WIP Wednesday

I didn't get a Stash report this week but given that there was nothing to report I guess you didn't miss much!!

I've been working on a few different things this week.

Hexie Quilt I'm going to have to come up with a better name for this project! Anyway - my hand piecing project. I have made great progress on this again this week. I completed the bottom section and added it to the centre piece which is all but done (has a few half hexies to be added to the sides)

I've started work on the top piece which consists of clouds and the sky. I completed the foundation row - the row that will attach to the part of the quilt that is already completed. I will built on that and finish it off before attaching it to the rest of the completed quilt.  I am going to have to redo a bit of it cause I made a mistake but still... it was completed for a little bit :)

Dash that Cat - the first of my Diamond Dash quilts. Today at Patchwork group I got it pinned out. I had to buy more pins for it. Its so huge it took almost 600 pins to baste it. I am not looking forward to quilting it on my home machine but I will. (I keep telling myself that anyway) I had lots of help from 2 friends at Patchwork this morning... thanks Lindy and Daph. I owe them big time. Pinning it got a bit tricky cause the batting was only just wide enough (I used the full width of the roll) and the backing only just long enough so between the two it took quite a bit of juggling. No pictures of this one. I forgot to take any... too busy pinning pinning pinning

Handmade with Love I finally managed to get to a sewing day for Handmade  With Love. ( For newbies to the blog this is a sewing group that makes things to sell to raise money for a school in Zambia. We also make things for the children at the school.

I have met up with the ladies twice this year - once for our birthday celebrations at the beginning of February and then last week when we went together to the International Women's Day celebrations. Yesterday was the first actually sewing day that I have made. I spent the 4 hours that I was there sorting some of the fabric we have been donated and then the rest of my time there sewing labels onto the completed articles, including the 6 little zipper ear bud pouches that I made.

I also helped Jasmine to make her first zipper pouch. She got the hang of it really quickly and plans to make some more for us and herself.

The VHC Quilt Regular readers of my blog won't recognise that name. That's because it's been only a short time in the making. True I did get the pieces out over a week ago and had planned to make a start on it but the cats did an intervention on me and kept me away from the project by camping on the pieces every time I thought about working on it.

Finally yesterday, after I got home from a morning of boring sewing (attaching labels) I liberated it from the cats and set to work on it and by the end of the day I had completed both the top and the pieced back. Go me. Today at Patchwork I also pinned out this quilt  and this afternoon I got it quilted, the binding made and this evening I finished it off attaching it. Still have to make the label but the baby it is for hasn't been born yet so can't do that.

I shared the photos of the quilt on the Twilters Group on Facebook and one of the members commented that she had the fabric too but couldn't work out how to use it. I have to confess I have had this Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric for 8 years. Fangirl bought most of it for me as a gift in 2008 and I bought the big panels for myself a few years later. Today at Patchwork Daph told me that she had some of the fabric too and likewise was struggling with what to do with it. Hopefully my efforts might inspire them to work on their quilts. So really VHC is not a WIP at all... cause its all but done.

http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/

WIP Wednesday

I'm feeling really really frustrated. Last night... very late I wrote my WIP Wednesday on my iPhone as I lay in bed. I should have been trying to go to sleep but no... I wrote the post and something went wrong as I posted it and I lost the lot. Needless to say at 11.15 pm I didn't try again!

It was a really good post. It was witty and succinct and sob this is going to just be a poor imitation of what might have been (Hope you can hear the violins)

My hand pieced hexie quilt has absorbed most of my sewing time this week. I did work on the backing for the first of my Diamond Dash quilts... now called Dash That Cat ( I was going with Dash the Cat but think this sounds better). I got it done. Now have to get it pinned and quilted. I had planned to pin yesterday at Patchwork Group but I didn't go as I was asked to babysit a gorgeous 2 year old and figured I was better off staying at her place than trying to take her out.


I also tried to start work on a baby quilt. I got as far as getting the fabric out and cutting up some of the panels. I left the work space temporarily to check the words of the story (Its The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and some intervention arrived

and so I left it and spent the rest of the evening hand piecing on the Hexie quilt.


I have made good progress on the hexie quilt. The centre piece is finished. Its about half the length of the quilt and the full width.

Now I am working on the bottom quarter. I am working it as one strip. I got the line of pieces to match the centre piece completed but didn't attach it Instead I have it pinned to the top of my design wall and am working on that. I chunk a few bits together and then stitch those bigger chunks together and will eventually attach them to the strip that will go on the centre chunk.

My take along project at the moment are hexies that will go at the top of the quilt - the clouds and sky. They are not flower shaped! I am piecing white and cream pieces together for the clouds at the moment. I took photos of my paper plan and am working off that whilst I am away from the house...

like today when I once again will be babysitting the gorgeous Teesh. Unlike my daughters cats she is not the slightest bit interested in my hand sewing and happily colours in, plays in her sandpit or models my hat whilst I stitch away.

http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/

March Along Check in

Happy International Women's Day. I hope that where ever you are in the world you are able to stop for a moment and appreciate the women in our lives. Our own achievements or the achievements of those around us.

