National Jelly Roll day - part 2

Coming together nicely, maybe 4 hours in? Sewed straight from 9-11am then did a little bit of housework, then had to head off around 2pm. There will be a part 3 post to ensure this quilt top doesn't become a WIP.

The lattice strips have come together nicely, I am really liking the effect it creates. The pattern recomends that you press inbetween which adds time, I only did this for the first row, you can't tell I skipped this step for the other rows. 

Fun fact, each row takes less than 25 minutes, totally a weekend project. 

I had to stop at 2pm and head into town, Cate lost one school shoe last week so we needed to buy another pair, and she had tickets to go see a local production of the The Wiz. I walked part of the lake with my friend and her very excitable dog, we stopped and had a latte and then walked back, it was freezing.

Headed home for an easy dinner, Oliver's cooking parmas and wedges and I've made a quick salad, I hope to get the last 2 rows done of the Jelly Roll quilt but I have school uniforms and work clothes to iron. I am counting down until my holidays, I need a break.         . 

National Jelly Roll day - part 1

So today is National Jelly Roll day, pretty exciting for us quilters right? I didn't plan my work roster brilliantly, I worked 8-1 and we have a formal work dinner for Bob's work at 7pm so not much time for sewing. So I am considering this a 24 hour challenge, this afternoon is mostly prep work and the bulk sewing will come tomorrow.  

I've chosen a jelly roll from my stash, Cuzco by Kate Spain. Pattern is from the Moda Bakeshop, link here. It's called Sultry but more commonly known as a French braid quilt.   

It took me about an hour to unroll, iron, cut and sort into 7 piles. It's a scrappy look quilt, but as each strip only yields 6 pieces and you sew into 7 rows, I sorted to ensure an even mix in each row. 

All 40 strips are used on the braid so I will need to source more fabric for sashing or go with a plain colour. I found half a metre on Etsy so the bindings sorted, and maybe a plain border will be ok, will find out soon enough. 

Part 2 tomorrow, hopefully with a finished quilt top to show.   

WIP Wednesday - orange quilt

Oliver's birthday quilt is coming together nicely, I managed to get a few hours of sewing in this afternoon. In winter I sew from a small nook in the corner of our bedroom as it's heated far better then the lounge room. However as Bob is up at 5.30am I can't sew past 9pm, everyone's in bed by 9.30 at the latest, and I still have trouble getting them up at 7.10am, we like our sleep.

My poor Kevin, attacked by a nasty feral cat. He's sleeping it off but in a fair bit of pain on his upper leg. Hopefully he improves tonight, he is not enjoying life at all.

 

An exhausting day at work

And tomorrow will be just as bad, but were hopeful for snow. Its freezing here, there was snow near Beauford, we just got rain and hail. I left my jacket at home so had to food shop in extreme tempretures, 2 degrees at 5pm.

Some online fabric shopping with my niece, were going to have matching cat quilts made from Tula Pinks Tabbey Road collection. Mine will be the blue, and her's the Strawberry Fields. The cat tin print will be the backing and the stripes the binding. Super cute. Ill make a matching cushion too. 

12 hour work day tomorrow so an early night, rowing starts at 7.20am so breakfast out with Oliver and he can hang at the boat shed from 8am then walk to school with the rowers, I know the weathers going to be icy as at 7am, not looking forward to it. 

Happy Fathers Day and orange quilt progress

A busy few days. Oliver came home from camp on Friday arvo so I took an early mark and picked him up. Cate and I had tickets to see a local schools musical production at 7.30pm, then we went out for hot chocolate and macarons afterwards. Saturday I worked 8-4 then came home, Cate had a friend over and Bob and I went to a friends house for dinner leaving the teenagers to fend for themselves. We has a Spanish feast as friends just got back from a holiday in Spain, I made a black bean and corn salad and lime pork, was so so.

Today is Fathers Day, my dads on holiday in Cambodia spending my inheritance! We got Bob a dud gift, a kambrook egg and bacon muffin maker, he likes egg and bacon muffins but the precooking of the bacon and the mess it makes, not sure its worth it. Ill do better with his birthday. 

