A Couple of Flimsies

Just a quick post today to update you on the latest project. Here is the flimsy for my Bookish quilt.

I am so pleased! I got this picture first thing this morning before any real wind came up, often a problem around here. It took me quite a while to shuffle the blocks around to try to evenly distribute colours and patterns!

A New Quilt Top and RSC Yellow Update

Somewhere around mid-July I started a new quilt, one that Dayna had sent a screenshot of and asked if I could make. Out came the graph paper, then came the math, followed by a test block, more math, then a TON of cutting, and, three weeks later, where I sewed nothing but this quilt, I have the top!

On average, one star block took me one day to make. The quilt is big. Lots of white. Pretty dramatic! I’m positively pleased (as punch😉) with all the pretty points. And Dayna loves it, so mission accomplished. 

Project Quilting 17.4 Of Another Era

Well, I did not get the original quilt project finished, so on Saturday evening, I turned to Plan B, which was using some Debbie Mumm fabric from about 25 years ago. I'd recently used one of the three squares from the panel on the back of my Happy Christmas quilt. I had thought that the backup plan would be to make a table runner using these two with a star block in the centre. However, with limited time, I knew I'd have to do something even quicker, and suddenly I thought I could make a tea cosy! Heaven knows I'd made four mug cosies this week, so one more large one shouldn't be a problem.

A little less than two hours later, on Saturday evening, like 10 pm, I had it done. Incidentally, that teapot is circa 38 years old, and the table topper is made (in 2005) from the same fabric line that I was using in the Plan A quilt!

SMGO

So. Much. Going. On.

And it's all wonderful with lots of blue! I've joined in once again with the SAHRR. Here is my post about the centre I'm starting with.

I'm once again participating in the RSC: Rainbow Scrap Challenge with Angela of soscrappy. This month's colour is blue. She didn't specify light or dark so I did light, bright and dark! 

Tropical Puzzle and More Project Bags

This is or was one of my USOs—UnStarted Objects, a set of fat quarters with the pattern included, that I picked up for a great price at Craftsy several years back. They sure had some amazing deals didn’t they? Between making a few more project bags for my returning bag-obsessed customer (I’m totally okay with this--love her--as I’ve now made one for the shop and have plans to make one for myself)  I have the flimsy finished. 

Spot the Rottie body photo-bombing! I could’ve cropped it, but he’s too cute. 

I don’t have a destination for this yet but I do have a backing fabric. Therefore it will get quilted shortly so it doesn’t become a UFO. I tend not to have a ‘waiting to be quilted’ pile.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Quilt 1

After I posted my turquoise block on Instagram on the weekend, and then a photo of the layout on my design wall of all eight blocks, it started an itch that had to be scratched.

Annoyingly, the HSTs do not have their strips oriented all the same way, because I forgot to pay attention to which diagonal I needed to cut on, but then I remembered something Angela Walters said in a course I took with her, "If you make a mistake, repeat it, and it becomes a design element!" So I'm calling this and its yellow friend a design element.😇

This is the third unicorn centre. I love them. It’s a Benartex Fabrics print by Ann Lauer that I used during my Follow Your Own Path quilt along in 2021 to make ‘Be A Unicorn’.

A Flimsy, a Fun Fabrication and a Flag

First of all the flimsy. This is a fat quarter bundle I picked up years ago from Bluprint or perhaps still Craftsy when I bought this. It came with the pattern which is called Suburbia by Cozy Quilts. Gorgeous fabrics and a design that showcases them so well. 

It’s big: 58.5" x 60". I took my time and used my design wall throughout the entire process, working across the quilt with the 17 fabrics to evenly distribute colours and lights and darks. I just need to settle on a backing and then get it loaded and quilted. I'm thinking large meander as I want the fabrics to take centre stage. I have two, make that three, (I just remembered the Gravity kit--why have I waited so long on that?) other Craftsy/Bluprint quilt kits and one tote bag kit to check off my UFO, or rather, USO, list. That's not counting various other USOs and a couple of UFOs, so don't think I only have four items!

