WIP Wednesday - the quality control team

Every quilter needs a quality control team. Diligent testers who will monitor the process from the purchase of fabric right through to the ongoing suitability of the quilt for its intended purpose.

These boys are my sewing room quality control team - Flash and Bolt. No fabric is left unfurred. All finished quilts are laid upon on a regular basis.

And while I am quilting my latest project - which is actually not from lately at all, but rather an unfinished quilt top from about 9 years ago. It's an Improved Nine Patch in 1930s reproductions from an Aunt Grace anniversary collection.

I'm not sure why I held off on this project so long. At first I thought I wanted it hand quilted, then I realised I just don't get time to hand quilt these days. I decided to stipple it because with all those curves the piecing isn't perfect so I wanted a forgiving pattern. I am a little nervous about the scalloped binding... maybe that's why I've been putting it off.

The boys are carefully checking it's suitable for fighting on, washing on and ignoring each other on.

Bolt is also inspecting my quilting progress and ensuring it stays where I leave it between quilting sessions.

Do you have any little helpers in your sewing room?

Linking up with WIP Wednesday.

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A Tetris TGIFF

Call me old school, but I loved Tetris back in the day. Such a great, simple game. So of course, when I saw this Tetris quilt along with Melissa at Happy Quilting, I had to play along.

It was serendipitous as I'd just participated in a rainbow charm square swap and I knew I was about to get back four sets of rainbow charms, the absolute perfect number for this quilt. I don't normally work with charms, but I was very pleased with how quickly it came together. 

For the first few weeks I didn't have the fabric, so I just played along with my coloured pencils, designing as I went. Then I got my fabric and got mostly caught up. But then pesky life got in the way and this quilt sat on the backburner for a little while. I managed to finish piecing it a few weeks ago and last weekend I sat down and quilted it. 

I opted for straight line quilting around each 'piece' to accentuate the tetris shapes. I also opted for a simple black border and backing, and for the first time ever I bound it using the backing fabric - easy peasy lemon squeezy!

My first quilt crossed off the 100 Day Hustle list!

This quilt is destined for the spare bed cat's day bed in our study - an apt place for a computer themed quilt, I think.

Linking up with TGIFF. 

And Finish it up Friday at  Crazy Mom Quilts

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WIP Wednesday - The BOM Bonanza

I am excited that I'm almost totally caught up with block of the month quilts. I've been doing the Blogger BOM and the Craftsy BOM and both of them finish with the block making side this month. I was a couple of months behind, so this week I've made three Blogger blocks and five Craftsy blocks (still have one to go).

Blogger BOM, in cool scraps.

Craftsy BOM in Hoopla by Moda

This means that when the setting/ quilt top construction details come up next month, I'll be ready to go! Yay!
I'm not sure how I feel about BOM quilts, I have learnt a lot doing these, but I don't really like having projects on the go for so long with fabric in reserve for them. Maybe I'll feel differently when I get my WIPs under control.

I am feeling a little better about the epic WIP list (thanks for the reassuring comments, good to know I'm not alone!), and I just plan on taking it one baby step at a time. What more can I do, right? I might start laundry listing them in future WIP Wednesdays, if that's not too scary!

I recently signed up for a polaroid block swap, totally a 'all the other girls are doing it' moment, because I need another I-Spy quilt like a hole in the head, but the blocks are sooooo darn cute! I've decided to make a little wallhanging when I get the blocks back and donate it to the preschool where I work as a raffle quilt.It's good to have a potential home for that one.

And I've been working on a rainbow/low volume scrap quilt for a while now with no particular purpose in mind, but I'm desperate for a quilted chair in my sewing room (because everyone needs one of them, right?)  and I have the perfect chair for the job... sounds like a match made in heaven!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

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I Don't Want To Be That Girl Anymore

I am a non-finisher. I am easily distracted. I have way too many UFOs and WIPs. And I don't want to play like that anymore!

I might joke about having Quilter's ADHD, but to be honest, I really wouldn't be surprised if I had some level of honest-to-God ADHD. I know I've always struggled with procrastinating and finishing things, because I have the letter my 5th grade teacher sent my mum on the subject.

So I've been having a super productive few days - I finished quilting and binding a quilt, I got 10 bee and BOM blocks done, I sorted some more scraps.... and then I look at my project list to move the finished quilt and I realise I still have an immense number of half finished projects in progress. I stared at that list and wondered where the heck I even start. It wasn't fun.

I have to say, I am really glad I am being motivated by the 100-Day Hustle. We're at day 10 today and I'm doing alright. I can tick off one of the five quilts I wanted to have quilted and bound, at least. I added keeping up with bee blocks to my hustle list and I am happy to say I am mostly caught up. While I have added my mum's quilt to the list, I am very easily resisting any quiltalongs or new projects I am seeing online. 

One thing about machine quilting is that it gives you plenty of thinking time. While I was quilting, I was pondering my creative goals for the next year. I know I want to get everything that's hanging over my head finished ASAP, and then start fresh, one or two projects at a time. I don't want to be the girl with a million WIPs. I have to-do lists in every other aspect of my life, I don't want it for my creative outlet. 

