WIP Wednesday - Still lots going on!

Keeping up a blog relies as much on habit as it does on making things to show but sometimes, the time it takes to write up a blog post, is lost to fun things like visiting family home for a month, secret sewing projects for new classes & workshops, designs for publication and guild work and the not so fun things like cleaning the house, reactions to the flu jab and ironing the clothes!

Having said all that, I feel the pull to the blog very strongly every now and again as the act of writing about WIP's and design ideas, things I've explored or learned and the desire to express that, gives me a sense of satisfaction and joy in sharing.  And there has been lots going on!

As Chairperson for the Irish Patchwork Society (IPS), there was the AGM where afterwards the guest speaker was Janice Gunner from the British Guild of Quilters.   We learned all about the different Japanese textiles made from Shibori techniques and got to see samples Janice had created (images above).  If anyone has or knows of some good books on Quilt History and Textiles I would be really interested in learning more - so far I have found very little in depth books that you could settle in by the fire and a strong cuppa tea and spend an hour or two devouring so suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

There are a pile of quilt tops and WIP's ready to be worked on, a new website for the IPS with lots of members only content planned and in progress, 4 new designs in various stages which will need pattern testing at some point and a pile of fabric waiting for cutting!

In the midst of writing about log cabins for the new IPS website I created these illustrations to show improv log cabins and now want to drop everything and make them so last weekend I uploaded the images to Playcrafts palette builder and bought a bucket load of solids from the Limerick Quilt Centre.  Thinking of a one block quilt in green for our brown leather sofa!  Nice and bright for the winter - should be cheery!

Another idea that came from the Elements of a Modern Quilt Class I am preparing for the IPS next March is this Triangle play quilt.  Really like the orange and blue with Kona Coal on this one so bought the fabric for that too, this time from Plush addict!

I had been without my large sewing machine for 3 months too as it was getting repaired - remember the bother I had with it for North South East & West?  Well turns out there was a teeny tiny spring gone in the bottom and we think that may have been catching the thread as I moved my hands in the 10 O'Clock position!

Lastly I have had this quilt on the design wall since August when we had to say goodbye to Wilbur and I just didn't feel like getting on with it.  Time is right now so I have two versions of Home is Where the Dog Is on the go.  I pieced in a day this minimalist one inspired by Wilbur's Kennel!  A finished Quilt top feels like progress.  Now to get on with the quilting!  I'm hoping to quilt the text in relief with straight line quilting around the shapes!

So much more to do....stay tuned...giveaway coming up this month too!

Linking up to Let's Bee Social, Needle and Thread Thursday and the Friday Finishes!

Design Wall Monday–Making progress

So the design wall looks like this today! I’m finally cracking on with the border from Quilter's Cache for my turn in our Round Robin for Modern Irish Bee. This is Erin’s quilt and it has been in my possession far longer that it should. Paper Piecing this border is going a lot slower than I thought it would!

I do like the dark and light grey colour combo – it is a bit stark! I think it gives Mary an opportunity to go wild with colour on the next round – what do you guys think? Scale wise it might be a wee bit big! The pieces are 3 1/2” unfinished and to make one diagonal set you have 4 squares made up of HST so end up piecing 8 sections for every 6” of border. I probably should have thought of that before getting stuck in but I’ve started so I’ll finish….. might be a while!

In other news a new home store opened up in Limerick and I splurged on this plastic storage for my fabric. I spent all Saturday evening tidying up and sorting fabric by colour and it seems even with the new tower, every thing's full up and I don’t have any extra space! How that happened it beyond me but the place does seem a little tidier!

I did manage to catch up with overdue items. Stash Bee blocks completed!

Another tick off the to do list:  Fabric choice made for Cheryl’s mystery QAL over at Meadow Mist Designs! 

 

I went with the more coloured version for my fabric pull in the end and Cheryl assures me solids will work so here is Kona White+Silver for the backgrounds and Lake, Melon and I think Buttercup for the piecing. For some reason this reminds me of Neapolitan Ice-cream!

All cut up and ready to go!

Lastly I got my Snowflake Shimmer QAL cut up too!

Using more solids, again Kona White and Lake but this time with Kona Shadow for the background. Hoping to piece the square in a square units in between paper piecing diagonals! Not sure I can make it in time for the link up at Yvonne's @Quilting Jet Girl but I'm going to try! It’s going to be a busy week in the sewing room this week. How about you? What are you guys up to?