Marchalong... final report

Marchalong is almost over... the month when people tried to quilt or do something quilting related for 15 minutes every day. Not sure I managed it this week as I was so busy but if I put my mind to it... I probably did. I wrote my last update on Tuesday of last week

Wednesday 26th was our groups sewing day so I was down at our patchwork room from about 9.30 till 1 PM. I made great progress on my Disappearing into the Blue quilt. (see my WIP Wednesday report for details) I forgot to take a photo of the quilt laid out so you get this

Thursday was my birthday (happy birthday to me) I visited my LQS and fabric was purchased (see Sunday Stash report for details. I also did some sewing at home as I was taking a break from my preparations for the afternoon tea I was hosting on Saturday. I started sewing together the blocks for my Sombrero Stars.

Friday I did some more sewing on the Sombrero Stars once I established that I had done all that could be done for the Afternoon Tea up to that point.

Saturday was "The Afternoon Tea" I ended up hosting 23 ladies and 4 children in my backyard. The morning was spent in lots of the on the day and last minute preparations stuff and the afternoon... well  Much yummy food was consumed. Fangirl and I took great delight in getting out and using lots of our lovely china that we both collect. (We both love English China and collect cup saucer and plates) We use real linen table cloths but do go for paper serviettes 

However after the guests had gone and the washing up was done and the stuff cleaned up as much as needs be... and the church had been cleaned (yeah... it was our weekend on for that... not good timing) well then I settled down and did some more block putting together on Sombrero Stars.

Sunday The morning was all taken up with The Rainbow Run - a colour run where people walk or run the course and every kilometre you get powder paint thrown at you so that at the end of the 5 km course your white clothes have all turned pretty colours. (and your skin.... and hair if you don't wear a hat...) 

Before

After Sorry... no full body pictures yet. I was running on my own and didn't have anyone but the official photographer to take photos. I pick those up tomorrow

And then a quick shower and turning up 30 mins late for church... then church and afterwards encouraging people to eat eat eat the leftovers from the afternoon tea. But in the afternoon ... I got to sit down and do some more sewing and by the end of the day I had completed the 30 blocks and they are now spread out on my floor.

Monday - today... nothing done yet as I write this. I have been looking at the blocks spread out over my floor and I have written this blog... I am working out what to sash it with (or indeed whether or not to sash it at all.) And the backing too. My aim is to use repurprosed fabric only in these quilts but it is getting harder to do. I have a table cloth that will go nicely for the backing. Actually it was originally an Indian sari my parents bought back from a visit there. Its very simple fabric and I used it mostly as a table cloth although it is very narrow. It must have been designed for a very short person.

So that is my Marchalong wrap for this year. Hopefully I will do it all again next year. More Marchalong madness and mayhem at 

Sunday Stash Report

No finishes again this week and some unexpected additions!

It was my birthday during the week and Fixit Guy bought me a lovely ruler 15.5" square, just like I had put on my birthday list. Trouble was ... while I was the craft show last weekend I bought myself one when I saw it on a great special. I forgot to tell him (and I think he bought it on the same day as I did anyway). He gave the docket and I went back to the LQS where he had purchased it and was able to exchange it. Ended up buying 9 fat quarters - combination of black on white and white on black and one with black and white on red. I have been thinking about making myself a black and white quilt so now I can do more than just think about it.

So....
Fabric used                        0m
Fabric purchased              9.25m

Used YTD                      53.06m
Purchased YTD              22.81m

Net usage YTD              30.25

I have made some progress on my Sombrero Stars so a finish won't be too far away... and I'll be posting off the grey swap fabric tomorrow... but then it will come back in after a week or two so maybe I shouldn't bother..... The curtains won't take long either... might get to them this week too... we live in hope

More Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

Fitness Friday

Not a lot to report this week.

Haven't run at all. Monday I felt like I was getting a cold so didn't run. Tuesday I slept in and didn't have time to  run before going up to the Vet to talk to him about our 9 year old dog Annie who was very ill. Fixit Guy had taken her to the vet on Sunday morning because her belly was so swollen. Xrays had revealed one of her lungs was completely compromised and the vet doesn't think that there is anything that can be done for her. I bought her home after our consultation. She isn't able to walk with us, but she wants to so I have obtained an old baby stroller and for the last two days when I have gone for my morning walk with our other dog Jack Annie has come too in the pram.

