Wednesday 28 December 2016

A non-progress progress report

No progress this week at all. All sewing ground to a halt as we cleaned up for company. That has been an issue with the sewing set up at this new place. My sewing has been spread over several locations, cutting one room, ironing another and sewing machines in a couple other places. Then when we are having some one over, it all has to get cleared out of the living/dining room.

That creative mess I showed you a couple posts ago has turned into this: 2016-12-23 13.14.02
(The artfully draped quilt top is covering the Janome that I left set up) .
All ready to light the Hannukah candles.
And no prospect of a speedy return to sewing chaos until after  New Years. 
But then it will be a whole different chaos as we turn into true empty nesters. Our son is moving out to share an apartment with out daughter. They picked up the keys today and started the move. Most of the big bulky stuff went today ( beds, bureau, bookcases), another load tomorrow.  This is an exciting step for them and for us. Our son has been quite the homebody so seeing him step up and make the big decision to move out is monumental.
Meanwhile, I am claiming the room he moves out of to set up everything all together, sewing, ironing, cutting , just like I used to have. Then I can settle down and do some sewing.
I did have some progress to report last week but never got the post written. Got the borders on this top.

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Linking up with Jo at the Country Junction

Monday 19 December 2016

Monday Link UP

Friday was the perfect day to snuggle up with a sewing machine and make some tri-rec’s. Not only because it was clue day, it was also a snow day. And I had a head start with a stack of neutral wedges leftover from the previous clue.
More cutting was required for the sides of course. And a trip out to the fabric shed for more purples. Fortunately my hubby had shoveled out in front of the door so I could get it open.

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Here’s my shed, it’s the one on the right, the left is my hubby’s woodworking stuff. On the side facing away from this picture we have giant quilt blocks my hubby made.
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And here’s a picture of my block back when he was painting it. I thought I had one of it up on the shed but can’t find it right now.

I don’t have much out there because it isn’t finished but I did use the table there for some cutting back in September and a lot of the fabric stayed.  Things are still in transition around here and haven’t settled down with a defined sewing area, pretty much spread out all over.
but, I did find the purple I wanted, got the side wedges cut and started sewing.  Now to link up with the Quiltvillians
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Wednesday 14 December 2016

UFO update

An unsuccessful week on the UFOs. Did not get any borders on the string star quilt. I did a fair bit of sewing but most of it was four patches for the mystery and more four patches for a sew-along.
I did find the fabric I wanted for the outer border but now having second thoughts about the inner border. I had wanted blue but looking at them together I’m thinking more towards a brown.
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Or maybe a dark red, or violet.

Fun fabric though. I think they are lace making bobbins. It came with a bunch of stuff given to me two years ago and I haven’t found anything to do with it. I think she was going to use it as a border because it is long, narrow strips of fabric.
I worked on another border for a mystery I took part in back in September. Almost done but need another piece of fabric which is currently out in my shed and means getting geared up to go out in the snow to cut more of it. So I’m just sitting and sewing four patches.



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Lots and lots of four patches. So much so, that I have spread out all over the dining room.

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Linking up with Jo at the Country Junction to see what everyone is doing this week.

Monday 12 December 2016

On Time and On Track

That’s my mission this week. To have my post ready on Monday for the link up with Bonnie at Quiltville and to have my clues on track.
Despite a busy, busy weekend I have managed to get a good start on Clue 3 plus finish off Clue 1.  So can call this a mission success.  A big help was the pile of purple that was sitting in my 2 inch bin. Back when I started doing Bonnie’s mysteries I didn’t have the scrap users system in place and would be forced to cut from yardage ( or fat quarters) on every clue.  Now when she says 2 inch or 2.5 or even 1.5, I can pull out a bin of strips and be off to the machine in no time at all.  An even bigger help this time was the mystery I was working  on back in September that used both dark purple and lavender which had caused me to increase my stash of those colours.
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No idea how many I have done to this point, I think about 30. This are ready to get pressed and counted in to stacks of ten.

And happy to report that all of Clue Two are present and accounted for.


Now off to link up while it is still Monday, Whoop Whoop
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Thursday 8 December 2016

On-going border skirmishes


I did get a UFO completed this week, up to the point of needing a border.  Now a search of the stash to find something suitable.
This wasn’t a Bonnie Hunter pattern, wasn’t even a pattern at all that I know. This was a block exchange with a Facebook quilting group where we all made one of the blocks picked for the month then at the end of the month, names were drawn to receive the blocks. I was lucky enough to win last November’s draw and have been trying to put them together. A big part of it was deciding how to sash them. I didn't want to take attention away from the blocks with a distracting sashing. So I just used 1.5 inch strips of neutrals with a corner stone of a strip fabric to try and mimic the strips of the string blocks. I got them mostly webbed together before the move and they have been stashed away in a box ever since.
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Which, given how beautiful they all are was a terrible place for them. So while we were doing UFO's I decided to pull this one out and finish it up.  I was thinking about a skinny dark blue and then a wider neutral to finish it off but am still pondering it.
  It needs something to tame the edges before I try and quilt. These are stars made of 3.5 inch string blocks, so the edge of the block is made of of dozens of seams. Doing this as an exchange was a wonderful idea. There are so many different types of fabrics in there, I could never have duplicated the effect.
I did get more done on the En Provence Mystery. Even finished Clue Two. But didn’t get a post written Monday and decided not to try and add one later.
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Here’s my clue two in all it’s yumminess. Love this fabric. Good thing, I have lots of it left over.
Linking up with Jo to report my UFO progress and see what’s up at the Junction