Wonky Log Cabin Quilt

Another finish from the UFO list - hurrah!

Last year at the Fat Quarterly Retreat I started this quilt in Quilt Dad's Wonky Log Cabin class.  The 2 blocks I made went in the UFO pile until I decided that the colours were neutral enough to make into a pram or play mat quilt for the baby.  A jelly roll of Sweetwater Hometown pretty much made exactly 9 blocks which makes the quilt 36" square (or as square as my quilts ever are!)

The back is an Ikea print and the binding is more Hometown in a blue/grey stripe.  I quilted it in the wavy straight line quilting I have used before here, here and here.  It takes a while but I love the effect and it makes for a robust quilt - especially good for a play mat quilt.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Some progress on a very old UFO this week.

I made the last 12 9-patches I need for my quilt.  Now I just need to trim all the blocks and sash them.  I think this may be a UFO for some time yet!

Sorry about the rubbish phone photo in poor light!

I also made another 9 blocks for my sister's quilt.

No progress

• Red & Aqua Windows (unless looking at how many blocks there were counts?)
• Spring Carnival Cushion
• Summersville Quilt

Finishes

These need buttons sewn on which I need to buy but I am counting them as a finish.  They are the Baby booties from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings.  I think, on reflection, I do not have the patience for sewing garment type things.  Transferring the pattern pieces on this took me forever and they were quite fiddly to make.  I thought that the effort and time ratio to finished product was not worth it but now that they are finished they do look cute . . . . .

Hats - blogged here

I've been experimenting with different backings for burp cloths to use up fat eights of fabric too.  So far I have tried thin flannel from a blanket and towelling.  I am not necessarily convinced by either as a backing yet.  My sister in law is visiting at the weekend with her baby so maybe I will try them out!

I have also finished the Wonky Log Cabin baby quilt but haven't been able to get photos yet.

New projects

• Crochet Blanket & knitted baby cardigan - both blogged here

Linking up with: 

A tale of 3 hats - adventures with wool

Call it pregnancy hormones if you must but in December last year I decided that I really must learn to knit.  Luckily for me my friend Jen (who I met at a quilting class) is an absolute knitting whiz and was kind enough to spend an evening showing me the basics.  If you love knitting you really should check out Jen's blog - she makes lots of lovely knitted (and quilted) things.

Jen adapted a pattern from Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino 2 so that I wouldn't have to sew any pieces up or join in any colours.  And off I went - safe to say I found it quite addictive!  Knitting may be one of my new favourite things.

I've decided that is quite enough hats for a while (all colours and flavours of baby are now covered!).  So on Jen's advice the Baby Cashmerino book made it onto my Christmas list and I am about to start my next project from it - Matinee Jacket.  (Starting this project neatly coincides with hopefully seeing Jen this week should I get stuck!!!)

Yes I know it's blue & no, that doesn't mean anything - I like it and a pink ribbon will girly it up if needed!

When I went home to Ireland for Christmas my Mum showed me how to crochet.  After seeing Sarah's lovely baby blanket I suggested Mum might like to familiarise herself with Attic 24's lovely Ripple tutorial so that she could teach it to me.  

I was very slow at crocheting but I started a Ripple Blanket this morning.  I've been told I need to rest more with my feet up so a slow project that requires me to sit down is perfect.

So today my favourite thing has been keeping warm under a quilt whilst knitting and crocheting and watching the snow fall.

Linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Favourite Things Friday

&

TGIFF (which is at Celtic Thistle this week)

Work in Progress Wednesday

I've made some progress on some UFOs this week!

These are the first 4 blocks I have made for my sister's quilt.  I am following Sewtakeahike's method of Quilt As You Go.  This is going to be a big quilt so it was the only way I could even contemplate making it.  The blocks will end up as 14" square and I think I need 36 in total.  It's a slow process as each block is taking me about an hour to make but I am enjoying doing them. 

Both the Summersville and Hometown quilts now have their binding's attached and are just waiting to be hand sewn down.

No progress

• Red & Aqua Windows
• 9 patch
• Spring Carnival cushions

Finishes

Fabric buckets for the nursery

New projects

I am going to attempt these baby booties from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings.  I have cut out all my pattern pieces  and fabric pieces which was rather torturous!  There must be an easy way to transfer patterns rather than my attempt at cutting things out of tracing paper and drawing around cardboard?  If there is please share!

Linking up with:

Baby sewing

So as well as my goals from my last post and my list of UFOs I also mentioned that I wanted to do some sewing for the baby.

Emma had made some of these fabric buckets for her baby and she pointed me in the direction of this lovely tutorial from The Stitchin' Chicken.

These are super easy to make and took me less than an hour each.  Each basket uses just 2 Fat Quarters (so 4 FQs busted!)

They can be customised to any size and are just made of fabric and wadding.  However I think if I made them any bigger I would want to add some interfacing which would make them a little more fiddly to make.

