One Monthly Goal July: reached!

My monthly goal for July was to quilt and bind this ill-fated quilt. this was also my second goal for the Finish Along Q3.

It wasn't finished in May, as I'd hoped, nor in June, because the machine spent most of the time with the dealer.

The Bernina Stitch Regulator (BSR) is now working as it should, but somewhat temperamentally. It's weak spot is definitely the plug with which it is attached to the machine, requiring additional care and attention. Anyway, at the eleventh hour I have succeeded in getting it quilted and bound!

 I quilted mostly with a large meander, except for the elongated magenta stars which all have the same quilting motif, and the blocks with yellow squares which all have a spiral in the centre surrounded by spiky petals inspired by sunflowers.

I still have to  bury the threads, and there are an awful lot of them from when the BSR developed a mind of its own and was running on the spot! I'll do that this evening - technically still July.


The top is made of scraps from my stash and the backing is a Bernatex basic weave, with a row of blocks made from pieces of the top that weren't used.

One last view. I'm always amazed at how Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts come together and all the secondary elements that then become visible.

 

Happy sewing

Marly.

Finish Along list 2018 Q3

I didn't finish anything in the second quarter, mainly because my sewing machine was out of commission from the beginning of May until the middle of June.

So here is my list for the third quarter:

1.  En Provence (Quiltville mystery 2016-2017)
   
   The quilting was just a little more than half done when my machine malfunctioned, now I have it back and hope to have a quilting day tomorrow.
2. Play Pen mat. I went with the parents to buy the fabric on Saturday. They have settled on the colours and the type of design. D-day is in December but I would be happy to have it finished by the beginning of October. 
3. Knitting Memory Keeper's Shawl: pattern by Paulina Karru (Linaknits.com, Ravelry). I started last week and it's a great project to do while listening to the television or sitting outside on my balcony. This is scrappy knitting! At the current rate it will be finished well before October.

Only three proposed finishes; all my other projects are BOMs etc, and not scheduled to be finished before the end of the year.

I wish everyone a productive quarter. Mine can't be any worse than the last!

 I'm linking up to:

 Click on the button above to see more proposed finishes.

Happy sewing

Marly.

July: one monthly goal

This is beginning to get tedious, but my goal for July is the same as for May!

To finish my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2016-17 Mystery Quilt, "En Provence" which I had to stop quilting during the second week of May because my machine was playing up! Since then it's been back to the dealer twice, and I've been on holiday.

My machine is now back from the dealer who replaced the BSR section of the machine's wiring. The fault has been ascertained: the wiring in the BSR foot itself. We are now trying to convince Bernina that it was faulty within the guarantee period, even though their technician failed to find anything 2 years after purchase. Rewiring the foot is impossible so the choice is: buy a new one (about €600.-) or learn to quilt with the darning foot (like thousands of others.) The dealer gave me some hints about positioning the BSR plug to give the fewest problems, but I still have to try it.

Now I'm all set to go again!

I'm linking to

just click on the button to see more July goals from other quilters.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Quilting "En Provence": problems!

Finally I started quilting my version of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt well over a year after I finished piecing the top. I really love this quilt whose colours remind me of La Provence district of France. 

Layering and starting quilting was my One Monthly Goal for May which I posted about here.

Well, that was done in the first week. In fact I had quilted about two thirds of the quilt and thought this will be finished this month. The photo below of the back shows how far I got.

But then my Bernina Stitch Regulator started playing up. The BSR suddenly lost contact with the rest of the machine. The BSR no longer registered on the display screen and (this is the worst) the machine continued to run, at full speed. As the feed dogs were lowered the needle just went up and down about a hundred times before I managed to switch everything off. I tried to fix it myself: unplug and then reconnect the BSR, unplug and clean the plug with a piece of fabric, twiddle the plug a bit in the socket (you realise I'm grasping at straws here) and yes, there it was again - connection made and off we go again. For about five minutes. Then repeat ... several times!

It spent a week at the dealer's and the result was: a service and nothing wrong with the BSR! OK, maybe the service had fixed whatever it was that was causing the interference.

 No. This morning I tried to continue and after about 10 minutes it happened again. This time no cleaning plugs, no twiddling; first thing tomorrow morning it's going back to the expert.



 
 I met my goal for May as I started quilting my "En Provence". I'm frustrated as I'd hoped to have the binding on by now! 
As I probably shan't be able to post until the middle of June I'm sending a link to this post to Patty at Elm Street quilts, but won't be able to post a goal for June.

To see more May achievements click on the OMG button on my right hand side bar on or after 26 May.


Happy Sewing

Marly.

