The end of 100 days at #48

I have enjoyed my self-set 100 day project. It achieved what I wanted - a reboot of my interest in sewing. Last year I found it hard to get to my machine or to really want to be making anything.

The little project that involved setting aside some time each day to make something simple without the usual constraints was fun. However, over the last week or so, I realised that other projects were rapidly forming in my mind. My wanting to sew was back! I also started to think about how I might like to put the blocks together, and decided that I wanted to sash them. A 6x8 grid seems like a nice proportion and will be a good sized lap quilt once I've added sashing. So at #48, I have called a halt to production.

I found myself working across several days on a particular theme, making two, three or four variations of a shape I was enjoying.

With other blocks, I had an idea in mind and made the block I planned (on the right below). At other times my quilt math ability was on holiday and I ended up with some interesting improvisation in order to make use of the mis-sized pieces. 

Now to decide on a neutral solid for the sashing. 

Tree making

I spent some time over the weekend making a test tree from the pattern Painted Forest by Blue Nickel Studios. Some of you might be familiar with the many lovely versions of this pattern that are on IG:

I have in mind a vague idea of a wall hanging that I want to make which only needs one of these trees in it. I couldn't quite visualise the dimensions of it, so used a bunch of scraps to make this:

This tree is fourth from the left in the top row of the pattern. Although I was just using scraps from my scrap bin, not worrying too much about the overall effect, I can see a few things I would prefer to do differently next time.

• The branches and stems are probably best in a solid fabric, or something that reads as nearly solid, they get a bit lost in my version.

• A smaller scale print probably works best for the 'leaves'. In the pattern and the versions I have seen, the forest idea is clear because there are so many trees included, but I think I will go for a bit more contrast between tree and background. 

So overall, a worthwhile experiment I think.

Miami Vice {A finished quilt}

I checked back to see when I started this quilt, it looks to me like I pieced the top in March 2013. Yikes!

It has been sitting in a cupboard, all folded up, in a quilt sandwich since sometime in 2013. I think what happened is that I started quilting it in straight lines with some variegated thread, and wasn't that thrilled with either the thread, or my not-so-straight lines.

Fast-forward a couple of years (we won't count exactly how many) and I am way less of a perfectionist. Now, I am satisfied with just getting things finished.

I'm actually really pleased with how it looks. It's been a while since I worked with solids and I like the effectiveness of the simple piecing. I used Oakshott shot cottons - I'm pretty sure I bought a bundle of F8s. The Anna Maria Horner fabric on the back is perfect, and so too is the much more recent Carolyn Friedlander Doe fabric I used for the binding.

The variegated thread is really silky, so my machine loved it. It gives quite a subtle effect - you really have to be looking to notice it. Goodness, why did it take me so long to figure all that out?