Crafty Mojo, Violins and...dog poo!

So as usual I have bad news but for a change I have some good news too!

I think my crafty mojo is back!

I haven't posted about my mystery project yet because I underestimated how much...stuff...I had and need to order more...things.  It'll probably be a bit of an anticlimax when I post...unless we have some make-up loving quilters out there.

Anyway...I haven't got back to any UFOs yet but as soon as I finish what I'm working on (hopefully tonight!!!) I'll crack on with poor Maxie's dino quilt.

I decided I needed some instant gratification and the thrill of a new project so I'm making Maxie a bag for his music books and things.  To date he's been carrying them around in a small envirobag with the school monogram on it but it doesn't close so things more often than not fall out.

The minute he walks into the classroom on Tuesdays he practically hurls his violin and music bag in a particular corner without paying much attention to it.

Oh and the dog poo?  Turns out somewhere in the depths of my nose is something that smells like dog poo...with undertones of sweaty boy feet!  I first noticed it 5 days ago - less than a week after I finished the super dooper anti anthrax antibiotics.

I can't smell much else besides...dog poo.  It's seriously nasty but kind of amusing in a really hideous sort of a way.

I spose it means going back to the ENT this week.  I'm stalling.  There's nothing to see in my nose that I can tell so it's waaaay down the back and can probably be detected with his scope which I hate...

...anyway I'm off to do the school run now and stay tuned for a (hopefully) finished bag in the next few hours!!

ETA... it's 3 hours later and I'm feeling vile!!  Will try to finish the bag tonight anyway but I've been saved by the bell...err...text message!

Max's violin teacher messaged me that he wont have a lesson tomorrow since she is playing violin for a few of the acts in the grand final of Australia's Got Talent tomorrow!  She did Dancing With The Stars too but they don't show much of the orchestra.

Would be good for Max to watch so he can see for himself what he can achieve if he practises

UFO Domination begins

I mentioned a few posts ago about the Confused Quilter's UFO Domination challenge.

Visit her blog or Flickr group to join!

I was intending to start once I'd finished piecing the top of my Roll Roll Cotton Boll Mystery quilt.  No such luck.   I'm massively behind in the RRCB and with the flooding in Queensland, charity quilts are needed now.

I promised DH I wouldn't start on any til I finished DS Dino quilt and the quilt that's supposed to cover one of the sofas.  They're both on the UFO Domination list so that's excellent and I have 2 more UFOs which I wasn't planning to finish this year as part of the challenge but I think I will since they were supposed to be charity quilts all along.

So...I've quilted another chunk of the dino quilt. It's taking sooo long!

Here's a progress report

My quilting is very wonky and wobbly because I seem to have lost the ability to smoothly move the quilt around while I freemotion the design on.

I simply don't get it. I'm sure I could do it a few months ago when I last worked on the quilt. I double checked that the feed dogs were down.

My wrist is getting stronger not weaker since my last surgery in September so it can't be that but if I have slightly wet hands it seems to help. Maybe I should try those quilters gloves?

Right now I'm just grabbing handfuls of quilt and pulling it around. It doesn't make the quilting look any good. Any thoughts?

UFO Domination 2011

The Confused Quilter has started a flickr group and given me just what I need.

My UFO situation is fairly dire and we got a bill for DS's school fees for 2011 last week.  We're still picking up our jaws off the floor.  Let's just say they're a little more than we expected!

So...I'm guessing quilt classes and fabric shopping will be one of the first things to cut back on.

I'm going to do the odd class and I still need to finish collecting Sandi Henderson FQs for 2 specific quilt but other than that it's stash shopping and UFO finishing!

Click on pic below for more info

I'm not totally certain which UFOs will be targeted or how many.  If I'm not realistic, I'll get all disappointed and discouraged.

Here's what I have so far:
Handbag quilt - needs unquilting, requilting, binding and test washing

Aqua and Chocolate quilt - needs basting, quilting, binding and test washing

Lizzie Mae's Medallion quilt - finish centre applique, piece blocks and assemble top (not
 quilting this as yet) (pic is of original pattern)

Max's Dinosaurs - needs quilting finished, binding and test wash

Max's car quilt - applique blocks finished, assemble top, basting, binding, test washing.  I'm using this pattern by The Country Quilter

My fabrics are quite different.  I first saw this quilt in a magazine made up by Magic Patch Quilting which is where I bought the pattern and mine looks more like theirs.

Max's Monster Trucks Tote Bag - finish cutting fabric and make it! The pic below is the original pattern by Natalie Ross that I'm using.  It will obviously be made up of non-girly fabrics given the recipient!!

 

DaChintzy Code Mystery Quilt - finish piecing (not quilting at this stage) 

Pinwheel Sampler - finish remaining blocks by hand or machine and assemble quilt top (ideally quilt and bind but probably too ambitious!)

Aster Manor Sampler - finish remaining blocks by hand and assemble top (ideally quilt and bind but probably too ambitious!)

Nemesis update

I just got back from my check up with the surgeon.