Jasper

Well this flimsy is sure a lovely surprise and a most satisfying result! You may recall Lorna’s Mod Bear Paw quilt that I started back in November. I had the bear section finished on November 19. The last update was November 25 where I had the lower section with the bear, bear paw blocks and trees mostly planned out, just not sewn together. At the end of that post I had said, What's next? Who knows?! I do know I will be adding in mountains, maybe in a log cabin style, a couple or more stars. For now, I'll sew all these parts together.

Well, the mountains (not log cabin style after all), sky and Aurora Borealis (no stars) are done and so is the quilt.

Goose Dance

I’m just popping in with a quick post on a flimsy finish. I originally started this as leader/ender project several months ago but the past week I decided to just go for it and finish it.

It uses a stack of prints and solids I picked up at Craftsy several years ago. I have a few of those bundles to get into quilts.  I think I’m calling it goose dance because of the wavy back-and-forth effect the blocks create.

Kool Kats Quilt and RSC Update

A few weeks ago I had a message through my Etsy shop telling me she was interested in the cats quilt I had for sale but would I be able to make a throw, and in softer colours? We chatted back and forth, and I got the go-ahead for this commission. I was such fun to paw through (see what I did there) my bountiful collection of fabrics to give her lots (in retrospect, too many, but I wanted her to be completely happy) of choices for her cats. She was pretty specific in her colours and motifs, and probably as strong and vocally so in her intense dislike of anything remotely teal or turquoise, as my mother was with blue. I am happy to share the finished top!

Good Grief!

Good grief: how can it be 2.5 weeks since my last post? I've been sewing and reading as per usual, maybe a bit more reading than sewing to be honest. Let me fill you in on what's been happening around here. If you follow me on Instagram you'll have a bit of an idea. I've joined in with Leanne at Devoted Quilter on Instagram for her WIPS challenge once again this year. This year it's just two months, 61 days, so during this second quarter, I set my sights a bit lower, looking to complete two goals. One I met Sunday morning.

This is my knitted selvages rug, the second one I've made over the years. It's bigger than the first one.

Charm Squares Makeup Pouch and a Flimsy

I'm pretty pleased with myself because not only do I have a finish for Friday, but I also have a quilt top together and all four of my goals for this Q2 of #wipsbegone2021 complete with lots of time to spare!

I've made several of these over the years, most recently three to sell in my Etsy shop, SandraJaneQuilts. I sold the aqua one in short order. In early September I had one of those days when you just feel like going off-topic and playing a bit, I grabbed what was left of a Gooseberry by Bonnie and Camille mini charm pack, and made the two sides. I'd used half of it in a little pouch I made for my friend Tish. And there it sat. Why?

Storm at Sea March Challenge for Island Batik

Well, I have a flimsy. Finally! This is also going to be my OMG post. Yes, it is too late for the linky, but no matter, as I am declaring it the big goal for April regardless.
This morning it was literally hanging by a thread, well several, on my design wall. I usually put quilt tops together using the Book it! Method which you can find through that link. It keeps everything wonderfully in order, and order is essential in this complex pattern. Good grief; I did not realize that that is the first tutorial I wrote on this blog! January 6, 2014.

The swirly shot...

Bear Paw Dance

The flimsy is done, and I'm in love! This is an original design, and I cannot tell you how much of a rush it is to have a drawn or digital design of mine come to life in fabric.

This is the Child's Play September challenge given to us Island Batik ambassadors.

Purple is Percolating

Purple is the RSC colour for September, one we all knew was coming. What two colours make purple? Why, red and blue of course. So the first project in my purple post is is mainly red and blue. I finished the flimsy for Brady's football quilt!

You may have seen it on Instagram last week. You know that feeling when you find the perfect quilt pattern for someone, and you gather some potential fabrics? It's a rush.

