Magic cubes and works in progress.

My magic cubes is now a top. I really didn't think at the beginning of February that this would ever happen, but working on it was my goal for February, and see here!

This wall hanging is approximately 24 inches square. The fabric is hand-dyed poplin and Moda Bella anthracite. Now it is on the pile to be quilted. 

Also finished is my contribution to the Do Good Stitches Comfort Circle; this month's queen is Charlotte . The assignment was three navy blocks with stars in two of them; difficult, when you don't have much navy, to create the necessary contrast in the patchwork. I hope these meet the requirements.

Meanwhile I will be seriously working on this fabric collage, which is my one monthly goal for March (I've already done some fabric trials),

 

and a table runner prompted by the table scraps challenge. No photos as yet, but it will be green.

 

I'm linking to:

 

 

 Click on the buttons above to see more patchwork progress.

Stay safe and healthy.

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.

Paper-pieced green

Angela chose green as this month's colour for the RSC. I showed my Squared Away and my wonky star block earlier but here are some paper-pieced blocks:

I have been making FPP blocks for the "Year of Scrappy Triangles" and incorporating green into most I've made this month.

 I think these three are my favourites from this month's haul.

I am still trying to catch up as 24 block patterns have been released and I have made 17

For anyone who hesitates to do Foundation Paper Piecing I can highly recommend Leila's tutorial.

I really disliked the frustration that occurred whenever I tried FPP.

Would you believe I used to trim after I had sewn, and as often as not trimmed so much off the newly added piece it was no longer big enough. What a dunce! I have to chant, like a mantra:

TRIM - SEW - PRESS

and then they turn out well.  Some are prettier than others! but all are very good practice.

I'm linking to 

If you click on the button you will find more lovely scrappy green patchwork.

And now back to quilting my 2016 rainbow quilt.

Happy sewing

Marly.

February is purple!

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge entails using scraps of a given colour for one month, and then moving on to another colour. Around the first of the month Angela gives a new colour. Last month it was blue, and this month we've moved on to purple.

The February block in the Squared Away sampler was just released this morning so this week I used purple in two block-of-the-week projects.

Firstly in the Dutch Modern Quilt Guild's sampler:

The final deadline for sharing progress on this project is tomorrow, and there are already finished quilts posted on Instagram #dutchmqgmaakteenblokjeperweek . Needless to say mine is not among them; I still have a few more blocks to make. I will, however, be able to show how the layout will be, even though it is incomplete.

Secondly, I used purple in my block in an open online project: "The Year of Scrappy Triangles" hosted by Leila. The project started in October, so I'm joining really late; this week saw the release of block 17, and I made block number 1!

Year of Scrappy Triangles block 1

The great thing about this is that all the triangles are foundation pieced. What! foundation-pieced!!! I dislike (to put it mildly) foundation piecing. I've had such bad experiences with foundation-piecing in the past (like using far too much fabric; wasting more than actually went into the piece) that I decided I needed regular practice. While surfing the Internet a couple of days ago I came across this project and read Leila's excellent tutorial, which I recognised as giving exactly the support I needed. This first block went together very smoothly with no nasty surprises. That is quite a boost!

I recommend this tutorial to anyone who finds foundation-piecing problematic and frustrating, and what better way to get the necessary practice than to make (at least) one FPP block a week?

I'm linking to 

Click on the button to visit Soscrappy 

and see more lovely scrappiness.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Some Improv, some foundation piecing, and some mindless sewing.

To start with the improv piece I'm making following the first score in Sherri Lynn Wood's "The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters". Although I've been working on this for what seems like ages I haven't posted a photo since July; other projects got in the way, the fabric in a particular colour ran out, or my inspiration dried up! This week I added the section on the right, most of the part with navy in it and I'll be going further when I've finished this post.

Improv lap quilt following score 1 from The Improv Quilters' Handbook

Improv should be spontaneous; it should grow as you work and just develop within the limitations the quilter has set. I don't think months of deliberation are part of the picture.

Foundation piecing, on the other hand is strictly organised. To start with there's a pattern so designed to ensure perfect points - forget that in my case. At least with this pattern from Make Modern magazine  I didn't make my usual errors of cutting the fabric back to front. That's something I always do at least once, which would be fine if I wanted to use the back of the fabric!

4" Rainbow pincushion top: pattern by Angie Wilson for Make Modern issue 18

There are some missed points, all in the final joining stage; the sections themselves are fine. Does anyone have any tips for keeping the presser foot on track when sewing through so many layers of fabric and paper?! It was like a doing a skid course! In spite of the points I'm satisfied with the result, and it was a good learning experience.

After all that concentration I was ready for some mindless catch-up sewing in aqua which was February's colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Each month from January to November Angela gives a colour to work with. This month's colour is brown/black, so I'm taking the opportunity to catch up on my projects.
 

I still have to do green, yellow and orange. If I don't manage to sew them this year there's always next year!

I am linking up later today to 

Click on the button to view other catch-up and finishing projects.

Happy sewing

Marly.