Finished !

Once upon a time (around about the same time as the invention of the wheel) I saw a clamshell quilt and decided that I was filing that idea away for future reference. 

From time to time I came back to the idea and then shoved it straight back into the "too hard" basket. All that cutting - all that basting - all that appliqueing and all that quilting  just put me right off. Yep- basically I'm lazy. I knew I'd get about 10% of the way in and end up with a UFO on my hands that I'd probably be finishing in the nursing home.

Solution- a mini quilt -which would give me a chance to see if I liked the process enough to do a full sized quilt ( at some point in the distant future-have you seen how many other projects I have on the go at the moment?)  and would have the added bonus of yielding something pretty to put on my sewing room wall. In my infinite wisdom I decided this would be my first hand quilting project too.

It's done - I'm happy. But this is going to be an only child! 

Slowly but Surely ....

2013 will go down as the year that felt like creative groundhog day. Since I last bitched and whined showcased my creative efforts I've been moving along one very small step at a time on a number of projects. The theory is that at some point I'll have a plethora of finishes to show. Goodness knows there's enough WIP's lurking round here to sink a battleship.  

Since I last showed you the chaotic creativity that was happening at Maison Pyjamas I've moved along a little bit on a few things and this post is mainly a motivational record!

I've put together half the hexagon flower quilt top and made the binding 

I've been playing with 16 patches from my scraps for a postage stamp style quilt. This is far from finished because I need another 78 of these to actually finish a decent sized quilt top. Unfortunately all the scrap busting I've been doing lately doesn't seem to have made a discernible dent in my scrap bin. Do those suckers breed in there or something? 

I finished the last two rows on Mr. P's T-shirt quilt and then whacked it together into a top. Just showing you a sneak peek today so I can do a big reveal when it's done and amaze you all with my brilliance. The back is done and I'm at the quilting end of the process. I'm aiming for that to be done today. I've got the cutest binding in mind and cant wait to see it on the quilt. 

I finished the clamshell mini top and I'm hand quilting it with perle thread . My hand quilting skills need a ton of refinement but it's all part of the learning experience. I'm going for finished not perfect . The best part is that this has completely knocked the will out of me to ever make a large clamshell quilt. 

And I've been basting and appliqueing peels for the Seville quilt. If this doesn't come together like I've been imagining I'm going to shoot myself. 

There's a wild rumour running round Adelaide that my Irish Chain Quilt may just sneak in under the wire for an actual September finish ...stay tuned. 

I'm Still Here - Just Distracted

I've given up trying to have any order or method to my creativity the last couple of weeks. My mojo is well and truly all over the place. I'm either going hell for leather or being a total couch potato. I'm just rolling with the punches. 

Last Saturday Val and Claire showed me how to use freezer paper to make perfect applique shapes (amongst eye rolling at how difficult I managed to make it look- I can't help it if my fine motor skills are crap) and my Seville Quilt was born. (Cleverly named because these bits are orange peels and Seville is a type of orange- I really wanted to use Clementine but someone already had that idea) 

1 down - 143 to go 

I've been intermittently working on Mr. P's T-shirt quilt since I last popped in. Let me tell you that T-shirts are a bit of a bitch to work with even when you use interfacing as a stabiliser. However,progress has been made and here's a sneak upside down peek. (I was too lazy to take this off, turn it around and take the photo so please stand on your head to view it) 

For the longest time I've wanted to make a clamshell quilt but it all seemed a bit hard until I saw this blog post with a different (read infinitely easier) way to make clamshells. I've decided to do a mini for my sewing room wall just so I can say I've made a clamshell quilt and knock the urge out of my system once and for all. 

I've given up on trying to knit the infinity scarf because it seems to be taking an infinity to finish it . Ironic huh? And that applecore pincushion may end up an ancestral sewing project that gets passed down to the next generation to finish in my will too. 

I had a busy social weekend last weekend so I'm looking forward to a quiet one this weekend filled with lots of lovely sewing. I really need to take stock of what's going on over on my WIP list. I hope your weekend is full of lovely things that rock your socks off.