What happened to May?

Well, here it is, eight days into June and I haven't let you know what I've been up to for over five weeks.  Sorry about that.  May was a busy month workwise, and we were lucky to get away for a week as well.  June is quieter work wise, and now I'm home from a little jaunt to Canberra, I've got lots of time for sewing.  

Do you recall that "quilt as you go" quilt I had almost finished last month?  I was so unhappy with the misalignment of the sashing strips that I've unsewed the whole lot, removing the binding and the sashing strips, back to the original QAYG blocks.  I have searched further using Google and YouTube and found better tutorials on how to do the sashing.  So that will be another project for June - doing it right this time!  

Remember these blocks from last year?  I've finally got around to finding and cutting sashing and cornerstones from my stash, and making a border of leftover pieces from the fat quarters.  I'm halfway through piecing the top, and I will need to make a backing and baste it, before quilting and binding.  But it will be a good one for a new baby, I think.  Sadly there isn't enough of the sashing fabric to bind, so I will think of something to use.  Probably a scrappy binding - I have enough leftovers from previous quilts.  

And of course, what do I do when I have a quilt close to finishing?  I start another quilt.  My brother turns sixty in August and I thought it would be nice to make a quilt for him to nap under on the couch.  He is very prone to naps, apparently.  So I pulled a red, white and black jelly roll from Grandmother's Garden (NZ) and more 2.5" strips from my strip box and using Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist pattern, am making a quick lap quilt for him.  I've made 48 blocks and will join them into a top over the next week or so.  Not sure if I will add borders or not.  The pattern has borders.  We will see if it needs them.  I will need to make a backing and then baste it, before quilting and binding.  I have six weeks until his birthday so the theory is that I will finish in time!  

Granddaughter's birthday was 31st May, so I made a quick and easy bag for her hopscotch, ready to hand it over at her party.  She isn't quite into hopping on one foot/leg yet, but jumping from square to square is allowed in hopscotch when you're little.  But another lockdown happened and her party was postponed.  I handed the gift over at the weekend when they visited.   

I also made another basket (Ikea shelf size) for her toys.  This was a different pattern and I like it even less than the first one I made.  Next one will be a basic box, with inserts to put cardboard.  It will hopefully be more sturdy than this one!  And now I've just realised that I didn't take a photo of this basket before it left the house at the weekend.  So you will just have to imagine it!  ☺

There was one textile related visit last week, to the Pioneer Women's Hut Museum near Tumbarumba in southern New South Wales.  It is committed to preserving rural women's heritage, and has an amazing collection, really well displayed and curated.  There is one hut dedicated to quilts, but the other exhibits were really interesting too.  And there was one hut built recently to house and display a local lady's button collection - which must have been enormous.  So worth visiting - Covid and borders (state and national) willing.  Here's a photo of my favourite quilt in the collection on display.  

              

Goals for June/July:

1.    Finish sawtooth star quilt top

2.    Make up backing for sawtooth star quilt, baste, quilt and bind

3.    Finish red, white and black Strip Twist quilt top

4.    Make up backing for Strip Twist quilt, baste, quilt and bind

5.    Finish a better fabric basket for the granddaughter

6.    Make a knitting needle roll for a friend

7.    Re-join QAYG blocks into sashed finished quilt

8.    Continue to hand piece the Quattro quilt at night when watching TV

Let's see how I go with these goals!

May 2021 fabric tally:

 

Nothing purchased in May, and only one thing completed - the fabric basket.

    Fabric brought in:    0 m             Fabric used:    -  3 m

    Total for April:     -  3 m       

    Running total for 2021:     - 6.1 m

William Morris rules! OK?

 

Finally finished my William Morris quilt, made from two Moda layer cakes: The Morris Workshop, and, Morris Earthly Paradise, designed by Barbara Brackman.  This quilt has gone to a friend, who loves William Morris designs as much as I do.  

I considered adding a border but didn't have enough of anything suitable in my stash.  The binding fabric is a Thimbleberries design, leftover from a workshop I undertook about 15 years ago.  I knew that fabric would come in handy one day!  The backing is pieced from 1/2m cuts of various David Textile fabrics, mainly their William Morris collection but also some Rose and Hubble designs.  

The quilting was done with a variegated Signature cotton thread; see how much was left when I finished!  

I had planned to quilt a little bit fancier but ran out of time, so it is straight line quilted in the ditch of each block, and then diagonally across each one.  

