FAL Q3 In Review and Whats up Next.

I'm time poor at the moment so I'm rolling my review for Quarter 3 and goals for Quarter 4 into one post because I'm nothing if not practical.(and considerate - this means you only have to read one post and I've even chucked in a bit of a fairy tale at the end which addresses the mythical finishes I'm hoping to achieve by the end of the next quarter) 

Frankly, I'm kind of horrified that it's October already. Before any of us know it we'll be butt deep in the C word that I can't bring myself to say just yet. (a hint just in case you think I was using thinly veiled profanity: present shopping , and the imminent arrival of fat guy in a red suit) Anyone who actually uses the C word out loud before November 1st should be publicly flogged in the town square as a deterrent to others who may be trying to get into the C*******s spirit way too early.

My performance on the "getting my goals completed" this quarter was somewhat dismal. It's not that I didn't sew - I did - a lot. Just not on very much that I had actually originally planned to finish. I was seriously affected by "Oh Shiny! " syndrome and kept allowing myself to be distracted by just about anything else that popped into my mind.

Finishes first ( don't blink or you'll miss it )

My Seville Quilt (featured on the Aurifil Facebook Page and pinned on Pinterest - too bloody right I'm being a big head about that) a vision of loveliness and my first ever meandering attempt. I've spent every night since I finished this snuggled up under it. Definitely in the running for my favourite quilt of 2014.

Re-do Cushion Cover- finished at practically the 11th hour but finished none the less!

Partial wins but no cigar 

Moroccan Tile Quilt- all the blocks are kind of ,sort of together but I ran into a wee snag with sewing the rows together ...so I'm taking my time and not rushing it. Like fine wine, this quilt will get better with age. I really like it so I want to do it properly so I can look at it in later years and still marvel that " I did that"

Abject Fails
Holiday Happy quilt - enough said. Didn't even take it out of the box!

Other stuff I got distracted by that unfortunately wasn't on the list.

Joseph's Quilt of Many Colours , Picnic Parade Donation Quilt, Irish Chain Donation Quilt, Postage Stamp Donation Quilt and Lee-anne's Baby quilt. 

Fairy Tales for Q4:

Moroccan tile quilt- I will vanquish curves and sew them in the right places to the rectangle blocks ! (not a full inch below where they are supposed to line up) 

Holiday Happy-I swear I'm going to finish it even if I get nothing else done. I hate working with black fabric and from memory that's where I last touched this poor neglected quilt two years ago....(or more - its been so long I can't recall) 

And my new project for this quarter - The Charming Stars quilt. I've had this on my list to do for about three years  and its time it was off the list and translated into reality. Fabrics picked and ready to go! 

Thats it for me...Three at this time of year is well and truly enough! If you want to see all the other very clever people and their goals for the last quarter of 2014 you can have a squizz here.

Frenzy

My days off this past week have been filled with pleasant stuff, faffing about and doing pretty much exactly what I felt like. That included a lot of sewing, minor amounts of housework, limited cooking and a fair bit of sleeping. I had one day in my pyjamas and forced myself to get dressed in actual clothes the rest of the time. I swear if I didn't ever have to go to work, pyjamas would be my uniform. 

During my week off, my grand sewing plans mostly came to fruition, and I even managed to squish in a shopping trip for fabric, dragging Patty Pie (Mother of Pyjamas) along for the ride.  It took 3 shops to get everything I needed, but I'm all set for another three quilts to be started (and finished-fingers crossed). I've left out the boring white fabric I bought and well as a ton of batting, which is currently residing on the sewing room floor being used by Lola as an impromptu dog bed. Miss Lola is such an opportunist.

My rather eclectic and out of character purchases 

I started and finished a simple baby blanket/play mat /change mat on Monday. I think I've nailed this FM meandering gig and need to move on to something else. One side is for a girl and one side is for a boy because I don't know what kind of baby its going to be, as the parents have chosen to be surprised. I'm assuming they have had an ultrasound and already know they aren't having twins because that'd be one heck of a surprise and I've only made one quilt.

My second Irish Chain quilt is done and ready to be donated to the Mary Potter Foundation. Quilted in a simple diagonal serpentine stitch in wonderful 50 weight Aurifil thread. I've started using Aurifil for piecing as well not just quilting because yes - it just rocks that much.  As an aside , having now made two Irish Chain quilts in a row , I am so over them that I'm ready to move onto something completely different. I see curves in my future. And swearing and tantrums due to the curves. 

