What Next?

 10 days since the mystery reveal, and my top is finally together. 

What a lot of time and energy this thing has taken. Not a lot of fabric though, because it's all scraps and leftovers and some very ancient material. My decision to make it came about because I had precisely those colours already out from my latest top, and it made sense to turn them into a quilt rather than put them back in the scrap drawers.

Initially I didn't like the purple squares in the Ohio Star blocks, so I substituted HSTs.  

Then after the reveal I decided the pattern needed them, so I placed the 4 I'd made around the centre block to make it look like I'd done it on purpose. The colours are lovely, I'll see if either of the granddaughters would like this. Pink and purple are definitely trending as their favourites right now.

I don't even know what I want to go on with next, apart from a massive clean up, and getting stuck into de-clutter mode; there are far too many unnecessary things on the floor, making it difficult to get around. I really want to go and buy more plastic, as if that will solve the problem, but I know I just need to use what I have more effectively. Not as much fun, but a lot more economical.

I feel like doing something out of the ordinary, and made some Drunkards Path blocks to see if I'd like them. 

These are 4" blocks, and they went together easily. Mereth has larger templates, so I can borrow them and make more. There are lots of scraps that I think would look nice in this design. I will probably turn these smaller ones into a potholder with some spiral quilting. That would be fun and practical.

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Sewing, Sewing, Sewing

 It occurred to me, when it came time to trim those units, that I should be using the Martelli ergonomic cutter to minimise the risk of damaging my wrist again. So I trimmed them carefully over a couple of days, and no wrist problems. I can be really thick sometimes. The Olfa cutter is fine for cutting strips, it's the trimming that causes problems, So now I know I'd better swap cutters for the fiddly stuff.

Everything requires trimming 😩

On my trip to Spotlight I bought a Fiskars cutter since they were at a deep discount, so I'll see if I like that brand. I think it's useless to ask other people if I would like something, much better to just buy it and see if it suits me. We're all different, and we think differently. I've always liked experimenting.

I sewed in every available bit of spare time and all the blocks are finished. Now to join them into a top and complete the Flying Geese border. I saw someone's finished top, with a lilac border on the outside and it looked wonderful, so I plan to add that to my quilt.

We were off to Jamestown yesterday to pick up tops from our friend, and while I waited for Mereth to get to my place I sat at the sewing machine and pieced 50 HSTs for my leader enders project. I could have been reading more blogs, but instead I made a handy amount of units. I need to remember that next time I have to decide whether to sew or do a bit more scrolling. 

I have enough units now for 17 8.5" blocks; I think I need at least 64 for a decent size quilt, so there's a long way to go yet. It will use up a satisfying amount of scraps, which is the aim of the game.

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Cutting, Cutting, Cutting

 I got busy and cut a lot of what I needed for the mystery blocks. I was determined not to use yardage or FQs, so I really dredged through the scraps trying to find what I needed. That's what I love about mystery quilts; they use up so many dribs and drabs of fabric that have been hanging around. I may have to use yardage for that first little border, but first I'll try to make it out of various lengths of scraps and see if that's acceptable. I'll need a lot more of the Flying geese units for the border, but I'll deal with them once I have the top in one piece.

I have most of the needed units cut and pieced, but they all have to be trimmed to size. I've learned my lesson about that; I'll only do a few at a time to avoid any injury side-lining me like last time.

I haven't decided what I'll work on after that. There are so many projects that are at an interesting place, and I'm not ready for something new, though several ideas are percolating. 

These Hole In The Barn Door blocks are made from 2.5" HSTs and 3.5" strips. I make a lot of quilts that need 3.5" strips, so I have plenty to choose from.

                           

My problem is, light backgrounds or dark? Or some of each? I will continue making them on a whim until I reach a decision. I like both equally, so a design that uses both would be ideal. They are so easy to sew, and will be easy to cut too.

My modern fabrics are overflowing every drawer and box, so I will definitely tackle them this month. More storage, and some drastic strip cutting will help deal with that.  What I'd really like to do is a jellyroll quilt that uses 42 strips or more; what a great way to get rid of a lot of fabric without a lot of decisions. The problem there is choosing the right pattern among so many available.