All going as well as can be expected.  I'm still sore and he warned me to expect it (like I don't know the drill by now!!) since the scar tissue inside and out is still settling down and my body is getting used to yet another new joint.  Usual spiel - no heavy lifting, straining, football (??!!) etc.

I'm having terrible trouble with both carpal tunnel and ulnar nerves but there is no way I'm willing to have anymore surgery...for a really long time...unless it's IVF related.

He said given the improvement he's "fairly sure" it's not an infection...ummmm...I thought we established that 2 months ago???  I know what he means and unfortunately pathology can be wrong so only time will tell which doesn't help when you want a clear cut definitive answer but time isn't the worst thing.

We need a good 3 months to get healthy (which means less booze for hubby and less weight for me), vitamins and supplements for both of us, acupuncture for me and police checks for both of us (lovely, right??!).  Oh yeah and money. 

Sooo I'm cautiously optimistic that come march 2011 or thereabouts, my doctor can start trying to knock me up.

I bumped into a friend I haven't seen in ages and she's due with her 3rd in march 2011 so there's something in the water (and visions of really cute baby quilts waiting to be made!)

On the crafty front, I've been plodding on with quilting Max's dinosaur quilt.  It's taking FOREVER!

I'm avoiding doing the Mystery Quilt clues until I get this quilt finished otherwise it'll never get done and I'm dying to get a move on with the 2 mysteries.

I'm also 1 flower and 2 leaves away from finishing the centre applique of Lizzy mae's Medallion.  Woohoo!  Final class for that is next week.  I'm LOVING all the fabrics and can't wait to put it together but gotta finish these dinosaurs first!!

Getting Basted

Or trying to!  I added the borders onto Maxie's Dinosaur quilt on the weekend.

It's not an easy feat sandwiching a quilt with a very excited 6YO playing hopscotch on the pieced quilt backing!

Eventually he found the camera...

...and took about 20 self portraits.

and then he got into the basting supplies.

I only found this out when I heard an "AWESOME!!!" coming from his direction.  He informed me that the "sticky tape" can rip your hair out...

Can you see the freshly waxed spots??  I must try duct tape next time my legs need doing...

Finally the CBeebies website to the rescue where he played games while I finished basting.

After many tea/coffee/diet coke/chocolate breaks (there are advantages to having a dodgy wrist) the ordeal was over!!! Basting is by far the most painful part of quilting! BLECH!!

WIP Week Fri 13 - Thur 19 Aug

I can't believe August is almost halfway over and I'm still nowhere near done with my 3UFO challenge!

Starting today I'm going to whip my WIPs into submission!

That means for FNSI (20 Aug) I can make the potholders DH has been begging for and not feel guilty about starting something new!

Plus I need the distraction.  I'm seeing my hand surgeon again on Wednesday and given the deadline I've given him I suspect it's crunch time and something needs to happen.  I'm more afraid of not finding out what's wrong rather than getting bad news.

Anyway I'm making decent headway with unpicking the handbag quilt so that is one goal for the next seven days.  Plus I want to finish piecing Aqua and Chocolate and finally put the borders on the Dino quilt.

I still doubt I will complete my UFO challenge but I'll be a heck of a lot closer!

Finished!!

Well only the backing for the dino quilt but still I feel like shouting it from the rooftops!

The downside is that I never got to Gisborne Quilters last night.  DH came home late and DS was coming down with something.  I'm glad I stayed - he had a rough night the poor little mite.

Another positive is I can now take proper pictures again!  You know how it is - the IT consultant's wife is always the last to get technical support! 

I'm slowly getting ready for Friday Night Sew In.  I've decided I'm going to piece the chocolate and aqua quilt top.  Once DS goes to bed, I should be able to get it done in one evening - provided I've cut enough fabric!!

That'll be another UFO that can be moved to the UQO section!!  It will also be one of my 3 UFOs before 31 August goals completed!

My table runner class is 2 weeks away and I have decided not to go with a Bali Pop.  I have 4/10 (maybe 5) of the fabrics I need to I'll just cut swatches and buy the rest to match.

Spotlight is having a big sale so DH promised to take me this weekend!

I still have no idea what I'll do for matching place mats.

Pieced Backing:                                                                                             


















Front (without borders):

The Dinos are back!

I finally did some more work today.

It was frustratingly slow going - for every 5-10 mins of cutting I had to rest for at least twice that!

I couldn't be bothered dealing with borders today so I cut out all the squares for the backing of the dino quilt!


To my relief I had enough fabric (with some left over!) and enough variety to make it look OK.


It's strange fabric - supposedly cotton but with a funny texture so I'd prefer not to use it on the front of a quilt but the back is nice and bright and DS is happy with it!


The worst part was having to use my dodgy scissors! My good sewing scissors have vanished in very mysterious circumstances.  I strongly suspect foul play.

The piecing of the back had to wait til DS went to bed.  I didn't dare interrupt Top Gear with the whirr of the sewing machine.  I got about 1/3 done until I was too sore to continue.

