Monday, January 31, 2022

365 Challenge Quilt - Progress Update

I'm doing a major happy dance over here.  After finishing 2 more 6 1/2" light blocks yesterday I had enough to finish the fourth light border on my 365 challenge quilt.  And I did exactly that!  The light border is 12 1/2" wide. And the quilt top is surprisingly heavy because of all those seams and 3 1/2 lbs of thread (best guess) 😉


The next border is 6 1/2" wide and is dark.  It will have a mixture of dark 6 1/2" blocks and 3 1/2" blocks sewn together some of which have already been made. 


Below is the diagram from the quilt designer, Kathryn Kerr, from Australia.  You can see how far I still have to go.


I'm half way through the year which should mean half way through the blocks and yet it looks like the quilt is almost finished. Math conundrum...at least for me.  I suspect the smaller dark blue blocks get more difficult as we near the end of the year but that's okay....all this tiny piecing has accomplished one thing...ok maybe two...it has bettered my piecing skills and it has given me a good dose of patience.

Onward!

Mavis


Wednesday, January 5, 2022

First Finish of 2022

During a scrap cutting frenzy in the summertime (before I got overwhelmed and donated most of my scraps to my guild for charity quilts) I pulled out my Accuquilt GO cutter and proceeded to cut out some 'kits' of various shapes designed to go together into blocks.

The Accuquilt GO really does save time on cutting fabric and I have no regrets investing in my system. these Diamond Starts went together really well and used a lot of my purple and green scraps. I used my 9" GO Cube for this block.

If it was green and purple and the right size to cut it went into this quilt.





The blocks measure 9 1/2" (9" finished)

I decided to set them with sashing strips (2" strips) to make the secondary blocks.  


I had a sit and sew with some other quilters online on New Years Day and managed to get the quilt top put together and then added a piano key border.  I think a piano key border is just the ticket when you don't have the right yardage in your stash nor any desire to add to the stash. Or it's New Years Day and everything is closed.




I'm very happy to have another quilt finished and ready for quilting.  This one measures 64 1/2" x 85 1/2".  Next I will cobble together some backing for it and add it to the quilting pile.

This is my first finish for 2022 which isn't bad considering I finished it on January 2, 2022!  Let's see if I can keep this momentum going.

Until next time,

Mavis


Monday, January 3, 2022

Slow Stitching Recap - Aves pattern by Kathryn Kerr

January 3 brings my third instalment of my slow stitching recap.  If you haven't read the first two, they are posted on January 1 and 2nd.

This project is not as far along as the other slow stitching projects, and it almost qualifies (in my mind anyway), as a UFO since it has kind of been abandoned.  I realized that I had bitten off way more than I could chew adding another intense pattern to my project schedule.

My friend signed on at the same time, and because she is way more focused than me, she finished hers. I'm still basically at the beginning.  

AVES is a quilt designed by Kathryn Kerr of Australia.  She is the same designer as my 365 Challenge Quilt.  These pieces aren't as small (some of the 365 blocks finished at 3" and had lots of pieces).  These were challenging in their own right.  Here is the photo story...first the inspiration...




Then the fabric pull.  Mostly from stash...















And this is as far as I got in 2021.

We'll see how 2022 goes with this one.

Until next time,

Mavis


Sunday, January 2, 2022

Slow Stitching Recap - La Passion Hexagon Quilt

This one is the hand sewing project that never ends and doesn't have a deadline.  I try not to compare myself with other EPPers (english paper piecers) who can get this particularly "involved"
quilt with over 17,250 hexagons in it done in months.  Some have done multiples.  🤯

This is the picture that started the love affair with this quilt and I knew that even if it took my lifetime, I wanted to do it.



My design idea has morphed during its tenure.  I was going to start it as a scrappy project but was fighting my internal control mechanisms.  A few years back, a friend who is also doing this quilt came with me to the fabric store where we decided together on a controlled palette for mine.  It has been a journey and some unpicking and replacing of original pieces but it's firmly underway now.


(NOT MY WORK)
This was a scrappy one I saw online which inspired me to go scrappy... until I decided not to.

This project has travelled with me as far away as the Mediterranean on a quilt cruise in 2016, on an Alaskan cruise, a few camping trips with family and a couple of quilting retreats.  It's a perfect project for outdoor summer sewing, but also for inside fireside sewing.  It's somewhat perfect for movie watching as long as there are no subtitles that require reading.  

And one hexie at a time I am getting there. And yes, I'm enjoying the journey with no deadline in sight.


2014 when it all began



Notice the change of the center flowers.  I took out the purple ones (above) and replaced them all orange (below)



At this point it stalled for quite awhile.  I needed the impetus of a quilt cruise to pull it out and give it some love I guess.  After all, Bonnie Hunter would have her hexies on the boat and I wanted to see hers and show her mine.  We were doing a hand hexie project on the cruise too.

 As I scrolled through my photos to write this post, I realize that I've really only begun in earnest to work on it frequently during 2020 and 2021.  Hmmmm. How strange to coincide during a time when the world has gone crazy and I needed something to calm the nerves. But I'm giving myself a pat on the back for how far I've come on this quilt.





Now to fill in some parts


Keeping track of where they should go is a challenge.  Need to be micro focused!

Portable project.  Met with my friend Christine at my daughter's house for a sewing day.


Woohoo!  It's almost in a round!




Hexies while camping for Sukkot 2021



This is where it stands at Dec 31, 2021 (unless I get the bug to ring in the New Year with more).
Note: I'm setting this to post on January 2nd so anything could happen between now and then. 😉

These are photos that inspired me with my own colour and style choices:



My EQ rendition






How I've decided (for now) to finish mine. 💓💓 I love the colourwash ending.

And this is my friend Christine's project.  We are neck and neck (at least we were when I last checked in with her):


Christine is the one who helped me choose my fabrics (not shown - white)

Bottom right is dark navy batik.  And the rust looking one is actually more orange in real life.

So.....I hope you enjoyed following along on my slow stitching recap of my La Passion Hexagon quilt.  I intend on keeping at it.  After all, it deserves to be finished, and I deserve to take a bow for finishing 17,250 darn hexagons and getting it quilted.  That's the goal peeps.  Wish me well!

Until the next instalment!

Mavis