My May One Monthly Goal

By the end of May I hope to have the my "En Provence" (Quiltville Mystery 2016 - 2017)  layered and to have begun quilting.

 At the beginning of April, the pieces I wanted to incorporate into the backing still looked like this (minus the bears' paws):

 
At present the backing is pieced and looks like this:

I'll cut the extra off the side while I'm layering. For now the first task is clearly a good pressing!

Good luck to everyone else setting goals to achieve in May; may your plans work out well!

Click to see other crafty May goals

Happy Sewing

Marly.

Finish-Along list Q2 2018

In the second quarter of 2018 I hope to finish:

1.  my version of Bonnie Hunter's "En Provence". The top has been finished for over a year,

but I'm still working on piecing the backing: 

Pieces for the backing (except the bear's paws; they just crashed the photo!)

2.  April Dutch MQG theme challenge mini quilt - orange

3.  May Dutch MQG theme challenge mini quilt - Japan


Numbers 2 and 3 haven't been started yet, so I'm being optimistic, but they are in the planning stage, and both will be small!

Happy sewing

Marly.

April's One Monthly Goal

I'm going to link up my quilting goals for March at Patty's "One Monthly Goal" at Elm Street Quilts.

Firstly, for the third month in succession, is this:

Rainbow Bears' Square Dance (my RSC project 2016)

It could be my only goal; will I get it finished in April? Hopefully! It's about time! So, just in case I do, I've added a few more goals!

Secondly, to make a theme block for the Dutch Modern Quilt Guild April Challenge. The name says it all doesn't it? It has to be finished this month! No pictures yet (no stitches either!) but the theme could be patriotic - or not!

Thirdly, To get started on my centre block for the Round Robin Challenge at the District West Bee of the Dutch Modern Quilt Guild. It's not due until the middle of May, but I've never taken part in a Round Robin before and don't know what sort of hidden pitfalls lie ahead, so I need to give myself plenty of time.

Fourthly, if I still have time over, to finish piecing the backing of:

En Provence (Quiltville mystery 2016-2017)

Some of the orphan blocks and parts to go into the backing.

I had quite a few parts that weren't needed in my final layout which was smaller than Bonnie Hunter's. The same happens every year - I have to frantically make extras of some units; and have too many of others! That's part of the mystery!

Now to link up to

 

Click on the button to see the handicraft plans of others.

Happy sewing

Marly.

One Monthly Goal for March

My goal for March is the same as my goal for February! To finish this quilt:

Rainbow Bears' Square Dance

 In February I only managed to buy fabric for the back, piece the back, layer the whole thing and quilt the wide "sashings"  between the blocks. It seems like next to nothing, but it took me all month. OK, I got sidetracked by the "Year of Scrappy Triangles", had the 'flu' for a week, did a bit of paid work, and made a couple of RSC18 sampler blocks. I managed to avoid housework pretty effectively.

For March there's relatively little left to do: quilt the blocks, starting with this one:

Then quilt the label, make a binding and bind the quilt. Put that way it'll be done in half a day!  Not really! Binding by hand will keep me occupied for at least two evenings. Not to forget burying the threads ...

If I get this finished I'll resurrect En Provence :

Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, winter 2016-2017

which has been boxed for nearly a year. The backing is partly pieced; I'm not sure how much, but I shall be very happy if this is layered by the end of March.

I'm linking up to Elm Street Quilts



Click on the button to visit the party.

Happy sewing

Marly

2018 FAL Q1 list

Once again the Finish-A-Long is open and sewers, knitters and crocheters have been invited to submit their lists of ongoing projects they hope to get finished in this first quarter of 2018.

I don't have any ongoing projects that will be finished within the next three months, but I do have a number of completed quilt tops. If I can finish one a month that will be good going, so here is my list of three tops plus a small item I haven't yet started sewing:

1. En Provence, Quiltville mystery 2016-17
2. Bears' Rainbow Square Dance, RSC 2016
3. The Sky at Night, RSC 2015, which is complete, there are no longer two missing blocks.
4. Blue/aqua scrappy basket from a pattern by Fiona at BubzRugz     

1.  En Provence, Quiltville mystery 2016-17

2. Bears' Rainbow Square Dance, RSC 2016

3. The Sky at Night, RSC 2015

4. Scrappy baskets: waiting for blue

It is really shameful that these have been lying around for up to two years. I hope I can get this lot out of the boxes and onto beds and laps and in use!

I'm linking to Leanne at "She Can Quilt" where there are already more than 90 participants with a finish list.

Happy Sewing

Marly.

