Wednesday, December 9, 2015

WIP Wednesday

I have had a really slow week. I haven't put up any posts all week. I have been sick for over a week with a fatigue that I feel is related to my bout of Barmah Forest virus a few years ago.

Anyway I have done a little sewing but not as much as I had hoped.

This week I have made great progress on the Elephant Parade Quilt. I had to make a few extra blocks to go with the blocks from the Elephant Parade stitch along that I was involved with at the beginning of the year. I chose to use pinwheels... I love pinwheels to fill in some of the spaces and some strips of bright fabric. I also used up some blue and white half square triangles to make flying geese. It was like a patchwork jigsaw puzzle - I kept making blocks to fit the spaces


For the borders I used first simple 3" squares in white, dark and light grey greens for the inner border and then wide orange with pinwheels in the corners. 


I pieced the backing using large squares of the inner border fabric and stips of 3" squares. The green squares had come in a bundle I purchased from Ebay years ago when I started quilting. I really liked the way it turned out. I used the remaining orange fabric from the range borders along the bottom of the quilt to make it large enough. Originally I had planned to slash the quilt and insert it else where but I really liked the look of the large squares and the strips of smaller squares and felt that an orange slash would look wrong so I used it to be the base of the blocks. Not sure I really liked it but it won't be as big once I trim the quilt after its quilted so trying not to worry about it too much



Today at Patchwork I got it pinned and hopefully I will get it quilted tomorrow and then binding on so I can give it to the little boy it is for on Friday night.

I have done a couple of projects for friends this week. A friend had asked for some advice on the quilting on a project she had underway for her twin grand daughters. She had done some in the ditch quilting but was concerned that it wasn't enough to hold the project together and I agreed that it wasn't enough and said that I would do a little extra quilting for her since she didn't know how to use her "pogo stick" foot and I wasn't feeling well enough to explain. I got it done easily for her yesterday.

Then another friend asked if I could help her complete a project she had underway which involved sewing men's ties around the neckline of t shirts. She had them all pinned but her machine wasn't working properly so I sewed them on for her - which took only half an hour.

Today I got busy sewing another casserole cover - a gift for someone for Christmas. Unlike the first one I made, this one took me about 2 hours from start to finish. I still have to put the handles in. I have a few more to make before Christmas including one for myself. I really do want one but everyone I make is for someone else.



I found a stitchery amongst my projects to work on whilst I have spent so much time in bed. It was good to have something else to work on now I have finished sewing my whole hexies. Still have those half ones to make though. Must work on them.

WIP Wednesday   WIPs on Wednesday


Thursday, December 3, 2015

WIP Wednesday on Thursday

I haven't got much sewing done this week at all. I blogged about the casserole carrier I made in my stash report. I did some alterations for a friend to 3 kaftans that were too big around the top (I took them up at the shoulders and they are sitting much better she assures me) 

I have done a lot of hand stitching. We drove into Yeppoon on Sunday and home on Monday afternoon so that was 7 hours of sewing time as well as an hour during church. I was also feeling rather unwell yesterday so spent the afternoon and evening in bed and have finished all the hexies I had prepped. I think that means I have enough for the quilt I was planning. I still have to make the half hexagons to fill in the edges. For some time I have been convinced that I needed 1536 hexagons plus 41 half hexagons for this quilt. I went back through my blogs to find the link to the page where I did my calculations and found that in fact I needed 1523 hexagons (at least that is what I had on my blog post) Now I don't know which number is correct... guess when I start to put it together I will find out.

The other project I have been fiddling with the week is the Elephant Parade quilt. I made these blocks at the beginning of the year. One block a week was released over a couple of months. You could make multiples of any one of them but I chose to only make one of each. Now I have to work out how I will put them together to make a reasonable size quilt for a new baby born to friends recently.

Unfortunately since we got home from our trip to Rockhampton to see a dear friend in hospital and to go bridal shopping with a good friend, I have been sick with a low grade virus. I have been left feeling exhausted - achy, headache, bit nauseous but mostly just exhausted. Ever since I have had Barmah Forest virus 2 years ago (and glandular fever 15 years before that) this feeling really scares me. I keep thinking maybe I am just "bunging it on" that there is nothing wrong with me and I should just buck up and get out of bed and get moving. But it isn't like me to want to do nothing. I have sewing projects I am keen to get going with, some cooking projects likewise that I want to do, commitments I have made that I want to keep. So I know that there is something not right and rest is what I currently need. But I don't listen too well to myself. I wrote about having Barmah Forrest here

Twice I went downstairs to take a photo of my Elephant Parade Quilt but each time I got distracted and didn't get the photo so this too is going up without any photos. Sorry. I'm already a day late posting so I had better not waste any more time

WIP Wednesday   WIPs on Wednesday

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Setting New Goals for December plus evaluating November goals



  • Complete Ella's Quilt DONE Have to post it off after I make the label
  • Make some Christmas gifts DONE Made the 6 wall hangings which are all going to be gifts
  • prepare for Bonnie Hunter Mystery Think this is officially a bust. Maybe I will get to it but its so much fabric. Just not happy to invest in that much when I don't know if I'll like it. I want to work from my stash and that is officially how hers in done but I am not confident the colours I have will work. 
  • start Droid quilt Still not started. Maybe next week
  • Put Amy Gibson blocks together Nope not done. Hope to do it this coming week
  • make Nimbus POD block DONE
  • Make Dobby POD Block DONE
  • remove Paper from POD rows DONE
  • Make Percy's Fiez block DONE
  • make Flying Keys POD block DONE
  • make Cornish Pixie POD block DONE
  • Make POD photo frame block DONE
  • Make 100 hexagons - 162 DONE

So for the month that's10 goals completed and 3 not done at all'


Now for December

Make 2 more casserole carriers. I made 2 this past week. I have orders for another one (although not the dimensions required for it) and I want one for myself. People were asking for them at our previous stalls so I can make more to sell for the Handmade Love.
Work on POD quilt - make map block and rolled parchment block (waiting for the fabric to arrive for the map). This is for Fangirl's birthday so need to have it done by Feb.

Hexie Quilt Make 175 hexies (enough full ones to finish the quilt) - actually have already done about 25 of these so am underway.Make 41 half hexies. I will have to find the pattern for them. Guess I can just print out the full hexies and cut in half. That will work! Work out pattern for stitching Hexies together.

Work on Diamonds and Dashes quilt from Missouri Star. I've cut the 5"x10" rectangles. Need a few more cut and also have to get the fabric for the dashes and diamonds. I had hoped to look for the sashing fabric whilst in Rocky yesterday but didn't get time.

Put elephant parade quilt together. The baby that this is to be for has arrived.  I made the blocks earlier in the year. Now I have to work out exactly how to put it together. 

Work on Hashtag quilt. The blocks from the Twilter block swap have arrived and now need to go into a quilt

Work on Amy Gibson quilt