New projects

After the Gypsy Wife event which seemed to go on and on, I wanted to start a new project that was quick. I have a few long term projects on the go and this is not really fueling my desire to see something finished :-)

Introducing my new quick project. I bought a bundle of Cotton and Steel recently, not so much as result of the C&S hype, but more because I really liked the combination of sandy colours and greens. There was some navy in the bundle which I thought would be quite good used as an accent of some sort. Film in the Fridge's Flying Farfalle quilt popped into my mind so I set about to trial it.

I like it so far! I will see how it goes, but I did wonder if the navy might make it a bit too sombre. I have a plan if that seems to be the case  :-)

I've also made a start on Judy's Dilly bag. I love the name, I have an aunt Judy who we always tease for being unable to go anywhere at all without several dilly bags.

Gypsy Wife {a finished top}

An extra day as part of the weekend sure does come in handy for sewing. I think we should have them permanently! My goal was to get Gypsy Wife finished and I can happily report I met my goal!

It's very satisfying having this one finished. I'm going to put it away for a while now and think about plans for quilting.

Ginger Crush BOM progress

I have been working away at my Ginger Crush BOM since it began in August last year. I have just completed block #6 so I guess that means I'm about half way there. Surprisingly I have managed to keep up so far! The blocks are quite low volume - I think the whole thing will lend itself very nicely to some chunky hand quilting when its done.

Meanwhile progress on my Gypsy Wife continues at a slow but steady pace...

Gypsy Wife {Progress}

Because I put Gypsy Wife on my 1st quarter FAL list, I  thought I better stop procrastinating and tackle section 6. There are lots of blocks in this section and lots of concentrating to get the engineering right! One block I had made didn't seem to be the right size so I pinched one from my 'extras' pile.

This is about 2/3rds of the quilt in my estimation, so I think I'm over the hump! 

I decided I needed some sort of 'design wall' for working on Gypsy Wife that wasn't the floor - there are so many parts to line up correctly and I didn't want to have to keep packing it all away. I finally stapled some batting up behind the laundry door. It's not perfect, but it does the job!

Quilt Symposium Manawatu

I've never been to Quilt Symposium so I wasn't sure what to expect when I got up at 5.30am to fly to Palmerston North on Saturday morning. I have to confess to an interior monologue that run along the lines of 'it better be worth it' in grumbling tones - I'm definitely not a morning person. However, it turned out to be a fun day and definitely worth it. Firstly, I felt really young there and that's always a good thing once you reach a certain age :-). I got to the exhibition where there were some stunning quilts on display, and I took a class and learnt a new technique. It was very well organised and everyone was very friendly so it earns a big thumbs up from me!

Some exhibition highlights (marred by very average phone photographs):
Lest we Forget by Fay McGregor of Wellington. Wool blanket and 100 poppies to commemorate WW1.

Off the Floor #1 by Gael O'Donnell of Carterton

Keeping up with the Joneses by Anne Read of Wellington - a nod to the influence of social media on her fabric purchasing habits!



Strata class:
I did a class called 'Strata' with Brenda Gael Smith. This was a lot of fun. I learnt to cut curves freehand and a pinless method of sewing curved pieces together. Woo hoo. I can't wait to finish making these blocks and start playing with the layout.

2015 Finish-along Q1 list

Like many quilters out there I'm great at starting projects but a little underwhelming when it comes to finishing. In the interests of improving my performance in this area I'm joining the 2015 Finish-along hosted this year by Adrianne from On the Windy Side. I'm going to keep my goals modest to improve my chances of success!

1. Finish piecing Gypsy Wife

This is my main goal because it takes me so darn long to put even the smallest part  together!

2. Adrianne's Stars

The backing fabric for this turned up today in the post. My aim is to get this layered up and then begin hand quilting it. I will need the weather to turn cooler before too much hand quilting takes place but I don't want to jinx the gorgeous summer we are having.

I'm tempted to add more to the list but realistically if I get both these done in the busy months ahead I will be over the moon (and you can be sure that I will start more projects that are not even on any list yet!)

Welcome 2015

Happy New Year quilty friends! I hope you are enjoying the holiday season with friends, family, and possibly your sewing machine :-)

I have spent some quality time with  my sewing machine in between lots of eating (seasonal hazard). Some of us from Monday Modern are going to work through the Moda Building blocks this year. I doubt whether I will do them all, but we agreed to start with number 1 which I really like.

I also finished making stars so that I could put this little quilt top together. Because I used Adrianne's tutorial for the star block, I have dubbed this quilt Adrianne Stars. 

Hope you are finding time to do what you enjoy too!