WIP Wednesday

At the beginning of the year after I had finished my cleaning and sorting of my craft cupboards, I felt like I had a cupboard full of UFOs and half done WIPs. I've made really great progress on them though and am at a stage where I only have one project truly a WIP and since it is a mystery quilt and I am up to date with it there isn't much I can do

Well that isn't strictly true. I have 2 quilts sitting near my machine, pinned and ready to be quilted. Sparkle baby quilt and the Club Mystery quilt. 

I have finished En Provence, -  took off the upside down border and turned it round and restitched it. I have also made all the left over units (or nearly all of them) into a strip to go down the centre of the backing and found some suitable fabric for the rest of the backing. Its a purple, cream and green table cloth I was given by someone (I keep thinking of my sister Dorothy) I split the tablecloth in half and inserted the strip. Then I realised that the piece wasn't going to be quite wide enough so added a strip that I had cut off the end to the sides and it should be wide enough now. I cut batting and its now in a basket to take up to the club and quilt sometime the long arm is free which might not be for a while as the club has made a heap of charity quilts that all need to be quilted.

During the week I put together the blocks for my A to Z Challenge quilt. I remade 2 of the blocks as I wasn't happy with them - one was over 1/2" too small and the other I was unhappy with the fabrics I had chosen. I am wondering about adding a border to it. I would like to use some alphabet fabric but would have to buy it. I found some I liked on EQuliter. I am trying to work out how much I would need for the border and perhaps the backing as well, although I am going to also use the Z block on the back as well as the 2 blocks that I remade. I am not sharing photos of the quilt yet as I am saving it for April for the A to Z Blogging Challenge

I have also got a new project underway that I can't blog about as the person it is for sometimes reads my blog and certainly follows me on facebook. (which I link to my blog posts) so no more information and no comments. The top is done - unless I add a border and of course then there is the backing to be made.

So really I have 5 true works in progress - En Provence, Club Mystery Quilt, A to Z quilt, my secret project, and Sparkle baby quilt - oh and Charlotte Hawks Scrap quilt. 6.

At Handmade With Love this week I helped Peggy make some signature bears. These are a special order from the church that I attend. We give a signature bear to baptised babies and children. The lady who made them moved away and we were buying them from a store but they stopped selling them. Hence a request came that we make them. They are taking a bit to work - we had to source a pattern and then buy the fabric and stuffing and then we had to work out the pattern. We are getting there though.

During the week I cut out a stack of zipper pouches using the Easy Cosmetics Bag from So Sew Easy. I cut them from the fabric that I had previously made the Satchels (or messenger bags) from. I mostly bought .5 metre of each of the different Pop culture fabrics. 

Once I have made the messenger bag and the Easy Cosmetics bag I still have some of each fabric left and I plan to make a round headphones cord carrier and a small zipper coin purse. I was thinking about the pot holders I have made previously which have been popular. I might end up buying more of each fabric and making them as well. I do have some of them left as well as some hanging towels (left from the Christmas Craft fair)

I have run out of the iron on stiffening and am also low on zips. I've ordered more of the brightly coloured zips from Ebay and will need to buy the stiffening from our LQS. On Tuesday after I came home from making bears at HWL I sewed up 3 of the cosmetics bags that I had previously cut out. 

I have one more that I can sew up but then need to wait for more zips and/or stiffening (I know that isn't the right word but for the life of me I can't remember what is the correct word)

Today was our Patchwork group. I worked on my secret project and also quilted one of our charity quilts (we are making a pile for the children's hospital in Brisbane) and got the binding machined on.

So its been a busy week with lots of progress made on various projects.

Linking up with 

Mid month Goal review

Its half way through the month so time to review my goals that I set for August.

POD Quilt. I haven't worked on this at all. I have to make the last block (block 30) and remake block 10 as well as make several extra blocks. I have printed out the block patterns so that is a start. I had thought that I would take this project away with me but I realised that I would need to take too much fabric with me so I didn't take it.

Amy Gibson Block of the Month blocks - I've made huge progress on this one. I made 5 different blocks (one twice) and I did take this project with me when we went away for 10 days and I got 5 made including 2 using hexagons and 2 using dresden plate. I was thinking I wouldn't make these particular blocks but in the end I did and I really enjoyed making them. In fact I have cut out a heap more papers and am planning on having it as an on the go project.

 

Going Green. I have put on the first two borders and have bought some more fabric to add a third plain border.

Pink Pizzazz. I have started to put the backing together. I've made a strip to insert in the fabric I am using to make it wider, using a variety of hearts and pinwheels. The pieced hearts were made using "Made" fabric from another project and the other two hearts were ones made for a raggy hearts swap our group is having next month but which were made the wrong size


Make a Bag for my friend. I have made two bags for two friends :) A watermelon bag for my friend Sam and a green bag for another friend.

