Middle of winter weather...

... out there today, not very nice: Grey, persistent rain, cold - simply brrrr! However, it helped me make  a bit more progress against my goals from the last post:

Finish quilting Aotearoa from #scrappyappliquequiltalong - done :) I have even cut and pressed the binding (TG for an ancient random ombre green 1/2 metre in my stash), also ironed on some leftover collage pieces for the label. I will have to make a hanging sleeve, too - any favourite tutorials to recommend?

Last weekend - almost done

Today: Quilted & trimmed

Far North of New Zealand = home 

Yummy texture on aqua batik background

Finish piecing the remaining 4 blocks for #patchworkcity2018 - I came across a slight hiccup; since my machine came back from the service, I get random occasions of the machine turning off and on, like a mini power cut. I have the funny feeling it's pedal related, as it seems to happen when I deliberately push the pedal all the way down. I finally have to get in touch with the technician next week. This is the reason why I gave up today after just one of the three blocks that combine to a larger block:

Once Aotearoa is quilted, get back to quilting Metro Rings; well, that didn't quite go to plan. Karin from The Quilt Yarn has experimented with various rulers on her HQ Sweet Sixteen and recently invested in the Sure Foot. I am still waiting to hear back from the shop where I purchased my machine if they can supply the Sure Foot. So in the meantime I turned to my Vintage Quilt Revival top - remember that?

At approx. 108" x 93" too large to photograph in full

A generous stipple under way

After close to 2 years of procrastinating I decided that I would simply have to get it done. While the idea of custom quilting had crossed my mind, I would taken another 5 years to get this done, and similarly if I wanted to save up the money to get it done by a professional quilter. Despite its humangous size, my S16 setup makes it possible, so far I have approx. 6 of 42 blocks done. This quilt might even end up on my bed by the end of the year?

Plug away at blocks for Rainbow at Sea - and I have!

All five sets of this block have been pieced

I LOVE how the colours move across the top

The next set, six blocks, will mark the half-way point. Still a long way to go, but I still LOVE it, so it will get done eventually.

New goals:

• Bind, label & add hanging sleeve on Aotearoa (luckily I have my Singer 201K to do this if necessary)
• Quilt VQR on S16, and
• Continue quilting Metro Rings on S16 (I made sure I picked the same threads for both quilts - no excuse not to work on both :D)
• Prepare the next set of Rainbow at Sea blocks
• Continue on #Patchworkcity2018 blocks when my Pfaff has recovered

I also need to make a decision on that baby quilt I want to have ready before November.

Happy Sewing!

The time of year...

It's the time of year where it's just work-work-work... With our system of 10 weeks teaching, 2 weeks break you wouldn't think that one can get so bogged down but somehow it happens every year. Luckily I have been able to make space for a little play, too - and TG for our family holiday in the Islands, that was long overdue!

My goals from 3 June were:

Finish #scrappyappliquequiltalong (quilt, bind, hanging sleeve)

Piece more #patchworkcity2018 bonus blocks

Continue piecing Rainbow at Sea quilt

Continue quilting Metro Rings quilt

... and there is not that much to show for - oops!

Scrappy Applique Quilt Along

Yes, still quilting this - or more truthfully I finally started back on it yesterday... Though I made a discovery regarding my HQ Sweet Sixteen: I though I had been oiling it regularly, but the machine started to feel rather rusty and noisy lately. Eventually I realised that not much oil had been coming out of the oil bottle at all which I have now rectified - and the machine just nicely purrs along again...

I'm definitely over the half-way mark for the background now,
so it's just a matter of plodding along and getting it done...

Patchwork City blocks

Early June I had 20 blocks, now there are 26, that's more progress than I had thought 😌

Block 18

Bonus Block 4 - I really like this one, esp. bottom left

Bonus Block 5

Bonus Block 6

Bonus Block 7 - one of those 'not perfect, but done' blocks...

Bonus Block 8 - River Path in mirror edge to the original design as I used fpp

I did a mock up of the layout a few weeks back to see where I was at;
I have made a few changes since and will post another picture when I get good light
(it's winter here in New Zealand...)

So overall this one is probably fine as far as progress goes. 4 more blocks to go, and as poor Joe Madl (@manhandledthreads) has been out of commission after an accident, they will probably all be 'bonus blocks' = blocks I choose. I brought up the idea of ghost blocks in a conversation with DH but he wasn't too thrilled 😂 so they will be pieced.

Sadly there has been no progress on Rainbow at Sea or Metro Rings but with a little luck I might get to play with the Rainbow blocks today; I laid the completed blocks out last night, and the swerving rainbow colours just make my heart sing.

Rather than IG rabbit holes, I fell into a couple of FB ones

Members of the BMQG regularly create community quilts and collaborative projects. Here are a few blocks that have been sent off to Queensland:

Butterfly girl in cast - the crazy things my brain makes me do when I run out of peach 😂

After Suzanne (@suzjob1) asked me why I hadn't simply given Butterfly girls socks,
I had to make a Pippy Longstocking, the heroine of my childhood 😍

Crumb circles, using the scraps I have left after cutting my 'scraps' into more usable sizes

There are so many things I would like to make and never enough time.... I just have to be realistic I suppose. I have a very cool job which takes up a lot of my time because I am adamant that I will do it extremely well (ok, some days is more like good enough really). My family are very important, and after our recent holiday the two teenagers still at home are keen to spend more quality time with us.

So next on the horizon are, for the month of August:

• Finish quilting Aotearoa from #scrappyappliquequiltalong
• Finish piecing the remaining 4 blocks for #patchworkcity2018
• Once Aotearoa is quilted, get back to quilting Metro Rings
• Plug away at blocks for Rainbow at Sea

I have a few other things that I could easily add to the above:

• Baby quilt for a colleague due in November
• Sandwich and then quilt an all-over (probably stipple) over Vintage Quilt Revival
• Cut more scraps and continue piecing blocks for the Scraptherapy inspired Irish Chain top - I suppose that could be a sort of leaders & enders project? How do people do these (I might have to do some research)?
• I have also signed up to the MQG 2020 Me+You Indah Batik Fabric Challenge - no idea what is involved with this but no doubt it will be fun

I'm leaving you with a few snaps from our Rarotonga holiday - bound to get back there in the future :)

Happy Sewing!

Two of our teenagers at the beach - yes, they did swim :)

View at lunchtime...

Sunset

     

The three boys I travelled with (our oldest son was in Sweden at that time)