I'll see how I go tomorrow.  Maybe I can get the whole back done AND attach the inner borders??

On a more exciting note, I rang Quilter's Bazaar this morning to book into my classes and thank goodness I didn't wait til tomorrow!  The table runner class was full and Lorraine is running another!

I know which feature fabric to use but I'm in two minds on whether or not to buy a bali pop for the braids or buy the fabric separately.  Not much is needed but I would like to make matching placemats which would make good use of the bali pop.  Decisions Decisions.  I only have until 7 Aug to work it out!

Bleurgghh

...pretty much summarizes the last couple of days.

The rainy weather means it's party time for The Nemesis.  Add a stubborn headache and general pukiness and I'm left feeling very sorry for myself.

This of course means no Wednesday night sewing with the Gisborne Quilters or even home sewing of any kind.

Except of course buttons.  DH's pants still need one and DS has popped 2 off his school rugby shirt so I guess it means loading up on painkillers and hoping for the best.   They really need to be done despite The Nemesis.

I see my surgeon tomorrow to see what the next step is.  Splinting for 4 weeks did nothing and it doesn't feel any better. 

On a happier note I did finish sewing the dino blocks around the panel but no borders.

Will try to add a pic tomorrow!

D9P = Dino 9 Patch!

Well it certainly does in this case!

On Friday I cut all the fabric for both sets of blocks and finished piecing the D9Ps.  I also started piecing the alternate blocks (reconfigured Lorna's 12 FQ Class ones).  The difference was not just the measurements.  I also wanted the largest square to be the dino print and since I was using various sized scraps, I had to work out the colours as I went.  I also decided to make 2 variations of this block by placing the large square either towards the top of the block or bottom so I'd have some flexibility when placing them around the central panel.

Saturday saw the completion of all my blocks and I worked out the order.  DH gave his comments, screwed up the entire thing and I couldn't re-do it exactly as I had before.  Not Happy Jan Andrew!

Thanks to my nemesis (which I'll blog about sometime) I'm REALLY sore so as much as I'd love to finish a quilt top Saturday night, I don't think I will.

After loads of umming and ahhing, I'll piece the backing to save $ since I really need to buy the remaining Aster Manor yardage online soon but I will need WOOL batting since I only have cotton at home and want this quilt to be wool to keep my Lil Man all toasty

The inner borders will be a plain chocolate brown (at least I hope I have enough length of the fabric I'm thinking of) and I'll quilt little dinosaurs in variegated thread on them.  Outer borders will be small scraps of block fabric.

I'm pleased with how it's coming along so far but I need to be sure the borders look OK and am a little nervous of the quilting - haven't done any FM stuff since last year!

This morning I discovered more problems with the block layout and had to redo them for my own sanity.   It's definitely not as  good as the very first attempt but looks OK.

My "rules" for block placement are:

1. No dino prints should be touching each other even if they're different
2. No two blocks with the same dinos can be next to each other (even if dino squares not touching)
3. No two coloured scraps can be touching
4. And finally, a fairly even spread of the two types of blocks  

I don't think I could ever be a liberated quilter tho I break enough rules in my own way.  Most rules are there for a reason I feel!

Anyway here are some examples of my blocks

D9P block:

Lorna's Block:

Lorna's Block variation:

Again the photos are terrible.  It's such a drama taking them.  The rechargable batteries for the camera are leaking acid, software to directly upload pics from my phone can't be installed on the desktop PC because it's running Linux so it all has to be done on my dinosaur laptop and transferred on a flash drive. 

Anyway so I'll see how I go today in terms of stitching the blocks together.  I get the verdict from the surgeon on Thursday regarding my Nemesis so I shouldn't sew too hard before then!

A dinosaur sized headache

Well it's pretty obvious I need neither more fabric nor potential projects but 35% off all fabrics at a quilt store proved too difficult to resist.

I walked out with a dinosaur panel and 3 half-metre pieces of various dino print fabrics.

I didn't have the faintest idea what do do with them except that I could throw them together into a really quick quilt for Maxie since his applique car quilt wont be ready any time soon.

I knew I wanted to use the printed dino fabrics to their best advantage and not cut them up too small and the finished blocks would have to be 11" to fit around the panel.

I decided on a modified version of the block used in Lorna's 12 FQ quilt and today decided to do an alternate block - double 9 patch.  These 2 blocks mixed up with various sized pieces of plain scraps from my stash should give me the look I'm after.

I'm much relieved to have decided on a pattern since this plan for a quilt has been bugging me for a few weeks (since buying the fabric).  Must be a guilty conscience!!

I only have a few more fabric pieces to wash and then I can start cutting.

The next hurdle will be to excavate my sewing table from under all the debris of neglected UFO, magazines, patterns and other random finds.

I'm rather impressed at the resurrection of this blog.  Admittedly it's infinitely easier to type than to quilt at the moment and I feel I'm doing something sewing related.

Failing all that, seeing the growing list of UFOs might just shame me into finishing one or two!! :-O