December Sewing Recap

It's the end of the month, year and decade!

How did I go with my goals?

At the beginning of the month I set my One Monthly Goal to be to finish my Rainbow Scrap Challenge Plus Quilt  and make one Splendid Sampler 2 block.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

Yes!  It is totally finished.  You can see my main post here, but this is a much better photo.

And the backing.

SPLENDID SAMPLER 2

Yes!  Another finish.  I knew this was a fiddly block, but just for fun, I counted the pieces.  Can you believe there are 84 pieces in this six inch block!!  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

ONE PROJECT A MONTH

For a change, I have a few projects.  Obviously, the Plus Quilt.

The hanger I made for Loulee.

Two Christmas ornaments.  One for Loulee and one for us.

And, finally, a bib for the youngest member of Mick's family.

I'm pretty happy with that little lot, considering it is such a busy month.

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts, So Scrappy and Kris at Tag Along Teddies.

Thanks to all of you for keeping me motivated throughout the year.  These little challenges work very well for me.

Swapsies

I've been involved in a few little swaps lately, but haven't shown any details.  It is about time I did!

Firstly, back in October (nothing like being timely), when Lou and Tony visited, Lou and I did a little swap.  

I gave her the Aussie Table runner that I shared back here, along with a couple of other bits and bobs I forgot to photograph.  Lou shared them on this post.

Lou brought some little gifties for me too.

A beautiful caravan stitchery.  I keep pinning this style of project, but have never made any.  I have the perfect place to hang it.  The caravan themed tea towel is beaut too.  Especially as one of the pictured vans is orange.  You have to love an orange caravan.......not that I am biased or anything.

Then, after I sent a tea towel to Jenny in NZ, I also sent one to June, as she admired it, and it would go very nicely in her caravan for Christmas.

I was delighted to receive a return envelope in the post.

How beautiful is that!  I have found the perfect place for it in my sewing room.  Thanks heaps June.  It was totally unnecessary, but lovely just the same.

Now onto Christmas......

Lou and  I have swapped gifts for quite some years now.  There are quite a few of her hand made ornaments on my tree.

I didn't have too much trouble deciding on a project this time, as while they were visiting, she commented how much she liked a certain hanger in the Natalie Bird Blue Book.

I really enjoyed making this one.  Lou loves blues, and I found a nice little selection.

Here is the complete group of gifts. I had to add one of Mum's crocheted hand towels and a little ornament. Unfortunately, it didn't quite arrive in time for Christmas, but then, there was another gift to open after the big day.

Lou's gift also got caught up in the mail, so I too had a nice gift to open after the big day.

Another caravan themed gift.  We love it!  We definitely are "Happy Campers". That will definitely get hung up in the van.  And, of course, another beautiful hand made Christmas tree ornament.  The fabrics are gorgeous.  I made similar ones back in the mid 80s.  What a difference the fabric makes.  Thanks heaps Lou.

And that is about it.

It has been fun over the last few months being involved in these little swaps.

As tomorrow is the last day of the month, year, and decade, I will do my final check in with December's makings.  Yes, as of a couple of hours ago I have achieved my goals.

2019 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Plus Quilt Finished

I have just a few minutes ago put the last stitches in my Plus Quilt, which was my 2019 Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.

It's not the best photo, as taken at 10.30 at night, but I just wanted to share that it is done and dusted!  I'm so happy to have completed the quilt within the year.  Happily, I was able to get the coloured blocks made each month, and then added a few extra blocks at the end to make the quilt larger.

The details of this quilt are:

Inspiration - Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2019 run by Angela at So Scrappy

Design - Plus Quilt - inspiration taken from many quilts on Pinterest

Started - January 2019

Completed - December 2019

Block Size - 10 inches

Finished size - 70 inches x 60 inches

Fabrics - Colours all from my stash, backgrounds taken from a Zen Chic "Modern Backgrounds" charm pack, stash and extra low volume greys collected along the way. (I have a nice little collection now.)