I have been very busy this week in the afternoon as I have been preparing for a charity afternoon tea I am hosting on Saturday. Fangirl has come over after work each day and has been helping me with preparations. This has meant that there have been no afternoon walks. 

I also mislaid my fitbit charger. I thought that I had lost it in Brisbane as I could not find it anywhere. Of course my fitbit went flat and I really missed it. I tried to use the pedometer on my phone but it wasn't the same. Fixit Guy found the charger under my bed... it must have come out of my bag when I got home and got pushed there. Its charged and back on my wrist now.

Weight wise  I have put on a little but this week I have had a trip to Brisbane but lots of walking and mostly good healthy choices meant that I didn't actually put on weight. Less walking, no running and a bit of nibbling on the goodies we have been making PLUS yesterday was my birthday and we went out to dinner and there was wine and desert.... so this morning I was up .5kg on the week. 

I did say MOSTLY healthy choices. This was my Max Brenner Choc Brownie Sundae

I am wondering how I will go on Sunday when I go in my first public 5 km run. Its called the Emerald Rainbow Run. 



Having not run all week I have decided that I was tapering :) Yeah... good excuse but I'm going to run with it

Throw Back Thursday

Just found this linky party on Quiltin' Jenny's website for projects completed before you were blogging. What a great idea. I have heaps of projects to share since I have only been blogging about my craft this year. I will have to scan in the photos of my earliest projects as they were taken before I had a digital camera. But there are lots of quilts I have made in the last few years too.



For my first throwback I am not going to go far into my past. In fact only back to November last year. 

My middle son, who I have referred to previously as C, DS2 or Kombi boy turned 21 in November. He has long loved Kombi vans and last year (much to my horror I must admit) he got an enormous tattoo of a Kombi van on his chest. Most tattoos I find to be rather ugly but this one... well... a giant Kombi with a sunset behind it... its so happy. I still don't like tattoos but as far as they go this one is kinda pretty and a lot cuter than most of the tatoos out there

I mean - considering that heavy metal is his preferred music genre it could have been a whole heap worse!!

SO ... he loves Kombis. His dad, Fixit Guy, made him a Kombi van shaped clock for his 21st. He has been given various Kombi adorned objects over the year as well... sox, key ring, ornaments, magnets etc. I made him a Kombi van quilt. I was only going to make him a wall hanging based on a pattern by Cindy Cooksey called "Another Day in Paradise"

However Fixit Guy doesn't like wall hangings (he thinks they are useless) He prefers quilts so I thought, ok I'll make him a lap sized quilt. He can use it on the couch but again Fixit Guy objected and said it should fit the queen bed. Man. That guy has no idea how much work (and expense) is involved in a quilt that size. However I figured if he wanted it I could make it and he could pay for it :) I wasn't going to applique that many blocks. I did make 11 of the vans as per the pattern. Fixit Guy drafted me two more patterns for the front end and back end views of the Kombi. I drafted out a peace sign and the VW logo as well and appliqued them onto back ground fabric. I made 10 pinwheel blocks to intersperse the appliqued blocks.

I used a really bright sixties themed floral for the inner border as well as some gorgeous and inexpensive kombi patterned fabric for the outer border. I had originally bought it for the backing but when the quilt kept growing I had to use some on the front as well and then had to piece the backing (didn't get a photo of it). I made a special label for the quilt appliquing on some of the flowers and kombis from the two border fabric but since it details his full name and date of birth might be discrete and not put it on the blogosphere. 

 I was really happy with how it turned out and Kombi Boy seemed very pleased with it as well. Because it was a secret project I wasn't photographing it as much since I wasn't sharing on facebook so didn't end up with many close up shots of individual blocks and even the completed project had few photos of it. However I do have some. The quilt was quilted by my friend Kym Colgrave from Professional Quilting Service who did a fabulous custom job on it. It helped that she and her partner are mad Kombi enthusiasts 

I forgot to get a photo of the quilt at home before we left to visit Kombi Boy for his birthday so tried getting a photo by standing on a chair and holding camera way above my head hence NONE of the 5 or 6 shots I took were straight. This is as good as I got!!

