Slow Scrappy Sewing

First of all, I want to say thank you for all of your lovely comments on my last blog post. The reaction to my finished Interlock Quilt top was quite unexpected but so greatly appreciated 🙂

Unfortunately I haven’t been sewing a lot since.  I’m not sure why but lately I’ve been feeling quite flat and drained of energy and creativity. Life has been pretty busy this year and doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon. So I have decided to take some self-imposed pressure off myself and sew only when I feel like sewing. I’m optimistic that I’ll be feeling back to normal soon and that this little break will have recharged my batteries.

The one project I have worked on intermittently during these past few weeks has been my Scrappers Delight Quilt. I have managed to finish the first twelve blocks for this thirty-six block quilt (from the book Sunday Morning Quilts) and am now working towards completing the second twelve.

I have found the process of randomly choosing fabrics based on size from my scrap buckets to be incredibly relaxing. It’s also been fun to recognise fabrics leftover from previous projects.

I’ll have a laugh now and admit that I’ve become a real fabric “nerd” (a term I first heard from the amazingly talented quilter and all-round lovely lady Jess @ The Elven Garden).

I can recognise fabrics in my completed blocks by Amy Butler, Tula Pink, Joel Dewberry, Lotta Jansdotter, Anna Maria Horner, Malka Dubrawsky and Sarah Watson, just to name a few. Plus, of course, there is plenty of Cotton & Steel and Art Gallery fabrics in the mix.

So, admit it, are you a fabric nerd too? (ha ha!)

I am up to Block #17 and could possibly stop now and make another baby quilt but I really want another larger quilt to use on our beds. This potential full sized 72″ square quilt poses a bit of a problem because my little machine really struggles with it’s small throat space. However, I think I can get around this by trying quilt-as-you-go (QAYG) for the first time. This method would also give me an opportunity to use up some of my batting offcuts – a true scrap quilt!

In the meantime, I’m enjoying taking a bit of a breather and hope to continue playing with my beautiful scraps in the weeks to come.

Deb 🙂

Linking up with Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts for MCM, Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts for Let’s Bee Social and Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday

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Colour Happy Quilt Finish

Winter has now descended upon us here in Tasmania, Australia. The days are becoming much shorter and we’ve had our first frost on the ground and snow on the mountains.

My family and I made the move in 2013 from the warm-all-year-round weather in central Queensland, north eastern Australia, to the temperate climate of Tasmania. It was partly a yearning by my husband and myself to try something new and also in part, an escape from the oppressive humidity and heat of the north.

This will be our fourth winter here and I am preparing myself mentally for the cold and often grey days ahead. The cold and snow is still a novelty for us “northeners” but I will admit to craving the brightness and warmth of the sun during winter – something I took for granted while living in Queensland.

However, my latest quilt finish will be sure to lift our spirits (and keep us warm) during the long winter months ahead!

My Colour Happy Quilt was started and finished in February this year.

After doing some scrap sorting, I used the pattern “Pride Flag” from the great quilting book Modern Quilt Perspectives by Thomas Knauer to make a dent in my pile.I ran into a few problems during my first quilting attempt when I used poly wool batting and a shot cotton backing fabric. My little Janome machine with it’s tiny throat space struggled to cope with the bulk and my first quilting attempts were puckered and eventually unpicked.

After a few months of sitting abandoned in the quilting “naughty corner”, I decided to re baste this quilt using a thinner cotton batting. Although the end result is not perfect by my self-imposed high standards, I have learned a lot through this experience.

As we say in the quilting world…

“Finished is better than perfect!”

I quilted my Colour Happy Quilt with straight lines about ½ inch apart, but only in the middle “third” of each colour section.

I used Gutermann thread in the corresponding section colours of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

I was unsure about what fabric to use for the binding but eventually settled on a fun grey polka dot.

This quilt is a finish for OMG (One Monthly Goal) May and my first finish for Quarter 2 (Link up #40) of the 2016 Finish Along.

Linking up to OMG @ Red Letter Quilts, Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts, Let’s Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, TGIFF @ Devoted Quilter and Scraptastic Tuesday at She Can Quilt.

Scrap Play

With my decrease in quality sewing time due to an ever busy life schedule, I’ve taken to doing a bit of sewing here, a bit of sewing there… basically whenever I can find a spare five or ten minutes!

I have a few finished quilt tops – one that is basted – ready to be quilted. But finding a decent chunk of time where it is worth the effort to move my old Janome, from it’s small table in my “sewing room” out to the larger dining table, with more space for quilting, is proving quite difficult.

So I’ve been playing with my scraps and having a lot of fun doing so.

(That’s my rolled up and basted Colour Happy quilt at the top waiting to be quilted!)

This is what my little design wall looks like this week.

On the top left is some paper pieced economy blocks I made using my Amy Butler fabric scraps. The template for this block by Lynne Goldsworthy @ Lily’s Quilts can be found here. Unfortunately, I misjudged the amount of  large AB scraps I had and had to compensate with a few other fabrics.

The wonderful and popular book Sunday Morning Quilts is also providing much inspiration for me at the moment.

I’m using my black, white and colour on black scraps to make my version of the Candy Coated quilt pattern from this book.

I’ve also made several blocks for another pattern in the book Scrapper’s Delight.

It’s fun to see some of my most loved colour fabrics in this one. It’s going to be one very vibrant quilt. Only 32 more quadrants to go…

I do get quite concerned sometimes that I am starting a lot of projects but not finishing many. However, I am loving this craft and learning so much so I thing that’s what really matters 🙂

Linking up to MCM @ Cooking Up Quilts and Let’s Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts

Colour Happy

After two months away from my sewing machine, I’ll admit that I have found it very difficult to find any motivation to sew again.

After a very busy Christmas holiday period, which included an extended camping holiday and visits from family members, I have managed to reorganise my sewing space and sort through all of my various WIP’s.

I even found a shelf to store my finished quilts 🙂

But after this process of tidying (or maybe procrastinating?), I still wasn’t able to muster a single ounce of enthusiasm for any particular project. And I have plenty of existing unfinished projects to choose from…

Anyway, while tidying and reorganising my sewing supplies, I came to realise that I have quite a large fabric collection. While making no promises of a 2016 “fabric diet”, I have decided that this year will be a year where I will try to use existing fabric from my stash wherever possible. (Of course, there will always be that extra yummy fabric that I won’t be able to resist… 😉 )

I also discovered that I now have a fairly decent stash of fabric scraps which gave me some much needed motivation for a new project – a rainbow scrap quilt!

I followed the pattern – “Pride Flag” – in the fabulous book Modern Quilt Perspectives by Thomas Knauer. I want to make ALL of the quilts in this book!

With the exception of red and purple, of which I have a limited stash, all of the fabrics used in this quilt were from my scrap bins.

The blocks went together surprisingly fast and in less than a week, I had a completed quilt top.

This quilt makes me very cheerful when I look at it so I have decided to call it my “Colour Happy” Quilt. The quilt top measures 65″ x 73″.

Life feels pretty hectic at the moment and I doubt I have any chance of producing this year the number of quilts I completed in 2015.

But it sure feels good to be back sewing again and that’s why I’m linking up for the first time to Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts and Let’s Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts

Deb 🙂