Quilting goals for 2018

Quilting Jetgirl is once again holding her:

click on the image to join the party

for which I am very grateful as it gives me the opportunity to step back and look around my sewing room.

Seeing posts on goals for 2018 reminded me that I made such a list last year too; 😔 what was on it?

1. Tidy my sewing room
2. Make a planner.
3. Continue trying my hand at improv.
4. Decide which of my WIPs are really UFOs, and make, or join in, a system for resurrecting  UFOs.
5. Linked to no. 4 above: try harder to resist the temptation to start something new!!
6. Try to find other, preferably "modern", quilters locally (area of The Hague, Netherlands) who would like to sew together with me on a regular basis. At the moment the world wide web is my quilting community, and much as I love you all, some face-to-face contact would be welcome.

Unfortunately only 3. and 6. have borne any result. The improv "Floating Squares" is a completed top. and I'm mulling over ideas for the backing which I wrote about here. There is now a Dutch branch of the MQG and that has provided some interesting online contacts over the last eight months, but I have only actually met two of the other members.

So what is my list for 2018? 

It's exactly the same as for 2017! 

with the addition of: 

1. doing some of the Craftsy classes I've already paid for! and 
2. pulling myself together and getting these quilted:

RSC 2015: (no completed photo!)

RSC 16

     

 

 

Quiltville mystery 2016

along with my Quilty 365 circles quilt which is now almost being hand quilted, and "Floating Squares", now waiting for backing! 

They are really all too pretty to stay packed in plastic boxes.

Is it realistic?

Yes! I'm due to finally retire on 30 April (I retired once before and was promptly asked to come back) but this time it's for real, so I should have more time to spend on hobbies.

OK, and now to put my best foot forward and achieve some of my goals starting with a mega clean-up!

I'm linking to

 Click on the button to see the other guests!

Happy sewing

Marly.

On Ringo Lake part 4

"On Ringo Lake" is Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery Quilt, now in its fourth week. Clue 4 was posted on Friday, but it was Saturday before I got started. So far I have 56 units made, and a few half made:

I stopped when I ran out of the right-hand wing triangles.

In the past I have found this a very difficult unit, but it's going more easily this time. Vireya has pointed out that Lorna McMahon at https://sewfreshquilts.blogspot.com has a tutorial for making this block .  Anyone having difficulty in finishing with a straight line hypotenuse might find using Lorna's pattern a good idea. You don't need the complete Happy-go-Lucky block obviously, just these triangles. It's best to read both these posts as Vireya gives some hints on using Lorna's pattern in this context.

It's tempting to try to guess the final layout, but that is still a mystery.

I shall be linking up later today to:

 

so click on the button to see more winged triangles, 

and not all aqua and brown!

Happy sewing

Marly.

Marly: On Ringo Lake part 3

Part 3 of Bonnie Hunter's 2017 Mystery was posted on Friday and I spent most of Friday evening trying to work out how to cut the diamonds without loosing triangles. Unsuccessfully! On Saturday I worked out how to cut with the Easy Angle Ruler; the diamonds are good but I couldn't avoid making a large number of (waste) cut of triangles. I haven't thrown them out though; I already have plans for them, small as they are.

Work in progress

already completed: 50 rectangles

I'm only making half the number of blocks at the moment, so I should manage to complete part 3 by the end of this week.

Later this afternoon I'll be linking up to 

so hop over there to see more part 3 progress.

Happy sewing

Marly.

On Ringo Lake part 2

This Year's Quiltville mystery is "On Ringo Lake" ; click on the link to read all about this project.

On Friday Bonnie Hunter posted the second clue setting off a cutting and sewing frenzy round the world. My weekend was quite busy so once again Monday is here and I haven't nearly enough pieces, even for the half size I'm aiming for.

a fraction of the number of geese I need

These look like orange geese in the photo; in fact they are an orangey-pink. I tried adjusting the brightness, but none too successfully! I'm afraid the colour distortion caused by a warm glow light bulb is irrepairable. I couldn't take photos outside yesterday; it was too wet.
Now back to the sewing machine to conjure up more geese!

I'm linking to the Quiltville linky party.

If you'd like to look in on the gaggle of geese just click on this photo:

 

Happy sewing

Marly.

Floating Squares is a top ...

or maybe a backing.

Floating Squares: score 1 in The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood

Don't get me wrong; I love how this has turned out, so why it's a backing will depend on how you look at it! (literally). I'd rather think that this will become a double-sided quilt. I was ready to start quilting in the middle of last week, except I couldn't find suitable backing fabric in my small selection of yardage. It is all too regular, too traditional, and didn't seem to be a worthy partner for this as a top. I hope you understand what I mean.

I could buy a solid fabric, and that's sold locally. I have decided, however, to continue with the scores in Sherri Lynn Wood's book and use the next one or maybe two combined as the other side of this quilt. Who is to decide which side is the top and which the backing?

Anyway, now something about the process and what I learned.

• Firstly, setting the limits in each "block" was not difficult, and nor was cutting freehand or inserting filler fabric. I rather enjoyed not having to worry about matching points, and, in fact, after a few seams neatly pressed to the dark fabric I scrapped that and pressed everything open. After all there's no knowing what is going to be joined on next!
• Secondly, instead of following the score which was simple, I decided, after making about a quarter of the quilt, that I wanted the colours to flow across the block edges, so there are no defined blocks. This was a decision made on route, as it were; not part of the original plan, but a spontaneous decision made during the process. Unfortunately, from that moment I lost the playfulness, I started thinking too much! 😔 and worrying, and that held me back. This project was spontaneity over months! and that's impossible, right?
• Thirdly, it's never too late to change! Having been searching for the way forward on this project for months, I thought "What the heck!", cut a few squares and went on. The last quarter of this was done in two days, including joining all the separate "blocks" and getting it more or less rectangular. Those two days I really enjoyed!
• Lastly, and this flows out of the previous observation, there seems to be a sort of improv fatigue, a variation of writer's block: a point where ideas dry up and where transferring to another creative project posing other problems, asking for other decisions can enable you to return later with rested eyes. From this experience I think it's unwise to fight improv fatigue, or writer's block for that matter; it's just "check", not "checkmate".

To conclude: I enjoyed the experience, didn't really suffer from redefining my limits partway through, and am totally satisfied with the result.
That's the end of my lecture!

Some quilt statistics:-

• 59" x 42"
• all Bella solids
• all pieces cut freehand with a rotary cutter - although is it really freehand when the cutting mat has squares printed on it?! Hmm! 
• Machine pieced. 
• I'll be hand-quilting it with 12 wt. thread in an all-over pattern, probably Baptist fans. But I'll quite likely change my mind when I have the other side!

I'm linking up to 

Click on the button to see more amazing improvisation.

Happy sewing

Marly

On Ringo Lake: Quiltville mystery part 1

I fell for it! Once again I've succumbed to the temptation to take part in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt along! Looking through my scraps over the last month made me realise there were nowhere near enough browns so I took advantage of the quit show in Nieuwegein, near Utrecht to add to my stash, and not only browns!

The first clue came Friday lunchtime so cutting time began on Friday afternoon and the first brown, teal and neutral 9-patches rolled from the machine on Friday evening.

Not many 9-patches, but I do have a few strips joined

and more strips waiting in the wings.

I should be getting all 50 finished by the end of this week, in time for clue number 2.

I'm linking up to Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Blog

Click on the link to see more of Ringo's 9-patches!

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.