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09 March 2021

March already !!

Is it just me or does this year seem to be speeding along ? maybe its because this time last year the whole world seemed to slow down, a lot !! 

anyway, I had a very productive February so I'm happy to be sharing progress on some of my UFO projects for this month's Furtle with Archie the Wonderdog :)

First up is my Message in a Bottle UFO - as I discovered when I pulled out this project last month, I hadn't made much progress on this quilt since the initial workshop with Irene Blanck in October 2015 !!

I've now sorted the applique fabric for each block - I'm using turned edge applique as its a lot easier on my hands than the needle turn method - so all the blocks are ready to have the applique edges prepped for hand sewing.

The pattern calls for alternate appliqued orange peel and melon blocks for the borders but I've decided to change that up and I've made hourglass blocks for the borders instead.  I know that if I had to do more applique after I'd finished all the blocks that the project might stall again and as there are hourglass blocks in the quilt I'm hoping that the hourglass border will look good ! (apologies for the photo quality)

The other UFO I've been working on recently is my Steam Punk Quilt - again I've made quite a bit of progress on this one as I've unpicked and resewn 31 of the 41 blocks !! (its ok, I already know I'm crazy !!) so now when I sew the sashing on the blocks I won't cut off the edges of the propellers !!

Jen Kingwell's pattern calls for 7 half blocks to use as some of the setting triangles but after making and remaking 70 of these blocks I've decided to use just fabric for all of the setting triangles !  Again, its all about doing what I can do get these projects finished !!

I'm currently prepping the centre circles and will applique them before I sew the sashing so I might even have this top done by next month soon !  You can see the polka dot sashing I plan to use along with the setting triangle fabric in the photo above.


I've been playing around with the layout and moving blocks around for the past week but I think I might now have the final layout - it helps to view as black and white too - especially with all the colour chaos in this quilt - this quilt's working title is Hectic !!

My Lawn Star has also grown a little more this month ...

and I have less than 80 diamonds to go !! 

but I think I might need a bigger design wall to lay them all out :)  I had a big session of removing the papers from these blocks which was a great way of seeing all of the different fabrics - I have some of the first fabrics I bought in this quilt so it will be a real time capsule of my stash !!  There's even a scrap from a stitchery I made for my mum and also scraps from when I used to make cloth dolls - over 20 years ago !!


I also managed to make and finish some mini quilts, a cushion, and a couple of handbags too !

Phew that's probably the most sewing I've done in ages - hopefully the mojo keeps going through March !!

Popping over to link up with Archie The Wonder Dog !

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