Back end of the van. Pattern drafted by Fixit Guy. The number plate is my son's initials and year of birth

Front of the kombi as drafted by Fixit guy. I was going to put people in the van but... I don't do people without a good pattern

Kombi Boy and I with his quilt

A close up of some of the blocks including the logo which I drafted from a picture on the net. You get a taste of Kym's fabulous quilting. See the peace sign on the van on right. Exquisite

Funny side note. We were sitting in his loungre room in February. His sister had just given him a small pile of late Christmas presents. (They had been posted back from the UK and had only just arrived) These included a number of Kombi themed things including socks and key tag. We'd just taken the photo of him and me with his quilt and had been talking about his clock. Fangirl asked him if he was getting sick of Kombi themed stuff and he said "Yeah kinda" and we looked at each other and then we said "Tough - you're stuck with it" Given his chest art work he is going to have it around him for the rest of his life.

WIP Wednesday

Have had a busy week but no finishes. Still have sewn and done lots of creative things so that is good. Guess my Marchalong report from yesterday would really cover today but....

I currently have 3 quilts in progress.

Not So Sombre Stars

The fabric is all cut for this and safely tucked into a clear plastic box waiting its turn to make it to the top of the working pile. I love using the plastic storage boxes for my WIPs. I haven't done it before this last month so its a new thing for me but I just love it. I can see easily where the projects are and if I need to add something to the project that is easily found and done. eg I bought some buttons on the weekend at the Craft Show I went to that were for my Tea Shop quilt that I am going to make one day (found some lovely buttons featuring little cakes. Perfect!) I was able to find the box that I have that project in and add the buttons.

My Project boxes. Top Tea Shop Quilt. 2nd box Sombrero Stars, 3rd Not So Sombre Stars and bottom Christmas Stockings. (I have to make my son's partner Earthy Yu)

Sombrero Stars

Not only is the fabric all cut but all the flying geese for it made (120 of them) AND I have put together the first block. I knew I wouldn't have time to sew this week so snuck in the time to make one last Friday before I flew to Brisbane. I left myself very little time to have my shower and finish getting ready to leave for the airport but we made it. AND I have a finished block as well!! The goodies for this quilt are all in their own little box as well

Disappearing into the Blue

As usual I worked on this at our Patchwork Group meeting today. I didn't spend as long up there as usual because of my busy week here at home (more about that later) but I was able to get the sashing for the blocks cut and the blocks sewn into rows. It was great to lay the quilt out and try to arrange the blocks in a pleasing way. It is hard to choose how to lay the blocks out. There are 30 of them - all different shades of blue (only one repeat) Trying to get a spread of the really dark blocks and the really light blocks plus some blocks are heavily patterned and there are few unusual blues. I am sure you quilters all face this dilemma too each time you have to lay out a scrappy quilt. I must admit I tend to give up and just go with whatever in the end. As soon as I move two dark ones away from each other I find that I have moved a heavily patterned one in next to another heavily patterned one etc etc. Then after spending ages agonising over the arrangement when I pick them up to sew the strips together I seem to get them mixed up and end up with two similar ones next to each other anyway!!

I nearly didn't stay at patchwork. I found that I had left my sewing box at home. I had my project in its box and my machine stays in the car all the time. The sewing box has my pins, thread, scissors, seam ripper, rotary cutter etc in it. I thought I might just cut the sashing fabric and then come home but decided to duck home (only 5 minutes away from our sewing room) and grab what I needed. I took time to put the washing into the dryer whilst I was there, check on the dog and grab my sewing box.



Why I am busy

On Saturday I am hosting an "English Afternoon Tea" here in my garden (or on my patio if the current rain we are experiencing keeps up) Not sure how many people are going to turn up. I've got about 15 definites and maybe another 15! Hopefully numbers will be clearer tomorrow when acceptances close (and even clearer as people respond late on Friday and Saturday morning) Its a fundraiser for School Chaplaincy which our church helps support. 2 of my friends are school chaplains here in our town so its a cause dear to my heart.

Fangirl and I have been cooking up a storm all week and I am supposed to be cleaning up the house and the garden... yeah... supposed to be.

And what else?