Stitched  - as a leader and ender project.

Backing and binding - tone on tone blue that has been in my stash for many years

Batting - cotton

Quilted by - my friend Val O'Shannesy.

I'm linking up over at So Scrappy.  Pop over and see the other completed projects and works in progress.

Thanks so much to Angela for organising this challenge it has been great fun.

Yes, I will participate again next year, but maybe not creating a quilt.  I may switch it up a bit.  We'll see. 

One Monthly Goal Setting for December

I can't believe we are already up to our final month of goal setting for 2019.

Once again, my goal has been very easy to set.

My quilting fairy has returned from her holidays and this evening we will be delivering my Rainbow Scrap Challenge top and backing to her, so that she can spread her fairy dust.  The turnaround time is generally fairly quick, so my goal is to finish the quilt.  

I can't wait to have it on our bed, as the colours will be nice and fresh for summer.

In the background, I aim to have at least one Splendid Sampler 2 block made.  That will bring my number of blocks to 90 and then I hope to start preparing sashings.  I'll see if I end up adding the final ten blocks as I go along.

Pop over to Elm Street Quilts to see what other goals have been set for the month.

One Monthly Goal Achieved for November

It is nearing the end of the month, so time to make myself accountable to the One Monthly Goal.

My goal this month was to turn my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks into a quilt top and make the "Grandfather Clock" block for the Splendid Sampler 2 quilt.

The quilt top has now been put together and I'm pleased with how it looks.  I wasn't able to get it quilted this month, as  my Quilting Fairy went on  holidays - the hide of her!  She will be back next week, so it will be quilted well before Christmas. You can read more about it here.

The Grandfather Clock block has been made today.  Fiddly, but not as bad as I thought it would be.  I was even able to pop another little elephant in there.  It will be fun to find all the little elephants on the finished quilt.  I've been able to pop them into quite a few blocks.

I completed the embroidery section of this block quite a few months ago, but at the time, overlooked adding the borders.  It looks much better now.

I had a count up, and I now have 89 completed blocks.  The remaining ones are mainly rather fiddly, so I'm tossing up whether to do them all, or call it quits at 90 blocks.  Half of me wants to say I've done them all, while half of me wants to get it finished and move onto something else.  After I've done one more block I may start doing some sashings........once I've decided how to finish it........I really can't make up my mind.......and as I work on that I will decide if I want to make the extra blocks.  We'll see.  The main thing is that there are no quilt police and I am doing this for my enjoyment, not to become a burdensome chore.

Having said all that, I found some new 1930s fabrics in Spotlight today and had to add them to my stash.  There will definitely be another quilt (or two or three) made from my little decent sized collection of 1930s fabrics.

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts.  Pop over and see what others have achieved.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge - We Have a Quilt Top!

How exciting!

We now have a quilt top!  Unfortunately, the colours look somewhat washed out in this photo, but I am really happy with the way it has turned out.  The greys tone down the bright colours nicely.

I had originally planned on having thirty blocks, but decided to add another six.  However, when I started to lay them out I had obviously got carried away during the year and ended up with forty one.  Duh! How did that happen?  I quickly made another block and now have a quilt top with forty two blocks, which will finish at 70" x 60".  I very practical size.

My dream, rather than goal, was to also have it quilted this month.  That was not to be, as my quilt fairy has decided to flit off on holidays down the south coast.  How dare she!  She should have been just waiting for me to deliver a quilt.   Not to worry.  Everything is ready to go and she will be able to quilt it in early December.  The binding is all prepared, so once it is returned I will have something to do next month.

This was also a great introduction to having a leader and ender project, as the blocks came together with next to no effort. I now miss having fabrics cut out, ready to just pick up and stitch between other sewing.  I have an idea to use some of my stash on a new leader and ender project, so need to get cutting.

