Some housekeeping

Well I was thinking last night as I drifted off to sleep (and that's usually a dangerous thing)   and thought I'd add an extra section in the left bar = UQOs (unquilted objects).  It's not really fair to classify them as a UFO because a completed quilt top is definitely better than chopped up bits of fabric, stray blocks or an unused stash.

Sometimes I make a quilt "just because" with no particular purpose so quilting it immediately doesn't make sense especially when I have UFOs with a "purpose" waiting to be done.

Having a pile of unquilted tops can be advantageous when a gift is needed in a hurry.

Given my wrist situation, I'm trying to avoid doing any unnecessary quilting so charity quilts will be finished to the top stage only.  I will have a few quilts which need to be fully completed (like the dino quilt) so they need priority.

I've also added a blinkie quilt on the right side bar and a calendar of quilty events at the bottom.

It's motivating me to get more stuff done.  I caught up with a RL friend yesterday who is also a quilter and she wants to join a group and start blogging to get her productivity going again.

We're going to each make a DaChintzy together.  Hopefully we can get together every fortnight and actually make it together...together.

Fabric Choices!

Well I now have fabric for the DaChintzy Mystery...only I bought ALL of it and it's totally different from what I was planning.  More boy than girl for a start! 

In my defense 3 out of 4 of the fabrics were reduced to $7.50 per metre!  The remaining one was $11/m so all in all very reasonable!

They actually look way nicer IRL!  I am still going to do a girl version.  I have rethought my fabric choices and I will only need one additional fabric so I'm hoping I can make 2 quilts simultaneously.  With 2 weeks between each clue, it should be OK.

I'm not 100% sure on the order of #2 and #3 yet.  Will seek the opinion of our Mystery Quilt Hostess!

I can't find pics online anywhere of my feature fabric for a girl but hopefully the camera will be working again soon

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!

More Quilt Classes!

OK I need help!  Lorraine has just posted the Term 3 Classlist for her shop Quilter's Bazaar and I want to sign up for at least 2 of them!

One is a gorgeous fench braid table runner.  I've always wanted to try french braids and this is a nice way to start with something small.  Will make lovely presents!  I've been looking for a pattern for a runner for my sis and BIL's new house.  I this this might be The One!

The other is a 5 month BOM type thing called Lizzie Mae's Medallion.  It's gorgeous!  Thank goodness they're monthly classes and don't start til late August.

I need more projects like a hole in the head buuuut...I'm ringing on Monday and securing my place!

I suppose I should stop blogging and get on with my UFOs if I'm going to treat myself to some new classes!

The DaChintzy Code Mystery Quilt

There is a Mystery Quilt happening on the About.com quilting forum!

I'm really excited and can't wait to participate.  I've done 2 mystery quilts in the past and have enjoyed them despite being a bit of a control freak so it's a little nerve-wracking not to know where everything will go.

I'm still playing with fabric combinations and haven't decided for sure which way I'll go.  I want to work from my stash as much as possible.

Given the dimensions, it will fit perfectly into the suggested sizes for Very Snuggly Quilts .  I have a few boy quilt tops underway for that but not much in the way of girl ones so maybe I'll make this Mystery Quilt into a girl quilt for VSQ.

In my quest for fabric I managed to unearth 3 more UFOs!  (the shame!!) I think I'm destined to become like Lorraine and Andrea who have one for every year of their lives! 

They will be duly added to the left bar.  On a more positive note I realised I have a few finished projects to add which I've forgotten about.

Thankfully the mystery wont start til September and I wont allow myself to start until my UFO challenge is complete!

Australian Block Swap

I joined up today after finding the link on Crafty Pug's blog.

The block swap is run by Sue.  Each month everyone gets a partner and makes her a block of her choice.

Sue will be my partner in August and she has requested Churn Dash blocks in brown, cream and blue.

I've decided on Marcia Hohn's Baby Bunting block (below)











I wanted a block I liked the look of and which had a meaningful name.  Some of you may know we're battling with secondary infertility.  3 years and 3 failed IVF cycles and still no sibling(s) for Maxie. 

For someone who has always wanted lots of kids it's hard.  We appreciate our little man and adore him.  We're so lucky to have him but it has also given us a taste of what we're missing.

Anyway enough depressing talk!

I'm very excited to be part of the swap and to be making some new sewing friends!!