I spent most of today sorting and culling, a neverending process here, but the less we have the less to keep on top off. I also spent 2 hours sewing some last minute costume stuff, I will finish the last bit tomorrow night. And I cut and pressed all of the HST for Oliver's quilt, I'm going to arrange into light and dark rows, hopefully some progress will be made on Wednesday. 

WIP Wednesday

This morning was a mad rush, I had to get Stuart to the bus stop by 8.23, Cate to school 8.30 and Olivers going on a school camp to Melbourne for 3 days so he had to be at the train station by 9am. And in Bob's wisdom he told the NBN guy someone would be home between 8-12, um I drive them to school everyday?? 

So I raced home for 9.00 after leaving a sign on the door, find the NBN guy in the drive scoping out the work from inside his van, he sits there for a bit then says he will go do another job as technically I wasn't here, and will come back. So he did, around 11am, all good. And it rained the whole time.

So today's sewing, I cut the rest of the orange 10" squares for Oliver's quilt and pulled out a mid grey from my stash, I had 3m of it so enough for the blocks and binding. I thought the grey might look a little different to the normal white I would use, so far i like it. I got all 48 sewed then cut and pressed to form the HST. I don't have a design wall to lay them out on so will use his bed tomorrow to look at the placement.

I've just realised Cate has double booked herself  Friday night, she has a school ghost tour excursion and we also have tickets to another schools musical production, best sort that one tomorrow. Either way, no sewing will happen until Sunday so i best get these blocks layed out and pinned. 

 

Chevron Quilt with Jenny Doan

I love watching Missouri Star Quilting tutorials, Jenny Doan is so personable, and makes everything look so easy. I saw her Chevron quilt on Facebook and then came across the tutorial, it's made from 2 layer cakes sewn into big blocks and with borders added it's a queen size quilt or there abouts.  

 

Now that Oliver's in a queen size bed, he has outgrown his single bed orange quilt, so I have pulled out all the oranges from my stash and cut 48 orange squares all 10" (two from each print and a few singles). Some of these prints were in his first orange quilt, some from my stash and some I bought in Melbourne knowing he still likes orange. I've used the last of my ribbon flowers from my flea market fancy stash (sob). Each block when sewn together nets 4 HST, i have 186 to work with. 

 

My first thought was this could easily be sewn as weekend project, and it totally could be, but I've given myself 2 weeks to get it completed and off to a quilter, hopefully back in time for his birthday in October (because what boy wouldn't love a quilt for their 18th birthday??) He is going on camp tomorrow and back Friday afternoon so i will try and get it pieced out wihout him seeing it. Video tutorial here or a pattern can be purchased here but you don't really need it, just watch the video, its less than 5 minutes long. Oh and she has an app too which is a lovely read.  

Blogging is hard on an iPad

It appears that sometime in May 2016, they took away the add photo feature on Blogger. So to get around this, I have to write my post on safari or chrome, then flip to a wordpress compatible with blogger app, insert photos from the ipad, save, flip back to safari or chrome, whichever is working on the day and not freezing my posts. Then I can resize photos, run the spell check and hit publish. Oh and move photos from my phone to the ipad before I start. So what used to take 10 minutes, can literally take an hour + pending internet connection also.

There is an app for $4.49 I considered, but it has no reviews so I'm not sure it will do what it says it will. How do other ipad bloggers manage? Should i change sites totally?

Two University's in one day.

Up early and off to Deakin University in Geelong, Cate was participating in a Tournament of Minds (TOM) challenge. She didn't want us to come and spectate, so Oliver and I went and did some shopping for his camp, $100 later he's sorted and has yet another Coke t-shirt.

Cate was finished by 10.30am, we were going to go to the beach but she's still recovering from an ear infection and it was just so cold and I could see a massive rain cloud coming, so we got some hot chocolate and hopped back in the car. We did want to explore the Uni grounds, the landscaping was beautiful with gardens and ponds, lots of footpaths. Oliver did comment Kevin would love it, and then was saw a wild rabbit running up the path so yeah, Kev would love it all right.

