January progress

 The first couple of weeks of January I spent catching up with Allietare! (click for information on the button to the left).  I chose to make a slightly smaller version than the official one  but after the reveal on 1 January discovered I hadn't made enough; now I'm making the setting triangles. I posted here about not having a suitable grey, but fortunately managed to pick it up the following day. I thought I had a photo on my phone, but I haven't got even one photo of the completed blocks. I'll remedy that soon when I'm ready to start joining the rows.

On 1 January I started with the Quilty 365 project which I had read about in November in  blog post from Deb. This project is being organised by Audrey at Quilty Folk and you can read about it here.
I decided then to wait and start symbolically in the New Year and to appliqué each circle using the needle-turn technique. This is a technique I'd never tried before, but after some You Tube tuition I felt confident enough to start! The first block took me 3 hours! Number 31 took 55 minutes! We're moving in the right direction! I really like the result so far.

January's blocks in chronological order, which will probably not be the final order.

At the start I thought I'd make the circles larger on "special" days; the first two (1 and 2 January) are larger circles: one for New Year, and one for my youngest Grandson's birthday.
At first I just picked matching pieces of roughly the right size from the scrap bin, but after about 10 days decided:

• to cut some solid squares in different colours to make the daily choosing-ritual easier (and faster!),
• to glue the circles with a smear of Sew Line glue in the centre,
• to alternate light and dark backgrounds in the final layout (medium backgrounds will count as light or dark, depending on their neighbours),
• and to experiment with colour.

My favourite block is number 15 (middle of the left-hand column): two purple fabrics joined in a curve on the machine, WITHOUT pins!!! You can probably imagine my surprise when it laid flat immediately! I learnt to do this from Leanne's video on sewing Drunkard's path blocks. It's brilliant!

As if this wasn't enough of a new project in January, I've also joined the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters (button on the right). This group has been going for about six months, so I'm a late starter, but have read up on improvised quilting on the sites of Kaya and Ann. Although I haven't started an improv project, I think the following three blocks could count as improv piecing.

As I'm not sure where the whole Quilty 365 project is going, maybe the whole project can be called "improv" too.

In total contrast to improvised patchwork I joined a club at my local quilt shop to make the blocks of the "Farmer's Wife 1930's sampler quilt". This is old style precision cutting and sewing, although I'm experimenting with colour here again.

top row: November, 2nd row: December (still 3 blocks to do), 3rd row: January (but it's not over yet!)

We are adding setting triangles and quilting as we  go, in theory. Everyone else is, so I shall have to cut the backing, wadding and setting triangles soon! I have until Tuesday week to fill these rows!

I'm linking up to:

    

Happy sewing

Marly.

RSC 16 January is Blue

Angela at soscrappy is hosting the Rainbow Scrap Challenge once again; to read more about it click here. This month the colour is blue and Angela has posted the pattern for twinkle stars.  This year I have decided not to make the sampler quilt but to make friendship stars, and bear's paws. So far there are no new friendship stars, but I hope to make time for a few this week.

This week one bear only flew briefly to my ninth floor balcony and left two paw prints:

6" Bear's Paw blocks

Unfortunately one of the blues is so dark it 's hardly discernible next to the black. I hope it's not going to be a problem when mixed among all the other colours. I found the pattern on Instagram  at @hoosiertoni, following a link from Jessica at Quilty Habit.

Most of my sewing time this month has been spent on the Bonnie Hunter mystery Allietare! with the Bear's paws as leaders and enders. All my mystery blocks are finished, and I'm working on the setting triangles. When that's finished I'll start quilting the rows of the RSC 15 sampler quilt.

To see other sewers blue progress click in this button:

 

Happy sewing

Marly.

FAL 2016 Q1 proposed finishes

 

Having completed only two of my 2015 Q4 proposed finishes most of that list is back!

1.  So Together Bag

photo from Sew Demented's pattern

This handy bag designed by Sew Demented, and available from Craftsy has been on my list for the last year, and really must be done this quarter. I have had so many ideas on how to decorate this that it's just not materialising. This could contain my first go at improvisation, or maybe I'll just keep it simple.

2.  Drunkard's Path Poinsettias

Poinsettias table topper, 36" square: pattern by Ann Deister at SprinLeaf Studio

This still needs wadding and backing and of course quilting. It's for Christmas though, so no hurry, right? I've decided it needs to be quilted by hand so who knows where it will be at on 1 April!

3.  Crazy Quilting Course 101

In the online crazy quilting course given by Kathy Shaw at Shawkl Designs  I got stuck on one of the assignments in October and have done nothing since, but I need to do something about that. Hopefully once over this hurdle I'll be able to finish by 1 April.

4.  RSC15 Sampler

RSC 15 Sampler: Starry, Starry Night. The blocks are now all finished and joined in rows. Pattern and layout from Angela at Soscrappy

Finally, I shall also be working on my RSC15 Sampler quilt, but I doubt whether that will be even half finished before April. I shall be quilting the rows and then joining them QAYG style with sashing on the back. I still have to buy wadding and backing.

I'm connecting to

click on image for link

care of Archie the Wonder Dog. Hop over there and he'll show you what other handwork projects handy people aim to have finished in the coming quarter.

Happy sewing

Marly.