April and May aren't quite write-offs

Before travelling in late April, I did get some sewing done.  Two shirts for me and a gardening apron for the granddaughter.  

The shirts were made from a Butterick pattern.  The design is OK and is easy wearing, but still needs a bit of modification before I would feel really comfortable in it.  (Sorry about the terrible photos.)  I had the blue fabric in my stash for quite some time.  The paisley floral fabric is actually a piece I picked up in India a few years ago. I never can resist a paisley fabric.  Lovely cotton.   

The gardening apron is likely to be too small for the granddaughter before too long.  I should have made it with room to grow!  Never mind, at least it is right for now.

I had high hopes of getting some more sewing finished in the three weeks between getting home from one jaunt and leaving on another but it wasn't to be.  My friend's wall hanging is still unfinished, although I have done more embellishments this month.  I will have to learn how to do a facing binding when finished - that should be interesting.  

And although I started on the baby quilts, they were laid aside when other things intervened, such as mending clothes to take away.  The babies will get their quilts in August.  

And I can't work out my fabric tally this post - my brain is overloaded - so that can wait until later in the year.  See you later!

Not a lot to show for March

What a social month this has been, with time away at the Port Fairy music festival with good friends, more time spent on a Murray River houseboat with other good friends, a visit to Melbourne for a music event, time helping out my daughter and her family after her surgery, a group of friends staying with us for a weekend - the month has just flown by, and I've hardly slept in my own bed.  

March is my birthday month and I spent the day with my daughter in her flood affected town.  I bought my own birthday present - fabric and thread from Quilting Patch in Rochester, Victoria.  And the owner, when she heard it was my birthday, gave me a half metre of the pink dinosaur fabric as a gift.  So kind of her.  And I know a certain four year old who would love it.

I've done very little sewing sadly, mainly just some hand piecing of my Quatro quilt while away from home.  On the few nights I was at home, I kept on embellishing the elephant wallhanging.  When I finally get home, I will have to spend a couple of days putting my sewing room back in order, after it became the dumping ground for all excess furniture and other stuff while we had six friends sleeping in various places around the house.  

However I do have plans for April and May - but you know what happens with plans!  We move from A to B to C and sometimes even to D.  Fingers crossed.  

Anyway, here's hoping I get the following done before the end of May.

• Finish the elephant wallhanging
• Make a baby quilt for my great-nephew - born eight weeks early in February
• Make a baby quilt for my great-neice - due in June
• Make a couple of tunic tops and a pair of trousers for travelling in June/July
• Sew a gardening apron for the granddaughter
• As I empty the sewing room, clean and declutter some of the stuff.  There really is a lot of things I will never use or complete before I head off to the nursing home

Apologies to those who receive my blog via email.  It doesn't format very well in emails and there is a lot of blank space to scroll through.  Hopefully it is worth the scrolling?

March 2023 fabric tally

Finishes this month:   = zero

Purchases in March:     my "support the local quilt shop in a flood affected town" shopping went well with  5m of fabric purchased.   

Fabric used:  - 0 m         Fabric acquired:  + 5 m

2023 running tally:          - 12.75m

February 2023

I seem to have done lots of sewing in February but nothing much for me, and not a lot to show. I did collect a painting from an artist near Bendigo, Kerry Punton.  I had commissioned this painting from her after seeing one of her works at a friend's house.  I love her style and use of colour.  And I love pelicans.

 

Our Days for Girls group was donated some quilt tops.  One member quilted them on her longarm machine, and I volunteered to bind them - which I don't mind doing.  So they were both done. Only a photo of one of them though.  I've already taken the first one to a group meeting. Both are lap size quilts, not very large.  We will be able to sell them for a small amount and use the money for more fabric and threads for our work.  I quite like the fabrics in this one, all vintage style.  The binding fabric came from the donations the group receive.  

I made bunting for my daughter's shop - Twist and Sprout.  In line with her philosophy of reduce, re-use, upcycle, recycle, etc., I made the bunting from some sheets picked up at the op shop.   I actually picked the sheets up before Christmas but because January was a write-off, sewing wise, I didn't get a chance to make the bunting until this month. I did have to buy more fusible bonding web from the local patchwork shop, which stocks a good quality product.  I have had some dodgy ones in the past which separate or won't work properly.  This one worked well.  16 flags in total, about 4.5m of bias binding needed but probably twice that made!  I'll use the leftover binding for something eventually.  And I still have about half the sheet fabric in my daughter's preferred colours so can make something else for her shop with that.  The non-bunting sign used up the letters which I realised too late were too small.  I appliqued them on to some of the sheet fabric, and will hand over to my daughter to do something with it.  

