One Monthly goal in May:

For May, my goal is to finish assembling my improv log cabins into a table runner.

First I have to make a few more blocks.

I didn't post to the April finishes link up, so what happened to April's goal? A lot of thinking, but not much action. Last time I published this photo:

Then I rearranged the blocks several times:

measurements in this layout: 60" x 48"

but each time it just wasn't working! (I'll spare you the other attempts!)

The reason hit me! Laid out like this each block is an individual, not playing with the others. My original plan to use narrow sashing wouldn't change this. It's like the Academy Awards Ceremony: too many stars jostling for the limelight! The blocks need space to show off! The original suggested layout for the Summer Sampler foresaw this and added neutrally coloured alternate blocks, resulting in an enormous quilt of  92" x 80". Much too big for my purposes.

Does anyone have an idea for using these blocks? I don't need 20 more cushion covers, nor 5 more table runners! I don't think I'll be ready to finish this in the next month; I have to order more fabric for alternate blocks or wider sashing once I've decided how to proceed.

I learnt a lot from making these blocks and enjoyed all the challenges along the way. I want to be able to see them; not leave them in a box!

I'm linking to

Click on the button to see more goals for May.

Happy sewing

Marly.

RSC colour for April is blue: pale and bright

Angela has chosen blue for April's blocks, and here are my blue beads:

Blue is not my favourite colour, by any means, but for some reason I have an enormous amount in my stash, mostly very dark.

I hope everyone is managing to keep their distance and stay safe. Here we are not being confined to our homes, but people not respecting the 1.5 m social distance rule in public are getting hefty fines. We are all strongly advised to stay in our own homes, only leaving them for grocery shopping and a walk or run in the neighbourhood for the sake of our health. Not difficult for me: I'm retired so make my own timetable anyway, and as you know my hobby doesn't require my going anywhere. At present there are no concerts, exhibitions or shows to visit anyway. I miss visiting friends and family, but in these trying times thank goodness for the Internet!

I'm linking up to:

 

Click on the button to see more blue scraps being put to good use.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Summer Sampler 2019: One Monthly Goal for April

At the beginning of each month Patty at Elm Street Quilts holds a link up for projected goals, not necessarily finishes.
This month I'm going to try to assemble my Summer Sampler 2019.

I finished making all 21 blocks about a month ago, and as one finished smaller than the rest (how did I manage that?)  

it will get borders and become a cushion and the rest a 4x5 block quilt with narrow sashing and no borders. At least that's what I think now!

Come back here at the end of April to see how far I've got.

In the meantime visit Patty's blog:

to see what other crafters are aiming to do.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Finished March goal: Triangle Games

At the beginning of March I set my one goal for the month at Elm Street Quilts. Of course each month has several goals, but the OMG always has priority.

This month the priority is finishing my improv triangle quilt from the sew along hosted by Nicholas Ball (#quiltsfromtheattic) on Instagram  (#improvtrianglesewalong) .

 Progress quilting lines 0.5" apart on Friday morning.

For the first time I used the quilt tacking feature on my sewing machine when layering anything larger than a shopping bag, but not entirely successfully. This feature requires the fabric to be pulled through manually, the feed dogs being lowered, but I haven't mastered that fully it would seem, and the fabric bunched up a little. Not severely, so snipping the tacking thread here and there was enough to get the whole thing flat again.

Friday afternoon I finished quilting

and this time even remembered to attach a label before quilting:

There are no prizes for guessing the origin of the backing fabric!

Tuesday 24 March I finally finished sewing down the binding and the hanging sleeve.

Triangle Games

Measurements:  68 x 65 cm ( 26.5 x 25.5 in)

I'm linking to:

Click on the button to visit more goals achieved.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Green, Orange & Teal / Aqua

This month's colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is teal (and aqua). I was late deciding on a block, and have used the first three colours all in the same month.

My aim is to make four of these 8" square blocks in the colour of each month, except dark blue, brown and black, which won't show up well against the charcoal grey background. As it is, this month's dark and bright green is just about on the limit of contrast.
The coloured pieces are all from stash: the 2.5" squares from the scrap baskets, and the 4.5" squares mainly from fat quarters. The charcoal grey pieces are from 2.5" x WOF strips of yardage; one strip is exactly enough for two blocks.

I'm linking up to

Click on the button to see more rainbow progress.

Happy sewing

Marly.

Some teal and catching up with orange

This month's colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is teal, of which I have very little. I hope I'll get the chance to make more blocks later in the year.

For I have finally decided on a block for this year's challenge:

Beads

 These are 8" square and are very simple to make:

• background: 
• 2 strips  2.5" x 4.5"
• 2 strips  2.5" x 6.5" (All the background fabric for two blocks can be cut from one 2.5" WOF strip.)
• colour:
• 2 squares 2.5"
• 1 square 4.5"

If you want to make a whole bead quilt quickly, and not scrappy, Jordan Fabrics has a You-Tube video. The measurements are different and the method is phenomenally faster than mine - but mine is scrappy!

I also have some orange ones:

On Saturday I'll be linking to 

Click on the button to see other participants' teal pieces.

Happy sewing

Marly.

My goal for March

I'm goal setting each month over at Elm Street Quilts and each month I find myself wondering which of my many on-going projects can I designate as my goal this time. For me blocks of the month don't qualify because they come round every month regardless; I think my monthly goal should be something of a challenge, something that would otherwise become yet another UFO, but also achieving the goal should be feasible in a month.

This month's OMG has certainly been a challenge:

This is my result so far in the Improv triangle sew along hosted by Nick Ball on Instagram (@quiltsfromtheattic).

I'm not new to improv, but I'm finding putting this together really a task. The piece has got smaller  while I was sewing it together, so now I'm going to make a few more units to fill the awkward spaces and to make it more square.

Let's hope making this my goal will spur me to get to the finish.

I'm linking up to

Click on the button to see more goals.

Happy sewing

Marly.