Tiny Album blocks

I started these tiny Album blocks in January 2017, and I've been working on them sporadically since then.  I like making them, and they're fun to plan, but I really don't know what I want to do with them.  I'm not comfortable making a huge pile of blocks and then deciding; I like to have some end project in mind as I sew.  I have a stack of them, and I've about come to the limit of how many I want to make without a firm plan in mind.

I'm rather drawn to using pink sashing to separate the blocks, with green or indigo corner posts.

Not that pink though, so I'll have to comb through the stash to find something that I like.  Then I'll have to decide how big this quilt should be.  Usually I go and map it out in EQ8, but I have no idea what size I want, or where I would want to use this quilt.  Once again, I'm trying to plan the whole thing in my head, and meanwhile progress is stalled.

They are little blocks, 5.75" finished, so I'll need a fair few before I have to make any final decisions.  There's already 27 blocks, plus a pile of partially assembled ones. 

When I'm not in the mood for triangles I just sew this Centre bit and set it aside. 

Then one night, when I'm feeling ready to concentrate on a bit of fiddly sewing, I add the triangles and finish the block. It stops me from getting bored, or feeling like it's 'duty' sewing. And I can choose the triangle colour after I build the block, instead of having to make the decision at the beginning.

I might even make a little quilt as a wall-hanging or lap quilt, which is something I rarely do. But for now I guess I'll just keep adding to the pile of blocks. 

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Done at last

My vintage rosettes is a completed top at long, long last.  This has been such a chore to work on, but determination helps overcome the tediousness of those many little seams.

Don't know if I like it yet, but I am so relieved to cross it off the UFO list, after all this time. It looks like the left border has a few puckers, but that doesn't bother me.  The centre of the top shrinks back after ironing, all those little seams pull it in.  Another iron, and some quilting, will makes that border lie completely flat.

I can't believe I let it sit around for years because I didn't like the look of those half rosettes at the edge.  They look fine to me now; I prevaricated for so long, over something so trivial.  

Of course the worse part was ironing all those tiny 1" seams.  Ordinarily hexagons just lay down in front of the iron, so pressing a hexagon top is actually enjoyable.  But those diamonds and triangles changed the pressing pattern, so it was a constant struggle to get them under control.  However, it's done now, and I'm ready to move onto another project from the list.  Or maybe start another new one.

I've written a few times about how I love this moment of choosing the next project, there are so many possibilities, and the excitement of a new project has it's own momentum.  While I weigh which thing to start next I am cutting for my 6" Ohio Star blocks. I'm not going to sew on these exclusively, they will be my leader-enders when I pick my major project.

Lots and lots of little triangles, made easy with the 2" QST die.

These will be such fun to kit into blocks, after I get back from Adelaide on Friday. 

The end is in sight for the school year for Shonny, so my babysitting skills won't be needed every single week.  I'm going to enjoy not travelling so much, but I'll miss my babies too.

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Another top quilted

Weeks ago I managed to get another of my tops quilted, and forgot to post about it

The block is called Road to Oklahoma I think; I did a tutorial on the block in December 2010 and finished it in November 2013. 

I'd originally been using apricots as the backgrounds, but I didn't like that after all, and set those blocks aside in the Orphan Box while I made a heap of blocks with cream floral backgrounds.

The backing piece that I chose needed another 16" in width, so I dug those rejected blocks out and pieced them into the backing. They were perfect for the job, and it was satisfying to find a home for them after all this time.

This fabric is very, very old. It wasn't really quilt shop quality, probably a Chinese knockoff of the original print, but it was fine as a backing.

I chose an old favourite panto of mine, called Groundcover.  It seems everything about this quilt is from a long time ago, which makes me even more glad that it's all in one piece and quilted now.

You can't really see the quilting, it doesn't show up in this light, but it looks very nice. Now I just have to find a binding fabric and that will be another quilt to add to the pile.

