My latest start - The Splendid Sampler

Have you heard of The Splendid Sampler?  100 blocks designed by designers from all over the world, using a wide variety of techniques to expand your knowledge!

I actually sort-of got started, but with so much else on the go, this is simply a project for when I want to do something fun and distracting.

I completed Block 33 - Selvage Block - on June 16:

 

This is number 4 of 100.  So far, I have managed to make about 1 block a month. At this rate, I'll be finished in 8 1/3 years!

 

I am quilting as I go, and this block has now been sashed and quilted, but I forgot to take a picture!

 

The first block I did was #3 - Lots of Love.  This one is sashed and quilted.  This one is a corner block, so the sashing is complete on the top and left hand side (and the right for that matter - I screwed up and made a full sash instead of a partial.

 

 

(Pardon the lighting - it was nighttime in late February!)

 

The third block completed was #5 - Simple Simon, also sashed and quilted.  this one is also destined for the top row, but I have to figure out a method of adding my sashings so that I have room to work on them even after quilted. I think moving forward I am going to put two rows of the sashing on the top and left-sides, and one row on the bottom and right.  When they are sewn together, they will form a complete sashing (by the way, the sashing finishes at 1 1/2"..)

 

 

I have also completed Block # 6 - Focus Point, and quilted it with more than stitch-in-the ditch.  I don't have a picture handy, but will post it on my next update!

 

Stats: Splendid Sampler - started Feb. 28, 2016

4/100 blocks completed by June 16/16 (Blocks 3, 5, 6 and 33)

3 blocks cut and ready for sewing (#1, 2, and 8)

2 blocks hand-sewing in process (#7 and 36)

Fabric used: various '30s reproduction fabrics collected over last 7 years

Moda Bella off-white 9900-200 for background and sashing, estimate 2 metres will be needed)

Backing: garage sale find, approx. 3 yards (will have to mix in some solids or other prints) 

 

 

What I'm working on

This past weekend I spent many hours working on quilting - using my domestic machine to quilt the Super Mario twin-size flimsy!

In my usual procrastinating ways, I presented the flimsy to my grandnephew, Konner, on his 9th birthday, with a promise to quilt it in the next couple of weeks.  I promptly went home, set up my dining room table and ignored it for two weeks.

The rainy weekend didn't let me make any excuses, so not-so-bright and early Saturday morning I got started. Once I got into it, I chastised myself for waiting so long.  Why do I avoid things I enjoy doing?

All the straight-line diagonal quilting is done, as well as outlining the sashing and the outline of the designs.

I started out thinking simply - just get 'er done! Now that the background has been completed, the borders outlined and the edge sewed down and trimmed, I'm looking at the centres of each block and I can visualize more!  I'm going to attempt some straight-line quilting, along with free-motion quilting and play with each block.

  The pipe has cross-hatching in the light green areas, and will have straight vertical lines in the dark green.

Of course, it wasn't all work and no play - I also got to see this little cutie perform in her third dance recital!  She's done ballet the last three years, plus 1/2 year of tap, next year she's going to do tap and hip-hop! Can't believe she just turned 5!

I'm back!! Sunday Stash Report, Week 19 - 2016

Hopefully, for good this time. The last few months have been long and drawn out, but I have climbed over some personal hurdles and hopefully, everything is behind me now.

The last week I've been following the news closely - if you haven't heard, there are horrendous forest fires in northern Alberta, and I have had family and friends that are personally affected. My sister-in-law (ex, actually but we keep in touch) has 3 kids and their families who live in Fort McMurray and they and some of their friends have evacuated to her place near Edmonton, not knowing whether their homes have survived. She has 3 campers and a large tent now camped out in her backyard, with about 20 people and a number of pets for who knows how long.  More than 1600 homes have been lost, and thousands of people have been displaced, and the smoke has reached as far south as Montana and North Dakota (over 1000 miles away). If you are able to help, the Red Cross Canada has set up a relief fund specifically for Fort McMurray, Alberta.   I have, and my community has been amazing - 4 18-wheelers were sent full of the necessities: diapers, underwear and toiletries for the evacuees.

Here are some links to some of the news sites I have been following - the photos are incredible:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/fort-mcmurray-evacuation-creates-surreal-scene-as-wildfire-grows-1.3566370
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36235175
CTV Edmonton Facebook Page
Global Edmonton Facebook page

Not much progress has been made on the sewing front. I'm working mostly on block-of-the month/week/day projects, but I have managed to squeak out a few finishes:

A tunic top for my 5-year old granddaughter,

2 nighties for her and her sister, and a pair of camouflage pants for the grandson!  About 3.5 metres out, but I have totally lost track of what has come in, so I'll update once I figure that out!

