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!

Long days of summer!

The Thriver podcast caught my eye last week with the text  "If you try to do everything all at the same time, all you are doing is setting yourself up for a burn out".  That stuck with me as it resonated a bit with how I'd been feeling this year, with so much going on.  If you haven't listened to Jess Van Den's podcasts on running a creative business before you can find them here.  I like them a lot!

Finally decided on fabric for #RinALong

Didn't like the background fabric so much after the cutting...

Turned it over and prefer the less contrasty back!  This is as far as I have gotten...

So what have I been trying to do all at the same time?

I haven't been able to keep up with my once to twice weekly blog updates and that's ok.  I've not been able to join in some of my favourite blogs Quilt-A-Longs or have fallen behind very quickly to those I have started.  That's not OK but I am forgiving myself for it.

I fell behind and caught up with Bee blocks - so all good there!

I don't normally press seams open but that's what was requested - these pins helped with the points.

Reading lots of blog posts but struggling to leave comments from my phone.  Not good.  Upgraded the computer so can do better on that front!  Managed to get everything done for the quilt exhibitions I had committed to.  Would pat myself on the back but self praise is no praise as I went and misplaced my SD card, with all the exhibition photos on it and turned the house upside down looking for it - found it this morning next to the alarm clock(?) So I will have lots to share with you over the next few weeks!

Finished up on one branch committee - another year and a bit to go on the second!  Working on a new membership website for the group and also finally getting a website ready for myself - more on that later!

Wrote up Kenny the Koala in 2 sizes and he is with very generous pattern testers at the moment - watch this space for the pattern release!

Swirly quilting to look a bit like fur - asked for help on IG for the background and settled on hearts.

Couldn't resist adding daisies to his bow tie - he is a very cheerful Koala after all!

Even took a break to paint some garden furniture in the evenings after work when we had glorious sunshine.  Back to it's rainy normal self now that the Tennis is about to start in Wimbledon...

Before

After!

Bought new rugs (finally found nice ones that can be washed - needed on account of the puppy who is now 1 year old.  Basset Hounds are hard to train but we are pretty much there now barring any mishaps where we don't take her out in time!)  Picked out wall paper for one wall in the box room and am working on convincing Gordon we could do with some in the front section of the hall!

Basset Hound pincushion I got from Maya on a swap last year!

Was asked to submit an idea for a class and came up with two and a third floating around my head!  Prepared and did a demo for a session at the River of Dreams quilt exhibition, on Quilt-As-You-Go techniques.  That was lots of fun though I got stuck in traffic, as they had closed the road by the Shannon river, to unveil a bronze statue of Terry Wogan, which people are comparing to the Ronaldo statue (not good!).  I just arrived at 1pm on the dot and rushed like a madwoman to get started.  (Thanks to Suzanne and her family for giving me a hand with the stuff from the car).

String blocks using wadding as a base instead of paper.

Joined with skinny strips!

Spent more time with mum wandering the shops on errands but ended up buying way more than I should have (this rug for starters)!  Finally rejoined the library and have been having fun reading and learning and reading some more.

Maybe its the summer sun and really long days (bright before 4 and light in the sky still at 11!) but that sense of urgency and stress I felt a few months ago has lessened and I am forgiving myself for what's not done yet.  After all once the day job is done, it's my time and I get to spend it on myself every now and again and on the dogs... and mum... and on Gordon...and on cleaning the house...eventually!

For now though I have found all of my photos and will crack on with processing them to share!  After that who knows?  I have lots of ideas so I might just start another quilt... or read a book!  Hope you guys are having fun with the extra hours of daylight and chilling out though the long lazy summer days! 

WIP Wednesday!

So the design wall is still decidedly frosty this week!  I'm getting there with my Snowflake Shimmer that I've been making for Yvonne's free Quilt-A-Long. 

For some reason I didn't expect it to be as big as it is (the bottom row won't fit on the design wall it's that big!)  I have the bottom half pieced and hope to get the remaining rows finished tonight but haven't decided yet how to quilt it. 

Yvonne gave us a nice template to trace with a lovely swirly texture as a result.  Those diamonds though are calling out to me for some reason so we will see, after it's basted.  I'm thinking of a pieced backing with some Christmas fabrics I haven't yet used though I do have a bolt of Ikea Britten Nummer on hand so may just use that instead.  Decisions, decisions!

Speaking of which, our Modern Irish Bee round robin is still going strong.  It's getting close to finished now but the backlog we had at the start is now back with me again and I have 3 of these beauties waiting for the next round.  Hopefully I'll have Erin's teal and pink one done at the end of next week for Mary!

Remember this bear quilt I thought I'd make with a feature panel rather than bear paw blocks? (free quilt a long over at Sew Fresh Quilts)

Well I popped out to the Limerick Quilt Centre on Saturday morning for some blues and browns and came away with greys and blacks!

Karen kindly let me have a rummage through some new bolts just arrived in and my original plan went right out the window when I saw these fabrics (Heartwood by Makower).  Proving to Gordon that blue and brown are a classic colour combo has been trumped by the desire to  make him a manly quilt with a grey and black bear against a background of trees! 