But it won't happen for a while, not while I'm running around after this lad. He's growing so quickly, it's a joy to watch him learning new things every day.  Go Thomas!!

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So close...

After the family went home on Sunday I sat and sewed long into the night. I was too tired to do anything requiring brain power, so I just sewed white hexagons onto the top and bottom of the quilt. It was completely mindless, and just what I needed to unwind after a very full 5 days.

There is only 1 seam left to finish, joining the two pieces together, but that will have to wait till Friday, because I'm back at Shonny's again. Today should be the last day of one subject, and the rest should finish in 3 weeks time, so the end is in sight. Once school is over I'll still come visit, but probably 4 days a fortnight instead of every week. I don't want the grandkids to forget me! 

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Family visit

Isla came back with me last Thursday, and on Saturday Shonny and Thomas drove up.  We went to see Mereth's son John, starring as Shrek in  Shrek The Musical.  He has a wonderful singing voice, and until a few years ago no one even knew he could sing.  He just came out with this huge voice one day and we all looked at each other and went 'What.....!!??'

He did a great job, and afterwards came out to meet us in the lobby.  Isla and her cousin Eddy were too scared to go near him at first, this is as close as they would get.

Eventually John won her over, but Eddy wasn't having a bar of it.

John's wife Liz did the makeup and some of the costumes, 

and Mereth babysat the grandkids through all the months of rehearsals, and then looked after Thomas and all the other kids so we could take Isla to the matinee; it was a real family effort. 

It was a great weekend, so wonderful to get together with all the kids and grandkids. I'm sure Isla will remember it for quite some time. So much Excitement! 

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Isla and I had a lovely visit together, without a single disagreement.  She played in the garden, picked flowers, visited the workroom and saw the Statler, and also the quilt I'm going to give her for Christmas. (should have hidden that one...)  "I like THIS one" she declared, so she should be happy on Christmas morning when she unwraps it.

She coloured in pages of my printed patterns, something her Mum did 25 years ago.  I'm tempted to design some animal patterns, just so she can colour those in too.

She was allowed to have a tapestry needle, and threaded a container of antique glass beads onto a string, which was great fun.

She was allowed to play the piano that's in storage out the back, and carefully showed one of my dolls how to play too.

She was allowed to play with scissors, and textas, which is a no-no at home, after she cut up one of her dresses and drew all over herself.

We had so much fun together, and there are a million other things to do that we didn't have time for.  I hope we can make this a regular thing.

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Charm Square 9 patches finished

This is an unflattering photo but I didn't have a chance to get another one.

I finally found time to attach the borders of the Charm Square 9-patches.  That brown border gave me fits, I needed to make the corners match nicely, but the pattern was printed on a slant.  That meant that when I cut the fabric straight, the print on one side was at a different level to the print on the other side.  I spent a long time measuring and fudging, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

This is top No.11 for this year, so with any luck I'll make it to my goal of 12 tops for this year.  I may even get a few more quilted if I'm dedicated.  It feels good to be working hard at the actual quilting, it's been years since I finished so many in one year. Now I just need to attack the binding; I think I have about 9 piled up ready.  The bindings are there, I just have to clear the work table and make myself do it. 

I'm at Shonny's now, I'll be going home on Thursday but there won't be much sewing this trip. Isla is coming home with me for a visit, so I'll be spending all my time with her.  We're both pretty excited about it, and Mum and Dad are looking forward to having just one baby for a couple of days.  If Isla can behave herself we'll do this more often, but who knows how she'll react to being away from home. I'm hoping Dolly and Isla's girl cousins will be so exciting that she won't miss her mum for a couple of nights. I hope I'm up to the task of parenting a 3 year old! She's pretty high energy.

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So much progress

I've done nothing during this trip home except sew hexagons together. I haven't touched my machine, or cooked, or quilted. I'm a bit obsessed but in a good way.

The sides have had their hexies attached, I will straighten those edges once I'm ready to add the border strips. Now I need to fill in the hexagons along the top.