Added: ?? metres

Added Year to Date: 5.1 metres 

Used/Given away: 3.5 metres

Used/Given away Year to Date: 8.5 metres

Net used or given away in 2016: 3.4 metres

For other stash reports, check out the links at Judy's blog, Patchwork Times

Sunday Stash Report 2016, Week 5

I've been doing more handwork this month, so no more finishes for January but I'm having fun working on projects.

I started Katja Marek's Millifiore quilt-along using her book "The New Hexagon". 

I made the first hexagon for Rosette #6, and Millie is already proving to have a mind of her own!

It appears that the orange and limey-yellow want to stand out, plus I needed some different fabric to fussy-cut but of course, I have nothing suitable in my hundreds of yards of stash (and I know it's hundreds based on my previous stash reports)!

So off to Hamels I went! These are so not true to colour, but when it's gloomy and rainy, it's hard to get good photos.

While I was there, I picked up the first 3 blocks of the new Canadian Mystery Quilt.  Next year is Canada's 150th anniversary

Added: 1 metres

Added Year to Date: 5.1 metres 

Used/Given away: 5 metres

Used/Given away Year to Date: 5 metres

Added in 2016: 0.1

Sunday Stash Report 2016, Week 3

Doing weekly reports on how my stash moves definitely keeps me motivated! Last week, I powered through to finish this quilt top, that was promised two (yikes!) years ago! I still have to buy some border fabric, but I'll count that separately.

And a quilt top is not complete until it has been inspected - Daisy did her job thoroughly, and then nicely posed! I've done other posts about this quilt - just search for Super Mario or click on the label below.

I've already made the matching pillowcase, which is already in use.

I had experimented with using strips of fabric, instead of all those small squares, but it didn't work out as well as I would have liked, so the quilt top is made up of 1,956 individual 2" squares! 

I'm considering this for the border fabric, bound with red and flannel or minky on the back:

Of course, in order to finish the top, I had to make a small purchase of orange for the Fire Flower and another look at the Christmas clearance rack at Hamel's:

I broke down and bought this print from the Holly's Tree Farm line with no plan. Don't you just love those vintage cars!

Added: 0.8 metres

Added Year to Date: 4.1 metres 

 

Used/Given away: 5 metres

 

Used/Given away Year to Date: 5 metres

 

Used/Given away for 2016: 0.9

I hope to stay in the clear all year, so that means I really have to buckle down and get those UFOs done, because I don't want to give up the fabric shopping!

Linking up with all the other Stashers at Judy's Patchwork Times - come check us out!

Slow Stitching

Have you ever heard of the term "Slow Stitching"? I'm not where it originated but Kathy in Ontario has been hosting a Linky Party called Slow Sunday Stitching since 2012 celebrated the art of handwork. I've always got a bit of embroidery on the go, sometimes cross-stitch and now some "big-stitch" hand quilting, so I'm finally going to join along.

I tend not to slow stitch on Sundays, though, as that is usually a day I can spend at the machine. Instead I stitch in the evenings when I'm watching TV, so I'll use the report to show what I worked on in the previous week.  I get more done when I "have to report", but I know the only person I'm being accountable to is me!

Last night, I  finished what stitching I could get done before assembling my new tote bag:

This is my own design, made with Moda's Honeycomb pre-cuts.  I hope what I vision works out!

Linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching!  Come join the fun!

First Sunday Stash Report of 2016

As part of my "Simplify" plan, I really debated starting the stash report for 2016, since I didn't do it very often last year, and quit altogether by about September. Then I realized it made me more accountable (to myself only!) and got me in the sewing room more often. Since I want to clear out my UFOs this year, reporting those finishes will really motivate me to get those done.

Then I promptly fell off the wagon! I needed some solids to finish a block on the Super Mario quilt for my grand-nephew that was promised to him over a year ago.  His is first up on the to-do list and I want to get it done by the end of January.

Added: 3.3 metres

Added Year to Date: 3.3 metres 

 

Used/Given away: 0 metres

 

Used/Given away Year to Date: 0 metres

 

Added for 2016: 3.3 

Hamel's had a huge sale, 50% off Christmas fabrics and 25% of all regular fabrics on the bolt (ends tonight at midnight PST), and although most of the Bella solids that I was looking for were sold out, I did pick up some off-white. I also got some Holly's Tree Farm word polka-dot for 50% off, and a little Good Morning at 25% off. All but the aqua will be used to finish those never-ending UFOs (and maybe a little in my 365 Challenge Blocks).

I then got my Leader & Ender baskets set up:

From left to right: 1 1/2" finished 9-patches (made with 1" strips); Super Mario 2" blocks, and Step Two of Bonnie Hunter's 2014 Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion. 

Linking up to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times Stash Report

Are you planning on joining us this year?