First Finish!

At last, my first finish of 2013! Never mind that this quilt was a WIP for 2, or was it 3 years.
It's all set, and ready to snuggle a baby.

I outline quilted around the owls and around the eyes and bellies. They puffed out a little bit, and looked so cute, I didn't think they needed more quilting.

Here's the back, a lovely soft minky in just the right colour and pattern.

I'm at a quilt retreat this weekend, and looking forward to tackling some of my huge pile of WIPs. I don't think I'll come home with an actual finish, but I should be a lot nearer!

Till next time,

Sue

Whoos in progress!

I'm making some progress with my WIPs this week. It feels good!

Most important is this baby quilt.

I started it two years ago and then put it aside for a while. When I got it out again the nursery colours had changed from turquoise and brown to green and pale grey. I think it all works together pretty well. We have decided against a border, it is already 54 inches square. So next up is sandwiching and quilting it. I've got some lovely minky with owls on it for the back.

I'm thinking a white meander around the owls and a little outlining in invisible thread within the owl bodies. What do you think?

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Till next time,


Sue

Moving Right Along,

In my last post I counted up the loads of projects I have to finish, continue and even start.
Since then I've done some sewing, and am pleased to announce some progress!

I'm having so much fun with Don't Call Me Betsy's BOM. See my sidebar for directions to read about it.

Here's my tester block:

 

Now for the January block:

I made every possible mistake with this block.
 A lot of my mistakes are in the cutting.  I can't believe that I still do this, but at some point you actually have to use the rotary cutter, right? And so often, after much debate, I cut and then find something wrong! Elizabeth includes cutting instructions for the fabrics in each star. Easy! When I got to using them, I found I had cut the whole lot for a 6 1/2 inch star, and I'm making a 12 1/2 inch block. Start again!
Then there wasn't enough background left, so I joined one piece (it doesn't show).
I carefully measured the inch block on the pattern I had printed and found it was more like 7/8 inch.
So I re-did the block in Photoshop and started sewing. Wait a minute, it seems a little big...now I'm working with a 13 1/4 inch block! Wider seams affects the star points. Oh well, it's all learning, painful learning.

I groaned to DD about all these problems and she said "What do you expect, sewing at 7 am?" Well, doesn't everyone? I didn't like to say that it was actually earlier than that. And the funny thing, I'm better in the morning than at night!! Sigh.

I can't wait to try February's block. Maybe I won't make all these mistakes, just different ones!

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Till next time,

Sue

What's cookin' in 2013 ?

First of all, Happy New Year! I hope that 2013 will be a great year for you, full of joy and surprises!

While I was waiting for midnight last night, I was thinking of all the projects I have on the go and other things waiting to be started. I thought I'd identify them here, in the hopes of having more finishes. I know others do this, and they must be successful, right?!!

The Hoots, quilt for the new baby who will be born around the end of March. High priority!
Here it is so far:

Have I really only done 3 blocks? I need at least 16! Better get moving.

Diaper bag for the same baby. I made one last year for my niece, and it seemed to be successful.

Here's the fabric. We have a Boston Terrier, can you tell?

Postage Stamp quilt, sandwiched and ready for (my) quilting. It's big!

Harry Potter Bookshelf: no progress for a couple of months. For me and just because.
Here's Hedwig.

I love this block. I'm a paper piecing newbie, and it took a long time. Worth it!

3 x6 Bee: 6 blocks every 3 months. The next round will be in Feb. Here are the ones I mailed yesterday:

 Gosh it's hard to organize these pics!
You get the idea!

And just in case I needed more to do, I joined the Lucky Stars Block of the Month hosted by Elizabeth of Don't Call Me Betsy. Check out the link in my sidebar. It looks like fun! All paper pieced stars. I hope to improve my paper piecing. there's still time to join, we got the January star today, and there is also a test star.

Let's not forget the T-shirt quilt, due to be finished in June. I've got the interfacing, so far I'm scared to cut!

I nearly forgot the Hunter Star, up on my design wall behind me. The top is to be put together in two weeks. Lots of trimming and sewing blocks before then!

There are a few more quilts with no pics because they are far down my line mentally. My Swoon quilt is waiting for me to get up the courage to piece it together like the jigsaw I (mistakenly) made out of it. There's a kaleido quilt that needs sandwiching and quilting. And there's a scrap quilt that is, well, scraps.

On top of all this I saw a quilt yesterday on Red Pepper quilts and nearly started another one! It's called a Scrappy Trip Along. It looks like fun to do, and bonus, I could cut into yards of fabric that I may not use any other way. Sense prevailed and I didn't see the New Year in frantically cutting and sewing, but it was a near thing!

Whew, that list is a little daunting! Does the New Year see you taking stock like this?

I'm hoping for good things for you, wherever you are, during 2013 and onward!

Till next time

Sue

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