And then it sits for some time, because of other life and/or quilt requirements. And then! When you do pull it out and get it to the flimsy stage, and know that the finish is imminent? An even bigger rush. Yeah, it's a great feeling and I have it. However, I do not have enough of the backing I'd bought (a football Minky) so I will have to pop in to my favourite LQS in Leamington, which is the town just down the road from me. Haven't been in a while, so it's time. They have a terrific room, yes a small but entire room, of Minky.

Luminous Layers Flimsy

This month has been just nuts. Real life drama and happenings, quilty drama (see end of post!) and happenings... Amidst it all, I have managed to get the flimsy finished for the May challenge for Island Batik, where we were to 'Make it Modern'.

This month's challenge is sponsored by Hobbs Batting, and I will most happily be using their black batting to quilt this! Once again, I cannot say enough about the quality of Island Batik fabrics, who provided these beauties. This quilt goes from huge, 16" star points down to 1" so there was a fair amount of handling.

And pretty much zero fraying.

Pasque Star Flimsy

It is done! This is the April challenge for Island Batik, who supplied the fabric, and for AccuQuilt, who supplied the dies and cutting machine.

This was a bit of an ornery quilt. I ripped and re-sewed a lot more than I usually do. I think the orientation of the HSTs churned my menopausal melon into a bit of a watermelon slushy. The quilt also had a bit of an independent streak, and didn't want to stay within the original plan. However, I am not above admitting when the quilt was right and my original design was not, so "Come on in" and see all her triangles and squares oriented correctly.

Cheerio!

Our March challenge as Island Batik ambassadors was to take a vintage quilt or quilt block and reimagine it with a modern flair.

Sparkling and Sparking

I love it when a good title comes to me! I am actually this week focusing on a couple of my Q1FAL projects. This one is long overdue. You've seen some in-progress shots, but I have a flimsy, and that flimsy is actually on the frame now so a finish is imminent. This is 'Sparkle On!'

This is a kit, called Box-a-Lot, that I bought 3+ years ago at Connecting Threads. It's Amanda Jean Nyberg's (Crazy Mom Quilts) fabric, Good Neighbors, and it's so bright and cheery isn't it? That is a link to her last post. She stopped blogging as of December 31, and that post has a Good Neighbors quilt as her final finish! Who knew. I loved her blog, glad she's keeping it available.

Getaway! Island Batik Blog Hop and Giveaways

Who doesn't love to hear that phrase, "Let's get away!" be it January, cold and dark in the northern hemisphere, OR January, summertime in the southern hemisphere, school's out and let's head to a great camping spot or the big city or the ocean...
I try to be all-inclusive, and I have realized especially over the past year, but even years ago when I had a grade 7 student from South Africa (whose mum was my first Yin yoga teacher😊) who spent a month, December/January, in the southern hemisphere summer visiting their family each year, that we northern hemisphere peeps do not recognize our sister/brother southern hemisphere peeps' seasons. So I am right here right now. Sidenote: said grade 7 student is now a doctor, as in M.D.!

And welcome to my spiralling mind! It's how I roll, both on the blog and IRL, (in real life). I always have been like that; menopause exacerbates it, and I sometimes leave my dear husband, aka MacGyver, in the dust with my spiralling and jumping around and assuming he is following my meanderings. Anyhow. Let's focus, shall we?

I am so excited to show you my quilt I designed for this hop! It's the biggest one I've made for Island Batik, measuring 69 X 84". All the fabrics were provided by Island Batik, the batting by Hobbs Batting (I'm using 100% wool, pinch me!), and the threads by Aurifil. I should also tell you that I found out this week that I've been accepted for a second year representing this wonderful company as an ambassador for their fabrics. I just love their fabrics, truly. I've been a batik lover forever, have used them solo, or mixed them in with other cottons. Here is the group I got to work with for the hop. It is called Crystal Ball.