             

Another job I've done is to work my way through sewing a pile of cloth Girl Guide badges onto a wool felt poncho for a friend - her mother started sewing them on by hand but sadly passed away.  So Cheryl passed on the poncho and bag of badges to me and I've sewed them on by machine.  Much faster than by hand.  I will be meeting up with her next week and will pass back the poncho to her.    

A few months ago, I added a pile of Girl Guide badges to a blanket for Cheryl's daughter.  That was harder as it was a knit blanket and moved every way but the way you wanted.  The poncho has been heaps easier as it acts like a woven fabric.  

February 2023 fabric tally

Finishes this month:  Emma's bunting = 1.5m fabric

Purchases in February:     no fabric purchased

Fabric used:  - 1.5m         Fabric acquired:  + 0m

2023 running tally:          - 17.75m

2023 starts well!

The new year has started well, but mainly due to the work done in 2022.  But I will take the kudos for this month's finishes, regardless.  However, I was in hospital for ten days and sick in bed or recovering for another week or so, so I didn't get as much done in January as planned.  But still happy with my achievements.   

The wool and tartan quilt is a finish!  

This quilt's design was governed by the size of pieces on hand.  They were all scraps of various sizes so it meant adding piece to piece until each block was the same size as others.  The tartan fabric is heavier than the wool suiting pieces, but I used a 3/8" seam allowance and a small stitch length to help the pieces stay joined and avoid too much fraying.  My quilting was also planned to help the pieces stay together and unfrayed.  Despite being very closely pinned, the wool fabric tended to shift quite a bit, so I actually quilted it more densely than planned.  Not sure if that was a good idea or not.  There is some bad puckering in a couple of places on the front of the quilt but I've let those go through to the keeper.  Quilted in wavy straight lines with variegated Signature thread on top and Signature thread to match the backing in the bobbin.  Backing and binding from a piece of cotton fabric exactly the right size from my stash.  Finished size:  142cm (56") x 117cm (46")

The music quilt is a finish!  

Quilting was finished in early January.  I needed to unsew a section of the border and redo the quilting there.  My free-motion quilting was a bit dodgy.  And when trimming the quilt after attaching the binding, I cut the binding on one corner so had to insert a new section of binding to go around that corner.  That was a fiddly job.  And then, while hand sewing the binding down, I found another corner where I'd cut the binding!  So frustating that I had done it twice.  Quilted with Isacord on the top and grey Signature cotton thread in the bobbin.  Batting is a 80/20 cotton/poly blend.  Finished size:  208cm (81") square

The elephant wallhanging is not a finish!  But I'm getting there with my hand quilting and embellishing. 

January 2023 fabric tally

Finishes this month:  wool and tartan quilt - 45" x 60" + backing + binding = 5.5 m ; music quilt -  81" x  81" + backing + binding =  12 m. 

Purchases in January:   when ordering some needles etc. online, I saw a special on a rainbow solid fat quarter pack, and couldn't resist.  Great for baby quilts.  

Fabric used:  - 17.5m         Fabric acquired:  + 1.25m

2023 running tally:    Starting with 0m    (of course!)

                    - 16.25m

Finishes in 2022

Not such a productive year as I was hoping - but I did work a lot and was away a fair bit also, about 10 weeks altogether.  And I did progress quite a few projects, but not finish them.

Finished quilts

Only two!

    

Small quilted items

Quilted bag, hot water bottle covers, croquet mallet covers, cat cushion. 

                   

     

Plans for 2023

• Music quilt - just the binding left to do now.
• Wool & tartan quilt - just the binding left to do now.
• Elephant wallhanging - finish the hand quilting, nice beads and buttons to add as well.
• Medallion quilt - finish the top and maybe even start the quilting?  I will machine quilt it, much quicker to do. 
• Baby quilts - there is at least one great nephew and one great niece on their way.  And I'd like to have a stock of baby quilts on hand, just in case.  
• Wedding quilt - a nephew is getting married in March and I am considering making a quilt for them.  However, I think I will run out of time this year.  Unless I use one of the half made quilts in my WIP pile?
• Clothing - I have a couple of items that I'd like to make for myself.  I have the fabric and patterns for a dress and shirts.  Time will be the limiting factor though.
• Bunting - for my daughter's shop.  It will have the shop name on it, individual letters appliqued on to separate flags in the bunting.  And there may be some other items to sew for her shop.

Let's see what of these plans I actually achieve in 2022.  I will be away on holiday for at least 14 weeks this year, so that limits me.  As does paid work, which comes and goes.  I don't like to knock it back - the money is nice.  

Looking back on 2022

Three quilts basted in October and then I fell in a heap.    I had high hopes of getting one, maybe two quilted in November but it didn't happen.  There was lots of casual shifts available at work and we had three weeks away, as well as lots of pre-Christmas social gatherings and not a lot of sewing got done sadly.  

I did finish the quilting on the wool and tartan quilt in December but then it sat on the sewing table - waiting!  