I'm not long back from a morning tea put on by our Shire Council for International Women's Day. As well as a lovely morning tea there was a panel discussion featuring women from our region discussing their lives and their successes. There were 3 panels who were listed as Economic, Social and Political. The discussion was live streamed as well so that people who couldn't make the discussion were able to watch a it where ever they were. It was very interesting. Alison, the Director of Our Rainbow House was on the social panel and spoke of the work of the charity as well as her life as a working mother and wife.

A week of the March Along in March has past and so it is time for me to report in about my activities.

1st Tuesday. We drove into Rockhampton and back  (3 hours approximately each way) for a Drs appointment. Had an hour and 15 minute wait in the surgery (Dr had to go out and assist a colleague with a procedure before seeing us) Lots of hand stitching done. Some more when we got home too veging in front of the tv. Working on my hexie quilt.

2nd Wednesday. Patchwork Group sewing morning. Pinned out my hashtag quilt.

Also did lots of hand stitching at home on the hexie quilt - making some hexie flowers and stitching them into quilt.

Wrote blog posts - 3 actually. February goal review, March goals  and WIP Wednesday

3rd Thursday Hand stitching again. Got a chunk of flowers stitched into place plus a few more flowers made.

4th Friday. Took my hand stitching to bible study with me and stitched a couple more flowers. At home worked on stitching the flowers into chunks to attach body of the quilt.

5th Saturday. Kylie came over today with fabric and pattern to make her 2 older children cloaks as part of a Gruffalo costume. Some hand stitching done as well and listened to a podcast or 2 as I stitched

6th Sunday. We drove to Clermont this morning (1hr 10 mins) for church and then back to Capella (35 mins) for another church service. I wasn't game to stitch during church (the minister and congregations didn't know me and may have found it disruptive) Back home I wrote a blog post (Stash Report) and started listening to another crafting podcast.

I finally managed to get myself sufficiently inspired to get on with the backing of the Diamond Dash 1 Quilt (Or Dash that Cat as I am calling it) I managed to get it completed by the end of the day. Yay. Go me. Some hand stitching as well. I had a lot of help from my daughter Fangirls's cat whilst I stitched. Its a wonder she didn't end up with her eye poked out.

7th Monday. Went looking for a pattern to make a quilt for someone special. I have the fabrics... and I wanted a pattern that had large chunks that would enable me to feature that fabric.. ie not tiny pieces. I had asked on Twilters for a pattern a while back and got some suggestions but had managed to lose the post and not keep the patterns. No one has come up with anything yet. I went looking through Missouri Star Quilt Company YouTube channel to see if I could find something suitable. I looked at heaps of videos and there are lots of great patterns there I am keen to try sometime.

I did find one that I think will be suitable. It promises to be fairly quick to make as well which is another advantage. Jenny uses pre cuts and I don't usually so will be cutting my own fabric for it

A friend recommended this block, another one from Missouri Star Quilt Company and it looks intriguing too

I also did quite a bit of hand stitching. I have the bottom part of the quilt laid out... well all the flowers that is. I am stitching the flowers together and filling in the spaces with green hexies now to be the grass.

This week I have a couple of projects that I need to work on. I have to stop playing with the hexie quilt for a while as it has no deadline attached to it. I have to get on with the cloaks for Kylie's kids and also a baby quilt for a little one due this month. And the Dash the Cat... have to get it pinned and quilted. But the siren call of that hexie quilt is strong.

Sunday Stash Report

Its a nil all draw this week. No fabric in and none out. Well I have actually had 4 metres of brown fabric come in to make some cloaks for a friend but as I will give back all the fabric I don't use I am not going to count that!

I'm getting a bit antsy about not having completed anything but I have been addicted it seems to piecing my hexie quilt and can't tear myself away to work on anything else. I've been working on putting the top together. I have finished all the "flowers" I had worked out to make from the hexies I had made but I am still making some up as needed to fit in with the pattern. I have the quilt pinned to my design wall and am working on the bottom part of the quilt. I have made the middle section - its as wide as its going to go and now I am working on finishing off the bottom part. Even as I type this my eyes keep wandering over to the wall and I calculate what pieces are going to slot in where. I really need to stop working on this quit and get on with another special quilt that is needed for next month.

I also have to work on a quilt for a baby due this month. I didn't have anything in mind for this quilt. The nursery colours seemed to be grey teal and white which didn't do much for me. I don't have any of those fabrics on hand and I don't want to go buy more fabric at the moment. Then  I remembered that I have some Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric and that might be appropriate for this bub. I might look that out shortly and see if I have enough to do a quilt with. Something fairly straight forward will suit me! I have 2 great nieces or nephews due this year as well. I like to use some of my mum's embroideries in the quilts I make for her great grandchildren. I might have one tucked away in the cupboard but will need to get a second one made at least.