My dog Annie is very unwell. She's a 9 year old Australian Terrier cross who belongs officially to my youngest son. Whilst I was in Brisbane on the weekend Fixit Guy found that her belly was very swollen so took her to the vet who admitted her and ran some tests. Whilst x-raying her to check what was going on with the swelling in her belly they found that there is a large mass of some description in one lung. She has been very breathless for a few months. We had mentioned this to the vet at her check up but they couldn't find anything at the time (no x-ray then as we didn't push it ) and we all put it down to increased age, the heat etc. Anyway they aren't sure what is going on with the lung. It is is full of fluid which could be pus, but not likely since no other indications of infection. It could be blood but blood tests have indicated that unless it is a very slow leak into the lung that isn't it. The most likely thing is that it is a tumour and the fluid is associated with that. The vet is getting a second opinion on that. He could extract fluid with a syringe but didn't want to go ahead without advice. The x-rays showed that she is extremely constipated. He gave her a laxative but it had minimal affect. The next thing to try is an enema but that apparently would also require sedation and at the moment with her lungs so compromised he doesn't want to do that. The swelling did come down somewhat. I bought her home on Tuesday (yesterday) and spent a good bit of the day sitting with her and cuddling her. She was bright enough when I picked her up but then refused to eat (hadn't eaten at the vets much either) brought up what she did eat, and laid around the yard doing nothing all day.

She was brighter last night and was interested in food and trotted about a bit. This morning she even wanted to come on a walk with our other dog but the vet said not to exert her at all. She ate a bit from me when offered (had to get her tablets into her... antibiotics and diuretic) However has been very quiet and laying about the yard again not doing anything. Her belly is very swollen again this afternoon. Not sure when the vet is going to get back to us re the specialist. I will ring later this afternoon and check. She doesn't seem very distressed or in pain. We will play it by ear. I won't let her suffer but whilst she has some quality of life we will enjoy her company and say good bye when the time comes.

Linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Marchalong - week 3 or is it 4

Have continued to find time to sew or do quilty/sewing related stuff every day.

Tuesday 18th continued cutting fabric for my next two SOMB quilts Not so Sombre Stars and Sombrero Stars. There were a lot of pieces needed from as many different recycled fabrics as I could find. I worked out that for the 2 quilts I needed 560 x 2.75" sqs, 440 2.75"x5", 200 5" sqs plus 55  of the 5" sq 9 patches which I had already made. No wonder I was cutting for so long!! I couldn't strip cut too much as I was working with bits and pieces plus I needed to keep a track of how many of each colour I had.

Wednesday was my patchwork day. Didn't get to sew the whole time as to start with we had a cleaning bee to get the rooms ready for a weekend workshop that the group had on. Did get to sew from about 11 AM though through till 3 PM (apart from lunch of course) I worked on the pinwheels for the border of my Disappearing into the Blue pinwheel quilt. I got them all sewn and pressed too.

Thursday I started to sew flying geese units for the Sombrero Stars quilt. Got them all made and the first of the blocks done before I left for the airport on Friday afternoon.

Friday in between packing to go away, preparing for and then teaching my Religion classes at the school (I teach 2 half hour lessons to Gd 3) and sewing the flying geese I also worked out the layout for the Disappearing in the Blue Quilt and what fabric I would need for the sashing and borders. On the flight to Brisbane (1.5 hours approx) I did a bit of hand stitching (and a lot of reading)

Saturday went to Stitches and Craft Show for 4 hours. Bought some fabric, ruler, mat and other bits and pieces. (See Stash Report for more details and photos)

Sunday went to Spotlight and bought the white tone on tone fabric I wanted for the sashing and borders for Disappearing into the Blue and also some stripey fabric for the binding. On the plane home I stitched some more on my hand project.

Yesterday, Monday I unpacked my fabric and photographed it for the blog. I read some blogs and I wrote a couple of blog posts. (stash report and Quilty Resolutions)

Today I have written this post and might get the fabric I bought put away and find a home for my other new bits and pieces. Not sure how much else I will get done. I am hosting an afternoon tea at my place on Saturday and since the end of my week is usually fairly busy I have been trying to get some preparation done for that.

More about Marchalong at Scientific Quilter

Quilty Resolutions Update

Sandy, at Quilting for the Rest of Us Podcast challenged us at the beginning of the year to come up with 3 quilty resolutions and now at the end of the first quarter she is calling for an update on how we have gone with them.

My resolutions were very concrete
1. Make a Quilt for my great nephew who was born in August
2. Sort my stash to get out all my little bits out of the stash and into my scrap bins cut into the sizes that I use
3 Sort through my 2nd hand fabrics or repurposed fabrics and get them into usable piles

So... how am I going.

1. My great nephew's quilt was made in January and I was able to give it to my sister to give to her grandson when I saw her at the family reunion at the end of January. 

