Too much work, not enough sewing

I have hardly been in the sewing room since my last post, over two weeks ago!  Sniff, sniff.  Away in Melbourne for a few days, and a few days of work, and lots of other jobs to do around the house, and the time sped away.  I did get one day in the sewing room last weekend, which was very therapeutic.  And have had a few hours yesterday and today, while I finished the blue jelly roll quilt.  The quilting is done with my walking foot, one direction of wavy lines, occasionally crossing each other.  It was very easy to quilt and I think I might do this quilting again.  

        

Finished size: 42" x 54.5"

Quilt top and binding from a jelly roll (did I keep the details of the fabric desiger/maker?  No, sorry.)  Pieced backing from my stash, and batting pieced from several small scraps.  

Of course I have been hand sewing some evenings in front of my TV.  I am close to finishing the "big stitch" hand quilting on my bright quilt (if you remember, Christmas was my deadline for finishing it).  As soon as the quilting is finished, the binding is ready to be attached - maybe it can be a 2020 finish?  

I finished hand sewing the binding down on the doll's quilt.  Not the best example of quiltmaking but my granddaughter's dolls will love it.  Backed with a piece of owl fabric, which echoes the colours in the quilt top.  Finished size: 14.5" x 17"  

And I made a few small gifts, fabric bowls, which needed hand sewing for their finishing touch, so they're all done.  These are made from a pattern I saw on Pinterest (?) and are quickly and easily made.  A couple of these were fussy cut.  The hand sewing is just a few stitches with embroidery thread at each corner to hold the sides of the bowl up.  They're not flash but I find them quite useful, so hope my friends do as well.  The hexagon is 7" across before I turn up the corners.  They are fun to fussy cut.  

          

             

So, a few finishes this month, despite working "for the man".  (For my future travel, more like!)  I'm pleased that I actually have some finishes.  For a while there, it felt like nothing was getting close to completed.  

My goals for the remainder of this month: finish the hand quilting and attach & sew down the binding on the bright quilt; sew some more QAYG strip block; baste another quilt ready for quilting.  That's probably enough goals, considering I'm working quite a bit (for me) over the next six weeks.  

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!

A week away from the sewing room

The handy helper and I headed away last week for a few days R&R, so I did no sewing at all!  Not even the small embroidery I took with me.  However, I did visit a few local quilt shops and helped their local economy.  I didn't buy for anything in particular, really.  A few novelty fabrics for I Spy quilts, a couple of cat fabrics for my collection, a few metres of a good black/grey fabric for borders at some stage, and a few yummy fat quarters.  And some Japanese fabrics for the quilt I intend to make using the sashiko panel I embroidered this year.  

The best shop I visited was Rosemont Patchwork Shop in Mogo, southern NSW.  They had a good collection of fabrics and notions, but the best thing (in my opinion) was the sewing machine museum.  About 300 machines of all vintages, including a collection of toy sewing machines.  It was really impressive.  Barry, the repair guy, sounds like he can't refuse an old machine, or let one go to the tip.  His knowledge was great and I stayed there for ages.  There was also a small collection of antiques, mainly china and glass, but the machines were amazing.  The museum has inspired me to get moving on getting to know a couple of antique machines I have.  

         

    

There was a novelty machine outside - quite large as you can see.  😆

Recently I acquired a sideboard for our family room.  The drawers are glass fronted, so I've backed the glass with some fabric that is quite similar to our curtain fabric.  That way the messy drawers are not on show.  Double sided tape is so finicky!  

This week I plan to finish the I Spy quilt, make some small baskets for gifts, and maybe sandwich another quilt ready for quilting.  I also have to make a bag for our car quilt, so it doesn't get dirty.  We will see what happens.

Scraps, strips and slider

Quite a bit of time spent in the sewing room this week - yippee!  

As usual, while watching TV in the evenings, I've been sewing - still working on the hand quilting of my brights quilt.  (Will have to think of a better name for it.)  When I'm closer to finishing, I will take some photos.  