I really need to stop playing with this hexie quilt which has no particular destination yet and get on with these quilts that DO have destinations and deadlines. But sometimes it is just fun to play isn't it?

Well I did it. When I had written that much of this blog post I set to work on making the backing for Diamond Dash 1 (I'm thinking of calling it Dash that Cat) I managed to get it done. It's not got the 4" extra all around... it will have 2" on the sides and 3" on the ends but I was sick of piecing and I figured I really couldn't be bothered adding a 2" strip to each side that was just going to get trimmed off. I'm going to quilt this one myself so it's on my head (Unless I run out of time and decide to send it off to my friend Kym of PQS in which case... I shall do a 4" strip down one side)

Stats from Weeks 8-10

                 Fabric used            0m
                 Fabric added          0m

Year to Date
                 Fabric used         10.75m
                 Fabric added       18.40m
Net Used                              -7.65m

WIP Wednesday

I've been busy this week.

Whilst we were away I continued to work on the backing of the Diamond Dash quilts. I have made the strips to insert into the backing. Hope to get those sewed up this week.

Mostly I have been working on hand stitching hexies together. I have most of the hexie flowers sewn together (by that I mean the 6 hexies stitched around a centre hexie. Some of them have less than 6 hexies around since I wanted them to look like the flowers are behind the other flowers) I have been sewing the flowers together to make the quilt. I have been working on the centre strip ie the piece without the sky or grass (although a bit of sky appears between the flower)... just haven't done the strip that is mostly sky and cloud and mostly grass. I have the last strip of flowers to go - about 3 flowers wide and 11 flowers high.

Today I got to our patchwork group get together (we meet weekly to sew, have meetings bi monthly) for the first time since January. I was able to get the Hashtag quilt pinned.

The backing was a bit puckered so we had to pin it within an inch of its life in the hope we won't end up with pleats but I'm not holding my breath. My friend Lindy helped me. We have a running joke after she helped me pin one quilt and she put the pins really really close together (I told her I cursed her whilst I was stippling cause I had to stop so much to take out pins) This time I told her she could go her hardest and over pin as much as she wanted... and she did. I did too! 

Pinning this quilt was one of my February goals. I didn't get it done in February but its done now. Woot. I get to cross off one of my March goals already. Woot.

What have you sewn this week?

http://www.estheraliu.blogspot.co.uk/

March Goals

Its a new month so that means a new set of goals. I didn't do too well on completing last months goals. Hopefully I will do better this month.

• Complete my first Diamond Dash quilt. This means make the backing, pin and quilt it.
• Work on second Diamond Dash quilt.
• Work on Hexie quilt - I have almost half of the top assembled. I have made most of the hexie flowers. I have to do the sky/clouds top piece and the grassy bottom bits. I might make a few more green and blue hexies if I decide that the multi-coloured blues and green ones I have made aren't suitable.
• Pin and quilt hash tag quilt.
• empty scrap basket at least once during month

I'm joining in Darla (the Scientific Quilter)'s March-A-Long. (go here for all the details) where we commit to sewing 15 minutes every day in March. This is easy for me... cause I am retired. For working people it can be more difficult. I will report in each week what I have achieved for the week. so

• 15 minutes quilt related activity each day in March

http://scientificquilter.com/2016/02/28/39-3-announcing-march-a-long-goals-2016/

February Goal Check in

Last day of the month so time to check in on my goals.

Work on Diamond Dash Quilt 2 - The top is finished and the pieces for the back are cut out so have to put them together now

empty scrap basket - hmmm not even looked at doing it.

decide on some projects for Handmade with Love and complete I had thought that I would work on something while we were away but didn't

Make butterfly zipper pouch not done

Work on Diamond Dash quilt 1- top completed and have started the backing

Pin and quilt hashtag quilt - not done by end of Feb

work on hexie quilt - start stitching it together - made great progress on this. I have stitched heaps of hexie flowers, and then have been stitching them together according to the pattern I worked out. I am going to abandon the pattern for the most part now as I have more flowers than I had allowed for in the pattern. Also some of my blues that I was going to use for the sky are a bit to multi-coloured to work. Its going really well though

 Complete POD Harry Potter Quilt - completed and delivered to my daughter Fangirl. She loves it. Its on her bed in Brisbane whilst she is staying with her brothers. She moves into her own home shortly ... not sure if it will remain on the bed or go else where.

So that is my goal summary. Not sure how I rate it... not great. Only about 50% done. Still I did accomplish quite a bit and I put some of my failure to complete down to the fact that I got so hooked on my Hexie quilt and made such great progress on it so not too worried.