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 !

a summer furtle to welcome 2021

Wow last time I was here I had just furtled through August and now its the first of February - where does the time go !?!?! I had planned to blog before Christmas and this is now my new year post too !!

I was so excited about saying goodbye to the crazy year that was 2020 and jumping into 2021 but with the new strains of the covid virus popping up before we've even got the initial virus under control globally, I'm thinking 2021 will probably be more of a year of transitioning to our "new normal" - at this point our old "normal" is long gone !l Anyway, I hope you and your loved ones were able to share in the holiday season !

I was going to do a happy new year post before deciding just to welcome the new year quietly with heartfelt wishes that 2021 brings some hope and healing to the world.

As its the first of February today, its time to join Mini Archie for a furtle around the place !

Just lately I have been busy sewing some little quilts but I still have an ever growing UFO list so I had a bit of a rummage in the depths of the UFO basket cupboard to see what projects I might resurrect this year !

I discovered that quite a few of my UFOs have a considerable stash of fabric with them - they take up quite a bit of space and as I'm trying to keep all of my fabric on one area I thought I might separate some projects into monthly sections although that idea might take some time in itself - ha!

In keeping with this idea I pulled out my Message in a Bottle quilt to make the project into a BOM style and discovered that I only completed one block at the 2 day workshop I attended with Irene Blanck back in 2015 ! so splitting it up and doing the prep work to make it into a BOM would probably take longer than just starting sewing so that was the end of my BOM idea !!

Due to being easily overwhelmed by my extra large to-do list, my plan for this year is to just put forward a few projects that I would like to make progress on - nice and casual like - just to work on when there are no other pressing deadlines like I have currently with a new season of Project Quilting underway.

If you haven't heard of Project Quilting it is an annual challenge to make a quilt in a week - from start to finish ! Season 12 started last month, and for the first two challenges this year they've had record numbers of entries so pop over to Kim's blog to find out all about this fun challenge and join in :) The theme is dropped on a Sunday (US time) and then you need to make a quilt and link it up by the next Sunday.  The 3rd challenge for this season was just released today and this week's theme is "virtual vacation" - did I mention there are very generous prizes for entering each challenge too ?!?

I have actually finished the first two challenges for this year (although not by the deadline) and I still have an unfinished one from last year so I will post about those very soon !

Another old project I've pulled out from the UFO pile is the Steam Punk quilt - I finished making the blocks for this quilt a while ago and I couldn't wait to sew up the top until I went to sew on the sashing strips and discovered that when I was sewing the blocks together I was so busy making sure the centre of each block matched up that I didn't worry about the outside edges and the edges are the seams that matter as the centre will be covered by a circle anyway !!!! jeepers !!!!

I can see myself making sure that I had my centres lined up when I was sewing these blocks - even Jen Kingwell commented on my matching centre seams on a block I posted on Instagram and I remember being so pleased with myself - honestly!! suffice to say that almost half of the blocks need some unpicking - if I leave them it means that I cut off the corners of the fans which are the main part of the block !! oh well, these are the things you learn along the way aren't they - how else do we improve otherwise !

Its not all that bad though as last week I discovered the tv show Spooks (obviously I missed it when it was released 10 20 years ago !) with the fabulous Matthew Macfadyen so I'm looking forward to unpicking and re-pinning the blocks whilst watching a wonderful British spy show but ultimately I do want to get this quilt finished so I'll add it close up to the top of the pile so it might have a chance of some progress.

Another of Jen Kingwell's quilts that I've been working on lately is her Lawn Star although I'm making mine from scraps so I'm paper piecing the diamonds rather than making them from sewn strips.

There are 200 diamonds in the quilt and I've made 100 so halfway there ! its also been a good way of sorting my scraps while I go - all of my scraps were mixed together in big plastic tubs but by spending a little time while trying to find short strips to use in the scrappy Lawn Star I've been sorting in squares, long strings, and triangles along with fat 1/8s and fat 1/16s as I go so its been a scrap bonus project too :)

Oh and I still have to finish the bag that I started for my cousin last year - it was for Christmas ! and a cushion for my mum too so they are top of the list for now.

I must be off and link up if I'm to get some of things crossed off that list !

PS - thanks and a gold medal if you kept reading to the bottom of the really not-intended long post x