Surviving Winter

     Way back before I knew about the miracle of Vitamin D.  I took a quilting workshop to help me get through the winter.  Winter is a little easier on me now but sometimes, especially when it is cloudy I still need ways to get myself through.  So today I took a vacation day to work on finishing my January quilting goal, which is of course the Giant Chevron Quilt.

     I'm currently working on the background and expect to get it finished this afternoon!  It's such a beautiful sunny day today so I'll have a great walk to the fabric store  later where I can pick up some fabric for the binding.  I hope to have a Friday finish.

     Another way I get myself through the winter is by taking workshops.  This coming Saturday my local guild is having a workshop with Local Art Quilter Maggie Vanderweit.

Maggie was one of the first people I met when I moved to town but this will be my first workshop with her.  It's on curves wedges and wonky log cabins. Here are some of the fabrics I'm planning on working with.

     I'll probably add some greys and blues to the mix, and maybe a pattern or two.  I'm also planning on using these same fabrics to try out some of the techniques in the curved piecing lessons by Jean Wells in  "American Patchwork and quilting.

     The following Saturday I'll be going to a Modern Melon workshop with Sue Forbes at Greenwood Quiltery.   Here are some  fabrics I've been auditioning for that quilt.

     I'm hoping all these warm colours and interesting projects will get me through this winter.  It's a beautiful sunny winter day here .  I hope you have some sunshine where you are as well.  I'm linking up to Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

     

Scraptastic Tuesday

Since the last time I posted on Scraptastic Tuesday my grey improv blocks have doubled with the addition of these two blocks

and they will soon be joined by this little partially made block,

and here's what the 4 completed blocks look like together on the design wall.

     Hmm I seem to have cut off the bottom of the blocks in this photo.  I'm not sure if I will stop at 6 blocks or 9.  I guess I'll keep going until I tire of them, or until my grey scraps run out.

     Last month I had the good fortune to win the $30 gift certificate from Mad About Patchwork.  It was very exciting.  I used the gift certificate to buy fat quarter bundle of Moonshine by Tula Pink.

     But of course I couldn't stop at just one purchase so I added the Handcrafted bundle from Alison Glass to my order.

     I added the cutter to the photo to give an indication of the scale of the designs.  I have no plans for the Tula Pink at the moment but I'm planning on a large scale cross block for the 

Handcrafted.  I'll be joining the link up which is hosted jointly by Nicky at Mrs Sew and Sow and Leanne at She Can Quilt.  I'll also link up on Wednesday with Lorna at Let's Bee Sewcial

2015 First Quarter List

     I joined the finish alongs in the second quarter in 2014 and found them to be a great way to get at least some of my sewing goals met.  Thanks to Katy at The Littlest Thistle for hosting last year.  This year Adrienne at On the Windy Side is hosting (Thanks Adrienne), and I'm joining the party again.
     I think I had 5 projects listed for the 4th quarter of 2014 and I only managed to complete one.  No matter I made quite a bit of progress on three of the others so I'm carrying the three of them  over to this quarter.  Surely I can finish them this time.

     First up is the Giant Chevron Quilt, designed by Jess of Elven Garden's Quilts. It's about 1/2 quilted and giving me lots of joy and  sometimes frustration as I practice my fmq on it.  I'm really stretching myself with this quilt as I quilt along with Jess. 

     Next up is Swoon .  I've got the rows together .  Now I have to get the sashing between the rows (the hard bit) and then quilt it (the other hard bit).  

    
 I made great progress with my hexagon sewing kit., last quarter. The outside is quilted quilted.  I just need to assemble the pockets and other goodies for the inside and it will be all done.  

     Of course I have to replace my one finish with a new project.  Our local Guild is having a quilt show in May and these are the two challenge fabrics.  We have to use these two fabrics and they have to be recognizable.  We can add other fabrics as well.  It's definitely going to be a challenge using these two fabrics...but of course that's the idea.  I think this is enough to get me busy this quarter so I'm linking up with Adrienne  On the Windy Side, and because I feel like being social I'm linking up to  Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts.

