Its another finish

I know I've been AWOL for alot of January, I seem to have lost my mojo and have been more involved with cross stitch but that's a tomorrow post.

Scraping in just before the end of the month and linking up to TGIFF, Finish it up Friday  and Can I get a Whoop Whoop, I present to you my #economyblockalong quilt.

It started in January as a quilt along on Instagram, I loved the idea of getting rid of some fabric lol....It is made completely from stash, some vomitty (aka older fabric) some new and precious, There are some mushrooms (those at FQR when I received it know what I thought of that fabric) some from the first FQR (the london eye fabric) and also fabrics that remind me of places, bee members, people and past quilts.
I will say, thank god I cut it all up early on, otherwise it would've ended up being a 4 block big cushion, they were quite boring to piece lol, I don't know how people have managed 156 or more of them, these are big blocks though and are 12.5"
The backing is a cotton sheet I bought here at La Redoute during the sales. I love them and use alot of their sheets for backings, they are just so perfect for quilt backs and so reasonable. This one looks like a quilt don't you think :)

Originally it was a quilt for my daughter, she'll be moving into her own room and not having to share with her bro during February and so she chose all the centre blocks but she decided it needed to be a family quilt as it was too lovely for just her to use #awww

I pieced it as always with Aurifil 50wt, it's batting is the eco wadding and was quilted in my first attempt at loops and stars with Aurifil longarm poly thread.

My piecing and quilting is far from perfect, there are points not meeting exactly in the middle and there are a few eyelashes (I've finally realised one of my bobbins needed chucking away and after a change perfect tension again) but do my kids care noooooo.

DS snuggled under it the second it came off the frame and had been trimmed, didn't even get time to get the binding made.  I'm testing it mum, lol....

It brought a tear to my eye the joy a simple quilt can bring to my children, it's these moments that make me realise why I quilt, to share happiness and wrap people up in quilty love.
My animals also love to get in on the quilty love, as you can see... heheh the kitties even sleep on the quilting frame when there's a quilt loaded on it.

Anyway, enough slush, the quilt measures 60" square so perfect for a snuggle.  The binding is a michael miller zig zag I had in stash.



It's also No 6 on my finish along list so one down, 5 to go :O)

Finish along 2014 Q1

My mum and dad have kindly taken the kids for a sleepover this weekend, so I got time to do not much but order cross stitch stuff and get annoyed about car hire companies and how you need a credit card for the guarantee (that's another long winded story that probably isn't worth listening to but took 2 days to sort) but this morning is such a bright and cheerful day, after cleaning floors, windows and now after lunch i'm going to take the dog for a long muddy walk.
So probably not much sewing done.
But I have taken photo's of what I want to get finished this quarter.  Most of these have languished in cupboards because I really can't be naffed or want to quilt them but not sure how, etc etc...

So No 1,

My selvedge star, I keep thinking I'll make it into a cushion but I'm now thinking I'm going to cut some selvedge off and border it in a semi selvedge/border style and make it into a mini wall hanging for my new frame room. 
So needs bordering, quilting and binding.

No 2

DS's giant star burst quilt, that must be the next thing on the frame, he's moaning big time now. Needs quilting and binding :)

No 3

DD's triangle quilt, needs quilting and binding although I want to bind it as it is, so lots of little angles and time on this one.

No 4
My long suffering Lozanges need to be appliqued onto my sew mama sew background and made into a super long bolster pillow.  It's going to be sitting on our spare room (once dh builds our room) bed and as it's red, grey and white in there, this will be perfect.
Not sure if I need to quilt it or not, what do you think???


No 5

This one has sat for I think over a year now, it needs quilting, it's not big I just need to get on and do it but I don't know how. *stumped*

Finally,  the evil women that loiter on IG have got me going on the #economyblockalong and I don't want this going into the next quarter, so I have

17 more blocks to make and then it must be quilted and bound.... It's a super scrappy vomitty type quilt for DD, she chose the centre blocks so most are girly and then we just grabbed lots of stash and cut it into triangles.  I'm not *choosing* the surrounds, just grabbing a triangle whatever colour or style, so it may be very bizarre by the end.

I think 6 things are quite enough to manage in the next few months, If I get two or three of them done it'll be an achievement.  I'm hoping we'll be having lots of plastering to do, decorating and finishing of rooms. DD may finally get her bedroom in this quarter, I *might* get a finished frame room and there will be another bathroom to clean *sigh* but it's all good :)

Thanks to Katy for hosting this year and to fab sponsors. 

FNWF...

Tonight is the first FNWF of 2014, do you fancy sharing what your going to be upto sewing wise ??
I'm hoping to get a few more economy blocks made or if not some more of my EPP project done, it depends if I get engrossed in some tv program or not lol...

Have a fab weekend all :)

First finish of 2014

It was cut out on the 29th, made into blocks on 30th and 31st and then shelved....I sewed the columns into a quilt on Friday and then wham bam thank you maam, it was quilted Saturday afternoon.


I've had a small play with pantographs but decided I fancied making some
excited water grid work from my doodle quilting book by Cheryl Malkowski, the pattern of the quilt allowed me to have a grid to use, so I knew when to change to the next block and direction.
I have royally mucked up though with the new quilting regulator, I used the pulse button to start off my threads rather than just little locking stitches... wasn't until I pulled it off the frame that I saw loads and loads of little bobbles of thread knots on the back. I'm so pleased it was made as a practice piece, I cut off the bobbles and when some of the quilting comes away slightly, so what. My mum's going to use it on her new chair when she gets back to UK and it'll be loved, covered in cat and dog hair, she'll be able to wash it and I told her just to cut loose ends off. I'm not a master patchworker/quilter and even if I was I make quilts to be used and abused not to be looked at with gloves on.



It's a pattern from Quilters World called Meli Melo. It's a fab pattern, all my seams matched up and it was so quick, without interruptions it would be so easy to get this done in a day.
The quilt was made with Valorie Wells Wish fabric and the back is just something I had in stash. Scrappy binding from the leftover wish fabric. It's pieced with Aurifil 50wt white and was quilted with aurifil polyester longarm thread and superior threads bottomline.
It measures 44 x 56

First finish to 2014 !!!! wooo hooo it feels good x

Happy New Year !!!!

Happy 2014 to you all, We had a nice evening of tv, laughing, some drinking and the kids welcomed in 2014 and then headed off to bed.

Here's my 2013 mosaic
 
I couldn't get everything in, but in brief :-
10 complete quilt tops
2 flimsy quilt tops
3 cushions
13 or more bee blocks
5 bags which included 2 aeroplanes
lots of bits for patchwork club, errant blocks, couple of wall hangings or bits just to leave around house.

Not too shabby I think you'll agree.

2013 wasn't a great year for us, I had lots of problems with my back and even though nothing dramatic happened, anything that could happen to derail plans seemed to, car problems, building, bike, job etc etc... so here's to a better 2014 :)

I'm planning on getting my flimsy quilts quilted, I have 2 ready to quilt, one that will be a flimsy in January, the Siblings together quilt to get to a flimsy.  I want to try and use up some stash, dh said not to go on a fabric diet but I'm thinking, I'm going to buy a yard of fabric for every kilo I lose, I'm going to reassess in June lol...
2014 will be my bag year, I've ordered lots of bits and with Sew Sweetness's book and her bag club I'm going to have some fun.
No plans for FQR this year (at the moment) as family life needs to take preference and that will hopefully involve dragbike racing, but you never do know.  Here's to a healthier (diet starts tomorrow) happier and prosperous 2014

Linking up to Fresh Sewing Day