And Sew Finished!

Finally, the And Sew On BOM wallhanging is finished.

I chose to make 8 of the 9 blocks so that I could have a tall, thin wallhanging and it has definitely worked.

As this was very much a sampler quilt I took the opportunity to use it to practise my free-motion quilting, using a different pattern in each block. I have already subjected you to most of the quilting patterns I used so won't bore you again other than to show off one pattern that hasn't been posted before.

I got very carried away with myself at one stage and decided to have a go at quilting some flowers! As this is my first attempt please don't look too closely :) It is, however, recognisably a flower, which is more than can be said for some of the other attempts it is fair to say. Still that definitely counts as progress in my book!

The quilt is sashed with Sew Retro Pattern fabric and just in case anyone misses the sewing connection it is bound with Sew Retro Cotton Reels, both by Makower. I added a hanging sleeve at the back when attaching the binding, so now have something else waiting for my other half to put up!

I am thrilled to bits to have this finally finished and must thank Kristy for such a great BOM, and apologise to her too for taking so long to finish!

This is also another finish for Q1 of the FAL, so even more reason to celebrate


And because it is for me I'm posting it to Moira's

Linking up to

2014 FAL - Q1 Starting out again!

It is the start of a new FAL so time for optimism and wishful thinking :)



This year's FAL is being hosted by the multi-talented Katy otherwise known as The Littlest Thistle. Check out her post if you want to join in the fun.

Having only managed to finish 2 out of the 6 finishes I was hoping for in the last quarter of 2013, there are plenty of UFO's hanging around my sewing room patiently waiting for their turn on the sewing table. One of the 2 finishes I did achieve was a long-standing BOM so in an effort to continue that momentum I am putting the remaining 2 outstanding BOM's in my cupboard top of my list for finishing this quarter.

First up,the wallhanging I have been paper-piecing monthly with Quiet Play's BOM



I had the last block of 9 left to paper piece (the photo below only shows 7 blocks as I haven't taken any photos of them altogether since I made the 8th block), but have decided that an 8 block wallhanging will fit better in the space available. So instead of paper-piecing the last block all that I need to do is add the sashing, baste and quilt it. Doesn't sound too difficult does it?

Second, another carry forward from last years FAL, the Craftsy BOM quilt top.

All the blocks are made (and have been made for months), the sashing fabric is purchased and waiting to be cut up so I just need to knuckle down and do it! It would be great to have this finished in time for my son and daughter-in-laws house move in the Spring, especially as it was also meant to be a Christmas present!

The third project I would like to finish this quarter is the cushion I planned from the New Zealand Falcon pattern by the very talented Tartankiwi.  Our local rugby team are known as the Falcons, and the males in this family are mad-keen rugby fans so it would be a fitting addition to our current collection of cushions.Would be nice to have it finished before the end of the rugby season too :)

The fourth project I really would like to finish this quarter is the Bargello quilt that I started in a class last August.

Again, all this needs is borders, basting and binding! Can you tell these are my least favourite parts of making a quilt??

The next set of projects have all been in my head for ages but I have never actually written them down anywhere, so I am hoping that by blogging about them I might actually get around to making them. So my fifth project for this quarter is another cushion, this time with some Celtic Knotwork applique. I know exactly what I want to do with this so I just need to knuckle down, draft up a pattern and sew it!

I am going for broke here with a sixth, seventh and eighth project :)

The sixth is another cushion, this time with Linen that I brought back from Latvia and some lovely Liberty fabric that I have been too nervous to cut into!

Again I know exactly what I want to do with this, I just need to sit down and do it!


More Liberty fabric and some vintage linen in the seventh project for a secret project that I am really excited about, that will, hopefully, be revealed later in the year.

And finally (thank goodness I hear you cry!) a Christmas project (!!!) using these cute fabrics. The reason for this project will be revealed rather sooner than the one above in the next couple of days, but let's just say now that I am planning to be the most organised I have ever been for Christmas this year :)

I think that is more than enough to be going on with, don't you?

One of my resolutions for 2014 is to use up my stash, and completing all of these projects will certainly help me to do that.

Well, that's the plan wish me luck :)

Q4 FAL - the final outcome!