Finished size:  63" x 90"

This is the first quilt I've sandwiched using my "new" table tennis table.  Someone, somewhere had mentioned their use of one as a sandwiching table so I picked it up cheaply on Facebook Marketplace.  It is much easier to do the basting in your own house, rather than taking everything to the local hall to use their tables.  And far, far, far easier than basting the quilt on the floor, which is too much for my back and knees these days.  The TT table is 2.7m x 1.5 so a little narrower than the William Morris quilt.  It was easy to clamp the quilt on the overhang side so that once most of it was pinned, I could untape it and slide it across to finish the pinning.  I had hoped to sit in a chair to do much of the pinning but the folding table legs preclude that.  When I finished pinning, my back and knees thanked me profusely!  

I did make a quick fabric bag to hold the quilt for gifting to my friend.  The David Textiles fabric is a dressweight, so not really the best for a bag, but it will do.  

The QAYG strip quilt was finished in April but I am not happy with the sashing strips not lining up.  I am going to unpick some of the seams and re-do the sashing. So this quilt will be a real finish another time.  

I'm not going to make any goals for the next post.  I worked quite a bit in April and will be this month also.  Other than handwork, I might not get much done this month.  

April fabric tally:

 

(Honestly I wasn’t going to buy any fabric in April, but I made a quick visit to a sewing shop this week - just because it was there! - and bought a few fat quarters!)

    Fabric brought in:    +1.5 m             Fabric used:    -  8.6 m

    Total for April:     -  7.1 m       

    Running total for 2021:     - 3.1 m

March disappeared - where is this year going?

Maybe you're like me, and wondering where this year is going.  A quarter gone already!

I've had lots of other stuff happening in the last month - weekends away with friends, a 4WD course, babysitting a grandchild for a weekend, working a few days in paid employment, car service, medical stuff, helping our daughter move house - and the month disappeared.  I did get some sewing done in the midst of all that, so I am happy.

Here's the first of the fabric baskets I made for my daughter's Ikea shelves (finished in January.)  This one was made from bits and pieces from my stash, with the ends made from wedges - that I had cut for a round quilt three years ago.  The base and two ends have extra-firm stabiliser in them, but the two sides are just normal batting.  Unfortunately, this makes them sag a bit.  It was very tricky to join sides to the ends when I got to the base and no room to manoeuvre my machine foot.  So I'm going to try a different pattern for the next basket.  

Finished size: 11"x 11"x 12"

Here's a picture of the round quilt I made from 36 x 10 degree wedges - all cat fabrics. I made it for my granddaughter, born in May 2018.  

My QAYG quilt having the binding attached.  

As one of March's goals, I experimented with sewing the blocks together and just kept on going and finished the quilt top - four blocks wide by six blocks long.  

One issue with it is the sashing strips to cover the joins.  I hadn't found a really good how-to for this so bumbled along on my own.  It depends on which side of the seam you attach the binding strip as to which way it folds over - and unfortunately, in some cases on my quilt, the sashing strips don't match up between rows of blocks.  It took a while before I realised this would happen.  

The binding is all scrappy (of course!)  All scrappy blue bits from my bindings basket. Almost everything in this quilt is from scraps, including the batting. The backing is consistent, from an old piece of fabric that I've had for years.  But my next QAYG quilt will have multi-fabric backing, depending on the size of my scraps. 

There will be a photo of the finished quilt once I've hand sewn down the binding.  This will be a donation quilt, I think.  

Finished size: 40"x 60"

Here is my granddaughter's third birthday present for May.  It took me a while because I was also working on other things.  All the fabric is from my stash, except the Bluey fabric - bought especially for this.  I made bathroom curtains from the white No. 1 fabric, shorts for my son out of two of the blue-ish fabrics (28 or so years ago!), and other fabrics from a bag of scraps a friend gave me.  The backing is cream calico with a strip of rubber backing down the centre ( to stop slippage).  It is normally used for kitchen drawer bases to stop glasses and such sliding around.   

Finished size:  2.1m long x 60cm wide (77"x 22")

I've also tried sewing some crumb blocks - not sure if they will be ongoing or not.  Maybe I will have to throw out those smallest pieces of fabrics?  No pictures of those yet.  I'm still feeling my way with them.  

Last post's goals .  Notice that I hadn't specified a date, just by the next post - this one - so therefore I could have left this blog post until I had achieved all the goals on the list.  😆

1. Finish the Hopscotch mat  - Finished!
2. Make a bag for the Hopscotch mat - still to be done
3. Finish piecing the William Morris blocks into a top - have just started piecing this
4. Try piecing together the blue QAYG blocks - Done!
5. Glue baste grey blocks for next round of the Quatro quilt - Finished!
6. Start on a new fabric toy box for my granddaughter - Stabiliser has arrived in the mail, but no time to start it at present.  
7. Get a photo of the first fabric toy box - Done!

