OMG for November

My one monthly goal for November is to quilt this table runner that I made in September.

I'll be using orange and navy blue thread, but haven't decided on a quilting design yet.

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Unfortunately it's been rather quiet in my sewing room during October. I didn't reach my goal to quilt the bead quilt, which had also been my goal for September (sigh!) I did make progress, sewing round the coloured squares in the ditch, and then quilted between the lines of squares with freehand wavy lines. 

 

All was going well (I'd finished half of them) and I thought I would get them all done last week, but continued too long on Monday, strained a tendon in my left thumb, and had to sit and nurse it for the rest of the week! More haste, less speed! I also thought it would be a good plan to quilt the "beads" by hand - a mammoth task - but will make a good handwork project for the winter evenings, I hope. In any case this won't be finished any time soon!

I'm linking to :

Click on the button to see more handwork goals for this month.

Keep safe and healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

My one monthly goal for September

 wasn't met! 😒 I wanted to quilt my beads quilt this month, but I'm still pinning it!

At the beginning of this month I wrote that I had reservations about finishing it. A difficult situation occurred in my extended family about four months ago, and I have had lengthy phone calls with my brother in the UK since (thank goodness for Skype). I thought I might have to go to the UK myself this month, but as my little part of the World was coloured dark red on the WHO Covid new infections chart, travelling was out of the question. I got some handwork done, but while handwork is my relaxation I found it difficult to settle to it.

I'm confident that this quilt will be finished in October, now the family situation in the UK has been resolved, not happily, but we are moving on. 

I don't think this qualifies as a September goal achieved, but I wanted to share my progress.

I'm linking to 

         

 Click on the buttons to see lots of goals achieved this month

 and works in progress.

Keep safe and healthy.

Happy sewing

Marly.

September goal

 I needed a week to decide what would be my goal this month. A lot has happened in the last week, and not in my studio! Now I have a goal; I hope I can reach it this month, but have reservations.

Anyway, other commitments aside, I shall be quilting my beads lap quilt. I finished the top in January, and it has been hanging on the side of my bookcase ever since.

 

This was one of my two RSC projects last year. It's now time to layer and quilt it, ready to use when the colder weather comes in a couple of months. (Making a top of the other project's blocks may well be nest month's goal)

The trouble with planning to have a year of finishing UFOs is that it isn't interesting. To me a finished top is finished! The end! My hands are itching to cut and sew - just cut and sew! Instead I committed in January to finishing a UFO each month. Ha! That didn't last long, but now wish me luck as I pick that task up again.

I'm linking up to

Click on the button to see more of this month's aspirations.

Keep safe and healthy

Happy Sewing

Marly.

One bead top finished!

At the beginning of January I posted about my bead blocks that I made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge during 2020. My goal for January has been to work on turning the blocks into a top. I had to make a few more blocks to get the on-point layout I wanted (an odd number of rows ensures small corner triangles). 

At the beginning of the month I wrote "with any luck I'll get the blocks sewn into a top, with setting triangles". Luck was on my side: I have just finished putting the top together!

Rainbow beads

I didn't have a pattern but a memory of a block I'd seen somewhere on the Internet. The large squares were cut at 4.5", the small at 2.5" and the background strips also at 2.5", giving 8" square finished blocks. 

• Total measurement of the top = 143.5cm x 173.5cm (approx. 57.4" x 69.4")
• Coloured fabrics from stash, 
• background fabric: Kona Charcoal
• thread: both Aurifil and Mettler 50 weight pale grey

Finishing this will have to wait as my maths didn't run to calculating the final measurements of the on point setting! I can only now order backing fabric.

For the moment I can start making my January blocks for Do Good Stitches Comfort Circle. They're foundation pieced - not my favourite technique - but "in for a penny, in for a pound!"

 

I'm linking this weekend to:

           

       

 Click on the buttons to see more works in progress.

Stay healthy and safe

Happy sewing

Marly.

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:

           

    

Click on the buttons to see more works in progress.

Stay healthy and safe.

Happy sewing 

Marly.

Some progress on several projects

For the last six or seven years (I haven't counted!) I've taken part in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, organised by Angela at SoScrappy. Speaking of rainbows, heading for my "Rainbow" box on Sunday I saw this:

 It was brighter when I saw it first, but I needed to grab my I-Pad.

The reason I was going for my rainbow box was to make an overview of my bead blocks:

  

I wanted to see how many more I need to make into a lap quilt.  I'm almost there! I have three red, two pink, two purple, one yellow and one orange that didn't fit on the wall, but I still need more for an on point layout with an odd number of blocks in each direction. Three more of both light and dark blue will make two blue columns, and one turquoise, and one green block will make the number of rows right too. I won't be making brown or black beads - this is dark enough as it is!

My other RSC project still doesn't look like much.

 

Clockwise from top right: AA units, B units, AAB units waiting, AB units ready to sew.

 

but the Scrap snap blocks have been serving as leaders and enders this week too.

