It's April already and we are into the 2nd month of Autumn and yeah its actually cooled down a little. We slept under the quilt last night, for the first time since probably October.
Usually I post my goal wrap up and my new goals in the same post but I didn't yesterday - just wanted to get the wrap up done and no time to think about what I want to achieve this month.
We are away for a lot of this month but I still intend to do a fair bit of sewing... anyone who knows me won't be surprised. The deal I made with my husband when we decided that we would do some big trips in our camper trailer and now caravan was that I could take my sewing machine with me. I bought a smaller more portable sewing machine as part of the bargain. Now its have machine will travel.
This trip is not in either our van (which is still being repaired from a bingle we had a few months ago) or our camper trailer (which we are still trying to sell) but is in our car. The machine is still coming with me. (actually its already in Brisbane awaiting my arrival as I am flying down to Brisbane a week or so ahead of Fixit Guy). However socialising and travelling does cut into ones sewing time (a sacrifice I know but one has to concede sometimes).
In planning my sewing related goals I need to take into consideration the restrictions that being away from home will impose.
This is also April (I have mentioned that and you probably already know that) and for the 3rd year I am taking part in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge where participants undertake to blog every day apart from Sundays, for the whole month. The added challenge (the A to Z bit) is that the first day we blog on something starting with A, and the next with B, then C etc. This year I have chosen to blog about patchwork blocks starting with each letter of the alphabet and not just blog about them but sew them too. Ok I admit... I have already sewn them. And I have mostly written the blogs but need to edit them all - zush them a bit. So that is my first goal for this month
1 Complete A to Z challenge - blog every day.
Not only that. I want to have the quilt completed by the end of the month
2. Complete A to Z quilt (I have already put the top and backing together. Have to quilt and bind it) This is my OMG (One Monthly Goal) Goal. I have been asked about a photo but I can't reveal it till the end of the month as it will be the Grand Finale for my month of blog posts. So No Spoilers Here.
3. Complete 2 secret projects. No more details as they are surprises for people who just might read my blog. By the end of the month I will be able to reveal all. (again No Spoilers Here)
4 Work on Labyrinth Walk quilt. I have fabric bought and cut and it is going to be my main sewing project on the trip so I am really hopeful I will get lots done.
5. Prepare a stack of items for my Comic Con stall to take away with me. Cut out, iron on interfacing, choose zippers, sort out hardware etc.
6. Complete 20 items for the Handmade With Love Comic Con stall. I want to make more of the messenger bags of both sizes (big enough for a lap top = large, big enough to carry an ipad = small) and will make more of the small zipper pouches from the scraps. Also the cosmetics purses. I am also thinking about making some of the pencil cases I have made previously. Am considering making pot holders and kitchen type items but may leave those till next month. I am going to be visiting Supanova on the Gold Coast later on this month to get a feel for the types of items on sale already and the age and interests of attendees.
That is going to be more than enough I think. If I manage all that - and socialise with my family and friends, go to shows, travel etc etc... I am going to be doing pretty well.
Once again I am a day late with my WIP - Work in Progress report. Its coming to you on Thursday BUT its still Wednesday somewhere.
This past week I have achieved some great things. I was going to settle for Good but no I will claim GREAT. This week I learned how to do a Pantograph on the longarm. Well I started to learn. I will still need lots of help doing them but I did use the pantograph on 2 quilts and that rates as great. My friend Lorraine had to help me each time we had to advance the quilt, and help solve any hassles BUT I got 2 quilts quilted AND I used a pantograph so that rates as Great. No photos (I feel a bit self conscious taking photos in public so to speak for my blog... silly probably but you get that).
I did the quilting Friday and Saturday. I have since then trimmed both quilts and made and attached the binding on one of them and tied off the ends of the threads. So one, En Provence is completely finished (apart from the label) and the other still needs to be bound. I have also loaded (With lots of help from Lyndi) another quilt and I plan to go and quilt it today (in between bible study, house work and helping with worship at our aged care facility). This one will be free motion quilting but I am hoping to mimic the pattern from one of the pantographs I used... a series of circles in circles... a bit like bubbles.
A local quilt shop is having a 40% off sale this past 2 weeks and I am afraid I caved (my Stash figures are going to be woeful this week). Whilst cleaning up and sorting my craft cupboards in January I found that I had the Labrynth pattern - that gorgeous puzzle like pattern that was doing the rounds on the internet last year and a few years before that too. I got tagged in it numerous times by various people who really liked it. Obviously I must have too (the first time it went around) and bought the pattern and then forgot about it. Anyway... I decided since it was a pattern that I had to buy fabric for, that I couldn't shop from my stash to make, I would lash out and take advantage of this sale.
So yesterday I visited the shop and purchased the many metres of fabric that I was going to need and came home, went back to get my pattern that I had left on the shop counter, and THEN when home started cutting for the quilt. I wanted to get it all cut out for 2 reasons.
1. I had to convert the required fabric from yards to metres and I wasn't confident that I had got it correct
2. If I had made a mistake and needed more then I needed to get back before they sold all the fabric and before the sale was over!
So I spent the rest of the late afternoon and evening cutting fabric and... I had heaps. The patterns are usually pretty generous and I didn't cut back too much for each measurement (A metre is about 3" more than a yard).
So that was another great achievement. I am not sure when I will actually start sewing it. I want to get on with some more sewing for Comic Con but with it cut I can take it with me when we got away and work on the blocks as we travel.
I made another large messenger bag for Handmade With Love during the week using some gorgeous monkey fabric. Whilst not strictly pop culture it is cute and quirky so should appeal to the crowd that goes to Comic Con (at least I am hoping it will)
My other sewing for HWL this week has been sewing 2 size one rompers at our weekly get together. I am not a great one for sewing clothing with cotton fabric (I learned to sew clothes using knit fabric and was confident sewing that for many years although since I got into patchwork I haven't sewn much of the other) Anyway Peggy, our HWL leader is a fantastic sewer. She had cut out two pairs of rompers and I sewed them with help from her. She did a fair bit of pinning and we would work out the next steps together. She did the overlocking. The look really cute.
That is about it for me... a great week of sewing. Hope you too have had a good week.
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