March fabric tally:

    Fabric brought in:    +  2.5 m  (stabiliser doesn't count)              Fabric used:    - 6 m

    Total for March:    - 3.5m        (February's count was wrong; should have been + 7.5m rather than                                                         minus)

    Running total for 2021:     + 4m

Marching into March

Lots of paid (and some unpaid) work over the last few weeks has slowed my sewing down.  As has my slackness at times - I'm too ready to sit down and read or watch TV.  At least when I watch TV, I'm doing hand sewing.

A friend showed me the Hopscotch mat she made for her grandchildren, and I decided to make one for my granddaughter.  I'm only half way through it as it took a while until I could get enough of the rubber matting for the back.   I'll make a bag for it too so it can be rolled up and put away.  I've prepared the bias binding for it - a colourful stripe.  

I've also been working on clearing some of my scraps - this week sewing more QAYG strip blocks.  Despite making 25 blue blocks, the strip box is hardly emptied!  Other sewers have said the same thing about their scrap containers.  Of course, I made the batting for the blocks by sewing together batting scraps.  It makes me feel good to be using up stuff that I didn't want to throw out.  And its a project where I don't have to think much about my sewing. 

The blocks are 10" finished and I'm not sure whether to sew them into a 40" x 60" quilt, or a 50" square quilt, or make some more blue blocks for a quilt that will finish bigger.  I would need at least 10 more blocks for another one, and I'm over blue at present!

As you can see there three other blocks in different colours.  I'll probably wait to use those in a different quilt.  

Sue Daley's Quattro quilt caught my eye a few years ago, and I started piecing it about three years ago.  It took a while before my first stitch, as the fabric needed to be cut around the templates.  Then each piece needed to be glued to its paper (a method I'm enjoying more than thread basting in the past). I've finished - pretty much - the centre. Of course, although I've cut all the fabrics, I don't have heaps of papers so am only basting a row or two at a time.  The box was resurrected in January and I'm slowly working away at this (very) long-term project.  Don't expect to see it finished any time soon!  And then I'll have to quilt it - presumably by hand?  We will see.  

A few weeks ago, I made a fabric box for the granddaughter's toys, sized to fit in an Ikea bookshelf.  My daughter likes the look of the homemade ones, rather than the plastic boxes you can find at any large store.  I'm happy to oblige.  The first one was for practice, and I know there will be changes for the next ones I make.  I haven't got a photo of the first one but will chase it up so I can show it with the second and subsequent boxes I make.  I have some Bluey fabric that is just itching to be used in something for my granddaughter.  

Goals for the next blog post (I think it is all achievable):

1. Finish the Hopscotch mat
2. Make a bag for the Hopscotch mat
3. Finish piecing the William Morris blocks into a top
4. Try piecing together the blue QAYG blocks
5. Glue baste grey blocks for next round of the Quattro quilt
6. Start on a new fabric toy box for my granddaughter
7. Get a photo of the first fabric toy box

Some days it is hard to know where to start...... but William Morris will fill the gap

 

Two days ago, I realised I hadn't spent much time in the sewing room over the last couple of weeks, when I went in there and had to refresh my memory on where I'd left off on the audiobook that I'm listening to while sewing.  This time I stayed long enough to finish off that book, and am now ready to start a new book.  Lately my sewing listening has been two detective series by Ann Cleeves - Shetland and Vera Stanhope alternately.  I just have to pause if I'm doing any mental maths, as I can't listen and work on numbers at the same time.   

When I did go into the sewing room, there were lots of different things I could have done, on a number of projects already started.    Did I do any of those tasks?  No!  I started and (at least) finished something new.  Many years ago (35? maybe) I made a knitting needle roll out of some very ordinary scrap fabric and, although knitting is not a major craft I do, I have been wanting to update the roll for a long time.  So I did that instead of all the other tasks I could have been doing!  I just copied what I had done before, using a lovely furnishing weight William Morris design fabric by Sanderson.  I attached the selvedge and wrote the needle sizes on it (no waste!) and a scrap of ribbon to tie it up with.  It isn't perfect but when I see it now, I will be happy with the beauty of it.  

                          

I've finished four of the scrappy around the world blocks, and am quite happy with the way they look together.  The blocks are 12" finished, so shouldn't take too long to get enough done for a quilt.  I plan to work on a few more over the next while.