Sorry its sideways... silly blogger stuffing me about again

2. I worked consistently through January sorting through my fabric, refolding it and getting out all the smaller pieces (under fat quarter size or 25cm width of fabric) and cutting them into the sizes I store 1.5", 2.5", 3.5", 4.5", 5.5", 6.5"  In strips, bricks and squares, I also added to this 5" and 10" squares. That was a very handy thing to do as not long after this I participated in the Disappearing Pinwheel sew along and I had my 10" squares all cut. I also used the 5" squares to make pinwheels for the border. For the first time ever I found a place I could put my folding cutting table up and leave it up. It has been great to have it.

Disappearing Pinwheel Quilt made entirely from my stash - all the 10" and 5" squares used in the pinwheel blocks came from my stash already cut to size. Such a time saver

the finished quilt showing the pieced binding as well

3. I sorted through the second had fabric, got it all ironed and stacked up near my cutting table ready for me to cut it into useful sizes. I hadn't gotten to it at all when last Sunday I started to cut fabric for another quilt project, one for which I only wanted to use recycled fabric in keeping with the focus unit of each block, a nine patch made up of fabric from shirts from a swap (part of a challenge from a retreat I went on last year) See WIP Wednesday I was so glad that I hadn't cut all the fabric up as I had planned. The star blocks I was making required some of the pieces to be 2.75" square or 2.75x5". 

The fabric being cut into units for my next 2 quilts. Its all repurposed fabric having been a doona cover, sheet, table cloth, shirt, banner in a previous life

The blocks for one of the quilts I am using the recycled fabric in... the other one has 5" squares in the corner instead of 2.75" ones and has an extra rectangle on the flying geese to make it a 14.5" block rather than a 9.5" block like this one

I am putting this post up now without some of the photos that I want to include because my Fixit Guy is asleep in the room the cord I need to upload the photos with is in. I will try to do it tomorrow and then I will remove this bit but in the meantime... if you want more pictures you will have to come back

Stash Report Sunday on Monday

Running late this week with my stash report. I was away in Brisbane for the weekend. Found out on the plane down there that the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show was on. How serendipitous was that! We, Fangirl and I were going down to see "Guys and Dolls" (see Fitness Friday for details) but had time for other adventures. We headed over not long after it opened on Saturday morning and spent 4 hours plus there. It was great fun. Caught up with 2 great friends there by planning and one old friend by accident!!


This could have been a real blow out for me. Heaps of fat quarters at really good prices but I was strong. I am only buying fabric for projects. My only fabric purchase at the show was 2 metres of grey fabric for a swap that I am in with Amy Ellis Amy's Creative Side I just had a look at the fabric other's have bought. Mine is so boring in comparison but it was all I could find. I had to buy it in 4 half metre pieces! No yardage on sale at all that I could find at the show.

I didn't just buy the fabric though. I also bought several packets of really cute buttons, some snips, needles, a pattern AND my birthday present... an A1 sized cutting mat and a 15.5" square ruler. So excited by both these. It was fun managing the cutting board whilst we had lunch and we were blessed that the second friend we met by accident offered us a lift back to the motel... much easier than managing it on a bus.

my haul from the show... minus the snips which I forgot were loose in my handbag and which the airport people didn't pick up either so I'm lucky to have gotten them home and not lost them at the security check.

the buttons... these included little cakes, DIY tools, birds, Christmas lights and Australian and English themed packs

The Pattern I bought. My mum will enjoy stitching these for me

I did have a second shopping spree though the next day when I borrowed my son's car and drove to the Spotlight store near his place to look for the white tone on tone fabric I needed for my Disappearing Into the Blue quilt. I got it and some lovely blue striped material for the binding. (on special too)

Whilst at Spotlight I bought fabric for the curtains in the room that I am making the quilt for. I bought some white self patterned fabric for that. Question... do I count that as fabric purchase? 4.5 metres

Curtain fabric. Its White and Silver I would say..hard to describe

No finishes this week... not expecting any for a while (unless I get a move on and make the curtains)

So for the week
Used this week                                 0 m
Bought this week
       white tone on tone                      2m
        blue stripe for binding                1m
       grey for swap                             2m
       white for curtains                        4.5m
      total                                            9.5m

net for week                                      +9.5

Year to date used                             53.06            
Year to date Purchased                    22.81
Net position                                    -30 .25m    
     



More Stash Reports at Patchwork Times

Fitness Friday

Seems that lots of blogs have themes for each or several days of the weeks and the common theme is that use alliteration to determine what to put up... Stash Report on Sunday, Work in Progress Wednesday, Finish it up Friday are a few that come to mind. Since my Finishes when they occur get detailed in Stash report figured I would save my Fitness reports for Friday. That way I will write about them and keep myself accountable for what I have been doing.

