Up for the challenge?

If like me, your New Year resolutions are looking a bit shaky already, how about taking up a short, sharp challenge to get that motivation going? Last year, Jen, issued her 100 Day Challenge where we were invited to set three goals to be completed in 100 days. I managed to meet one of the three goals that I set for myself and actually finished the other two projects not long after the challenge ended, so when I read that Jen was going to run the challenge again this year, I was definitely ready to be counted in :)

I have so many WIP's and hoped for new projects in my sewing room that it has been difficult to decide which to focus on for the challenge. However, I have decided to narrow it down to these three in the hope that finishing them will  also motivate me to finish some of the other projects waiting to be dusted down and worked on.

•  I really want to use this challenge to try and get to grips with this fearsome beast! I have lots of lovely knit fabric, some great Brindille and Twig patterns and a handsome little fellow who is growing out of his clothes at a rate of knots, so there is plenty of motivation to get started. By the end of the 100 days I would like to have made at least one full set of clothes for the little fellow. 

• A few months ago I volunteered to make a small Boutis piece for my EG group. I bought the book, then found the recommended Batiste fabric on our last trip to France but I struggled to find the cotton stuffing either locally or online. On a recent, unsuccessful, shopping trip to source bedroom furniture I came across a nearby wool shop selling cotton yarn that looks like it might fit the bill. So, armed with the supplies I no longer have an excuse for putting off trying this any longer :)

• These blocks, and some added since this photo was taken, are from the Craftsy BOM of 2012! I need to add sashing, which I have the fabric for, and then work out how to quilt it. I doubt very much if I will get the quilting completed for the challenge, I am an arch procrastinator when it comes to basting quilts, but I would like it, at least, to become a completed quilt top!

So, these are my challenges to myself for the 100 Day Challenge. wish me luck :)

If you think that 100 days to challenge yourself sounds like a great idea, check out Jen's post here and find out how easy it is to join in the fun. 

2014 FAL - Q1 Starting out again!

It is the start of a new FAL so time for optimism and wishful thinking :)



This year's FAL is being hosted by the multi-talented Katy otherwise known as The Littlest Thistle. Check out her post if you want to join in the fun.

Having only managed to finish 2 out of the 6 finishes I was hoping for in the last quarter of 2013, there are plenty of UFO's hanging around my sewing room patiently waiting for their turn on the sewing table. One of the 2 finishes I did achieve was a long-standing BOM so in an effort to continue that momentum I am putting the remaining 2 outstanding BOM's in my cupboard top of my list for finishing this quarter.

First up,the wallhanging I have been paper-piecing monthly with Quiet Play's BOM



I had the last block of 9 left to paper piece (the photo below only shows 7 blocks as I haven't taken any photos of them altogether since I made the 8th block), but have decided that an 8 block wallhanging will fit better in the space available. So instead of paper-piecing the last block all that I need to do is add the sashing, baste and quilt it. Doesn't sound too difficult does it?

Second, another carry forward from last years FAL, the Craftsy BOM quilt top.

All the blocks are made (and have been made for months), the sashing fabric is purchased and waiting to be cut up so I just need to knuckle down and do it! It would be great to have this finished in time for my son and daughter-in-laws house move in the Spring, especially as it was also meant to be a Christmas present!

The third project I would like to finish this quarter is the cushion I planned from the New Zealand Falcon pattern by the very talented Tartankiwi.  Our local rugby team are known as the Falcons, and the males in this family are mad-keen rugby fans so it would be a fitting addition to our current collection of cushions.Would be nice to have it finished before the end of the rugby season too :)

The fourth project I really would like to finish this quarter is the Bargello quilt that I started in a class last August.

Again, all this needs is borders, basting and binding! Can you tell these are my least favourite parts of making a quilt??

The next set of projects have all been in my head for ages but I have never actually written them down anywhere, so I am hoping that by blogging about them I might actually get around to making them. So my fifth project for this quarter is another cushion, this time with some Celtic Knotwork applique. I know exactly what I want to do with this so I just need to knuckle down, draft up a pattern and sew it!

I am going for broke here with a sixth, seventh and eighth project :)

The sixth is another cushion, this time with Linen that I brought back from Latvia and some lovely Liberty fabric that I have been too nervous to cut into!

Again I know exactly what I want to do with this, I just need to sit down and do it!


More Liberty fabric and some vintage linen in the seventh project for a secret project that I am really excited about, that will, hopefully, be revealed later in the year.

And finally (thank goodness I hear you cry!) a Christmas project (!!!) using these cute fabrics. The reason for this project will be revealed rather sooner than the one above in the next couple of days, but let's just say now that I am planning to be the most organised I have ever been for Christmas this year :)

I think that is more than enough to be going on with, don't you?

One of my resolutions for 2014 is to use up my stash, and completing all of these projects will certainly help me to do that.

Well, that's the plan wish me luck :)

Squaring the circle

Having managed to dispatch hubby off to the Golf Course yesterday I found some time to sit down and finally get that Circle of Geese block finished, and here it is.

Thanks to Katy's FPPFTT course last year, I had already had a go at this block, so knew what to expect and apart from the usual attempt to squeeze a section out of a just too-small fabric scrap, it all went together swimmingly.

So I now have all 20 blocks completed and here they are together for the first time.

 

Forgive the un-ironed state of a few of them, they have been stuffed in a bag for ages waiting for the final blocks to materialise :)

The instructions for the Craftsy BOM use the same fabric as the background in the blocks for the sashing, but I am not sure about that. I am leaning towards a dark navy for the sashing but can't make up my mind, all suggestions welcome! 

I need to make my mind up soon if I want to take advantage of the upcoming sale in my LQS.

Although this isn't a finished quilt top or even quilt, it certainly feels like a finish to me so I am linking up to  Crazy Mom Quilts

 

Nearly there

Last year, like many others, I signed up for the free Craftsy Block of the Month class and happily plodded away making blocks like this

that grew into this

and then became a pile like this

but then things ground to a halt!

The last two blocks for this BOM have been on my WIP list for ages and although I can't tick this off completely just yet, I am pleased to say that I am nearly there.

The final two blocks were paper-pieced blocks and, as you know I have been on something of a paper-piecing roll recently, it was definitely the time to get these blocks back out and finally sort them out.

So, I give you the Friendship Circle block

It needs a bit more ironing into submission with all of those seams in the centre, and I have to admit to taking two attempts to get the centre seams lining up, but it is finished!

So why only nearly there? Well the final, final block of this BOM is, as you can see, not quite there yet :)

One half of the Circle of Geese block to go! If only the husband and son weren't so insistent on eating this block would have been finished by now, and that was with them doing the cooking too! So, hopefully, with no other distractions this might be a finished block soon and then I have to start thinking about the sashing :)

I discovered yesterday that my LQS, Cotton Tree, is holding a 20% of all fabric sale starting this Saturday, so that is where I will be heading for my sashing and backing fabric, because as you know I do love a bargain.

Then with a bit more of this weather

although please not on the Monday of the Test Match when I am looking forward to a whole day to myself as husband and son watch the cricket :), I might even get this quilt top sewn.

So, here's how the WIP list is looking now

• In Color Order HST BOM - quilting started!
• Sunday Morning Quilt Bee blocks received, 2 more to be added by me
• Sunday Morning Quilt2 Bee 13 sets of blocks received, 3 more to come
• Sunday Morning Quilt2 Bee blocks sent (on schedule)
• Star of Africa Bee blocks completed and sent (3 months behind schedule)
• Scrappy Trip Around the World Bee Q2 - signed up
•  And Sew On BOM - seven blocks completed (On Schedule!)
• Paris Cushion - fabric received
• (Almost) Irish Chain quilt basted  
• 5 blocks of NY Beauty QAL completed and fabric cut for remaining 5 blocks 
• 19.5 blocks of Craftsy BOM completed (only a half block to go!)

Look forward to catching up on your progress too.

If you are looking for details of the Holiday Memories Mini Quilt Competition you will find them here or by clicking on the link at the top of the page.


Linking up to WOW

Another list of hopeful finishes!

Doesn't time fly when you have a list of things that you want to finish! Having only managed one finish from my lovely hopeful lists of projects in the last 2 Quarters, I am continuing with the optimism for Q3 of the FAL at She Can Quilt.

 

Yet again top of my list to finish this Quarter is the HST BOM quilt I started at the beginning of last year!

The quilt top was backed, basted and bound at the beginning of the last Quarter and I even started the quilting, but then came to a dead halt. I really would like to get this finished so that I can tackle new projects without any guilt, so this is going to be top of my list.

Next on the list is the embroidered cushion I added last quarter as a small project that could be finished quickly! That didn't quite go to plan :)

As usual the delay in finishing this last quarter was more procrastination on my part, when I decided that I didn't have the perfect fabric to finish this cushion and "had" to order more from the US. The fabrics arrived weeks ago and have been sitting on my table top waiting for something to happen to them, so the time has come to stop the dithering and set to.  If I don't get a move on the embroidery will be celebrating its first birthday :)

More stitching for the third project on my list which has been all over Europe with me on my travels and really deserves to be finished by now.

I have been cross stitching this tea towel since we left Riga last year but, in my defence, only when we have been travelling. The band of stitching you can see above is the second band of two so I really don't have that much left to do on it. We have a couple of trips planned to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Oxfordshire and maybe a longer trip to France, so surely that will be enough time for me to finally get this finished. Fingers crossed!

My final finish for this quarter is not quite as advanced as the teatowel, but has been in progress for longer.

I have two blocks left to complete on this Craftsy BOM (from 2012!). They are both paper-pieced blocks, which is probably why I keep getting them out and then promptly putting them away again! This quilt was originally intended to be a gift for my son and daughter-in-law, and as they are moving back to the North East at the end of next month it would be really nice to have it finished in time for their move.

Well that's my list of hopeful finishes for this quarter, as you can see I am nothing if not optimistic :)

Linking up as ever in hope to

 

Drunks and Designers

The recent surge in Craftsy BOM catching up continues!

September's blocks were based on the Drunkard's Path pattern, so two lots of curved pieces to conquer. The first up, called Chain Block, looks to me like snakes slithering across the floor but that might have something to do with my distaste for curved seams :)

Not only were the curved seams a pain to sew, but I also managed to get marks from the iron on three of the individual blocks and had to do them again.

The second Drunkard's Path block was called Cleopatra's Puzzle and was much more to my taste than slippery snakes. Can you spot the problem I only discovered after I had put it all together? Are you beginning to see why I have put off doing these blocks for so long?

 

Should have paid more attention to the fabric placement when I was cutting out those pieces! 

The final month's paper-pieced blocks will be light relief after these :)

Fortunately not all of my blocks recently have been so problematic. Last month in Katy's Everything and the Kitchen Sink SAL she showed us how to design a paper-piecing pattern using Microsoft Word. Having had my monthly struggle to come up with something appropriate for the Star of Africa Bee block, I thought I would have a go at designing my own paper-pieced block. The theme for February was shoes. Having visited the V and A Museum in London a few weeks ago, I had an idea of what I wanted to do for my block, but until Katy's post no idea how to achieve it.

There were some fabulous shoes on display at the V and A,

from the very old

to the very glamorous

and the retro!

The ones I chose to represent in my block though can just be seen in the bottom of this photo

The rivet shoe boot was designed by Alexander McQueen, so I even managed to fit in a Scottish connection as his parents were from Scotland!

Here is my interpretation for the Star of Africa block

I even managed to add a McQueen signature skull to the zip! Yes, I did get a zip in the paper-pieced block, it was an interesting experiment I can tell you :)

I had great fun designing the block and will definitely have a go at doing this again, thanks to Katy's brilliant instructions.

Waiting to see now what is next up for the Bee, it will be challenging I know.

Linking up to  and

Craftsy Catch Up

For weeks now I have been promising myself that I would tackle some of the longstanding WIP's on my list. Needless to say I have done nothing about it! However, this has now changed! I would like to say that it was all down to a rush of enthusiasm but I think in all honesty that it was down to procrastination on working on the two quilts I hoped to have finished for the

.

So I brushed the dust off my Craftsy BOM quilt blocks and pulled out my instructions for the August blocks! The theme for August was stars and after a quick refresher the two blocks looked like this.

The first was this simple star and the second

A star in a star!

So another two blocks nearer to the end of this BOM. September's blocks are based on the Drunkard's Path pattern so my sewing table has some of these waiting for me to work on them.

These are so not my favourite thing to work on!

Still the pile of completed blocks is getting bigger and better.

It will be nice to tick this off eventually :)

Here is how the WIP list is looking now

• In Color Order HST BOM - Top Completed
• (Almost) Irish Chain quilt basted
• Tsatime quilt pieced, backed and basted COMPLETED
• 5 blocks of NY Beauty QAL completed and fabric cut for remaining 5 blocks
• 16 blocks of Craftsy BOM completed (way behind schedule) 
• Sunday Morning Quilt Bee blocks received
• Sunday Morning Quilt2 Bee blocks sent (on schedule)
• Star of Africa Bee blocks completed and sent (back on schedule just!)
• Friendship Bag Swap - Bag made ready to be filled COMPLETED
• Modern Scrappy Bits Swap 3rd Round COMPLETED
• Triple Zip A Long pouch  COMPLETED
• Curved Seams Challenge signed up COMPLETED
• And And Sew On BOM - first block completed (one block behind schedule)
• Just my Type paper-pieced block  COMPLETED
• Everything but the Kitchen Sink SAL - 2nd block sewn
• Crafty Cooks and Apron Swap signed up   

There are a couple of places left to fill in the Crafty Cooks Apron and Recipe Swap before the deadline on March 15th. So if you have been thinking of joining us but not yet done so dust off your favourite recipe book, channel your inner domestic diva and sign up here!

Linking up to

and