Future plans

I have had the jungle abstractions quilt:the lion on my Wish List since the pattern was released. Whilst buying the mini pearl bracelets I required to finish the sewcial bee sampler, the kit for this fell into my basket. I have calculated that if I can make one block per day I should be finished by Christmas!

Sewcial bee sampler finish

I am very pleased to have finished all of the blocks, the last of which was released last week.

I was surprised how few purple fabrics there are in my stash. I will add purple fabrics to my Festival of Quilts shopping list which is in two weeks time.

I dithered about what to use for binding, but in the end went for a low volume by Carolyn Friedlander.

I went for a circular quilting design to pick up the mini pearl bracelets by Lizzy House which were used to frame each block. 

Once upon a time July 2017

Where did another month go? It seems like less than a month ago that I finished the June block. I only had a little of this block stitched when I picked it up again last week. I try to work on this UFO at the start of each month as it takes the longest to make any tangible progress.

However the July block is almost done apart from some blue water. However the August block has only a few stitches done which means it will take longer to complete. Eek.

Q3 Finish along

Well Q2 finishes from this list were sparce. However two projects went with me to the Simply Solids Retreat, so hopefully progress will be made. I have also added two projects to the Q3 list - Bjorn Bear and the Bee Sewcial Sew along which finishes in four weeks time.

1. Bjorn Bear mini quilt for Chez Soi Quilters Christmas Challenge, this is cut out and I should get it mostly finished at retreat.

2.  Jan Krentz project - this stalled because I didn't like one of the techniques used.

3. It's a small world 3 out of six panels are complete apart from some appliqué. This progressed a little in quarter 1 and I am working on panel 4.

4. Green tea and sweet beans just needs some extra borders. This has progressed to needing border on one and a half sides and I am cutting out pinwheel and flying geese units ready to finish the piecing at the Simply Solids retreat.

5. TQS BOM has a drawer to itself and needs a lot of work. If I complete the selected project before the end of the month, I will work on this project. There is a lot of work to be done and I have now finished up until month six. My brother has helped me tape together the big corner units, so I am hoping to work on this one in July. However I used an incorrect fabric and run out of it, so I need to formulate a plan first.

6. Xmas hexagons - this is going to become a bedside table mat for December now instead of a project bag.

7. Makers  tote - pattern purchased. Our modern quilt guild (JMQG) are doing a sewalong with this pattern in July.

8. The Thread House retreat quilt.

2017 UFO challenge update

So I am participating in the APQ UFO challenge and my list of 12 projects was as follows. I thought I would update the list as we are almost half way through the year.

1. Dear Jane - complete

2. Garden BOM - complete

3.  Jan Krentz project - no progress

4. 100 blocks - complete
5.  Thimbleblossoms "colourway" sew along - complete
6. It's a small world 2 was the January pick for the challenge and although progress was made it's still incomplete.

7. Green tea and sweet beans just needed some extra borders and I now have a plan. I am going to cut lots of flying geese units on my Accuquilt and take them to the retreat I'm going to in June.

8. Summer sampler blocks - complete

9. TQS BOM has a drawer to itself and needs a lot of work. If I complete the selected project before the end of the month, I will work on this project. I have worked on it in May and am making good progress. I have the first five months sewn together.

10. Xmas hexagons

11. Makers  tote - pattern purchased - I will work on this at JMQG in July.

12. One hour basket - complete

The UFO pile sounds as if it is going down but I must finish my Thread House retreat quilt which I will work on at the retreat at the end of the month.

Progress on Sewcial Bee Sampler

I thought I'd share a few of the blocks so far as we are now over halfway through the sew along. I am keeping up but will be away when this week's block is released and I need to source the mini pearl bracelets in peach and aubergine. Someone has promised me some of the aubergine at the Simply Solids retreat at the end of June and I will place an order thereafter as I don't want this project to languish and we only have eight blocks more to sew.

I have gone for a scrappy rainbow look which may not be obvious.

Using mini pearl bracelets to tie the blocks together.

Five of f the blocks have no frame so I have used mini pearl bracelets for the background of each block.

June cross stitching

June is here and it is time to get out my Once Upon a Time sampler by The Frosted Pumpkin. Unfortunately I haven't done much of this block so I need to focus to get it done. I do have new glasses for close in work so that might improve my focus!

This month's fairy tale is the Princess and the Pea.

Sedona Star

This UFO is from 2012 and faltered because I didn't like that one of the blocks was all appliqué when it could have been pieced. 

I took it out of the cupboard a couple of months ago and have worked on it a lot over the past two weeks, such that the first five months ( this was the TQS BOM for 2012) are now pieced together.

I am now working on the appliqué blocks for months six to eight, most of the appliqué is now cut as I treated myself to an Accuquilt die cutting machine.  However I got two of my fabrics mixed up and couldn't work out why I had run out of one fabric. I need to work out the solution carefully and slowly.

If I work steadily I can get this finished by the end of the year. But I am itching to work on something else now as I do prefer piecing.

