Monday make - Prairie Schooler Santa 1985

It's amazing what I can achieve when I actually focus. Having become overwhelmed by my cross stitch projects, I decided to focus on finishing one Santa. I spent a few hours on it yesterday and the stitching is now complete. One project off my WIP list. Hooray.

My next WIP to work on is this Santa which only needs the white accents stitching and I managed to do some of those yesterday too.

 

Sunday stash - following up missing parcels

 

My 2021 Quilter's Planner arrived from Karen Lewis Textiles. I had to go for the rainbow cover. There are lots of options for the inside and I have chosen a Monday start with columns. I have even christened my diary with the proposed date for our next Jersey retreat. I guess it will be locals only again. 

How do you track what you've ordered and what's been delivered? I've just had to chase an Amazon order which is a week overdue which contains elastic to make some of the Japanese 3D masks. When order confirmations arrive I move the email to an orders in progress folder and once in a blue moon I go through and delete the old messages. I also write what I am expecting on the last page of the month in my planner so I can cross out the items as they arrive or move them onto the next month. On the same page I also list anything that's missing. If it hasn't come to light by the end of the month, then I do a big search, fortunately most things turn up before that's necessary!!

My pre-order of Tula Pink's linework also arrived this week. I would like to add a striped border to my tattoo quilt (pattern by Berene Campbell) as Tula did. I have one stripe that I haven't yet managed to find in the UK from Tabby Road.

Friday Finish / Freebie - Stitchonomy Halloween SAL

You will have to trust me when I say that I had this finished by 31 October.  It was wasn't finished for Halloween 2020, but I now have time to finish it for 2021.

I wasn't sure about the pattern being released every evening but it made for a pleasant evening stitch one I got into a routine and added it to my Todoist app to stitch every day.  there were a number of blocks that referred to film's that I don't know, so I used substitute blocks from the helpful Stitchonomy Facebook group.

 

The group is now gearing up for a Winter SAL, so sign up for the daily emails at Stitchonomy or join Alyssa's Patreon page for early access to the winter SAL. I now need to finish up the Barbara Ana Spellville for next Halloween.

WIP Wednesday - Chinese Zodiac

 

This pattern has been released every month and November will be the eighth and last pattern comprising the top left fan and decorations. Today I have finished month 2, making three months that I have finished so far.

month 1    central medallion and three animals (top right)

month 2     fan and decorations (top right)

month 7     animals (top left)

To finish month 3 I just have the rabbit to finish and for month 4, a little work and backstitch on the fan and most of the decorations in the background. I could at a push finish month 5, the animals in the bottom right which are mostly complete other than their facial features and a few details. I won't be up to date by the release of the last portion, but I am slowly catching up.

Pattern : Chinese Zodiac by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Retreat review - Jersey Modern Quilt Group

We have been so lucky to have been able to hold a retreat in January with UK friends and in November with just local members, all socially distanced. As we live on an island, all incoming travelers have either had to take a Covid test on arrival or self isolate for 14 day. For three months there were only a few flights per week for patients getting treatment in the UK, repatriation of students and essential business travel.

Our group have met in my garden during the summer for Quilts in the Garden and it has been popular with different members attending each month. October was the first month we were able to meet inside. Very few venues are available to rent so we have spent the extra £ so that we can meet.

I started this foundation pieced puffin at our January retreat as a gift for our resident chef, Michelle, without whom we can't operate. I was able to present this as a thank you to Michele at the end of our retreat yesterday.

We had all arrived on site by 5pm on Friday so we started proceedings with the Petit Four basket as a make and take. We had a good number finished by dinner time which was a delicious vegetarian lasagna with garlic bread and pear frangipane tart for dessert. One of our attendees couldn't unlock the steering lock on her car so my hubby came out on his way to an air cadets meeting, enticed by the promise of dinner. Unfortunately the car couldn't be fixed so a breakdown truck came on Saturday to move it.

Bingo followed dinner and I won a sample pack of Aurifil threads. Kim doesn't make choosing your prize easy as they are all wrapped. 

