Week Nine: More Applique

I did this one pretty well except for one small thing.

D3 Jason's Jacks

Ok, two small things. First, one arm is a bit off. Second, it's the wrong colour. Yeah, you heard me. It's the wrong colour.


I can redo it in orange or swap it with a red so this is not a big deal.

But yes, I am super pissed. Thanks for asking.



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Week Nine: Applique

C6 Ashley's Aura

I can't seem to clip curves very well. I either don't clip them close enough and I wind up with straight lines or I clip to close and get, well, the above.

Very happy with the background circle. Very nicely rounded with just a couple slightly flat parts.



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Week Nine: Basting Basting Basting

I've decided to prep all my applique pieces first and then put together the blocks. Hopefully this will help me be mistake free. I also like to prep the pieces in one area and sew them in another so this will make for less trips between stations.




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Week Nine: Preparation

After the week I have had I am afraid to tackle this weeks blocks. But they say "you gotta push through the fear" to accomplish anything so I will just pretend nothing happened.


Week Nine

Half applique, half paper piecing this week. I will be making blocks C2, C6, C9, D3, and triangle blocks TR2 and TR5. No advanced blocks and three are considered beginner level so hopefully I will be able to put the horror of last week's hideous mistakes behind me.

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Yum

Our neighbour is a grill master. When we came home he was out grilling up a storm and called DH over. After helping me with all the bags etc Pat went over to say Hi and see what was on the grill. Moments later he came back for a plate. "A big one Hun".

My vocabulary insufficient to describe the tastiness of this BBQ.

About half an hour later he came back with so much wonderful food I am thankful I hadn't started dinner yet. Homemade tortillas, salsa and guacamole. The neighbour's famous fajita chicken and beef PLUS what he calls flat ribs, some call short ribs, and others call Asian ribs. This food was all divine.

I have absolute NO dishes which can compare that I can give to them in thanks. I will be making a chicken pot pie for them but I will be embarrassed about it because WOW oh wow this was fantastic food.

UFO Watercolour: F worrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd

Yet another HUGE mishap in my quilting world this week. And while this one is fixable I am really upset about it. I am worried it means I am losing it. I'm not sure what I am losing but I am pretty sure it is really important.

So I am happily working away on my watercolour quilt and have traced and cut out all the applique bits n bobs from the adheasive and ironed it all to my fabrics. I let it cool so I wouldn't have to worry about peeling or glue seeping into the fabric too far and becoming unusable. In other words I am feeling like a pro! An Olympic grade champion of the adheasive applique world and going for gold.

I'm about to start layering all the pieces on the watercolour backgroundb to form my sceen when I discover - and I am struggling to hold back tears.

I discover I have put the glue on the wrong side of the fabric. For every single bit and every single bob I have glued it so the backside is facing up. Excuse me.

Sorry I needed a moment there.

Anyway. Yes this is fixable. I didn't glue anything to the background before I discovered my mistake. And, after a few hours of temper and tears, a search through my stash turned up the right colours and shades to make some more bits and bobs. Luckily the specialty metallic fabric is double sided so I can use the original.

I'm still pretty upset. This was a really dumb mistake and I don't know I feel kind of slapped down like I was getting to cocky or something. Which is silly but it's how I feel.

I'm going to be glad to put this one to bed.

Stash Find

While looking for some fusible grid interfacing (which I apparently do not own) to give to MIL. I came across some completely forgotten red and white fabric. Based on the incomplete blocks I found chain stitched I think it was for a maple leaf quilt. No clue about it's design so not sure I can complete this one.



Found with leftovers from Pat's Egyptian quilt.

I could use the white fabric for something else and put it on the stash buster list or I can add the white to other quilts and not need to purchase more. I think the red may go with the Dr. Seuss but there isn't much of it left. The Egyptian leftovers need to be addressed too - there is quite a bit but not enough for a big quilt.

Yet more decisions. I officially declare today Decision Day. Celebrate in your own way. Involve the kids!

UFO Rainbow Circles Complete

Today I am going to hang Rainbow circles in DD's room. Really pleased with how it turned out. I am going to retro post my process with photos. My first completely finished quilt since 2009. I'm so happy.