I'm linking up over at So Scrappy.  Now, I'm off to have a look at how the other projects have been coming together.  It has been fun to once again participate in this challenge during the year.  I'll have to put my thinking cap on to come up with a project for next year.

One Monthly Goal for November

I can't believe that we are up to November already.  Where has the year gone?  

Anyway, it is once again time to set my stitching goals for the month.

This one was very easy.  Now that I have my completed pile of Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks it is time to turn them into a flimsy.  That should be fun and I can't wait to have a play with the lay out on my design floor.

If I'm really lucky, I may even get it quilted by my quilting fairy.  That is, if I'm organised and she is available and not already booked out.  We'll see how we go.

Now, normally, I aim to have four Splendid Sampler 2 blocks completed each month, but given that I want to play with the RSC quilt and it is November, so some secret stitching type of stuff seems to happen, I've decided to just aim to complete one block.  However, to compensate for that, I've decided to bight the bullet and complete the very detailed Grandfather Clock block, rather than keep putting it off.  If I get any other blocks completed, that will be a bonus.

As always, I have to thank Patty for keeping me motivated.  Pop over to Elm Street Quilts to see what others are aiming for this month.

One Monthly Goal for October and Other Stitching

Phew!  I've met my goal for another month.

I have completed four more Splendid Sampler 2 blocks.

Some are getting a bit more complicated now.  "Full Circle" (top right) was supposed to have EPP and Freezer Paper piecing, but I machine pieced the centre hexy and used fusible machine applique for everything else.  Much simpler for me to achieve.  I think it still looks OK.

Now, I have also completed a couple of other things this month.

I made an Aussie themed table runner.   This was part of a gift for my good friend Loulee.

I will have more on the reason for the gift in a future post. 

The other recent finish was a couple of tea towels embellished with Christmas caravanning fabric.  One I kept for our van and the one pictured winged its way to New Zealand to Jenny for her van.  I also popped in one of Mum's crocheted kitchen towels.

This was a little thank you for a parcel I received from her.  You see, a little while ago Jenny made a bag using selvedges, which I rather admired.  She kindly offered to send me the magazine with the pattern for the bag.  

When the parcel arrived there was not only the magazine, but an interesting patchwork book.  I have read several books on Australian quilts, but this one, dated 1987, was a new one to me. Thanks Jenny.

So, I have achieved my One Monthly Goal of Four Splendid Sampler blocks, my final three Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks and completed something for Kris' One Project a Month.

Pop over to the Elm Street Quilts, So Scrappy and Tag Along Teddies to read all about them.

Completed Rainbow Scrap Challenge Blocks

I am very happy that not only have I completed the RSC blocks for October, but for the entire quilt.

The nominated colour for October was darks.  I had actually completed my brown blocks a little while ago, as by making these as leader and enders I was ahead of the schedule.

However, after initially planning to make thirty blocks for my quilt I decided a while ago to make it larger, so have made a few extra blocks in some colours.

My final three of these were finished on Friday.  Once again, I was leaving things to the last minute.

I'm really looking forward to laying these out on the design floor and playing around with placement before putting the quilt top together next month.

The RSC is such an easy, fun way to make a quilt during the year.  What I really enjoyed was using it as a leader and ender project. Something that I've never done before, but from now on I'd like to have a leader and ender project sitting beside my machine at all times.  I'll have to work out what I'll do next and have a cutting episode.

Pop over to So Scrappy to see what the other girls created this month.

Setting my One Monthly Goal for October

I can't believe that it is already October, and therefore, time to set my OMG for the month.

September was a busy month. However, October is going to be even busier, with something on every weekend and welcoming some very special visitors to stay with us.  As a result, I don't expect to spend a great deal of time in the sewing room, meaning that once again, I am setting rather modest goals.

My main goal will, as usual, be to make four Splendid Sampler 2 blocks.  The remaining blocks are getting to be a bit more detailed, so that is all I will reasonably expect to get done.  Any more will be a bonus.

