Saturday 2 January 2021

Shoo Fly Blue is finished, ... and a goal for January

 Happy New Year everyone!

I hope we will soon have shooed the covid pandemic into submission, and that the world has become a safer place.

My one monthly goal for December at Elm Street Quilts was to finish my Shoo Fly Blue quilt. Unfortunately I didn't finish completely, but stopped at 23:50 h. on New Years Eve.

The situation at 23:50 h on 31/12/2020! So near and yet so far!

Yesterday another 30 minutes had the last yard of binding sewn down, and finished. It is now labelled, quilted and bound! And even washed!

 

It measures 49" square, and is made from scraps in response to Bonnie Hunter's Leaders and Enders Challenge 2019-2020. The sashing, triangles and binding fabric is Stof, basic in blue.

For the Quilting I was greatly helped by the tips given in two books I bought recently: 

  • Stitching Pathways by Wendy Sheppard and 
  • 25 Days to Better Machine Quilting by Lori Kennedy

From the first I learnt the importance of stopping frequently to look round and decide which direction to go next, and from the second good hand positions, and why.  I'd seen how to position the fingers on the quilt before, but no-one had ever given a reason, so I never fixed it in my memory. There is much more in both books; I still have to work through them thoroughly, and am looking forward to more improvement.     

For January my goal is to sort through my boxes of UFO's and make a plan of action for them. Some pieces will be destined to be finished as originally planned, and some to be repurposed. I am still resolved to start nothing new this year, until I've had UFO -> WIP -> FINISHED + empty boxes!

In addition, as my quilting goal for January, I hope to finish making the blocks of the bead curtain throw I was making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge last year. I have to go back to some of the colours as my scrap bins didn't have enough to make more blocks in the relevant months. With any luck I'll get them sewn into a top, complete with setting triangles. 

I'm linking to:

Quilting is more fun than Housework    Elm Street Quilts       

    

Click on the buttons to see more works in progress.

Stay healthy and safe.

Happy sewing 

Marly.

14 comments:

Chantal said...

Congratulations! You might not have it done in time for the December Goal's but it sure is a great way to start a new year. It's a gorgeous finish too. All the best to you in 2021. Cheers! ;^)

Rebecca Grace said...

Your Shoo Fly finish is beautiful, Marly! I loved seeing those authors' names. Lori Kennedy and Wendy Sheppard were two of the first quilting bloggers I discovered and yes, I learned so much from both of them. :-).

PaintedThread said...

Oh, so close! It looks great. I love Lori Kennedy's quilting ideas. Congrats on the finish!

Mystic Quilter said...

Congratulations Marly on your finish - even though you had to stop before midnight and spend a little time on 1st January, that doesn't matter better to do that than feel pressured to beat the clock. Happy New Year to you.

Vireya said...

Congratulations on the gorgeous finish! Your quilting looks very professional.

Best wishes for 2012, and for your monthly goal for January.

Sylvia@Treadlestitches said...

Congratulations on your beautiful shoofly quilt! I love the vine and leaf quilting on the outside border. Good luck with the UFOs!

scraphappy said...

Congratulations on a huge finish. It is lovely. Best of luck crossing more projects of the list in the new year.

maggie fellow said...

really great quilt - I haven't made anything with my shoofly blocks

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Lovely scrappy finish. I think this quilt wanted to be associated with the new year, not the old :)

Thanks for sharing it with Oh Scrap!

gayle said...

I LOVE your shoofly quilt! What a beauty!

Andee Neff said...

That Shoofly quilt is gorgeous! Nice work. Good resolve on the UFO's..I worked on mine for a few years and now I only have four! I plan to get to them this year. I do not like have too much sit for too long!

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

What a lovely finished quilt! I love your resolution to finish quilts this year ;)
Thanks for sharing!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Congratulations on a beautiful finish, Marly!

Janis said...

I love the blue background that you chose for your blocks - it really brings them all together into a beautiful unified piece. Congratulations on your finish!