I laid out all the William Morris layer cake blocks on the living room floor and, with the assistance of the handy helper, put them into a design that I was happy with.  I bundled up the rows, labelled with their order, and put them in the sewing room.  Last night I was talking to my daughter and sent through a picture of the quilt layout using my iPad.  That's when I noticed the dark rows at one end.  They are too dark compared to the other end of the quilt.  Can you see them too?  So now I will re-do those rows, perhaps adding a couple of lighter blocks to lessen the darkness.  Good thing I noticed it before I started sewing the blocks together.  Photos of quilt layouts can be very helpful in the design process.  

              

Some quilting bloggers (and knitters too) I follow keep annual running totals of the fabric brought in and used up of their stash.  I might try that and see how I go.  The theory is that you use more than you buy in the year.  So far it isn't looking good for me but that will change, I hope.

(The problem is, how do I account for the strings and scraps I have been using to make blocks so far this year?  I suppose I will just add then to the used amount once the quilt top is finished?)

2021

February:       Fabric brought in:    12 m            Fabric used so far:    4.5 m

                        Running total:  - 7.5 m

I had a lovely day out with several quilting girlfriends last week, before another lockdown happened.  We visited two patchwork shops - Millrose in Ballan and Gail's Patchwork Emporium in Sebastopol (both near Ballarat, Victoria.)  I spent up but I did have specific fabrics in mind to buy, although of course I bought another couple of quarter metres of some that caught my eye.  

Due to the lockdown, my planned long weekend away has been delayed - so off to the sewing room I go!  Hope your creative pursuits are making your heart sing.

2020 done and dusted

Well, 2020 is finished, and January 2021 is almost over!  I was quite happy with the amount of sewing I've had time for during 2020.  Only working part-time meant a lot more time in the sewing room.

     

This was the last finish for 2020 (although really the binding got finished off in 2021, but that's OK, right?)  Years ago, I saw a post about the 1600 quilt, where you take a jelly roll and sew the strips end to end, until you get a strip of about 1600".  Then you divide it in half, sew the two halves together, and repeat until you have a quilt top.  I quite enjoyed the process and it did go together quickly.  I've added a border, and pieced a backing of fabrics from (mainly) the same line of fabrics.  The top sat in my quilting box for several years, but was finally brought out and sandwiched a few months ago.  I decided to hand quilt this - big stitch quilting - very haphazardly with no plan in mind.  I'm happy enough with the quilting, which I did finish before Christmas as planned.  And it was easy to do while watching telly.

Finished size:  64.5" x  74.5" (1.65 x 1.9m).  Fabrics: Moda jelly roll (designer unknown, sorry).  Machine pieced and hand quilted.  

I have spent some time this January, going through some of the WIPs and UFOs in my sewing room, and working out what order I will do them in, and what I need to do to finish them off.  And making a list of what I would like to work on.  Some of the time has also been spent on working on scrap fabrics - ironing them, and then cutting into suitable sized pieces ready for other projects.  2 1/2" strips are first, and then 10" squares, followed by lots of smaller sizes.  Of course, I don't always get many pieces from the scrap fabric; it does depend on the size of it.  Strips narrower than 2 1/2" go in my strings box for QAYG blocks.  

I've worked pretty much full time for the last month, and with socialising etc., have had little time in the sewing room, until yesterday.   I worked on some more QAYG blocks - in blues since that seems to be the most common colour in my strings box.  I will just keep on working on these until I can see an actual dent in my strings box, which hasn't happened yet.  

My night-time hand sewing for the next little while will be some EPP, working on Sue Daley's Quatro Quilt.  I did a bit of it in 2019 but then packed it away since I was supposed to be away for 2020.  Now it is out again and I'm slowly working on it.  It is definitely a long term project - and I may get sick of it after a while and put it away again.  

Here are the blocks I've sewn together so far, on my design wall.  

I thought about making a New Year's resolution to try very hard to not start a new project, until I've completed at least five of the unfinished projects I have.  But then I thought, that's not going to happen, so why set myself up for failure!?  I will try to work on UFOs, but no promises.  That way, if I do finish off one or more UFOs languishing in the sewing room, it will be a great achievement.

One very important sewing job I undertook over the Christmas period was the major surgery needed by my granddaughter's favourite bedtime teddy, Lavender Bear.  LB was intended to be a heatpack so was filled with wheat, therefore not conducive to a good wash.  LB had to be gutted, washed and then refilled with polyester stuffing.  She came up very well after the operation, as you can see.  

             

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.