In the background I will make my final three blocks for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt.  This month's colour is black/brown/grey and my blocks have already been completed.  I will finish these three extras and then share them all.

Then the fun part will take place next month, playing with placement and putting the top together.

I'd like to get some extra stitching in there, but anything further will be a bonus.  Maybe November will be a bit more productive.  We'll see.

I'm linking up with Elm Street Quilts.  Pop over and see what the others will be working on this month.....probably a lot more than me.

I Sewed in September

It's been a bit quiet around here during September, but that doesn't mean that life has been quiet, rather quite the opposite, just no blogging.

Happily, I did meet the stitching goals I set myself at the beginning of the month.

Firstly, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I already had the purple blocks completed from previous leaders and enders.

Therefore, I had set myself the goal of completing a further three bonus blocks to help make a slightly larger quilt.  I have another three cut out to make the final number of blocks.

Next, my One Monthly Goal was to complete six Splendid Sampler 2 blocks.

 

Job done!  It wasn't even a last minute rush.  I was surprised to find that there were still some relatively simple blocks to complete.  Of course, each month means the more detailed blocks remain.

Each month I also like to have at least one finished project for One Project a Month with Kris.  On Friday it was time to make something.  

A new ironing board cover was very much needed.

Whenever I've been ready for a new ironing board cover I've just found some fabric I like and delivered it to Mum with a request for her to make it for me.  Now that she lives in residential aged care I can't do that.  Time to put on my big girl pants and make my own.

Normally, I buy a drill fabric, but lately I haven't been able to find anything that I like, or the design is directional and would be sideways on the board. I kept looking each time I was in the fabric shop. Then, recently, I spied a fabric in the clearance bin in the home decor fabric section that I liked, and best of all, it was only $3.00 a metre and was 150cm wide.  That meant that I could have the directional print going the correct way.  I bought two metres, as the fabric doesn't look as durable as the drill, so I figured I could make two and it would still be cheaper than the normal fabric, and with less waste.

 I know it sounds silly, but I felt rather intimidated by this make, as I have no pattern to go by.  Time to bight the bullet and cut a pattern off my existing version.  The style works really well as it is fitted around the pointy end of the board, not just elastic all the way around.   I don't know where Mum got the pattern, but I'm guessing she cut it off an ironing board cover that she bought many years ago.

 I wasn't going to unpick the stitching to see how it comes together, so I just cut it off and then added a seam allowance.

This is how it looked when placed on the fold.

So, really all you have to do is cut the end of the fabric at an angle, for the pointy end and round the corners for the other end. Run a zig zag all the way around and then press under about an inch wide casing around the edge starting at the start of the angled cut.  Next, lay it flat with the seam up the middle, like in the photo further up, and draw a curve, which I took off the original cover.  I then stitched on the line a couple of times for strength and cut off the excess leaving half an inch seam allowance.  Thread your elastic and stitch down the ends.  

Too simple.  It really was a quick easy project.  My curve at the pointy end isn't quite right, but it will certainly do the job.  Next time I may cut a pattern for the curve off my actual ironing board.  

Now to put it on the ironing board.

Ta da!  Do you notice something amiss?  Yep, the pattern is upside down!! Duh!!  What a duffer.  However, as you walk into my sewing room it is facing the right way.  It would be perfect for left handed people and also, they say that it is clever to turn your ironing board around the other way to iron yardage or table cloths.  It would be facing the right way for that too.  Oh well, I'm still going to use it as it is.

While I was on a roll, and most importantly, while I had the fabric direction in my head, I made a second version.  This time facing the correct way.  It has now been put away, together with my old one to use as my pattern, for when the current version wears out. 

They certainly look nice and fresh compared to my very stained one. 

I still have some left over fabric, but just  not quite enough for another version.  However, I reckon if I add a bit of something else to the top and bottom, it would be hidden underneath, so we may make another one shortly.

I'm linking up with So Scrappy and Elm Street Quilts.  Pop over and see what the others have made this time.