Time to look back and check out whether my list of hopeful finishes for the Q4 FAL turned out to be more hopeful than finished!

First up, naturally, is the HST BOM quilt that didn't quite get finished by the end of Q3. FINISHED!Blogged here

Second, another carry forward from Q3, the Craftsy BOM quilt top. NO PROGRESS :(

I had hoped that this would be a Christmas present for my son and daughter-in-law, but it will now have to be a housewarming present when they move in the Spring.

The third project on the FAL list was meant to be a housewarming present for my son and his fiancee, but finally made it as a Christmas present instead! FINISHED!Blogged here

Fourth on the list is another long-standing project from last year's Zakka SAL, the house pouch. NO PROGRESS :(

The fifth project on the list is also a bag, but this time a proper handbag size bag. NO PROGRESS :(

My sixth and final finish for Q4 will, hopefully, be the wallhanging I have been paper-piecing monthly with Quiet Play's BOM NO PROGRESS :(

Not as much progress as I would have liked, although I am delighted to have that HST BOM quilt off of the list, as I think I have had it on every quarter's list for the year :)

I did make all of these instead whilst I was studiously ignoring most of my FAL list, so it wasn't all bad!

1. Baby in the Corner Cushion, 2. Chocolate Hamper trio, 3. BBQ apron and meat rub, 4. Moose pyjamas, 5. Christmas Chutney, 6. Made Christmas Stocking, 7. Rooster cushion front, 8. Making Christmas Triple Zip, 9. Home for the Holiday Table Runner

Thanks Leanne for hosting the FAL, it has been a real help in concentrating the mind!

Here's hoping for more finishes in 2014, and lots of encouragement from this year's FAL host Katy!

At last a BOM finish!

I joined my very first BOM when Jenni at In Color Order launched her HST Block of the Month Quilt a Long in January 2012, and it has taken me almost exactly two years to put the whole quilt together.

I am delighted, however, to finally be able to post that this quilt is finished!

It could have been finished a couple of weeks ago but my husband was using it to keep warm whilst staying up all night to watch the Ashes Test Cricket on TV. I had to sneak it away in between Test Matches to work on it, and only just managed to finish the binding last night before the first day of the Final Test Match :) Sadly, the cricket has not been as heartwarming as the quilt, well not if you are an England supporter that is!

I used the maroon/gold spot fabric in the blocks for the binding, which meant that the only fabrics that I actually bought for this quilt was the marbled brown for the sashing and borders. As I have resolved to try and use up more of my stash in 2014, I am hoping that this will prove to be an auspicious start :)

This quilt has been on nearly all of my Quarter FAL lists for 2013, so I am doubly delighted to have finished it in time for inclusion in the Q4 FAL too. I have another two BOM quilts to complete and will be adding them to my list for the first quarter of 2014 in the hope that it will spur me on to get them all done and dusted. 

I have enjoyed making this quilt and have definitely learnt a lot from the BOM, but I think I will be giving BOM's a rest for a while, once the others are finished. I am not really sure that the sampler style of these quilts is me. In 2014, there will be a wedding, a Diamond Wedding Anniversary, a retirement and a New Baby in our family, so there are plenty of opportunities coming up to try out new patterns and quilt styles.

 

Linking up to  Crazy Mom Quilts

Starting with a finish!

Happy New Year! I wish you all a Happy and Healthy 2014.

In between all the cooking and clearing up I managed to sneak in a little bit of sewing to finish one of the projects on my Q4 FAL.

I had planned to make a cushion as a housewarming present for my son and his fiancee in October, but sadly never got around to making it in time for our first visit to their new home. So, instead I thought that it would make an ideal Christmas present.

The wine bottle fabric was a gift from Swedish Scrapper and the plain wool fabric was in a scrap bag that I bought on my last visit to Oxfordshire, both of them have been sitting patiently waiting on me to finally use them.

And here, at last, is the cushion! I roughly followed a pattern in Pillow Pop, but added the appliqued wine bottles and quilted the patterned fabric with a Free-Motion swirl instead of the straight line quilting in the book.

I am delighted with this and, thankfully, so were my son and his fiancee :)

I am even more delighted that this is my first finish on my list for the Q4 FAL!