I've got lots of ideas of things to make for the baby - I'm not planning on getting them all done before March but it's something to work on!

2013 - looking ahead

Yes I know we are already almost half way through January so I am a little late to the party with my post on looking forward to 2013.  But that still hasn't stopped me thinking about what I want to achieve this year in terms of Sewing, Stashing & Blogging.

Sewing

With our first baby due in March I have no idea how much (if any) time I will have for sewing in the first half of this year.   I have counted up my UFO's and they aren't too bad - 6 in total.

1. Red & Aqua Little Windows - need to assess the blocks and decide how big this one is going to be

2. Nine Patch - 10 more blocks to make on this one before assembling the quilt top

3. Rachel's Quilt - this one is all cut but no other progress

4. Wonky Log Cabin - just waiting for binding to be sewn on

5. Summersville Baby Quilt - waiting for binding

6. Spring Carnival Cushion

I am aiming to finish the last 3 before the baby comes and if I make any progress on the other 3, then that's a bonus as far as I am concerned.

I am also doing some prep on my 2 long term sewing projects - Tilda Hexagons and Hexy MF - so that I have some hand sewing ready for whenever I do have 10 minutes.

Stashing

I always aim to use up my stash each year but this year I'm serious.  Firstly I just don't have the space anymore.  I've been lucky enough to pretty much have an entire room to make a mess in sew in for the past few years with the occasional inconvenience of overnight visitors necessitating that I clear it up.

However major sorting and organising is currently underway to turn this room into a nursery.  This has meant that my fabric and sewing kit has to be re-located.  It's almost all sorted and I will blog about it soon but there really is just enough room for what I have.  So unless I start using up a lot of fabric, there simply isn't space for any more. 

Secondly I will be on maternity leave and consequently maternity pay for most of this year.  With a reduced income I really do need to think twice and even thrice as to whether I can use what's in my stash before buying anything new.  I am still de-stashing some stuff - link here - with reduced prices so let me know if you are interested in anything.

I'm not making any grand resolutions not to buy any fabric because that would be silly and there is always a need for that perfect fabric!  But when sorting my stash I rediscovered a lot of fabrics I love that I am excited to sew with.  

Blogging

I am hoping to have a little play around in the next couple of months and smarten up my blog layout.  I am also going to try to blog a little more regularly - with Twitter and Instagram being so instant I sometimes neglect to update my blog which is a shame as I love looking back on it as a sort of journal and seeing all the things I have made.  

I will definitely be trying blog my progress on my UFOs and sewing projects on a weekly basis.  I have also recently learnt to knit so expect a little diversification over the next few months!  And yes I will also hopefully be blogging a few baby projects (both knitting and sewing) in the next few months too.  

Right enough rambling on for one night - I'm off to sleep under my favourite quilt ever.

And yes this was just an excuse to blog another photo of this quilt!

My favourite 2012 make - Bee Quilt

Happy New Year!  I'm back from my trip to Ireland to see my family over Christmas and the trip to Dorset to see the in-laws over New Year.  Due to lack of reception and wifi I've had a social media break too.  I'm starting to catch up on my blog reading and am really enjoying all the posts reviewing 2012.

2012 was quite a hectic and difficult year at times and I didn't sew as much as I would have liked.  But I do really like the things I did make.  My finished quilts for 2012 are here so I'm not doing a mosaic this time.  Instead I'm going to finally blog my finished bee quilt which is definitely my favourite thing I've finished this year.

Fresh Modern Bee 2 was my first ever bee and my month was a long time ago (November 2010!)  All the lovely ladies made me 2 blocks each and I made the final two.  Then it took me ages to put it all together!  And once the quilt top was assembled I was scared at the thought of quilting such a huge quilt (which resulted in it being nicknamed the Beast Bee Quilt).  Eventually I decided to do simple machine quilting in the sashing and hand quilt the detail on the blocks.  I may have slightly underestimated just how long the hand quilting would take!  But it is finally finished and now lives on our bed - the first quilt I have made large enough to comfortably fit our king size bed.  Luckily my husband likes it as I won't be making another quilt so big for a very long time!

But what I really love about this quilt is all the lovely blog and twitter friends I have made because of it.  I have been lucky enough to meet 5 of the lovely ladies who made blocks for this quilt (from the UK, Netherlands, the US and Australia).  So thank you (in no particular order) to Amy, Susan, Lynne, Jessica, Danielle, Krista, Justine,  Allison, Leila, Lisa, Lil, Alison, Reene & Yvonne

Quilt Details

Bee Blocks made as part of Fresh Modern Bee 2 with my request being for pinwheel style blocks

Fabrics: Tanya Whelan Dolce & Kona Medium Grey (if you love the fabric, I'm still destashing some here)

Backing: More Dolce and Kona Medium Grey

Quilting: Machine quilted in the sashing and hand quilting in the blocks

Binding: Left over strips of Dolce

Linking up to: