Gosh, I can get sidetracked quickly when I'm in the sewing room!  

When making these 8" blocks a couple of weeks ago, I trimmed the triangles from the flying geese.  The pile of paired triangles was calling to me so I ended up sewing them into 3.25" pinwheel blocks and have joined them for a small doll's quilt.  The quilt will be about 14" x 16.5" finished size.  I wasn't thinking about future use of the triangles while I was trimming them off the flying geese, so they are not precise at all.  The points don't match; I should have pressed the seams open as they are quite bulky, but I haven't wasted the triangles!  so that's all good.  

     

I also made a little string of bunting, perfect for a doll's house or playhouse.  I had considered making more bunting with the triangles but there is only so much bunting a doll's house can have.  There is about 3m there, but they are only very small triangles.  

I've also made a pieced backing, binding and pieced batting ready to pin and quilt this top I finished a few weeks ago.  Shouldn't take long to quilt, I hope.

Last year I was searching in my crate of batting bits for a piece big enough for a quilt.  It was so frustrating trying to find the right size that I ended up spending a day measuring and recording the size of each piece of batting.  I've written the size and type of each piece on a piece of white fabric and pinned it to the top edge of the batting pieces.  These are all now folded so the size info is on the same edge and I can go through the pile to find what I need.  It is now so easy to find the right size piece of batting or knowing that I need to cut one or join two together to make them the right size.  I've got a few different batting pieces where I'm not sure whether they're cotton, wool or have some poly in them.  I also have some fusible batting that I tried out a few years ago.  Not sure if it will still be OK when I do go to use it up.  It wasn't my favourite batting to use.  I now have a large 18m long roll of 2.2m wide 80/20 wool/polyester batting, but it is slowly getting used up.  I'm using the scrap pieces in QAYG blocks, and other small items.   

I've been working a bit more than normal over the last couple of weeks, which has limited my sewing time sadly.  But the money is nice to put towards my sewing habit, or my travel habit, or my reading habit!   

Why do I start new projects?

Why do I start new projects?  I know that I'm on a sewing roll at the moment, with not much paid work or volunteer commitments happening.  And having this blog to fill has inspired me to do more sewing.  However, I could easily pick up some of my UFOs and turn them into finished items, rather than adding to the UFO pile.  But I haven't done that, have I?

Anyway, one finish this week was the labels for Azalea's quilt.  There are photos of the two sets of grandparents on the quilt, so our names are also on the "Can you find...?" list for her.  There's also a label with a message for her from her grandmother (not shown.)

I (started and) finished one quilt top this week, using a picture I'd found on Pinterest and a jelly roll, intending to make a baby quilt.  The jelly roll was not the best choice for this particular pattern, as all the fabrics are relatively busy and there is nowhere for the eyes to rest when looking around the quilt.  However, I don't think a baby will mind that.  So it should be easy to sandwich, quilt and bind sometime soon, ready for a gift.  (I still need to trim the edges.)

A need for a gift for a friend has prompted me to start another top!  A couple of different layer cakes of William Morris fabrics and a simple pattern is coming together as a quick quilt, which I know my friend will appreciate.  She has the same love of his designs as I do.  

        

When we shared an office, I had a piece of William Morris's lily minor fabric stapled over a frame and we often commented to each other on how much we loved it.  I have had the Morris fabrics earmarked for her quilt, for quite some time.  

I also made a bag for the car quilt - no photo of that as it is already in use - so that's one of my planned tasks done for this week.  And I've finished the labels for the granddaughter's quilt, so that's tick two.  Nothing else got a tick, but I haven't been idle, so am not worried.  

Yippee, one quilt finished!

In my last blog post, I listed a few things I wanted to do last week. I have done only one of them! But it is the best one.  😀

                   

Azalea's quilt is finished and ready to deliver to her. The quilting was completed earlier last week.  Each block/patch was quilted 1/4” from the seam and the name block has been meandered - or whatever you call it.  I did start quilting pebbles in the name block but reason prevailed as it would have taken me too long for such a relatively large area.  I also quilted in the ditch along the striped sashing strips, just to anchor the quilt.  I tried something new (for me) in the border and think it is ok. Not perfect though. I finished attaching the binding last night. (Apologies for the bad photo - outside in the sun, pegged to the line sideways because I couldn't work out how to photograph it vertically.  The handy helper says it is too big for him to hold it up.)

I'm ready to print the labels on fabric but my printer is playing up.  I will hand sew them to the back of the quilt, once I've found a better printer than mine.  I'll show you the labels in my next blog post.  As you can see, the back of the quilt is pieced, using up a few of my cat fabrics.  

I’m really looking forward to giving the quilt to Azalea and playing I Spy with her. 

Finished size: 64” x 96”  Started September 2020.  Completed November 2020.  

And I was proud of myself as I trimmed the leftover backing fabrics from Azalea’s quilt were cut and placed into the 2 1/2” strip box or the “narrower strips” box.  And the trimmed batting went straight into some of the QAYG blocks.  So it is all tidied up.  Doesn't always happen that way!  

I also spent time making some more quilt-as-you-go blocks from my box of strips.  Six more done.  They do look nice when all the fabrics are from one colour family.

And I started cutting fabrics for a new quilt.  Like I need a new WIP!  But I couldn't help myself.  It is intended as a baby quilt but not sure yet.  We will see.  Here are the completed 21 blocks - 8"square.  Inspired by something I saw on Pinterest.  I'm debating on whether to join the blocks directly to each other (as I saw on Pinterest), or do I add some narrow sashing (dark grey?) and (coloured?) cornerstones?  and then a border of some sort?  

           

So the goals for the next week or so are to print and attach the labels to Azalea's quilt, make a bag for our car quilt, sandwich and baste a finished top ready to quilt, finish off the sawtooth stars quilt, think about sewing Christmas gifts................ so many different possibilities!