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:

           

    

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Stay healthy and safe.

Happy sewing 

Marly.

One Monthly Goal for December

My goal for December is to layer (and maybe also quilt) my shoo fly quilt. This was also on my list a few months ago. Since then I've straightened the edges and added a border (but not taken a new photo!).

I bought the backing fabric and replenished my supply of wadding at the end of September, when we were out of lockdown for a few weeks. In the meantime I have finished one QAL top, and am nearing the finish of three more. For them I'm going to have to buy backing fabric online; not my most successful method of buying, as the colours inevitably fall short of my expectations.

I'm linking to:

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I wish everyone a good December. For most of us it will be quiet, with the number of guests restricted by Covid regulations. The upside is that we will have more time to contemplate the meaning of Christmas or of Hanukkah, and to enter into their spirit, without the hassle of entertaining on a grand scale.

Keep safe and healthy

 

Happy sewing

 

Marly.

One Monthly Goal in October

My goal is to layer and start quilting my shoo fly quilt. 

I made these blocks as leaders and enders between July 2019 and May 2020, in response to Bonnie Hunter's L & E challenge. I assembled the top in July, when I chose this as my goal of the month and posted the process here. For the last two months it's been hanging in my studio. Now it's time it was quilted. 

Last week I managed to buy some double width fabric for the backing so I'm all set to go. I think I will use an all-over swirls pattern to quilt the centre, with maybe a different design on the setting triangles, but that's a decision I'll be making later.

I'm linking this post to:

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Keep safe; keep healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

Shoo Fly blocks

My One Monthly Goal for July was to add 4-patches to my L&E challenge Shoo Fly blocks, and I was madly making 4-patches until my drawer of 2.5" strips was empty. Then I tried the layout:

all my 4-patches, and less than half my shoo flies.

I found that the 4-patches were overwhelming the shoo flies, and much too cumbersome. More importantly, this was missing the real target: to use all the shoo fly blocks.

Rethink.

Move the goalposts!

Keep it on point.

Add 1.5" sashing with neutral cornerstones

More work but much more satisfying. And so it continued until 61 of the 64 shoo fly blocks were included.

After adding the setting triangles my goal has been achieved.

I still have to trim the setting triangles and then I think I'll add a border, even though I'm not really a border person.

Measurments: 45" (114.5 cm) square

Fabrics: sashing and setting triangles: "Basic Twist" by Stoffafabrics; the rest from scraps.

fun owl donated by a fellow member of the Double Dutch Bee in Leiden.

I'm linking to :

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Stay safe and keep healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

Shoo Fly Leaders and Enders: a new goal

About a year ago Bonnie Hunter suggested making Shoo Fly blocks as leaders and enders. I've never been very successful with the L& E challenge, because

1. I can't stop what I'm working on to cut more pieces for the L & E
2. With chain piecing I use the pieces I'm working on as L & E

This year, however, I have sixty-four 4.5" blocks.

That's considerably more than I've made in the past. For a few weeks I've been thinking how I would lay them out, with which block would I combine them. While various ideas occurred, most would involve buying more fabric, while the object is too use scraps. Yesterday I saw the answer - not in my imagination, but in Bonnie Hunter's blog post! Shamelessly I'm copying her and combining the Shoo Fly blocks with 4.5" 4-patches. Yesterday I cut up almost my entire draw-full of 2.5" strips into 5" and 7.5" strips, and found a few 2.5" squares along the way.

My goal for July is to convert these strips into 4-patches and to make a top, which should measure around 50" square. A reasonable size for a lap quilt I think.

In case you're wondering what happened to the wonky log cabin table runner: yesterday evening at the bee I started hand quilting it! I think it will be finished ....

in a year's time!

I'm linking this to:

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Happy Sewing

Marly.