Fed Uni had its Ambition Day on so we came home via the Mount Helen campus. Oliver met with the IT tutors and had a bit of a chat, he will go back in October for a class tour and then enrol in hCert III. We had a discussion about classes, times, dates, fees, so he feels a little more prepared now. Cate wanted to see the Arts facility but that was being held at Camp St.

It was so cold, and starting to hail so we went to the Hands On Alley. Oliver got given a marigold by the Horticultural tutor and chatted with all the other trades like plumbing, electrical, ag, rural science...we did suggest he take advantage of the mobile hairdressing display and offer himself up as a model but alas no.

Non stop hail now, but it melts before i can get a pic. No snow yet.

Allison Glass quilt top

I'm not sure if I love this one. I bought it as a kit back in April from the Quilters Convention, was a really great day out. My sister is coming next year so I won't have to go alone, none of my friends here like to sew or quilt and there's no local groups about, I really should do something about that.

Anyway, I bought the kit for $75 from FiFi's Fabricology. I loved the one on display, and this ones the same, so I'm not sure why I don't love it? I'll source some matching binding and backing then put it in my gift pile. 

It's been really cold here, the watering can is used every morning to tip over the icy windsheild. We're going to Geelong tomorrow for Cate's Tournament of Minds competition, leaving home at 7am so hopefully no black ice and a smooth drive down.

National Jelly Roll day

I have 3 jelly rolls designers to choose from; Kate Spain, Denyse Schdmit or Bonnie and Camille. To but one they are about $66 each, plus post. I did buy a layer lake and a jelly roll for $105 including post on a destash site, I thought that was a good deal, lovely seller too. I am leaning towards Cuzco by Kate Spain but I have no extra fabric so won't be able to add sashings and the backing would have to be generic as this range is out of print now.

I've been googling "free jelly roll patterns" for inspiration and browsing both Insta and Pintrest. I don't want a pattern that involves a lot of cutting and I'm not a fan of the Jelly Roll race, so something in between. I like the herringbone patterns and I'm still fond of the bento box.  Either way, a few more weeks to get sorted. 

Is blogging still a thing?

I still read blogs, when I remember too. I have my favourite reads and occasionally think to search for new ones. I think Instagram is the fave app for quilters now, and cat lovers. Everyone's so busy, a quick photo compared to writing, layout, editing photos... It seriously took me 20 minutes to figure out how to save this photo from my ipad and get it to stick here, I'm outta touch.

Aunty Jenny's caravan quilt

About 3 years ago my My Aunty Jenny requested a brown, fawn and a smidge of blue quilt for her birthday. I had  some fabrics in my stash that suited, mostly from a Moda Chocolat' fat 8th bundle. After some googling using the keywords Moda, Chocolat and quilt, not a lot of inspiration came up which is a little interesting as a second Chocloat' line was printed. Anywho, I came across this pattern which was based on a quilt called Rectangle Reverie by Happy Zombie and I actually have that magazine so with a few modifications* I made this quilt top.

Fast forward a year or so, and I sandwiched it and did some loopy quilting. I wasn't sold on the quilting, had a few tension issues, and put it aside. Many discussions have been had about the quilts progress, and with my #12quiltsin12months goal, I thought it would be an easy finish. So I've pulled it out, given it a shake, found the matching thread and gotten back into it.

Plan is to quilt, bind, wash, and gift it by Thursday, as my Aunt and Uncle are caravanning over now, and despite it being summer, it's about 20 degrees. So they may want to use it.

* modifications - I had to tweak the pattern to fit the fabrics I had, my rectangles are 5.5" x 16.5" (1" smaller width) and I added a whole other row to fit her caravan bed.

It's been a while

A long while. But that's ok, I'm back and I've got my quilt on. The challenge is #12quiltsin12months, or you could go rogue and sew #17tablerunnersin2017.

My first quilt was a mini for a pink themed swap and it was posted to Canada. She asked for a mini that was ombré or different shades, not girly and not floral. Hope it's well received.

My February quilt is not finished yet, I still have 5 days and I'll be needing them. It's a WIP from a few years now, just need to finish quilting it then bind. Photos to come.