My secret garden BOM finished

The blocks for this quilt have been finished for a few months. I had already sewn them into three strips of four but one strip was a different length, so I had to measure every block and all that was necessary was to add a thin strip of the background fabric to one strip.

I soon had it sashed with a low volume text print with my usual grey screen print as backing.

A turquoise dotty print by Moda was a perfect find in my stash for the binding. Looking forward to seeing what will be chosen as the June project to work on.

May 2017 socks

I may not have shared my April socks with you yet but my May socks have been started, finished and blocked. One of the reasons my April socks were delayed is that I lost my knitting bag along with three pairs of needles, a half started pair of socks and my sock ruler. It took me a few weeks to come to terms with having lost my bag. Silly I know!

I have knit plain vanilla socks with a fish lips kiss hill using a multicoloured yarn that I purchased at the Edinburgh Yarm festival in January 2016.

So faded sweater

I have admired the technique used by Andrea Mowry for her find your fade shawl but didn't like the finished product. For me the shawl was too big and I didn't like the shape. A sweater however has been on my to do list for some time. When I heard that Andrea had also designed a sweater using the same technique, I knew that I had to cast it on.

I searched in my stash to find some suitable yarn. The Long sleeved sweater variation uses five skeins of wool. All of them fingering weight.

After some dithering I've chosen my colours and  I cast on the sweater 10 days ago. I have made good progress given that this is my first knitted garment.

May 2017 UFO challenge

Having done no UFO work in April I had already chosen the garden BOM as my main project and fortunately it was chosen as the project for May for the APQ UFO challenge. I had previously tried to piece the top together but found that some of the strips were not lining up. Fortunately when I had a closer look there was only one block which was half an inch too small. I added a small piece of the border fabric to make the block larger.

Once I had focused on putting the top together it was finished in less than a day. Today I loaded it onto my long long arm and it was soon quilted. I also trimmed it down today ready to apply the binding tomorrow.

I have picked out a red fabric from my stash for the binding and need to check that I have sufficient to do at 2 inch double folded binding tomorrow.

Once upon a time – April update

I didn't make any progress on my frosted pumpkin once upon a time sampler in April. However I have worked on the April block this week and I'm pleased that it is now complete. I think this sampler was originally published in 2014 so I am only three years behind.

I am now going to focus on the May block. Fortunately as you can see about 50% of it is already complete. Fingers crossed I can get it finished this week and on to something else.

Tilda Circus bog hop

I was invited by Sew and So to join in a blog hop for the new release by Tilda called "The Circus Collection"

I was sent a lovely packet of five fat quarters to play with. I was particularly drawn to the elephants, so decided to fussy cut some squares to make a bag.

Then I sewed them together to make a large project bag paired with a denim Essex Dyed Linen. I based the design of the bag on the Lola Pouch by Sotak Handmade.

I bound the bag with the linen and added a ribbon on the outside and the inside for keys, stitch markers etc. This was made with Michelle in mind as she was our on site caterer for our recent Rainbow Retreat with the Jersey Modern Quilt Guild. I had asked Michelle what her favourite colours were to gather some fabrics for the one hour basket that we made on the first afternoon of the retreat, so I picked out the blues for this project.

Michelle was delighted with the thank you gift and it was immediately pressed into service. I have a similar bag for my knitting projects which has gone AWOL a project inside. I have confirmed I didn't leave it behind at the doctor's surgery but after that I'm stumped. I may have to make another for myself.

March 2017 socks

Spring is allegedly here, but I think these socks shout spring even though the yarn from Kate Selene is her August colourway and was perhaps inspired by watermelon.

I am still in love with these bunny sock blockers which are also very Spring like. I entered two pairs of socks into our local Eisteddfod and displaying them on sock blockers made them look so nice.

Q2 finish along 2017

I am quite pleased with the projects I finished in the first quarter, but it still seems there are a lot of projects to finish and I have added two sew alongside and a retreat project to my list. I must see when the Bee Sewcial Sampler finishes as it may fins have this quarter.

1. Garden BOM, The blocks for which are complete and I have to unpick my first unsuccessful attempt at the sashing. It has got as far as my design wall to potentially take to retreat.

2.  Jan Krentz project - this stalled because I didn't like one of the techniques used.

3. It's a small world 3 out of six panels are complete apart from some appliqué. This progresses a little last quarter and I am working on panel 4.

4. Green tea and sweet beans just needs some extra borders.

5. TQS BOM has a drawer to itself and needs a lot of work. If I complete the selected project before the end of the month, I will work on this project. There is a lot of work to be done and not even the first month is complete.

6. Xmas hexagons

7. Makers  tote - pattern purchased and I may make this at retreat in either January or March with the following fabrics. Our modern quilt guild (JMQG) are doing a sewalong with this pattern in July.

8. The Thread House retreat quilt.

Last quarter I listed thirteen projects and I now have eight to complete, which is good progress. I have finished my oldest UFO which was started in the year 2000. Here's to a productive second quarter. I can see at least three items which should be finished this quarter with several more that I can make a little more progress on.