Soy Amado/a blocks

My machine and I are still struggling to spend quality time together, but she was in pretty good form when we finally caught up with each other today :-) We quilted up these blocks for Alison lickety-split.

Some of the other lovelies in our Monday Modern group also made blocks, so now I have a whole bright and cheerful pile to send.

In other news, I am about to start a new project which I have nicknamed in my head 'biting off more than I can chew'. Yes, that is 4 zips you can see...

Gypsy Wife {progress}

I'm so ridiculously chuffed that I have finished both my February blocks (late) and my March blocks (early). Given my inability to BOM/QAL with any project at all to date, it is feeling like a major achievement :-) Without further ado, *drum roll* .... I present you with 'February'!

The big block for March was a bit challenging. Some bad words might have been uttered - I shall neither confirm nor deny. This is officially called Pershing. In my head it had several alternative names. Even though I sewed very slowly and carefully, I still had to fiddle around and unpick. It mostly worked - the problem with the brown will disappear when I sew the blocks together and I'm just going to live with the space between the polka dots and green.

And here are all the March blocks together.

Yes, I know. I deserve a drink, but its way too early in the day for that so I'll make do with chocolate.

I love that this pattern forces you to give in to the mystery of a scrappy approach. I have no idea how it will look when all the parts are finally put together and I don't know if I'll be able to keep my fingers crossed the whole remaining 11 months of the QAL,  so I have already decided that I will like it. No. Matter. What.

Cat quilt {finished}

I managed to get home early yesterday so I could get a photo of my little cat quilt in daylight (and ahead of Cyclone Lusi which has made for a wet and windy Saturday here in Auckland).

I'm taking advantage of the inclement weather today to stay indoors and catch up on February's Gypsy Wife blocks. February involves quite a few pinwheels including some cute little ones.

Right, back to it. If I play my cards right, I might even get to make a start on the March blocks.

Cat quilt progress

Cat quilt - not such an original name I guess for this little mini-quilt destined for my new office! I was regretting using the Essex linen in this project because it is darker than I wanted and also with all the little seams was proving to be a bit of a nuisance to press.

However the combination of my new go-to wavy line quilting and a light grey thread has given it some light and life. It also has the added bonus of making the unintentional wavy seam lines less noticeable. Just the binding to go ...

Linking up over at Freshly Pieced today :-)

Making Starburst

This quilt challenged me to find my inner scrappy. There was angst and re-makes:

And angst and out-takes (not all of this squad made the final team):

Strategies to ensure that randomness happened:

Quite a lot of pressing in very warm summer conditions:

And lots of holding my breath as it started to come together. Will I like it? Will I like it?

The final verdict? Yes, I like it :-)

I had it quilted by longarmer Carol Fearon. She ditched the blocks and outlined the stars and did a nice little square zig-zag round the border. It is lovely and soft - just need some cooler weather now in order to enjoy the fruits of my labour :-)

Cats and mice

My work-craft balance isn't exactly as I would like it just now. I'm hoping that once I get a few more weeks in my new job under my belt that situation will right itself. However, despite the odds, I have managed to get a little sewing done over the last couple of weeks and I notice I have a bit of a cat and mice theme going on.

My catvent mini quilt 12/16 complete (that would be 3/4 right?)

Lizzy House mice for our Monday Modern block lotto

And here is Coco having a well deserved rest *snort* after bringing a mouse in this morning that we both chased around the lounge for some time. Fortunately I was able to rescue it much to a certain cat's disgust.