Monday I ran my long race. I stuck to 5 km this time and tried to go faster. I set myself a new record coming in at 38m 34 secs for the 5 kms, beating my old mark of 39m 52 I think (something like that. I got in under 40 which had been my aim) This time though I did walk a couple of times... for 10 or 15 secs max. I got a stitch - my first since I started running again. Next week I will try for a longer run - hopefully to run further than 7.34 kms. My aim is to get to 10 kms by the end of the year - hopefully before then.

Funny story that I did share on Facebook and Twitter already but I have no shame. I had stripped off for my post run shower. My face had gone bright red and the perspiration was running off me. I decided to take a photo of my beet red face with my phone. Only I forgot to press the button to rotate the lense and I also forgot that I was standing in front of the mirror. I got a full frontal nudie shot. Oh my goodness. I don't think I have ever deleted a photo so fast. No one needs to see that photo believe me. This one is unattractive enough

I ran Wednesday down by the river. I was a bit cautious as the day before whilst walking down there with the dogs I saw a snake. It gave me a huge fright and I was glad that I had one of the dogs, the most likely to chase something in the grass, on the lead and the other dog came to me as soon as I called him. Came home and looked the snake up on google and found out that it was a non venomous tree snake... I feel better knowing that but it was still big and scary at the time



I have continued to use my Fitbit but haven't consistently recorded what I have eaten. I usually start out ok but then will have something that will take ages to work out the caloric value of and give up. I know when I count the calories properly it works so well for me. I don't give up... keep plugging away and this weight is going to come off. I did momentarily dip below 89kgs early on in the week but have been back to sit around 89.5 most of the week.. and a bit higher as well. I'm off to Brisbane this weekend to see a show with my daughter, Fangirl, so that is going to be a bit of a battle to not overeat. We are going out to lunch with my two sons who live down there and also a trip to Max Brenner' chocolate bar after the show

Max Brenner's Hot Chocolates are so yummy

. The show we are going to see is "Guys and Dolls". Its starring Fangirl's favourite actor, Ian Stenlake. She's had a thing for him for years... got to meet him in person when he and his wife came to town to sing at the Carol's by Candlelight we had here

Ian Stenlake with Fangirl in 2010

WIP Wednesday

Last week I powered through the quilting of 3 quilts and got them finished up. It was so satisfying. There won't be any more finishes for a little while now I think. (see Stash Report)

Since I finished off the last of the quilts on Saturday night I have been busy

SOMB Quilt 3
I have cut fabric for my next quilt which again will feature the 5" 9-patches made from the shirts from the swap at Patch n Peace 2013 - another quilt in my Shirt off my Back series (SOMB) These ones will be 14" finished star blocks. I plan on having the quilt 5 x 5 so 25 blocks in all. I might call this one "Not so Sombre Stars"

cutting the squares and rectangles for the star blocks

SOMB Quilt 4
I have also cutting fabric for the last of the SOMB quilts which will also feature a star in the centre but these ones will only be 9" finished but they will have sashing and that will make it a decent sized quilt. I will make it 5x6 in order to use up the last of the blocks. I will have 4 left over... they can go on the back... unless I incorporate them into border some how. What to call this one though... Sombrero Stars. Working the SOMB theme to the last.

The centres of both Not so Sombre Stars and Sombrero Stars will feature the 5" 9-Patch surrounded by 4 flying geese. In the Not so Sombre Stars there will be a rectangle on behind the flying geese block and a 5"square piece in each  corner. The finished block will be 14".The Sombrero Star will be smaller. The corner blocks will be 2.75"square and the finished block will be 9" finished. In total I am going to be making 220 flying geese for the blocks. I must be crazy... and I was thinking about some in the borders. I might rethink that one!!

The block for Sombrero Stars. I haven't made the flying geese units... just folded the squares over to get the idea

The block for Not So Sombre Stars.