I have good intentions of doing the Declutter Challenge, but the temptation to sew instead wins. I'm not hopelessly behind, so I'll start this week with one of the easy categories, like Squatters or Rubbish. And my sewing table and machine are still spotless, I'm glad to say. I'm really enjoying my new machine.

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Mystery Decisions

I sewed together the units I'd made as the clues came out, and once I saw the reveal I decided that green could definitely replace the ice blue. I also didn't like the purple square corners on the Ohio Stars, so I replaced them  with HSTs. In order to make a decent size top I need more blocks, another 6 of each, so that is what I'll focus on for the next few days. I want it all kitted and the scraps put away so I can use my cutting table uncluttered. The main consideration is to not overdo it and have my wrist pack up again.

In Adelaide I made another trip to Spotlight, tempted by $2 FQs and $6m fabric. I gave up keeping a record of my purchases several years ago. Usually I just take a picture of what I bought, so I know how old it is and where I got it from. Their Christmas fabric was $4m, and I got 6m for Seonaid, who expressed an interest in making bags for presents next Christmas. It's quite a chore wrapping presents for everyone and trying to keep things hidden; just being able to pop some things in a bag would be easier. I'll take my overlocker down and we can have a sewing session.

I had a favourite tunic blouse that I bought at an op-shop about 10 years ago. I wore it every week and sometimes twice a week and I loved everything about it. It was beautifully cut and tailored and I loved the way it felt when I wore it. But it was on it's last legs. I finally bit the bullet and unpicked all the seams so I can make a pattern and reproduce it.

I didn't realise quite how tattered it was until I went over every inch of it with my seam ripper. I said to Seonaid, How could you let me wear this out of the house when it's full of holes! She just gave me a Look; quite right, I wouldn't have listened to her anyway.

I have material to replace it, and I hope to get that sewn in the next few weeks.  And in a surprising twist, once I exposed the original material in the seams I could see that it had started life as a black blouse. It was navy blue when I bought it, and now it's weathered to gray.  No-one could accuse me of following fast fashion. I have other shirts that are 15 years old; if they still fit I see no reason to get rid of them.

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2026

 Here we are in the beginning of 2026, and I don't have a plan of action yet. I spent 16 days in Adelaide with the family, and came home with another summer cold, the worst one in years. So my time at home has been sleeping and napping and taking medications and hoping to get better quickly.

We had a lovely Christmas, lots of jigsaws and books and colouring and lego. 

I think Isla most enjoyed the keyboard I gave her; we spent a lot of time sitting together while I showed her some basics, and then we worked through the start of an online course. Thank heavens it came with headphones! I felt like a bit of a hypocrite, urging her to use the right fingers and do some scales to warm up and practice every day, when those things had been a nightmare to me as a child. But I had never wanted to learn piano, and she does, very much.

The boys' top present was an archery set from their dad; they were actually quite good about not shooting each other with the suction tipped arrows, and aiming at the target instead. Second favourite would be new scooters for all of them, with light up wheels.  Scootering up and down their road in the darkness was a lot of fun.  All in all, they had a wonderful time.

We had so many good meals, ham on the bone and the best potato salad ever, but the winner above all was a pork roast, braised in cider on a bed of onions, with caramelised pears and gravy, and superb roast veggies. That one will live in memory, even more because all the kids ate it. Thomas is known as the White Rice Kid, because he rarely eats anything except rice crackers, Coco Pops and Butter Chicken, which is loaded with veggies that he doesn't know about😀. In a spirit of Christmas he also tried cheese, sausages, hotdogs and ham, so maybe this year he will expand his menu somewhat.

Breakfast of champions. 

Seonaid and I completed many puzzles, including two 1500 piece ones. The last one of those had us grumbling for 70% of it, about artists who use the same colour in various areas, thus making it hard to identify where pieces should be. I think that one won't be going back in the puzzle cupboard.