The Q4 link up closes on January 8th, so I am hoping to sneak at least one more finish in before the deadline.

As it is a Thursday it wouldn't be right to have a post without a touch of randomness. I came across these wicker reindeer on a visit to a local stately home today. 

Aren't they lovely? Oh to have a garden big enough to put them in!

Q4 FAL - a list of hopeful finishes!

Leanne is doing a wonderful job of marshalling all of the FAL followers, with timely reminders to the tardy to get their lists for Q4 submitted.

So, scraping in before the deadline here is my list of projects that I would love to have completed before the end of the year.

First up, naturally, is the HST BOM quilt that didn't quite get finished by the end of Q3.

If nothing else is finished this quarter, I am determined that this will be!

Second, another carry forward from Q3, the Craftsy BOM quilt top.

I would like to give my son and daughter-in-law the completed quilt as a Christmas present, so that is an added incentive to get this one finally done and dusted.

The third project on the FAL list is more urgent than a Christmas gift, as it is a housewarming present for my son and his fiancee, and we are going down to visit them at the end of the month :)

A while ago, I took part in a text fabric swap and this wine bottle fabric was one of the fabrics suggested for the swap. The swap was for charm squares, so this fabric was deemed to be too large a scale to be included, but I knew that it would be ideal for a project for my son, who works in the wine trade. The lovely Swedish Scrapper who posted the fabric suggestion, unbeknowns to me, arranged for a fat quarter to be included with my swap package, which was a wonderful surprise. So, I really need to do something with it to recognise Lizzie's fabulous generosity. I have the perfect project from my Pillow Pop book too, so there really is no reason why this can't be done in time!

Fourth on the list is another long-standing project from last year's Zakka SAL, the house pouch.

I had decided to change the original pattern about a bit, and incorporate some embroidery but as you can see that didn't get very far :) So with the winter nights coming in, what better project to have on hand than some dainty embroidery!

The fifth project on the list is also a bag, but this time a proper handbag size bag. A while ago I entered a competition at uhandbag's blog to name a new bag pattern and win a kit for the bag. I suggested the name of the bag could be the Arc Angel Tote, and Lisa picked that as the winner. The kit, however, has been sitting in my sewing room gathering dust since then.

Having named the bag, it seems a shame not to actually have one, but hopefully that will be remedied this quarter!

My sixth and final finish for Q4 will, hopefully, be the wallhanging I have been paper-piecing monthly with Quiet Play's BOM


I have the last block of 9 left to paper piece (the photo below only shows 7 blocks as I haven't taken any photos of them altogether since I made the 8th block). Then I need to decide whether I am going to put them together as a quilt/wallhanging or perhaps make several smaller projects out of them instead. Decisions, decisions :)

So, there you have it, my roll call of projects for Q4. Some big, some little, some nearly finished, some a long way from being finished. If I manage a 50% finish rate as I did in Q3, then at least 3 of these will be off the WIP list and that will definitely make me happy :)

There is, of course, coming up the small matter of Christmas to contend with but that is another list entirely!

Voting has now closed and I will be posting the details of the winners on Tuesday, so be sure to check and see whether you are one of the lucky winners.

Nearly but not quite - Q3 FAL report

Tonight is the deadline for Q3 of the FAL

I have purposefully kept from posting on my progress in the hope that I could get another of my four projects finished in time but sadly I am still doing this!

So this HST BOM quilt is one project that will be carried forward (again!) for Q4 :(

I might even get this finished in time for the snow this winter!

On the bright side though, the well-travelled cross stitch tea towel has finally been finished.

Several hours travelling from the UK to France, then France to Ireland and Ireland to the UK were enough to get this done.

 

So here's the rest of my Q3 report.

The Paris Cafe embroidery became this.

Blogged here

And finally although all of the blocks for the Craftsy BOM quilt are now completed, sadly that is all the progress that has been made :( So they still look like this.

2 out of 4 isn't very impressive I know, especially as they were the smallest two of the four projects, but I am taking comfort from the fact that a 50% success rate is better than I have managed in either of the two previous quarters :)

Hope you are enjoying a more productive time than I am.

Don't forget to cast your vote in the

if you haven't already done so. You can check out all of the amazing entries here