That's pretty easy stitching, and then I have one major seam to join the two pieces together. I timed it once and it takes about 1.5 hours, so one evening should see it all in one piece.

I was worried about the borders until I remembered a UFO from about 13 years ago. I'd cut a 4 metre piece from a bolt of white material I owned, and stowed it away with the other bits. Hmmm, I wondered, could that have been the same material as this? Luckily I knew where that box was, and the white material, even if it's not the same stuff, is a perfect match. How's that for pure good luck! 

Our mum made a dress out of that purple floral fabric. I remember watching her cut it out and sew it, and I always coveted the fabric scraps. She had a big cedar chest of drawers in her bedroom, and it was stuffed full of material and dressmaking scraps.  On rainy days she'd let us pull it all out and ferret through the scraps, and tell us stories of the material wrapped in brown paper that her grandmother bought and saved, and then handed down.  I don't think Mereth and I had a hope of not being fabric collectors; it's in our genes.

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Dealing with a long term UFO

I've been working on a hand pieced hexagon quilt for the last 17 years.

It's made with vintage fabric in the rosettes, and a blue I dyed. Heaven knows what the white fabric is, and that's sad because I need more of it to finish this top. I think that's the main drawback of ancient projects: there are rarely replacement fabrics on hand, when the original runs out or is lost.

I've been stuck on this for more than 15 years because I can't decide what to do at the sides. I don't like the look of those half hexagons, but I can't come up with any other arrangement that I like. That chain of blue diamonds is really cute, but it makes designing an edge and border really difficult. 

After I finished the little wall hanging of ancient embroidered blocks I was inspired to tackle this again. And I'm determined not to set it aside again, just because I can't decide what to do.  

I've made a heap of half rosettes to place along the sides, and I think I've come to terms with how it's going to look.  Now I just have to add the white hexagons to each one, ready to sew to the blue diamonds around the edge.  It's not coming off my design wall until I have the all the pieces kitted up ready to sew.

I know that I've cut out nearly all the blue pieces I need.  There are a lot of white hexagons that will fill in around the edge, and I have to comb through my stash to find a suitable replacement white fabric.  That's a job for the daylight hours, so for tonight I'm going to go on making decisions, until I know exactly where this project is going. 

At this stage, I don't even like it anymore; I hope it appeals to me again after I've done all the hard work of finishing it.  And I think it will have to be handquilted, so it won't be on a bed anytime soon.  Some quilts are a really, really long term commitment.

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mini album applique

One of my oldest UFOs was a collection of blocks in buttonhole appliqué. The patterns are from a pattern pack I released way back last century. I made 2 like this: one was sold and one was stolen on the way to a quilt show.

I've had the blocks on the design wall several times, trying to wrestle it into submission, but all my fabric choices looked disastrous. So it's stayed packed away in its tin for the last 15 years or so.

This time I went for bolder colour choices: red was my sashing choice and this madder stripe just worked as the borders. 

It's not what I originally thought it would be, but I really like it. 

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disappearing 9patch

My goal is to make 3 quilts, one for each of the granddaughters, in time for Christmas.

This first one didn't take too long to make, then it waited months to be quilted. I used an open panto so that the finished quilt would stay soft and cuddly.

I'm trying to decide on a binding, and trying not to agonise over it. So far this stripe is winning.

But I'm back in Adelaide again, spending time with this young man while his mum is at school. He likes being the only kid on the block, the others are at daycare, kindy and school. He can play without a big sister interfering.

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farmhouse 2

I managed to get another quilt on the frame while I was home during the school holidays.

This was a fun quilt to make, I used a lot of scraps from other projects plus leftovers from my Farmhouse quilt. It needs a name, besides Farmhouse 2, but I'm drawing a blank.

It was quilted quite heavily: the pieces were so little that I wanted to be sure every 3/4" square had some stitching on or near it.