Sunday Stash Report - some additions

I have only one finish this week - a green carry bag that I blogged about earlier on in the week here. It was fully lined with pockets on the inside and out. I did a sort of crazy log pattern/crazy patch on one side and fussy cut some cute animal pictures and worked them into a nine patch on the other. The middle block was the pocket. I had all sorts of issues with the iron on interfacing but managed to get it done in the end. I used .88m of a metre

We spent the last couple of days in Rockhampton and I visited a quilt shop there I hadn't been to before - Needlework Cottage. I've heard of it, of course, but just never made it. I had extra time in Rocky these last few days so found it. I am collecting bike fabric for a special project and found 2 lovely prints there so I got .3m each. Originally I had ordered .25cm but the shop lady suggested .3cm as that was the repeat for both of them (and for most fabrics apparently... that or .6m)

I also found some lovely bright butterfly print that I plan to make a vest for a friend out of. He mentioned a few weeks ago that he would like a vest for Chrysalis (a Christian organisation that we both belong to. See here for more information) I got 1 m and hope that its enough. He's a pretty big bloke but I can always add more fabric) Actually I am thinking of sending him the fabric and he can get his mum or wife to do it since I don't have his measurements. That would get me out of it nicely :)

My final purchase was a lovely self patterned green fabric that I bought on the spur of the moment for borders on Going Green. I was going to leave it as was, (see my Wip Wednesday report for this past week)or else wait till I got home to see what fabric I had in my stash but when I saw this lovely fabric at a good price I bought it. I got 1.5m

Week 33

         Fabric Used                     0.88
         Fabric Added                   3.19

Year To Date
         Fabric Used                    113.85
         Fabric Added                    42.40        

Net Used/Added                       71.46m   

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times

Bags

Fixit Guy and I are away from home for 10 days on a little vacation that is covering a number of basis. Our first 2 days were spent at friends in Kingaroy, a small country town 8 hours from where we live. Our friends have been there for 18 months and keen for us to visit them. We used to look after their dog Bumbles on a regular basis when they lived closer to us and we are very fond of the dog and our friends too.

We arrived late afternoon on Thursday and they next morning they both had to go to work but we happily amused ourselves at home. Fixit GUy went for a walk for some of the time but I spent all my spare time with my machine whirring trying to finish off one last gift for the watermelon themed birthday party the next night. I talked about that in my previous blog post here.

I had seen various bag patterns along the lines of what I wanted to accomplish so decided to just wing it and see how I went. I made a few boo boos but got there in the end

I wanted to make another one so last night and this morning whilst Fixit Guy was recovering from a nasty gastric bug that hit him yesterday morning I decided to have a go at it. I thought that this time I would be fine, having bumbled my way through the watermelon bag

And this time I didn't make the same mistakes. I didn't sew the front and back together too early, I remembered to put a pocket on the outside, I did a much better job of making the handles, I measured more accurately where the handles had to go

I did however make a few new errors instead!! I forgot to iron on the interfacing before assembling the interior of the bag. I remembered to put the outside pocket on first.... but forgot to put the inside pocket on so had to fiddle about to get that one on. And those handles... I stitched one on the wrong way around and in unpicking it and putting it on the right way I managed to move them so they got stitched a bit off kilter. Sigh.

And both times I sewed the bottom together and left the gap where I had to turn the bag the right way around on the seam where I was joining the lining and the outside together. It would have been better to have left the turning seam on the bottom of the lining. Never mind. It worked and next time I will take better notes and who knows I might even end up with a tutorial.

 

The colours in the photos are really washed out for some reason. I fixed them up in my photo program but somehow they have lost it all again in the transfer. Never mind. You can see the colours better in the photo of the fabrics below.

The fabric I used was (well the large print, the hedgehogs and the green from the front of the bag pictured on the left) was from the line Bluebird Park by Kate and Birdie Paper Co for Moda I bought it in Adelaide on our trip last year. I blogged about it here. 

I didn't use the fabrics with the bikes in it. I've put them aside for another project. It was hard to cut into these fat quarters. I love them so much. I have about a 15" square of the green left, a 2.5" strip of the hedgehogs and a very chopped up piece of the larger print fabric

Sunday Stash report

Haven't had much in the way of completions this week.... just the one bag. It was super cute though.

On Saturday night we went to a 30th birthday party - Fangirl, Fixit Guy and myself. It was also her housewarming and she had a watermelon theme. I worked on presents for her last week - but I wasn't able to show the results in case she visited my blog (which I don't think that she would but.....)



I can't find the link to the pattern I used for this... or at least based it on was from All People Quilt








On Friday I worked on using up lots of my scraps to make her a bag as my final thing. I didn't have a pattern - just made it up as I went along. Had a few booboos so did some unpicking (reverse sewing) but in the end I was really happy with how it turned out. I had a couple of little 6.5" squares featuring watermelons that I was able to work into the bag. I also had a watermelon applique (left over from the appliques I made for the towels and tea towels) 



I tried to make one side like the wonky log cabin that Amy Gibson had in her Craftsy class (2012 BOM class) but I just don't seem to get the hang of it. I really need to watch that month's lesson again. Still it worked out pretty well



I lined it and had a pocket on the inside. I still have some bits and pieces left over of the watermelon fabric and the other fabrics but I called it quilts after I made it. Ran out of time. I was still trimming the threads off the bag on Saturday.

Fangirl and I decided that since she was turning 30 we would give her 30 gifts, as much as possible with a watermelon theme. As well as the coasters, placemats, table runner, tea towels and hanging towels pictured above, her other hand made gifts included a turned wood bowl that Fixit Guy made her (which we wrapped to look like half a watermelon using red, green and white paper) and watermelon key ring and earrings designed and made by Fangirl.

We found watermelon flavoured chewing gum, tic tacs and lollies and watermelon print on a reusable shopping bag. We did have to throw in a few non watermelon related products too including the plastic crate that we put the gifts in... but it was red, We then wrapped the present in green red and white paper.

Fangirl watches her friend open our gift 

 It really was a watermelon themed party!!

The bag was my only finish for the week and used .86m of fabric.

And I had no purchases for the week. Despite visiting Spotlight and another fabric shop I only bought the iron on interfacing that I needed and a saucepan for the boys!

So this weeks stats are

Week 32

         Fabric Used                     0.86m
         Fabric Added                   0

Year To Date
         Fabric Used                    112.97m
         Fabric Added                    39.21m         

Net Used/Added                       73,76m   

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times