Swoon Quilt Top Complete!

Yay! I have finished the final 3 blocks on my Swoon Quilt, sashed it, and now it is lying on the bed it is meant for.

Unfortunately, it just doesn't stop raining here for more than 5 minutes at a time at the moment, so the photos are awful!

After having a bit of a problem getting everything to match up when I made the previous batch of blocks, I decided to try starching the fabric this time.

The half square triangles and flying geese were already made, so I lined them all up on the ironing board, gave them a light spray and then a press. The half square triangles all needed trimming and the starch made it a lot easier to get a nice clean cut. I'm happy to say these blocks all went together very nicely.

It didn't take too long to come up with a layout I was happy with, and I was then onto the sashing.

Having only decided to starch when I was part way through the last 3 blocks, it was always going to be a mish-mash of starched and un-starched pieces, but I think, with hindsight, I should starched the sashing strips too.

I had a bit of trouble getting the rows to line up perfectly, and when laid out on the bed here, you can really notice the wrinkles where I've had to tighten a few seams and generally "persuade" it to all fit nicely.

I know none of this will be noticeable when it's quilted, but it does make me wonder whether I should start using starch all the time, or not.

So, I would love to know what other people do. Do you use starch? All the time? Only on intricate piecing or blocks cut on the bias?

It would be great to hear what other people think about this and hear about your experiences.

When I've stopped looking at it, I shall be putting this away for a while. I want to get on with some quick projects and some Christmassy things in the next few weeks, so it won't get quilted until the new year.

I do have a couple of festive tutorials to share with you too (both the knitty and the stitchy variety) so I'm hoping the coming days are going to be a bit brighter so I can take some decent photos!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced - Work in Progress Wednesday

Swoon Progress

I've been making good progress with my Swoon blocks this week.
Having completed 5 blocks, I had just 4 left to make, so I set up a little production line.

I cut out all the pieces for the final four blocks and paired up all the squares for the half square triangles. There are a LOT of HSTs in four blocks!!

Then I marked all the diagonal lines for the half square triangles.

I chain pieced the seams.............Still feeling pretty pleased with myself here.

Don't they look pretty, strung up like bunting, waiting to be cut apart and pressed flat. All is still going well....

Then I did the same for the flying geese units. I'm imagining four finished blocks pretty soon....
The geese went well too, and then I came to piece the blocks.Take your time, Julie. Do them one at a time - don't rush them..... But, from this point on NOTHING went right! Points didn't quite match up to my satisfaction. I unpicked and re-sewed. I pressurised a few seams into submission. There is nothing quite like a hot iron to show then who is boss.
I finally laid the block out ready to photograph it, when I realised I had sewn one of the thirds on the wrong way round! I din't have a star in the centre, I just had this weird shape!! I really wish I had gone ahead and photographed it. It certainly would have given you a good laugh!
So, back to the seam ripper, and finally I had block #6

I can't face the other three for a few days. Fortunately it's supposed to be a dry weekend, so some gardening will be just the distraction I need before resuming progress on these next week.

I hope you have a good weekend, too :-)

Anyone for Tea?

 If you live in the UK, you'll be needing a nice hot cuppa right now to keep you warm. Autumn has certainly arrived and we are all feeling a little chilled.
I have been busy making a block from this book by Sarah Fielke.

A while back, Sarah asked if people might like to make a teacup block or two and send them to her. She is going to make a quilt from everybody's blocks. Would you believe that, other than her Mum, no-one  has ever made her a quilt! Well I had the book so I volunteered to make one.
It started off fairly simple - just cutting wedges off a 4 1/2" block to make the main part of the cup

but then I really struggled with the half square triangles on the side of the saucer. They were cut from templates and I thought I must have cut them wrong. I cut again, I sewed, I unpicked, I sewed again. What I thought would take me an hour, has taken a whole morning! In the end I just made an ordinary half square triangle and trimmed it to the right size. Now, I'm laughing about it - having just this minute searched for and read Sarah's original post  requesting the teacup blocks, I notice she said there's a mistake in the book and the template is wrong!! Why oh why didn't I look for the post first!! 

Never mind, my block is finished and I aim to make a second.

I have also been cutting out the pieces for the remaining Swoon blocks.

I's going to be a bit more blue/grey than I had originally intended, as I didn't quite have enough of the beige fabrics to include them in the remaining blocks. This is what 4 completed blocks look like

I really hope to have this finished very soon. With the weather turning colder, everyone's hugging a quilt round here!

Linking up with Work in Progress Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

Have a good week!

Swoon Progress

Its September already, and I'm determined to have a productive month. I have been working on my Swoon quilt, and have not just one more, but 4 more blocks completed!

Please excuse the appalling photos - I love the sun, but it was playing havoc with my photography. I get lovely dancing shadows from a big tree outside when it is sunny at this time of the day. Or rather, they are lovely to look at, but not to photograph large quilt blocks in!