     

Happy New Year

     Happy New Year to all my quilting buddies.  Here's wishing you many hours at your sewing machines or with your needle and thread in 2015.  As I write this, these little babies are slowly making their way to Australia where they will be joined with other blocks to be made into quilts for the  families of the victims of the hostage taking in the Lindt cafe in Sydney Australia.  Thanks to Mollie Sparkles for organizing this.  You can read more about this here.  

     These two little blocks are the only things I managed to complete in December.  Yes this means I did not complete my December goal....but I did make progress so that's a positive.  I'm setting my December project aside for now as I  really want to work on my free motion quilting.   It seems to work out better for me if I concentrate on the fmq for stretches, rather than trying to fit it in around other things.  So my January goal is the finish the Giant Chevron Quilt.

     I have to say that I've loved working on this quilt since I joined the Giant Chevron fmq along with Jess at Elven Garden Quilts.  The quilt along wraps up at the end of the month so I would really love to have my quilt finished.

     In this picture you can see some of the spiral quilting I worked on yesterday.  I had a lot of fun quilting these spirals which sort of look like cinnamon buns in my case.  The next pattern is another straight line pattern.  I find those harder to do but I'm up for it.  Linking up with Shana at Fibre of All Sorts.  Good luck with your January goals everyone.

     

Swooning Along

     I've made some progress on my Swoon Quilt and I'm really happy that I picked this project for my December finish.

     You can see that I've got the short sashing done between the blocks and one long sashing strip attached to the bottom of the top row.  This of course was the easy part.  Now I have to mark the seams on the back of the sashing to match them up with row two.  I'm waiting till I have time during the day later in the week for this.  I don't like having to think too hard when I sew in the evenings.  I was reading an article about the Pantone colour for 2015 and the article mentioned the colours for the last three years.  You can see by the tangerine in my blocks that I started this quilt in 2012.

     For evening sewing I've got this little project.  My larger traditional guild is having a show this Spring, and the small Modern Group which is a part of this guild is putting in a collection.  We are each making a "modern"  mini or wall hanging .  To have the collection fit together we decided to have everyone use a grey solid somewhere in their quilt.  I've been playing around with these improv pentagon blocks.

        I got the idea from a pillow top Susan posted on the Canadian Abroad blog.  Then I found the general directions in 15 minutes of play by Victoria Findley Wolfe. The blocks measure up at 6 1/2 inches and I've only got the two done so far. Not sure if I'll use them both in the quilt but I'm having lots of fun playing with my grey scraps!  I'm linking up with Lets Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts, to W.I.P. Wednesday at Freshly Pieced, and one day late to Scraptastic Tuesday at She Can Quilt where Leanne is working on similar blocks.

Seeing hers I can see how I can make mine better.  I think mine are a bit too square.

Giant Chevron Free Motion Quilt Along Progress

     I've fallen hopelessly behind in the Giant Chevron FMQ Along over with Jess at Elven Garden Qults but  she's holding the final link up party at the end of January so I'm thinking positive thoughts about my abilities to catch up and finish the quilt by then..  Here's my attempt at the second pattern.  I'm not sure how well you can see this.

     I found the straight lines of the maze quilting difficult to do....but that's why I joined the quilt along in the first place...to encourage myself to try these kind of patterns.   

     When I got to the edge of my quilt sewing this pattern ,I discovered a mistake I made in the first row.   I managed to fold the edge of the backing underneath the quilt and sew it down with my quilting.  Yikes!  So now I get to unpick a lot of quilting and practise fixing it.

December Goal for a Year of Lovely Finishes

     I had great success with November's goal so I decided to go big in December and list finishing my Swoon Quilt as my goal.  It is the oldest unfinished project on my current list (definitely not my oldest unfinished project).  This may be crazy, given how busy December can be but I might squeeze in some sewing time just to keep myself sane.

     Here are two of the blocks.  All of the blocks have been finished for probably close to a year so I think it's time I figure out how to do the sashing.  I always balk when I have to learn something new.

     I'm looking forward to having this one done .  Done is better than perfect!

     I'm joining the goal setting party at  fibre of all sorts and as it's December 1st and I'm remembering it I'll link up at the small blog meet at lilysquilts.