With all of the quilts in the SOMB group I have tried to only use recycled/re purposed/second hand fabric. I have used a lot of the fabric/linen that I bought home with me last October from my Aunty Doris's estate. She died aged 99 years and 9 months in Sept 2012. A year later her daughter-in-law was still making her way through all the stuff that Doris had collected up in the almost 70 years that she had lived in the house now occupied by her son and his wife. I helped with the sorting out for a week and was allowed to have any fabric that I thought might be useful. I came home with a suitcase of doilies, old sheets, new fabric etc. A lot of this has gone into these last two SOMB quilts.

Disappearing Into the Blue
Today at Patchwork group I worked on my "Disappearing into the Blue" Disappearing Pinwheel quilt. All of the 44 pinwheels needed for the border are completed and pressed. I finished the blocks for the centre of the quilt last week. Before I can put the blocks together I need to buy some more tone on tone white fabric as I haven't got enough of the fabric I used in the blocks left. No new photos this week but here is one I put on an earlier post

The finished off disappearing pinwheels.

Marchalong

The idea of March-along is to spend at least 15 minutes every day in March  doing something quilt related. Sewing, cutting, reading, sorting, watching a class online, browsing quilt related websites ... anything quilt related counts

It started on March 1st but I didn't hear about it till later in the first week. My first weekend of knowing about it got a bit sabotaged by life.  

Friday 7th I left home at 10.45 AM to drive 4 hours to Mackay for our church (Uniting Church of Australia) Presbytery (Central Queensland) meetings. They are held every 4 months (well 3 times a year) around our presbytery and the minister and a member of the congregation goes to  the meetings for each congregation. I am the journal secretary ie I take the minutes so don't represent our congregation. I traveled with our rep, his wife and our minister. No chance to sew before I went (Does a bit of tidying up of my sewing area count? Hope so) I flicked through a quilting magazine in the car. We had meetings that night 7.30-9 PM

Saturday Meetings started at 8 AM and ran through till 9 PM (we do get morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner breaks) I looked at another magazine when I got back to our unit and also read some blogs during the day when I didn't have to be paying attention

Sunday. Worship 9-10.15 was the closing activity of Presbytery. We stopped at Spotlight (big fabric/habbie/craft/homewares store) for about 20 minutes... not for me but our minister. I had a brief look at fabric but no purchases. Home 4.30. I got organised for some quilting ... don't think I started that night although I might have. I didn't actually sew

Monday. Got me my quilty on well and truly. I started quilting my "Pretty Pinwheels" Disappearing Pinwheels Quilt from Missouri Star Quilt Company. Worked on it all day and eventually got it finished including binding

Tuesday. Worked on my "Sombre Blue" My Shirt Off My Back Recycling quilt. Its from a challenge that we had at our 2013 retreat where we swapped pieces of men's shirts and had to make a quilt using the fabric. Got it done including the sashing

Wednesday Our regular patchwork group get together (we have our own rooms and can go up there whenever we like but our regular sewing day is Wednesday) I was up there from 9-3. I worked on my other disappearing Pinwheel quilt which I am doing in blues. I've called it "Disappearing into the Blue". I got all the blocks assembled by the end of the day and had even started on some of the pinwheels for the border.

Thursday I ironed my disappearing pinwheel blocks.

Friday I started quilting my Brown SOMBrero (my other Shirt off My Back quilt which features some brown sashing instead of blue) after dinner. Ran out of the thread I was using so had to stop mid evening

Saturday Finished quilting Brown Sombrero including the sashing.

Sunday I have started cutting fabric for my hopefully last project using the fabric from the SOMB blocks. I had made 350 nine patches from the fabric. Have used 121 in Sombre Blue and 144 on the front of Brown Sombrero and another 20 or so on the back. Have just under 60 left to use up. My aim is to try to use just recycled fabric in all the projects. Currently cutting extra fabric for the block I am planning on using in the last one. Its going to have the nine patches in the centre of a star block. Cutting rectangles and squares to make flying geese units to go around that as well as corner blocks etc. Having fun trying to figure them out.

Monday Continued cutting the scraps for the block. I am using fabric from old curtains, sheets, doona covers, shirts.... its fun but time consuming. I will get there... eventually. Don't think I am going to have any finishes at this rate for a while though.

Pieces for the star blocks I am making

Any fabric not the right size for my next quilt I am cutting up to go in my scrap boxes

You can read more about Marchalong at Scientific Quilter