Quilting on the music quilt was a rushed job which meant I stuffed up a couple of things and then got frustrated with myself.  So it also sat on the sewing table - waiting.   

And sadly I haven't started quilting the elephant wallhanging.  However, it is ready for all the handwork now, with a tray of gorgeous threads, buttons and beads ready to decorate it.  Another seat of the pants job!  

         

The next round of hand piecing for the quatro quilt is almost ready to start, with most papers glued to the fabric pieces.  I just need to choose the basted fabric pieces to form each flower in that round.   A fun job to do.

I did get a couple more rounds done on the traditional medallion quilt.  Next will be the side pieces for this round.  Apologies for it being partly hidden by the ironing board.  

I'll do a post with photos of the 2022 finishes next.  

November/December 2022 fabric tally

Finishes this month:  sadly none.  

Purchases in November/December:  I supported the patchwork shop in my daughter's local town by buying a few pieces:  three fat quarters, 3m of orange batik on special (great backing fabric) and 1m of a blue/red stripe which would make a great binding for the medallion quilt I'm working on, and ........ a layer cake of Tula Pink fabric.  So I've blown my fabric budget! and I was being so good.   That's 7.75 m of fabric. 

Fabric used:  - 6 m         Fabric acquired:  + 7.75 m

2022 final fabric tally:     + 31.5 m  (this will carry over into next year)

2022 Total fabric tally

Total fabric used in the year:  13.25 m

Total fabric acquired in the year:  44.75 m

October rocked!

 

Apology: Last post I talked about asking the Happy Helper to help me get .... into the family room - but I didn't proof read my post very well.  He helped me with the table tennis table - my sandwiching table - and I've now pinned the music quilt.  It fits lengthwise but not across, but the clamps do a good job of keeping one half steady while I pin the other half.  I love it for pinning quilts - as do my knees and back.  

        

I use clamps to keep the quilt taut on the edge where it hangs over, and the usual masking tape to tape the quilt backing to the table around the other edges.  After I pin half the quilt, I then pull it across, re-settle the second half, taping and clamping, and pin it.  For the music quilt, I used a pattern learnt at a workshop with Sue Mathews back in 2003.  There's a photo of the quilt I made in that workshop.

I finished making the crocheted rag rug.  I didn't make a great job of it really, but it will do fine for the floors.   Too many rows had been done when I realised that I was losing stitches at the ends of rows.  I certainly don't know how to crochet properly!  So I Googled how to solve that problem, and to fix the trapezoid effect, crocheted along the ends - as if it was meant to be like that!  Very organic but it will do.  And I now know what to do to make the next one a proper rectangle.  The whole thing didn't take many nights in front of the TV to finish, so that's also a bonus.  Now I'm sewing instead while watching the box.  

Needing more basting pins a week or so ago, I dropped in to the big box sewing store (an hour from us) and bought 220 pins - 60 silver quilt basting safety pins and 60 smaller gold quilt basting safety pins.  The gold pins are great but the silver pins are awful.  They wouldn't slide through the fabric and batting like the gold pins did, and I ended up swiping them through my beeswax block before basting.  That helped but it still wasn't great.  So cross was I, that I wrote a review about the pins on the big box sewing store's website.  Hopefully that will help others avoid these pins.  I'm cross that I wasted $30 and my time buying these pins.

Here's the wool quilt basted with those pins.

This is a DREAMI quilt.  (Drop Everything And Make It)  I really shouldn't have started another quilt, but we're meeting up with a friend this coming weekend and I had in mind a quilt to make for him, out of the wool and tartan scraps I have on hand.  Since we leave today and I only finished basting it last night, he won't get the gift this weekend.  However, it is closer to finishing and I will hand it over next time I see him.  

The blocks are about 9.5" square and the blocks are 5 x 6.  The fabrics are from two lots of wool scraps.  One lot I bought from the Albury woollen mill (now closed) back in 2000 or so, mainly lightweight wools in plain colours.  The other lot of tartan scraps was from an Edinburgh woollen mill, bought in 2014.  I've had this person and quilt in mind for years but just haven't got around to making it.  It will be a heavy quilt so I didn't make it too big.   The backing is a piece of cotton fabric just the right size, from my stash.  

So I've basted three quilts in the last two weeks and will spend time in November quilting them.   Hopefully that will mean three finishes for my November post.  

October 2022 fabric tally

Finally I have an answer to the question "should I include the rag rug fabrics in my monthly tally?"  I've decided yes, since I'm making something new from the fabric, even if it is recycled.  My rules, remember?!!

Finishes in September are: recycled rag rug - 2 x fitted sheets 90 x 190cm = 2m (close enough); 

Fabric used:  - 2 m         Fabric acquired:  + 0 m

2022 fabric tally so far:     + 29.75 m