I set up a bit of a production line and cut out the pieces for 4 blocks. I then chained pieced all the half square triangles and the flying geese.

I love seeing nice neat piles of flying geese!

As one block swiftly followed another

I was able to remember the construction and so refer to the notes a lot less.

It took no time at all to get these four blocks made.

I had made the mistake of using a directional print for this last one. I'm quite pleased that I took the time to line the stripes up as much as possible, but if I was doing it again I would  fussy cut the centre square to get that diamond right in the centre. I'm not stressing too much though. I'm enjoying making this quilt and I don't think it will stand out so much when it is part of the whole.

Only another 4 Swoon blocks to go!!

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts and Anything Goes Mondays @ Stitch by Stitch Hoping you feel as inspired by the start of September as I do :)

How Do You Eat an Elephant?

How do you eat an elephant? The answer is one mouthful at a time, and this has to be my mantra for the next week, month, or more.
I have returned from a wonderful holiday with my family in Cornwall. We had glorious weather and a great time.

We feasted on fresh locally caught fish at idyllic pubs. We sampled the local saffron bread. (I have acquired a recipe, and can't wait to try and re-create it) and relaxed on the wonderful beaches.
If you're wondering why we made a sand turtle, not a sandcastle, it's a Canadian thing apparently - it was a first for me, and just as much fun as a castle!

We were staying on the Lizard and the beaches and scenery were breathtaking. Top left is Lizard Point, the next two are Kynance Cove and the bottom right is Hendra beach. It never ceases to amaze me that if you are just prepared to walk a little way, you can virtually have a beach to yourselves. We swam and fished and generally relaxed, enjoying precious moments of family togetherness.

The villages were so pretty and I love the aqua, red and white splashes of colour in the harbours. And a boat as a flower tub?? I don't think it would have quite the same effect in the Midlands!

So now I'm back home, and my son and daughter-in-law have gone back to Canada. I have a love-hate relationship with airports. They're exciting, bubbly places if I'm there to meet them off an incoming flight, but places of tears and heartache if I'm saying goodbye, especially when I don't know when I'll see them again. But life has to go on, and at least in this day and age we have Skype  and FaceTime, so I should count my blessings.

Inevitably thoughts now turn to tasks that need to be done and works in progress that need to be progressed and that's where the elephant comes in:
I have soooooo many projects to finish, and even more in my head, jostling for first place on the starting line.
I have my Greenfields knitting projects to do....and I'm way behind with those. By my calculation we are 33 weeks into the year, so I should have 33 completed baby items.......I only have 29 and enthusiasm is waning.

Not the enthusiasm for the knitting, just for the yarn that I'm using. I'm left with drab or odd colours that don't make good baby clothes. The point of the exercise is to use up my stash, so I can't justify buying some really cheerful colours to add to it, well, not yet, anyway. I may have to if the finished items start to look really awful!
I have my Swoon quilt to complete - now I don't need any encouragement to work on this, just time.

I need to do a lot more work on my Farmer's Wife quilt. This is supposed to be a quiet moments project, not a "must get done" type, but it keeps getting pushed to the back of the pile.

I have the Rows Quilt Along from Bee in My Bonnet to finish that I started about this time last year, and haven't done any more to since. Ooops!!

I have at least 4 new knitting patterns at various stages of completion for the Etsy and Craftsy shops, and I need to get these done!! Some are so ridiculously close to being finished, I don't know why I haven't done them ages ago.

I have so many ideas for quilty things in my head that it's fit to burst, but I can't start them until I have completed a few of the WIPs, and finally (saving the best till last here) I have a ton of baby knitting, baby sewing and nursery sewing that I want to do because I recently heard that one of my nieces is expecting a baby in February!!! I shall be a great aunt! Yikes, that makes me feel so old!!! My niece is a great photographer too, so maybe, just maybe I shall have a new little model for some of my patterns as well.
I've told myself I can't start any happy, exciting, super special baby projects until some of the WIPs are completed, so in order to stop myself rushing frantically from one half finished project to another, picking them up, putting them down, and generally being in too much of a tizz to finish anything, I have to adopt the "one bite of the elephant at a time" policy and go steadily and methodically through the backlog,  and see if I can get caught up enough to unleash some of the new project ideas buzzing around in my head.
At least it means I don't have too much time to miss my family!
If you have any techniques to help get you through the unfinished projects in your life, please share them with me.

Swoon Block #1

You can't imagine how enjoyable making this block was. Prior to making this, I had been working on something with really small pieces and so to up the scale of things for this block was fun, relaxing and had me smiling from ear to ear!

This block is huge!! It's 24" square and there are only 9 of them in the entire quilt. I'm a ninth of the way there already!

This is my colour palette, two prints used in each block, so most prints will get used twice. I have high hopes for this quilt.