I've made progress on a third donation quilt as well. The postage stamp sized bits were driving me slightly batty but I finally have enough cut and sewed to the point where I can sew them into 16 patches. Once this quilt is finished I'm going to give donation quilting a rest for a bit and concentrate on some of the projects on my FAL list for the last quarter (my efforts on that list for this quarter have been seriously abysmal)

Lucy Boston has been stuffed in a bag and I'm now working on Miss Elizabeth instead from a pattern by Cherry Pie Designs that I saw at the Quilt Show in Melbourne in April and immediately fell in love with. Progress has been made cutting a bajillion hexies and honeycombs. Mental note to self: When glue basting these suckers don't forget all the rude things everyone said last time they had to help you unpick the paper bits from the hexies.You probably don't need to glue everything to within an inch of its life. I'm feeling more optimistic about this project, although I'm sure it wont be finished until sometime in 2016. That's OK -hand sewing is all about slow going in my book. Its the journey - not the destination. 

And this morning I sucked it up and cut out all the bits for the Moroccan tile quilt that is meant to be finished by the end of September and I'm delusional optimistic enough to still think I can pull that off. 

This is where I left things before calling it a day. 

I'll leave you with some gratuitous food shots...I made up for my lack of cooking this week by pulling my finger out and hand making pot stickers from scratch for dinner tonight with a honey ginger sauce. My confidence took a battering the first time I made these which was some time last year I think. The hot sauce was so f****** hot even Mr. P had tears streaming down his face. His power of speech was affected for about two hours after dinner, or perhaps that's because he couldn't think of anything nice to say about them?  I gave up and ate a sandwich and have been too chicken to make them again up until now. New recipe- much better result! 

And for dessert we had chocolate cupcakes with mint cream cheese frosting dipped in chocolate. You can never have enough chocolate.....

And while I'm on a sugar theme- this should send you into overload. I received a care parcel this week from Little Miss Sunshine which contained all the Halloween Candy I never had as a child in one box. For my Northern Hemisphere friends- don't bother looking for any Halloween Candy in your neck of the woods- I have the worlds supply at my house. I'm kind of hoping we get some Trick or Treaters this year because I will have the best supply of candy in Australia to give them. I'm pretty sure it will make me a neighbourhood legend. 

I'm back at work tomorrow but I'm determined to finish that Moroccan tile quilt under my self imposed deadline so it looks like its going to be a busy week. Enjoys yours. May it bring sunshine and good things. 

FAL -Quarter 3 Wish List

I've been working my way through my WIP list this year. I think I've whinged about not starting anything new for so long that there isn't a person left in the whole of blogland that doesn't know that. I started the year with 9 unfinished quilt projects and I've managed to whittle it down to just two. I'm feeling very virtuous and organised but oh so bored with the same old, same old. But the finish line of wipdom is in sight so my list this quarter is going to be short and sweet. 

1.Seville Quilt 

This vision of gorgeousness didn't quite get finished last quarter so I'm putting it on the list for a Q3 finish. Easy enough to do since I'm half way through finishing the binding. It almost feels like cheating putting it down as a goal, but meh ...I'm doing it anyway. 

2.Holiday Happy Quilt

Does anyone even remember this quilt? I started it at least two years ago and it's been sitting waiting in a box to be finished ever since my initial excitement. I bought it as a kit because I wanted something I could use during the Christmas holidays and every traditional Christmas quilt I've ever attempted has turned into a hot mess. To be honest - I think I hate this too. Maybe I'm just a Grinch when it comes to Christmas? But finished it will be - and if I still hate it - I can donate it or give it away to someone.

3.Moroccan Tile Quilt

I've got as far as cutting the first block. That makes this an official project under Katy's rules. I'm really looking forward to working on this quilt - I fell in love when I saw the pattern for the first time and didn't think twice about buying it. Let's hope I keep loving it as I work through the pattern! Yes- I'm using an actual pattern which in itself is fraught with danger since they always seem to be written in Chinese. 

4. Cushion Cover

I rescued this from my parents garage sale a month ago. Originally it looked like this...

and now it looks like this (actually it looks cleaner than that - I washed it after I took the photo) 

 I have no idea what I'm going to do with it (applique peels,flowers,bunting  ..hell I don't know!)  but it's going to be a finish by the end of the quarter.

That's it - that's all I'm committing to until the end of September. But I have lots of ideas for other quilts germinating away in my brain and who knows - maybe I'll even manage to make a start on one or two others, that can appear on my FAL Q4 list. 

I started my Lucy Boston quilt last weekend but honestly I think that's going to be a long long long term project . Going by the length of time it took to finish my previous hand sewn projects  -I'm predicting Lucy Boston will appear on my list of 2016 finishes.

If you want to play along pop on over to the official FAL post at Katy's by hitting this link.