I finally made a start yesterday on row 11 of the Sugaridoo Bernina QAL:

A year ago I avoided foundation paper piecing like the plague! Even though I had had a personal demonstration from Irene (Sugaridoo), herself! In this quilt along she has included several foundation piecing rows, and demonstrated two methods which don't involve tearing out the paper at the end. That's one headache less, but the process still makes me nervous.

 

Neither EPP nor FPP in the Hemisphere QAL organised by Sheila Christensen, but straightforward machine piecing. This is my block 13:

 

And these are all my blocks so far:

This is definitely not the final layout! The blocks are all too pretty to be stealing one another's thunder.

  

I completed three of the four embroidered panels for the FaLaLa QAL organised by Jaquelynne Steves.

 I don't like the fourth panel, so I will probably make a second star.

Finally this week, a trip yesterday to Aphen aan den Rijn (about 80 km round trip) to buy yarn for a shawl I intend making from the pattern of the Queen CAL by Tinna Thorudottir Designs on Ravelry (#tinnahekl).

The pattern uses seven colours in a small blanket, but I'm just using these two. I want it to be finished this winter, and it will be approximately one third of the size of the original blanket which would keep me hooking for years. Anyway with so many quilts, who needs a crochet blanket? Not me, at the moment anyway.

starting chain is a start!

Until I came to write them down I had no idea I had so many projects actively on the go. I'm not sure it's such a good idea to have so much on the go, and also know there are more waiting for attention.

I'm linking to: 

Click on the buttons to see what others are making.

Keep safe and healthy

Happy sewing

Marly.

Yellow's the colour!

Yes this gloomy month is brighter in the sewing room because of Angela's decision to make this the yellow month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Here are my bead blocks:

 

 

My Scrap Snap blocks as yet look like this: 

 

There are 3 joined pairs of squares on the right; they are the only leaders and enders I've made this week because I've been doing reverse appliqué in row 10 of the Sugaridoo Bernina QAL (the link is to row 12, but there are links there to all the rows):

No yellow!

The blocks are all finished, but still have to be trimmed before joining in the row.

 

I made block 12 of the Hemisphere QAL at Quilting with Sheila

 

Not much yellow here I'm afraid!

 

I also spent some evenings embroidering motifs for the Christmas table runner SAL, run by Jacquelynne Steves.

Ah, more yellow!

The motifs all measure 4x4", too small for my embroidery ring, but the star puckered. I scoured the Internet for a 10cm (4") ring, and "scoured" is the word as most handwork suppliers had nothing smaller than 15cm (6"). I'm pleased the chosen supplier could deliver only 48 hours later. The wreath isn't puckered, just creased from the ring. I shan't be making any of the blocks until I've finished the 4 embroidered panels.

I shall link this round-up of this week's sewing to:

Wendysquiltsandmore

RSC 20

Oh scrap!

Keep safe and healthy 

Happy sewing

Marly.

Closing Red for the RSC

Each month Angela gives a different colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This year September has been red.

I posted my red Scrap Snap blocks a few weeks ago, and here are my Bead blocks:

I'm not sure how many blocks I made in previous months, I think six, but this month I have made 7. I don't think they will be enough so I shall be making more of all the colours next year too.

This week I also made two red blocks for another project, the Hemisphere Quiltalong designed and hosted by Sheila Christensen, the Mystery Quilter: 

These blocks are regularly pieced; they're neither English paper pieced nor foundation pieced. All pieces are cut using a 60° ruler.They are still half hexagons here as they will only be joined when the quilt is assembled row by row. The quiltalong continues into December, so, if you're interested, there's plenty of time to join in.

I'm linking to:

Click on the button above to see 

more scrappy rainbow progress.

Keep safe and healthy

Happy sewing

Marly

 

Red September

September's colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is red.

My red pieces for my Scrap Snap Quilts have been cut, but as yet none are sewn. 

I'll be sewing them as leaders and enders, but at the moment I'm sewing reverse appliqué that starts in the middle of a block, as part of the Bernina Sugaridoo QAL; no L&E required until I sew the row together. I hope that will be finished by the end of the coming week, so next week I should have more red to show.

I'm linking this post to:

            

Click on these buttons to see what others are making.

Stay healthy,

Happy Sewing,

Marly.

Purple beads and more purple sewing

This month's RSC colour is purple. I've made my purple bead blocks:

and made a start on the Scrap Snap blocks from the fabric I had prepared last week:

one block finished

(looks blue here, but really is purple)

For the person who wrote last week that she didn't understand the blocks here is a summary of the process:

the second block in the machine

the next two ready to sew

the box of parts still to go

The blocks are made from the partly assembled units in the box. Each month there are ten finished blocks in the colour of the month, and each block has a different layout of the parts.

I sewed the first block as leaders and enders while making the bead blocks, which is why the second block, although nearly finished, is still under the needle. Next time I start sewing it will be the leader into the next seam. For more on leaders and enders check here.

I'm linking to:

     

and at the weekend to:

     

Click on the buttons to visit.

Happy sewing

Stay happy and healthy

Marly.