In addition to being fun to make, it also appeals to my frugal side. See my flying geese units all piled up here? (sorry, blue ones only - forgot to photograph the grey ones!)

As I made the geese I sewed a second seam line 1/2" from the diagonal geese construction seam line.....

 so that when I cut the fabric away through the centre of the two lines ............

it gave me a bonus half square triangle unit

And the really, really nice thing about these is that when trimmed they will measure 2 1/2" square, so they're a perfect addition to my bag of jelly roll oddments, and by the time I've made the other 8 Swoon blocks, this little pile

will almost make a baby quilt in itself!

Swoon 2013 The Colour Palette

I've had a really hard time trying to choose my fabrics for my Swoon quilt. I knew exactly what I wanted - it just doesn't exist!

This quilt is for a particular room. It will go on the bed that my eldest son and daughter in law use when they come over to stay from Canada, and I really wanted the whole quilt to be made with organic cotton. The room has been recently decorated and I want a soft teals and neutrals palette, a calming, not a vibrant quilt. I have spent hours (quite literally) trying to find some organic cotton to fit this palette and failed totally! Children's fabrics are in abundance, so too are bright modern prints, but anything low volume or muted, any blenders or subtle shades of solids are no where to be found.It has been so disappointing! I wouldn't have minded making the whole quilt from solids if I could have found the right shades.So, I have had to compromise - big time. But which way was I to go? Should I stick to my (organic) guns and compromise on the look, or stick to the colour palette I want and compromise my conscience? In the end the colour palette has won.

I had most of these fabrics in my stash and bought a few extras from the Saltwater range by Tula Pink. the batting and the backing will be organic, so that has made me a little happier, and I've also been reading up about Kona solids. The background fabric for the blocks will be Kona Solid Snow - I have a lot of this and use it all the time, but once it's gone it will be easy to swap for an organic from the Kona Pure range. Please Robert Kaufman, increase this range as soon as you can! 

Interesting though, Did you know the Kona Solids range with its wonderful range of solids is the only solid that has Oeko-tex certification? No, neither did I until the other day! This means that no harmful chemicals were used in the production, processing or finishing of the fabric. I guess this will be a good cotton for me to use when I can't find an organic to suit my needs, especial;y as I really like use solids!

So, it's going to be a busy week. I can finally move away from research on the laptop, and actually make a start on the Swoon quilt.

There is something I have to do first though, and just to make sure I don't forget, I left myself a note.

The reason I need to change it? Well I quickly made this little guy a blanket over the weekend.....

......complete with his name on, of course, but Oh! that comfy fleece wreaks havoc with the needle. I could hear it getting blunter with every stitch!

Looking back over the last month, and considering I spent the beginning of the month in Toronto, and the following week with jet lag, I've achieved far more than I expected.

I've finished my first strip for the Strip Bee, I've made a paper pieced cushion front for Le Challenge, made a dog blanket and sorted out my fabrics for the Swoon 2013. If the sun will just please continue shining today, I think I may just have earned a half hour 's quiet rest in the garden this afternoon!

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day over at Lily Quilts

My Social Side

I seem to be flaunting my social side at the moment!

Over the last few weeks I've joined a quilting bee AND a quilt-a-long.

I was thrilled to be invited to join the The Quilting Bee by Maria over at sew love to sew 

and of course said "Yes"

The Bee is made up of 6 of us

Maria @ sew love to sew

Amy @ Cloud CouCou Crafts

Fran @ PatchyRose 

Sarah @ Quilt Candy 

Glinda @ Glinda Quilts 

Me!

and we are making one strip each. The finished quilt will be 40" wide and we can choose to make five 8"blocks or eight 5" blocks or whatever else will fill that width.

This is my finished strip

It's a disappearing pinwheel block using a couple of Amy Butler Soul Blossoms prints that I had in my stash. 

It is refreshingly liberating to start a quilt that you have no pre-conceived ideas about, as to overall colour or what room it is intended for.

My second social venture is a Swoon Along! 

It is being organised by Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs

I watched Katy's Swoon along take the quilt blogging world by storm last year and regretted that I didn't join in then. This time I'm on the ball! It only started yesterday, so if you fancy playing along, follow the link and join us!

Finally, I have some finishes to share with you.

If you are a regular follower, you will know I am stash busting my knitting yarn oddments this year by making baby items for  Greenfields Africa

I challenged myself way back in January to make 52 items (one for each week of the year) using only oddments from my stash (I'm including fabric stash too). well, we are half way through the year at the end of this week, so I should have 26 items. With the 2 fabric blankets I finished yesterday, along with a couple of knitted items from earlier in the month, I've made it - just!

These bring my year total exactly up to 26 items.

Phew! That bundle is quite big! By the time it gets to December this parcel will need a sizeable box indeed! But my otherwise not very useable stash will be zapped and a few more babies will be wrapped in something other than rags.

Right now, I'm off to choose the fabrics for my Swoon.

Have a good week!