It's very flat, but I like that look. 

It's a bad photo, but I didn't have time to wait for the sun to go behind a cloud.

I've had the backing for ages, and never felt right using it for any other quilt. That's because it was meant for this one. Yet another instance of why you should always listen to the voices....

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charm square ninepatches

Ages ago I saw this quilt in a book of New Jersey quilts, and decided I'd like to make it using my charm squares. 

So I made a heap of 3 inch 9patches, and added corner triangles made from a 3 inch square cut diagonally. 

It turned out to be a very random, muddy looking top, because I chose muddy colored charm packs in the first place. I had so much trouble distributing the light and dark blocks that I threatened to chuck the lot in the bin. 

I finally got it arranged to my satisfaction, and then started pondering the borders. 

I really love the border on the antique quilt, but I didn't really think my version needed it.

This is what I've decided on. 

It will be a simple job to add them next time I'm home, and that will be another UFO to cross off the list. I'm aiming to finish 12 tops this year, and I'm on target for that. Even with so little time to spare, I'm achieving things this year. 

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This cold has been really hard to shake off, and it's not done with yet.  The antibiotics are helping with the secondary infection, but the viral part just won't go away.  Every day I tell myself I feel better than the day before, so I'm grateful for that at least. It hasn't stopped me, just slowed me down to a walk, so the list of finished things is disappointingly small.  I'm hoping I can pick up the pace over the weekend.

There has been more sorting and cleaning and organising of stuff.  There has been some socialising and drinking of coffee,  And finally there has been some quilting!

Yesterday I felt good enough to load a quilt and get it stitching.  It's not a big quilt, so I knew it would only take a couple of hours.  I used that time to put the binding on the Scrappy Mountain Majesty, and choose a backing for the next top to go on the machine.

I still haven't finished this binding, I'll do that while the next quilt stitches out.  I sew it down by machine, so it won't take long and then that will be another quilt completely finished, my third for this year.  It's been a long while since I had a string of finishes.

I love that the Statler stitches away while I'm getting the next top ready.  If I had my act together I could always have a top ready to load, and yet I don't have my act together.  I live in hope....

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Mereth has been quilting a lot of quilts lately, and I rarely have an opportunity to use the machine for my own quilts.  When I'm home I have to wait for Mereth to finish the quilt she's doing, and I have to have a quilt top pressed, the backing made, and the batting cut.  I'm rarely that organised.

 However, I did manage to get all the pieces ready a couple of weeks ago, and quilted a Scrappy Mountain Majesty that I finished  in February 2016.

 It's been sitting around with its backing for more than three years, so it was time to get it done.  I got it all set up while I was quilting another quilt, then it was quilting away while I did the binding on the first quilt.

It's a pretty little panto of mine called Denim Feather, and I think it suited this quilt really well.  Those curves and plumes helped soften the jagged points of the blocks.

I'm hoping to get a few more tops quilted while I'm home, but that means being organised and sorting out the backing and batting.  It's warming up now, so there's no better place to be than the workroom on a hot day. Alas, I'm also battling a truly horrendous chest infection, so I have very little energy.  Tomorrow I hope the antibiotics start to kick in, and I can get another quilt loaded on the machine.  It might take all day, but I'll just keep at it, one tiny step at a time.

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Another completed top joined the pile too.  The Country Cousin blocks have been around a long time, I was using them as leader-enders for ages, until I got sick of the working with the same prints and colours for so long.

All along I meant to set the blocks together like this;

I even drew it up as an EQ8 project.

I have no idea why I then proceeded to sew it up in an entirely different orientation.  Maybe it was during one of those 2am sessions where I wasn't really paying attention.

Anyway, I only realised what I'd done when half the blocks had been sewn together.  I could have unpulled it, or made more blocks, but I didn't have the heart to do that much extra work, when I liked this way as well.

Sometimes I just wonder what is going through my head as I sew?  Not much, apparently.

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