I made a few more QAYG blocks from strips, and they will look good in a quilt.  I've tried to make single colour blocks, rather than really scrappy multi-coloured.   

          

I spent time sandwiching Azalea's quilt, and had some help thankfully.  My hip is playing up so pinning on the floor was uncomfortable.  Thank you to my helper! I've almost completed the quilting now  - straight lines around each 6" block, in the ditch in the sashing, and meandering around the name block.  Not sure how I will quilt the border - it doesn't need much, just enough to flatten it a little.  I might try free motion quilting cat faces or paws or similar in a flowing design.  I've done daisies and stars and hearts like that before.  Need to extend the repertoire a little. 

      

I bought a super slider some time ago - a super slippery mat which goes over your machine bed and assists in moving the quilt around while quilting.  It has a hole in the centre for the needle to pass through.  I tried it out while free motiong quilting today and really think it didn't make that much difference in moving the quilt.  I will try it when I'm using the walking foot later and see if it makes a difference with that.  Has anyone else tried using a super slider?

While cutting fabric, I thought of a scrap quilt that I want to make.  Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's Quips and Snips blog has designed a pattern that utilises scraps, which I quite like.  She calls it "Scrappy trip around the world".  https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/scrappy-trips-around-world.html

I want to make myself one, using some of the scraps I've been cutting over the last long while.  So I tried out the block this week.  Happy enough with it.  Bonnie emphasises that there isn't a need to play matchy-matchy with the fabrics, so I just grabbed six pieces of each of six fabrics from the 2 1/2" squares drawer.  Bonnie's pattern utilises 2 1/2" wide strips that are sewn together and then subcut, and I will try that method as well.  For the time being, sewing all 36 squares together worked fine for me.  (Note the "deliberate" 😀 error in the choice of fabrics?  I was sure that I had six squares of each fabric but realised at the last row, that I had only five pieces of the lilac/purple.  Fortunately it was easy to find something very similar in the scrap drawers.)

This week has been good sewing-wise.  This blog is good to record those achievements so I can say to myself "you've done lots!"

What have my friends been working on?  I love to be inspired by other's craft work.  

 

Lots done this week

This week I finished the top for the I Spy quilt for my granddaughter.  It was quite an organic quilt to make, as I just kept on adding blocks and sashing to it.  Then I wanted to add a border and struggled to find a good fabric in my stash, especially one with enough meterage.  I think the one I found goes well as it is relatively dark, which this quilt needs in the outer border, but still with enough colour in it to be cheerful.  It is quite a busy quilt, but I've decided it will do.  

I've pieced a back for the quilt from stash as well, so am happy that I've used up a few older fabrics.  All cat ones!  I do have a big collection of cat fabrics.  

While cutting for the quilt top and back, I trimmed and cut from odd shaped fabrics for my scrap drawers.  Some time ago, it seemed silly to have numerous small (less that a fat quarter) odd shaped pieces of fabric on my shelves.  So I investigated what other quilters do, and have starting to organise my scraps.  Basically I cut them into a range of sizes, 6 1/2" squares being the biggest.  And I cut them as small as 1 1/2" square.  I also cut 2 1/2" strips if possible, generally not from the scrappy pieces though.  I try to do those WOF.  And strips narrower or shorter than that are put into my scrap strip box, ready to make strip QAYG blocks, ready for donation quilts - at some stage in the future.  I can even use scrap batting for these blocks too, so they really use up scraps.  Here is my first QAYG block, made from scrap strips.  

  

The theory with all this is that I will have enough cut pieces in a range of sizes to easily sew together a range of scrap quilts.  A theory - we will see how it goes in practice!  

More hand quilting in the evenings this week.  I must chase up the special thimble for my middle finger that pushes the needle through.  The skin doesn't like it!  Not badly but I wouldn't want to do more than a couple of hours of quilting in a day.  

So next week's goal is to try and finish the quilting for Azalea's quilt, and attach the binding (already made.)  Not sure if it is achievable but we will have a go!