I did start (and finish!) a quick little project today before I started block sewing - a new heat pack. I saw this cute one over at Pomegranate Quilts and thought she was just genius to make a heat pack you could tie on - certainly easier than trying to balance it when you get off the couch to raid the fridge for chocolate. It was a very quick project, and since I woke up with quite a headache this morning I have put it to good use already today. 

I really want to free up my sewing time so I can make more useful little things like this without feeling guilty I'm not tackling that to-do list. 

Do you ever get like this with your WIPs? Does your creative life ever become a chore when the to do list gets too much?

Jane xx

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Guest Posting On Sew Together and Sunday Stash

I'm excited to be guest posting today at Sew Together, where they have a cute little series happening about our best friends in the sewing room. Mine is my super organised fabric stash. It's lovely to be over at Sew Together today, Caroline is my very best high school friend and it was her mum's influence that got me into quilting in the first place. Caroline and her sister Maryanne are both amazing sewists and their children's wardrobes are full of some of their incredible creations!

In Sunday Stash news, this parcel of goodness arrived from Sew Lux Fabrics ealier this week. How awesome is this packaging? I felt like I was opening a birthday present!

Inside were some Essential Dots...

Some Liz Scott Domestic Bliss...

And a stash building bunch - I can see a grey quilt in my future and I adore the rainbow Riley Blake chevrons!

 The above package was ordered prior to my fabric buying freeze, but a couple of new additions to the stash did slip in this week - the Denyse Schmidt print was a remnant so only $4 a metre, and the brown flowers were a present from Fiona. I am collecting browns at the moment, I think there may be a brown quilt in my future too.

Here's another shot of the Domestic Bliss bundle and some pretties I pulled from my stash to go with it. I bought this one on impulse and I love it waaaaaay more than I expected to. The colours are rich and delicious and I'm looking forward to doing something with this. In my post at Sew Together, I talk about having lots of very versatile fabrics in my stash, this is the perfect example of that - the fabrics on the right are from a variety of ranges but the colours go beautifully with the Domestic Bliss. I find that mixing fabrics like this is more interesting than using a single line of fabrics.

And truth is, I love pulling fabrics for a new project. Mixing and matching fabrics is one of my favourite parts of the quilting process. In fact, if I won the lottery, I might just invest in a ton of great fabrics and some personal sewists so I could put together bundles of fabric all day...

Linking up to Sunday Stash, which is visiting Kristy today.

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TGIFF - Quilters ADHD

This week, my lovely friend Kristy at Quiet Play is hosting TGIFF. I've had a week off, so I was hoping for a nice, substantial finish to link up. Instead, I've had a chronic case of quilter's ADHD....

I have a bunch of fabric boxes half cut out. I have vintage sheet fat quarters half cut. I have stuff all over the sewing table. I have a zillion quilt block obligations still to do. This is not a productive way to work!!

I do, fortunately, have a few small finishes.

My September block for Quilting Block Swaps Australia  - in by the skin of my teeth for September. Somehow, I managed to stuff a Log Cabin. I don't know quite how it happened, but this block was wonkier than a donkey. Damn! So I tracked back to the first source of trouble, unpicked, and fixed it. Then I trimmed the second source of trouble so it played the way it should. And I eventually had a workable block I was happy to send out.

I also finished my blocks for our very first round of the Wombat Stew Paper Piecing Bee. Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts is currently living in Japan, so asked for Japanese cuisine themed blocks. Thankfully for us, we've got Kristy working as our resident pattern designer - I can paper piece, but I wouldn't even begin to know where to start designing a block myself. Thankfully Kristy very graciously turns all our ideas into patterns. And luckily for you, she's going to be putting some of these patterns into her paper piecing shop! So if you feel inclined to have a cup of chopsticks of your very own, you can!

I did make good progress on my last bee block for September, our Quilt Club Aust Bee block. Jodie asked for a strippy Lone Star and word was that it was a very tricky block. But so far, the stripping of the diamonds has been fine. I'm supposing she's going to want something in between though.... at least I've started though!

Finally, I saw these genius quilt row markers here and thought they were an awesome idea. A bit of an upgrade from masking tape, which was an upgrade on scraps of paper. So I made some of those too - now all I need is a quilt to put together so I can use them!

Hope your week's been productive! Linking up to TGIFF here.

Jane xx

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Pin it to Win it

I don't normally do the back-to-back post thing, but I just wanted to share this fabulous contest idea - Randi from Fresh Squeezed Fabrics is hosting this awesome contest where you pick one her fat quarter bundles and pin it, if you get as many pins as its dollar value, it's yours free! How awesome is that? Like I need another excuse to trawl Pinterest endlessly!

You can get the full details on her blog.

This is what I chose to pin - Modern by Robin Zingone. This is the designer those awesome hexies in my previous post are by, I think she's going to become one of my favourites!



If you would be so kind as to repin my pin, I'd really appreciate it. Here it is! And of course, I'd be happy to return the favour, just let me know the way to your pin in the comments.

Happy pinning!

Jane xx

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