On Saturday and Sunday we were free to work on our projects. I had chosen two to work on. The first was my Alaska rainbow quilt by Laundry Basket Quilts and I had most of the pieces cut and sorted by block with two block sets laid out on design boards. 

There are a couple of mistakes in the pattern but I found it difficult to differentiate the cream and grey fabrics in the block diagrams which necessitated repeated reading of the written instructions Unfortunately the instructions for the four units makin up the block are written as one paragraph not four so it took me longer than I had expected to finish the remaining blocks.

Dinner was sausage casserole with raspberry cheesecake brownies for dessert.

I woke early on Sunday morning so I got up at 6 and Kim joined me a few minutes later and I pieced the final set of blocks before breakfast. The classroom is at the opposite end of the building to the sleeping quarters so we didn't disturb anyone.

I packed away my Alaska Rainbow blocks and started on the Grace block for the tattoo quilt. I made good progress but didn't manage to finish any units worthy of a photograph. Lunch was quiche lorraine and salad followed by more cheesecake brownie.

At 2pm we held the raffle and I won a bag of scraps. Very pleased with that. On the Friday we all received a fabric bundle from Hantex who wholesale Art Gallery fabrics and other brands. One of the raffle prizes was a pack of Foundation Paper from Patterntrace which was eagerly chosen by Jane.

One of the attendees who, like me, is higher risk, told me she had felt safe all weekend, which was high praise. Lockdown may not be far away again but we were able to enjoy a lovely socially distanced weekend. Some of the measures put in place we will continue, such as preordering our food but we hope to be able to eliminate the extra cleaning and socially distancing in the future.

Friday finish - Techno Garden

 I was delighted to finish this baby quilt there is no intended recipient but it's always good to have one in reserve. I am trying to stop myself from making big quilts so this was a perfect size.

This was a Facebook based class with Karlee Porter called Techno Garden which she is running again in January. I used strips of Alison Glass fabrics in a limited palette of pink, orange, turquoise and white. One Tula Pink fabric may have slipped in by mistake. The binding is also Alison Glass in a deeper turquoise and machine applied as baby quilts are designed to be used and washed. The quilting design is ribbon candy with pearls which I am ashamed to say I have no recollection of purchasing but it stitches out beautifully.

This has been ready to quilt for a number of weeks, but I put it aside to finish my October UFO, but this went straight on my long arm once the Dream Big Panel was finished. Now I must finish packing for our retreat. I can't wait.

 

Three times I thought I'd finished this block and three times, I realised I'd made a mistake. Last weekend's aim was to correct this Wisdom block and sash the Wisdom block and Fury.  I think I have wisely chosen to not trim the blocks at this stage and will leave them until all of the blocks are finished.

Moxie is the November block and I have taken the plunge and redrafted the banner as VOTE which I think is very relevant at this time. I have always voted following the example of my parents and my children now vote in the UK elections but only my daughter voted locally.

November UFO update

I have edited my UFO list to remove any projects that I have added to my 2021 Guild UFO challenge. I have finished two projects in the last two days and still have the Halloween SAL cross stitch and the Dream Big panel to share with you. I am looking forward to the restart of the Finishalong challenge on Instagram in 2021. I need somethin to look forward to!! So I have two months in which to finish these projects.

1. TQS BOM 2012 - all of the papers have been taken out and it's ready for quilting. what to put in the big plain sections is my main dilemma. Much of the quilt has a lot of detail so in those sections the quilting will be kept simple.

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

3. 1985 Prairie Schooler annual Santa

4. The light by Barbara Ana designs

5. 1996 Prairie Schooler Santa

6. Spellville by Barbara Ana

7. Chinese Zodiac  by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

8. Techno Garden by Karlee Porter

9. Alaska Rainbow - pattern by Landry Basket Quilts. eight sections complete and five more to sew, two of which are already arranged on design boards so I can get them done at our retreat. One section which is the middle of the quilt only has one block to be sewn instead of the four needed of all the other blocks.

 

Wow, 9 WIPs that's more than I was expecting, however the Techno Garden quilt should be quick to finish.

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.