I did manage to pick up this gorgeous feature print from the range for myself at the same time.  So pretty, I think this needs to be made into cushions - I would love to be able to afford this fabric for curtins!

On the way out the door, I succumbed to this new Moda range with matching panel!  It's the bear that did it for me and I am considering using some of this for the back of Gordon's bear quilt but suspect it might just be too nice to have on the rear!  Time will tell!

Linking up to Quilting Jet Girl and Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts!

WIP Wednesday: Can’t seem to make my mind up!

I don’t know what it is about the middle of the summer. This time every year, the desire to sew goes on the back burner and instead my eye turns to the house painting and decorating. Maybe its the long days in the summer when its bright at 4am and still bright at 10.30pm that means I’m looking at more of the house or the same bit for longer! Last year was the same, I got stuck in with painting stained wood Jasmine white in an effort to brighten up the kitchen. This year the living room and hall are getting an update and I only realised after getting half the hall done that the colours I’ve chosen are remarkably similar to my fabric pull for Yvonnes’s Snowflake Shimmer QAL! I’m decorating the house to suit my quilt!

In the end I picked a grey with blue and white (Kona’s Shadow, Lake and bright White) but my inspiration image is really close to the Natural Harvest, Pale Peacock and Warm White I've been putting on the walls!  Isn't it funny how the brain works?

It’s been slow going as I am managing a disk in my back but I’m getting there. Trying to remove flaking paint meant taking off a whole strip of paint right back to the grey base plaster so I ended up stripping down one whole wall! Won’t be doing that again!!!

At first I thought the Natural Harvest colour was a little bit boring and not too different from the pale gold colour in our living room but with the addition of the blue it feels fresh and a nice bit brighter! It’s a work in progress (houses always are I think!) but this week coming is a long weekend with Monday off so fingers crossed it gets all done and dusted. 

I’m also distracted by the new puppy at every opportunity! It amaze me how uncomfortable they can look while sleeping - she snores and it's really cute!  We have her bed in the crate so she can get used to it as a safe place.  It is too big for her for toilet training but we are trying to get her used to it as this is what we have in the car for the dogs when we are traveling.  So hopefully she'll be happy to go in and out of it - so far so good.  I keep throwing her toys in and have fed her in there too so I think she's happy out!

I did manage to get my 80” x 80” Rainbow Rose pieced and laid out on the floor for a photo. My back isn’t quite up to basting it yet so my link up to the Rainbow Rose QAL is a finished flimsy!

 

In writing the posts for the Modern Quilters Ireland group I had a clear idea of what I wanted to include about the colour wheel and the instructions to make it but have not had a clue how to quilt it. It has been brilliant to see how those making the baby version have quilted theirs so I can get some ideas! I am half tempted to hand quilt it and did buy a bundle of rainbow colours of perle cotton on Massdrop. I haven’t hand quilted a quilt yet only added a few embellishments and this could be a fun one to try over the summer!

The other thing I haven’t decided on yet is to add the applique or not – I just can’t seem to make my mind up on it! I keep going back and forth between images and think I have it sorted only to change my mind again! Oh well there is no rush now so maybe I’ll let it stew in my brain for a bit!

Lastly joining in on Cheryls Meadow Mystery QAL I’m still picking my quilt colours. I think I have it down togrey and white for the background and either light, medium and dark toned reds or a buttery yellow, sky blue and pinky coral colour.

I just can’t seem to make my mind up these days at all, at all…

WIP Wednesday - the slow progress one!

We're still decorating the kitchen- turns out painting white over stained wood panelling takes a few coats, even with paint that has a primer included. 

Wood panelling at back that eats paint!

2 coats in, lots brighter but still not done!

I'm on the 3rd coat at the moment and it takes 6hrs between them so a little bit every day is slooooow progress.  Decorating is not like quilting where every stage is very satsifying.

From piecing a block to making a quilt top, basting the layers together, adding the quilting and the very last stitch in the binding - all the steps that make you feel good and productive.  Painting is more like knitting!  The sense of accomplishment comes at the end and in between is the bit that's done and the bit that's not done!

While the kitchen is topsy turvy, I've been knitting a few rows waiting for the paint to dry.  Funny how the hands want to be doing something crafty.  Projects I started ages ago but had left lying around, have finally had a bit of attention and while I am nowhere near finished any of these, I am making progress, slowly, kind of like the painting!

I managed a few more inches on the blue, 7 repeats of the lace pattern on the red and started a whole new project.

I love Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran and working with 6.5mm needles is making this one go fast!  Still, I hope to have the panelling finished by Friday and then onto the walls.

2 coats of Jasmine white and the brown is still showing through!

I'm loving the pale peacock colour but we've all agreed the Georgian cream goes better with our spray painted chairs & mosaic tiles.  Apple green is having a holiday for a while.  Don't worry I'll find a way to get that pale peacock in the kitchen somewhere!  Maybe Wilbur and Charly would like a new peacock coloured dog bowl?