I haven't decided which UFO I will tackle next. I'm excited about a few but I also have a couple which will be very easy to finish. What to do... what to do... Design excitement or finishing momentum? Both are equally rewarding.

DD just smeared diaper cream all over herself, Pink Puppy, the TV, and the coffee table so the decision will have to wait.

Made my day.

Week Eight: Break

This week I am taking a break from my Dear Jane until Feb. 26th. Thus I have ignored my blog and for that I apologise dear Reader. I've been a bit under the weather and we had company on Sunday so I just haven't been up to blogging. I have managed to finish piecing my UFO Rainbow Circles and it is looking fantastic.

I have been taking progress photos as I've gone along but I totally forgot to blog about this one. I really want to talk more about my progress and process than my accomplishments so I have to stop neglecting the blog. I may retro post some stuff or I may just do an extra long post on all my progress to date. I've been working on RC since I finished Flying Pirates on Jan. 29th.

I purchased the wedge tool at my first CreativeFair in Fall 2011. I have always wanted to do a giant circle quilt and this is the year of finally doing all those "I'm not ready yet" projects. The Dear Jane, the curved seams, the lone star, machine quilting, etc. I've been quilting for fifteen years. I don't know when I thought I would finally be ready for all these dream projects of mine.

The only way to "be ready" and get "good enough" is to just do it. Curved seams weren't the nightmare I thought they were going to be and the circle quilt is the same. I'm not saying I'm not having any problems because of course I am. Even an easy project produces mistakes and headaches but the circle quilt has proven to be very doable.

I purchased the fabric for this quilt at Fabricland in Spring 2012? Not quite sure that's right may have been the fall. I fell in love with this range of super saturated primaries they had so I bought the rainbow specifically for this quilt. The colours make me smile every time I work with them. They are so happy and so bright. And even though they are just plain cotton they have an almost metallic gleam to them. DH noticed it too when he was looking at the quilt last night. No metallic or other colours in these fabrics they are all strictly tone on tone but somehow they gleam at you.

I also found a great design idea for one of my unassigned jelly rolls. I`m not sure where to put it on The List or what colour to use for it. Technically it is a new project but it will not require any new fabric. The fabric was purchased about two  years ago so I don`t think that makes it new and while the fabric is in my stash I`m not sure just jelly rolls are stash fabrics. My plans call for only the jelly roll to be used. I am pretty sure I won`t need borders. Well, it`s my list and my rules so I am going to say, no, its not a new project because I am not  going to purchase any fabrics, patterns, or notions for it and, yes, jelly rolls are part of the stash so it is a stash busting quilt. Huzzah.

While looking for help with my RC quilt last night I stumbled upon a free pattern from a fabric company which would look fabulous with one of my Tonga Treat packs. This one would require additional fabric so I am not sure I will put it on any list. We`ll see.

The fabric companies sure have a lot of nice free patterns now. They all use traditional blocks for the most part but they run the gamut of skill levels and they do a great job of showcasing the fabrics. Much better than those ugly sort of framed panel type quilts they were favoring at first. I saw a couple last night which made me want to purchase the fabric line just to make the quilt. Which is of course the whole point of the companies providing this new design service. Bravo for them.

Well, there you go. The state of my quilt union to date. I think it`s going pretty well and I haven`t been to distracted by new fabrics and patterns. I very happy with the progress of my Dear Jane quilt and my UFO project. Still early days but the year is looking good from here.

Week Seven: Finished

Finished up the last triangle block today so week seven is finished a few days early. Week eight is a break week so I am hoping the extra days will allow me enough time to finish my current UFO.



BR4 Candy Dish



RS1 Tennessee Valley

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Week Seven: Slow and Steady

I put aside my UFOs this week and started sewing Week Seven's blocks on Sunday. Thus I have three done as of today and have officially completed rows A and B of my Dear Jane quilt. Obviously I am over the moon. I have to confess the anticipation and excitement caused me to push harder than I should have while I had a cold. I had to redo a few really bad mistakes but I doubt I learned my lesson.

Luckily this week's blocks are all pretty straightforward with only one being a challenge. I saved it for last today and it took all nap time and all "Daddy time" to finish it.