En Provence top

Since November I've been working on the 2016 Quiltville Mystery quilt, "En Provence!". Bonnie Hunter published the last clue at New Year and throughout January this was all the sewing I did,
with this result:

Somehow I managed to make more patches than I needed, and to cut more triangle-in-a-square pieces, so at present I'm making a panel to use in the backing in an effort to shift some of the pieces already cut. I know if I put them away "in a safe place" I won't be able to find them when I need them, or, even worse, I'll forget I ever had them!

left-over pieces getting ready to become a panel the length of the quilt back.

I'll use a solid fabric between these blocks and at the side so I can make the backing from one and a half times the height of the quilt, instead of having to buy twice the height and have a lot left over (this measures 69" square).

I hope I did the maths right!!

This is what I was looking at on Saturday, but then decided the large chevrons would be too wide for the space, or too cramped to be effective.

Furthermore I like Friendship Stars; I'll use one of them to make the label.

I'm linking to Bonnie Hunter's blog, Quiltville for the final link up of the En Provence Mystery. Why don't you hit the buttons below and see what other scrappy and mystery quilters have produced?

And with

 

  for more fun scrap projects

Happy sewing

Marly.

En Provence parts 6 & 7 - the final clue

Bonnie Hunter posted the last clue for her mystery quilt "En Provence" on New Year's Day, which took me completely by surprise; I hadn't expected it for another 5 days. Fortunately Dasha, in Australia, alerted me and I've been crazily sewing every free minute since. This is the sum of my progress to date:

and two blocks partly chain-pieced.

I only made half the number of units in each clue, which should be enough for eight blocks but I need nine. I do have some units left, but some are almost finished. There will be one more set to be completed this week. then I'll move on to the rest of the sashing, and the border.

When I join the blocks to make a top I follow Bonnie Hunter's webbing method but I'd like to show how I join the units together in such a large block. In order to avoid inadvertently changing the unit's orientation when walking from design wall to sewing machine I made a couple of design boards from a piece of wadding stapled onto the side of a cardboard box (I didn't have to drink the wine first!).

block laid out on the design wall

I start in the top left-hand corner of the block and stack the units of the first column in order behind it.

column 1, row 1

pick up column 1 row 2 behind the first unit, and so on

until all the units in column 1 are stacked, in order, under the first one ...

... and put on the design board, without changing the orientation of any of the units

I do the same with the second column, and so on.

Finally I have five stacks of five blocks each with the top row visible on the top of the pile

I repeat this process for a second block and then I'm ready to start sewing.

Block 1: I pick up the unit in row 1 column 2 and lay it face down on its left hand neighbour (row 1 column1) and sew these two together. Without breaking the thread ...

... I stay with these two piles and repeat until each unit in pile 2 has been chain-pieced to its neighbour in pile 1.

 

Block 2: then, without cutting the thread, I join columns 1 and 2 of block 2 in the same way.
When I've done that, I separate block 1 from block 2, which is still under the needle.

the first two columns of block 1 joined and ready for column 3

Back to block 1: I then add the units in pile 3 to columns 1 and 2.When that pile is completely added ...
Back to block 2: ... I separate block 2 and add pile 3 to columns 1 and 2 of block 2.

the third pile added to block 1; time to start adding the third pile to block 2

I repeat until all the units of both blocks are joined in rows.

Then it's time to press and to join the rows of each block.

two blocks with the units joined horizontally into rows, with not one unit turned or twisted.

It isn't possible to alternate the blocks here, but I've been using the sashing units as leaders and enders between joining the rows.

(I'm much quicker joining the 50 units of two blocks than I've been in writing all this!)
I hope you can follow my process! If you have any suggestions for improvements I'd be happy to read them.

Finally, a word about leaving a comment. I really enjoy reading comments from other quilters, and in my three years of blogging almost all have been positive. I would like to reply to everyone who comments on my blog. However over the past few weeks I have received comments from "no-reply bloggers" In such cases I always check the commenter's  profile, but sometimes there's no clue there. Then I'm afraid that's the end of the line. I really would like to reply to those who comment on my blog posts, especially if they ask a question. On the tabs at the top of my posts there is one called "no-reply status" which gives instructions for rectifying your blog settings. Usually it's your Google+ settings which block the return contact but as long as your email address is in your Google+ profile I can find you, after a bit of sleuthing. If you've been wondering why no-one writes back perhaps it would be a good idea to check if your email address is somewhere in your profile. However, if you don't want a reply, that's what you'll get - NO-REPLY!

Have a nice weekend; I just read there's quilt-cam on Sunday.

I am linking up to 

Hop over there; more than a hundred links have already been posted.

Happy sewing

Marly.