2014 Finish-A-Long Q1 Goals

So last quarter? Totally did not finish a single thing on my list. Perhaps this is especially sad seeing as I only had two projects there, but, since I hand piece (when I move and have space, the first thing I'm doing is buying myself a sewing machine. I even have the money set aside and I cannot wait) I give myself leeway there. How quickly do I really expect to finish a double quilt by hand? So both of my items are carrying over.

Cameron's Quilt

the blocks all laid out

This one is inspired by Red Pepper Quilt's Labyrinth pattern, except for the fact that I did my own math. I'm a little out of love with this right now, but my niece is crazy about it and that's who it's for. I'm just doing the sashing now and the top should be done in a week - then I need to decide if I need borders, which I probably should add and get to quilting. This is intended to be a birthday present, and given that said birthday is mid-February I have to get a move on. But let's be honest, this is going to be a slightly late birthday present.

Pillow Covers

pillows to made from random bits, mostly

The other project on the list is some pillow covers, made using the scraps left over from my Trip Around The World quilt that I've used to test little techniques. I used them to test the corner sections of the blocks for Cami's quilt, and more recently I've been testing some flying geese techniques for something I plan on making for my brother. Since I have tons of co-ordinating scraps, I figure that these can eventually become pillows for our living room.

I have quite a pile of co-ordinating scraps
 

Realistically, I don't actually expect the pillow covers to get done, but a girl can dream, right? Anyway I don't have too much of a space to put them for now.

quilt blocks, assembly line style

Some of my blocks here are getting so close to being done that it's almost painful. I'm getting excited to reach the end of the piecing process and turn this into a quilt. I'm going to have a very happy niece when either Christmas or, more likely her birthday rolls around.

The last times you've seen any progress on this I was just beginning, and plotting possibly adding some additional colours into the scheme, and then my last online purchase I showed off the new purple solids that I'm incorporating. Since then a lot has happened with this baby.

things looked a lot like this last time

The finished blocks are 12" square, and I'll need 35 of them total. Thus far the first 32 are in progress. The last couple blocks are going to be a little different - I'll reverse the colours a little, and use some more black on black prints for the main component. Working with such a small selection of fabrics has definitely made it clear that in my next projects I want to have a lot more variety of prints and patterns, even if I use a monochromatic colour scheme. Which is why I've starting shopping to stash fabric for future use - it's harder buying for a particular project than going out and buying a handful of kickass purple prints and choosing between things I already love.

so many blocks in progress

I've marked so many seams

I've also driven myself a little nuts with some sloppy mistakes. Matching the wrong colours together has made me need to pull out the seam ripper more than once lately.

can you spot the mistake?

I've still got several steps and seams to sew before the blocks are complete, but I'm reaching the point where an end is actually in sight. Of course once the blocks are made then there's the sashing to do, and after that I'll have to quilt the beast. Which I've actually got somewhat planned, actually.

I'm puttering my way along to the end and am getting super excited to start my next couple of projects. There's a log cabin planned to match my Scrappy Trip, and then there's the flying geese that I've been collecting fabrics for.

new project time: for my niece

Now that the Scrappy Trip is finally finished I've had plenty of sewing time to devote to the newest project in my lineup: my niece's quilt. It's my biggest project so far, as its designed for her double bed but the actual block construction is very, very simple. It's inspired by the Labyrinth quilt, though I've done up my own pattern and it's got a much more controlled colour pattern than the original.

All in all I need 35 blocks, plus sashing. The blocks themselves are fairly easy to construct, and I've been doing so in an assembly line fashion. I've got the square-in-a-square sections all in various states of doneness and am working on getting up my required number of those before I move any further. This is the fussiest part of the blocks, with all the little half square triangles and 3" seams - later on there's long seams and strip piecing. These bits are coming together quickly, so it's not completely unreasonable to imagine that the rest of the quilt will.



Blocks in Progress

Nearly Done Blocks

I'm also feeling like I need to rethink the colour scheme just a little bit. Not much, just throw in maybe a grey or a lighter blue to give a little more contrast. Right now my pattern calls for strips of the two turquoise prints to go right beside each other and I just think the whole thing might have more impact if I add in a little more oomph to the colour scheme. I also might do a couple of random blocks where I reverse the colour orientation.

So now I'm plotting yet another online fabric purchase, because I want to use blacks or greys from the same line as the original fabrics. And since I'd only need 3/4s of a yard or so, and I'm paying for shipping anyway it just seems like I should plan a bit of a stash spree. There are some eggplant and green prints I've been eyeing, and there's a quilt I'm planning for that I need to start acquiring non-floral red prints for and I could use a few yards of solid fabrics ... and apparently there's a 20% off discount code that's active for another month. Yeah, this is dangerous.

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. Why not play along, right?