Back home to 4 days of searing temperatures, spent in the AC, finishing up my Christmas reading. I read the latest Ian Rankin first, in which Rebus is still limping along solving cases even though he's in prison. Will this man never succumb to his various diseases and addictions? But Rankin is a wonderful writer, so I overlook most of the improbabilities.

Then it was Robert Galbraith, aka J.K.Rowling, with The Hallmarked Man. A huge book, which is good, but I'm going to have to reread it to follow the plot a little better.  Again, she is a wonderful writer, so it doesn't matter how far-fetched the story is. I just love reading her books.

Now that all the Christmas rituals are over , and I'm getting over my cold, I'm ready to get back into the sewing room. I can't promise I won't start a couple of new projects straight away, but I'm ready to begin pushing fabric through the machine again, and that is great. I'm ready to be productive this year.

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Status Report

It's annoying that my hands haven't recovered fully, I'm still having to be careful about using the rotary cutter. I want to cut up piles of fabric and I can't. Well I could, but I'd regret it. I hate being sensible. 

On the other hand, it doesn't hurt to send pieces through the machine  in short bursts, so I've been doing that. My leader-enders have built up into quite a stack, but I still have a lot more to make. 

I've been strip piecing a new project to keep me amused. I can cut some 2" strips with the accuquilt,  and then spend time just feeding them through the machine. They have to be trimmed into the required squares and triangles at some point, but that's what I'm doing so slowly and carefully. 

I like how it looks, and I've earmarked other fabrics to make blocks in different colours. I'm enjoying the change of pace.

In other news, our hot weather arrived with a vengeance, 41 and 42°C days (105° F). Just nasty. I knew I would have to retreat to the AC in the shed, so I prepared by taking my Janome 6500 down there, and setting up Scarlett in her place in my sewing room. That involved a lot of dusting and de-cluttering and putting things away where they should be. I'll be participating in Karen Brown's Declutter Challenge 2026, but I've got a head start on cleaning my sewing table.

Scarlett is very nice to sew on, a lot bigger than the 6500, and her lighting is much better. She's been handling my strip piecing perfectly, producing strips with no puckering or gathering or bowing. I'm glad that I don't have to learn a whole new brand of machine, I think it would make my brain hurt. I have a very sweet little Pfaff, but I still have to get out the manual every time I need to wind a bobbin.

I haven't set up the workroom yet; we had social events yesterday that took up most of our free time. I thought I'd be able to sew down there after tea, but alas, I had vertigo for hours and hours. I couldn't even open my eyes without the room spinning madly. So I sat in a chair and listened to The Quilted Forest videos on YouTube. It was infuriating, but at least it forced me to rest my hands. Silver lining and all. I couldn't even make myself a cup of coffee. I was very sad.  Luckily I recovered overnight, and this morning I'm caffeinated and ready to achieve something.

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Taking It Easy

 I've been good about not stressing my hands with too much work, and I think my wrist is much better. I put a new blade in my rotary cutter and cautiously cut some pieces, with no problems. Then another night I sewed all those pieces together; I ironed them in another session, and last night I trimmed them. 

That wasn't comfortable, so I had to take a break between each set, but I got them all done. I think the message there is to stick to pushing pieces through the machine for another few days, before I go back to cutting. I see people on YouTube videos cutting with left and right hands, and that impresses me no end. If I tried that I'm sure I'd either wreck my fabric and cutter, or I'd need lots of bandages afterwards.

I'm only making one quarter of the units for Bonnie's mystery, and it's much more enjoyable than stressing about how to get them all done in time for the next clue. The half rectangle triangles in this last clue were a doozy; I kept tripping up on the bit that said, stack right sides up, rather than right sides together. Habits of a lifetime are hard to break, so I had a few miss-cuts.

And then I didn't have enough fabric to cut more, so I have two sets that look like this. I'm definitely not going to stress about that. It's a scrap quilt.

We have a spell of hot weather predicted for this week, so I need to tidy up my workroom so I can hide there in the AC. What I think will happen is that I'll go to tidy up the string piecing, decide to just make a few more blocks to whittle down the strings, and then I'll be totally side-tracked and no tidying will happen. I must try and resist that scenario.

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