Update on the Nemesis

Well I saw my surgeon today.




He's so lovely.  He's trying everything to avoid having to operate again.  Unfortunately all he could suggest was continuing to splint if it helps and continue pain meds until the weather warms up and to come back and see him in 4 months or so.


He's really understanding and acknowledged I've been through am awful lot with this wrist.


I will blog about the whole saga sometime - I'm a little too depressed to relive the whole thing now.


Meanwhile quilting is good therapy when I can manage it.  Some days I'm too sore but I do need to use my fingers at the very least. 

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!

Gisborne Quilters Meeting

Last night I went along to my first (hopefully of many!!) evenings with the Gisborne Quilters.

After the obligatory bargaining with DH he agreed to letting me go.  He is concerned (understandably) about me taking the car out alone especially at night in the cold and wet when my wrist is still definitely worse for wear.

His other concern was his pants! The button fell off (again!!) and since I'm a quilter I apparently do repairs!

I came up with what I felt was a very generous compromise - I offered to take his pants and sew on the button as my first order of business.

He had 2 objections - the first was that he didn't trust me (totally understandable given what happened last time I mended his pants! )

I was so furious at having been asked to do mending that I appliqued little dogs all over his pants including a very strategically placed fire hydrant

His other concern was that bringing mending would not be a good first impression (bless his heart!) I couldn't care less and promised him faithfully I wouldn't desecrate his pants but off I went leaving his pants at home! woohoo!

Upon arriving and being welcomed by fellow patchworker Sue we waited for Tania to open the room and Donna arrived shortly after.  We were quickly overcome by gas fumes from the faulty heater so Donna very kindly offered to host the evening at her house.

We bumped into Lorraine and Rosie who followed us while poor Tania went home as she wasn't well but she did present us with a fantastic newsletter first.  Thank you, Tania!

At Donna's house we got comfy and Donna kindly make us all hot cups of tea and we got down to business.  I pulled out some of the applique blocks from my Aster Manor Sampler to see how I'd go.  I hadn't touched hand-piecing or applique since I was in plaster and really hadn't sewn at all since my altercation with the soap dispenser .  It took me a while to get into the rhythm and remember how it all went but things progressed quickly.  I was shocked to discover my stitches were a lot better than before - pretty much invisible and a perfect straight line on the back!    I can confidently say that a plaster cast up to the armpit is NOT conducive to hand piecing and being without it was almost certainly the key to my new found success!

At around 9:30pm we headed home.  Usually on the homefront we're lucky to have our Energiser Bunny alseep by then (and true to form he was still awake when I returned!) so any evening sewing I do at home usually doesn't even start before 9:30 it does mean I can come to the meetings and be home at a reasonable time so the 6am starts on school mornings can still happen.

Once I got home I finished off the evening with a few hours of unpicking the Handbag quilt.  It was pieced and quilted while in plaster (LAST year!).  It seems like I've been in plaster for almost 6 months together between April 2009 and May 2010. 

Anyways my progress is definitely not worth photographing (yet!) and my successful stitching was balanced with dodgy placement so some of the tulips will be lop-sided but my excuse is the stems were stitched in place while I was still in plaster (yes that old excuse again!

Hopefully I'll come along again next week!

Dear Jane gets a mention

But hardly more than that!

I've been meaning to take some pics of my fabrics so I can keep tracks of what I have and what I need more of.

The quality is awful since it had to be done with my phone but here goes.

The browns and tans:

Yellows and Oranges (definitely need more of these!

Blues:

Pinks and Greens:

Reds and Purples (a few more purples I think!)

And lastly the Fabric Inspector pays a visit:

I'm really looking forward to starting this quilt but ideally I'd like to join a group because I know I'll lose my mojo otherwise and I want to hand piece it and would like to finish at least one of my hand pieced UFOs first!

Meanwhile there is still a bit of shopping to be done before I have all my fabrics! ;-P

Friday Night Sew-In

Heidi hosts Friday night sew-ins and I'm participating for the first time!  The next one will be on Friday 23 July.

I'm very excited to have set aside a block of time to get some of those UFOs on my list done.  The deadline for the 3 UFOs by 31 Aug is fast looming and I'm getting decidedly uncomfortable!!

I haven't decided yet what I'll be working on but I have a little time.

Details for the Friday Night Sew-In can be found by clicking the pic below:

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