A12 Framed Fancy

B5 Hot Cross Buns

B6 Wild Goose Chase

I would like to point out that there are 42 patches in A12 and 46 in B6. The crosspieces in B6 are a quarter inch. Yeah, that's right, a quarter inch. I think my fingernails may be larger than the triangles in A12.

Two rows finished and I am 14% done. Huzzah!



The story thus far...

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Week Seven: Preparation

Week Seven

Compared to last week this week looks to be a walk and boy is it welcome. I fell behind a little due to a cold and took to much time away from family activities to get finished last week. This week is all fairly easy paper piecing. Some tiny pieces for a challenge but not too bad.  Famous last words I better knock wood.

Week Six: Oops

I forgot to post a block yesterday. I redid B7 and it's better.

A13 Starlight Starbright

B7 World Series

I still couldn't get the melons lined up under the circle corectly but the  diamonds are much better. A13 turned out really well.

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Week Six: Finished

I should have changed the name of this week to sick. Not only did I have some crazy hard blocks I was also sick with a cold.

B7 World Series (aka Epic fail or Help Holmes)

I don't even want to talk about B7. Probably the easiest block this week and I completely screwed it up. Definitely a Holmes on Homes candidate as nothing is square or true. I am going to have to rip it all out and start over.

A10 Which Points West?

A10 is pretty good and considering all the inset seams an excellent effort. I just wish my reverse applique was better. I can't seem to keep my points pointy in reverse.

B7 Water Lily

B8 turned out to be  the easiest for me. Very gentle inset seams. I kind of treated them as curved seams with a bit of a point in the middle and it worked out great.



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Week Six:

B9 Tinker Toy

 

C12 FamilyReunion

Thus far inset seams have gotten the best of me. I could weep everytime I look at that one seam. I'll have many opportunities for improvement this week so I should be able to go back and fix it in a few days.


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Week Six: Preparation

Week Six

This week is a nightmare. Just looking at the blocks for this week can make me cry. There is not one, not two, but three blocks with inset seams. I think I will be doing a lot of basting.

The week six blocks are A10, C12, B9, B8, B7, and A13. C12 will be quite easy just a little fiddly from the small pieces and B7 will be easy if my hands don't hurt. The rest are going to give me seizures.

I just have to keep my head up and enjoy the satisfaction when they are each complete.




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About "The List"

2013 is my year of the UFO (UnFinished Object). Thus I have done my best to compose a list of all my unfinished quilting projects and added this list as a gadget on the right side of my blog. Those of you who have an email subscription will have to actually go to my blog to see it. I am pretty sure the blog add-ons do not show up in the posts received via email. This is an incomplete list but for now it is good enough. I will add to it as needed

The List is organized into three categories:

• Tops - quilts I have all the bits and pieces and just need to assemble.
• Stash Busting - quilts I have the main bits but still need background fabric or blending fabrics.
• To be Quilted - quilt tops which need quilting this includes quilts which have been sandwiched or even partially quilted and completed tops.

Some will say a UFO is any quilt which isn't ready for use ie. quilted and bound and laying on a bed, hanging decoratively, or en route to a grateful recipient. But I am not those people. Quilting in a many stepped process and each of those steps is a big accomplishment and (in my opinion) needs to be acknowledged.

When I complete a top I will use strikeout on it's original list placement and then add it to the "To be Quilted" list in green. Thus a quilt could be in more than one place on the list.

Any project uncovered during the course of the year will be added to the appropriate list in blue. In the back of my mind I can already think of three projects which aren't on the list but until I can go through my stuff and find them they aren't going on the list.

Any new projects (a big no no) will be added in red. I am hoping to stick to my no new projects resolve but as I plan to join a guild this year and may possibly become involved in activities which mean adding a new project I thought I would make room for the possibility. Plus lets face it new fabric and patterns are really hard to resist.

Dear Jane is not on this list. The UFO list is my secondary project and Dear Jane is my main.

Week Five: Finished

B11 Melissa's Cross

Well that is definately more noticable than I thought. Must fix now.




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Week Five: Ugh

A9 Cabin Fever

A2 One Two Buckle My Shoe

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