see one side of the quilt at a time. And I'm sticking to that rationale.

March APQS UFO chosen

With a week spent volunteering for a local craft Eisteddfod and a four night trip away, I was pleased that an easy project was my number 8. I have finished the January number 3 which was The Lion but still need to quilt my February number 6, which was five impossible things.

I should get this project finished before we go away as it is further along than I'd realised. It was the sample I made at Jo Avery's Improv Dresden plate class at Festival of Quilts in 2017. 

I also have our local Guild's retreat to look forward to at the end of March and I plan to work on my La Fin du Monde quilt by Libs Elliott and my Trinket SAL as that weekend is a sew day according to the Trinket schedule. There are at least four or five of us out of 16 at the retreat who have joined the sewalong. Exciting.

March BOM progress

I have focussed on both the quilter's Planner Block of the Month which I now quilted and the blocks for March that have come in over the last few days.

1. 2019 Perfect HST BOM Block-of-the-Month program with Freshly Pieced

This is released on the first Monday of each month and I have completed the March block which arrived today. They are looking good and each month you make extra units for following months.

2. Threadology with Fat Quarter Shop

I have decided to use plain white for the background which I have in stash along with Ombre Confetti by V & Co (also in stash).

I have finished the three blocks to date but didn't make the 12" version of Friday's block as I'm not going to piece the backing.

3. Quiet Play Pattern Club

I have only completed one block of the six received so far so I need to focus on this for the remainder of the month. I did decide on onyx grunge for the background so small progress has been made.

4. The Quilter's Planner BOM

I have finished piecing and quilting this BOM and purchased a red striped binding today. I plan to trim the quilt tomorrow and cut and piece the binding ready to apply to the quilt tomorrow night.

5. Trinket SAL

I have enjoyed making some of the forty blocks this week. I am making two of each and plan to make a square quilt. I have made good progress and plan to put this on hold as the sew along doesn't start until next Monday, when we are going to Iceland for four nights.

I have already sewn the first five blocks and photographed them ready to post on Instagram during our holiday.

The Lion

OMG I can’t quite believe that this project started in 2016 is complete. The pattern is The Lion by Violetcraft and I purchased a kit from Hawthorne Threads. I started quilting this last year but a crisis of confidence meant that I took it off the machine and unpicked the lot. I browsed the internet for inspiration and Trudi Wood’s version which I had seen at Festival of quilts was closer to what I had in mind than the matchstick quilting used by many. I printed an A4 picture of the quilt and started drawing lines. I started my quilting journey by quilting the grey background with swirls and pebbles. For some reason I had thought that starting at the bottom was a good idea so after finishing the background quilting, I turned the quilt 180 degrees. I changed the thread to a variegated peach thread and started to quilt.

Would the back of the quit have excess fabric in areas due to turning the quilt? Spoiler alert – the back was perfect. Once I started on the face, it moved quicker than I had hoped possible. I wanted it finished to enter into the Jersey Eisteddfod and the hand in date for physical entries is 2 March, no pressure.

Having taken the quilt off the frame, I cleared the kitchen island and trimmed the quilt ready for binding. I had just enough of the grey to cut seven 2” strips and only needed six. I was so engrossed in trimming and machining the binding to the font of the quilt that I forgot to eat breakfast!! I started stitching the binding down by hand on Wednesday afternoon and slowly got two and a half sides done. Thursday I woke early, so came downstairs to sew the rest of the binding and the sleeve down. 

I am thrilled with how it has come out and have more confidence in my ability to free machine quilt on my long arm, though a lot more practice is need and I finished two days ahead of my deadline. Time to sew on labels to all of my entries.

Rabbit holes

I have fallen down the sewalong rabbit hole again. all of these patterns on Instagram are so appealing. apparently over 800 people are participating in the sewalong which starts in two weeks time.

I decided to use some of my stash of Alison Glass fabrics but of course, some colours, especially red and mauve I don't have in much variety so I ordered the latest AG fabric from Sew Hot. I also needed some fabric for the alternating blocks and when my LQS - Crafty Quilters poste that they have Basic Grey grunge in stock in onyx, I hot footed it around there. Fortunately the invoice hadn't come with the delivery so Jenny will let me know how much I owe, as I had left my phone and purse at home with no means to pay. Jenny know where I live!

I decided to get myself organised in advance of the sewalong starting on 10 March, the day we leave for four nights in Iceland. I had printed the patterns onto carol Doak foundation paper, but need to order some more along with a photo of the whole quilt and the sewalong timetable.

I slipped everything into this book of plastic sleeves and labelled one sleeve for each week to try and keep organised. even the timetable is cute.

I have sine moved the foundation patterns to the sleeve for each week and have started sewing as we will be away for the whole of the first week. And later in the sewalong we have a few days in France at the Pour L'Amour du Fils quilt show. Fortunately free wifi means we can post wherever we are in the world. And the deadline for the finished quilt top is before a two week trip.

In my defence I have also finished the Quilter's Planner BOM quilt top. I need to finish quilting my Violet Craft lion and then I can quilt that BOM along with two customer quilts. I also have suitable binding in my stash to finish the QP BOM. I plan to have it finished by the end of the month to reduce my UFOs for the Q2 Finish along.

February BOM progress

I need to keep focussed on these BOMs so they don't overwhelm me.

1. 2019 Perfect HST BOM Block-of-the-Month program with Freshly Pieced

This is released on the first Monday of each month and I have completed the January and February blocks. I am pleased with how they are looking.

2. Threadology with Fat Quarter Shop

I have decided to use plain white for the background which I have in stash along with Ombre Confetti by V & Co (also in stash).

I have labelled the leftover strips to hopefully make it quicker to retrieve the correct sized strip for the following blocks.

 

3. Quiet Play Pattern Club

The lavender has arrived to turn this block into a lavender bag by Tuesday for my daughter but I have failed to find a background that I am happy with, so this has stalled.

4. The Quilter's Planner BOM

I had made the blocks for January and February but my iron spat on both blocks so I needed to start again. However the patterns come with the planner so I have got ahead and completed all of the blocks. I should be able to put this together in the coming weeks.

Greenhouse table runner

I should be working on items for our local Eisteddfod that need to be handed in on 2 March, and this is the easiest of the projects. This is more of my Elizabeth Hartman blocks, this time from the Greenhouse pattern. I thought I might work on it at the Jersey Modern Quilt Guild sewing day tomorrow, but once the blocks were out and the setting strips cut, it was a quick finish.

First job was to sew the blocks together.  I then quilted it on my Bernina just outlining the blocks and then stippling in the background.

Then trimmed up and a striped binding applied to pull the colours together. I had this done for Wednesday so that I could stitch down the binding at my morning group.

I think it has turned out well. I have since  been working on my Quilter's Planner blocks as we have all of the pattern and if finished that would reduce my sewalongs to three.