Quilt-Fest 2010

As you know, Quilt-Fest 2010 officially  started at Maison Pyjamas last Sunday. The idea was to get heaps of sewing done and knock off some of the WIP's that were weighing heavily on my conscience.  Honestly though , the week  was less a festival of quilting and more of a dream-a-thon of future projects and bellybutton gazing.  I swear I have the attention span of a goldfish.

One of my goals for the week  was to finish all the  snowball blocks for the Snowball Quiltalong  and to trim up anything that didn't look square. Which turned out to be every single block I made.  I accepted my unsquare lot in life and did some canoodling with Mr. Rotary Cutter.  By the end of the week I had a box of blocks. One goal achieved. But one seems to be missing and I need it. If you have a 5 inch square of hushabye lurking round could you please send it to me or my quilt will have to be 12 x 13 squares instead of 12 x 14 squares which is probably bad luck or something.

I made a fabric choice for my Christmas coin quilt. As much as I love the ho ho ho fabric , (mainly because it sounds a little like a swear word  every time I say it)  I decided this quilt  really deserves red to make the other colours sparkle. At Spotlight,  Polka Dots  screamed "Take Me Home". So I did. I never ignore fabric when it speaks to me. 

I'm 5 String blocks closer to finishing Indy and Lola's quilt.

I got sidetracked by the thought of Christmas  and started some ornaments this week . Yep that was as far as I got. There's plenty of time until the Large Red Dude arrives.

And I made 3 sets of  pot holders, inspired by P over at The Way I Sew It. Finishing those potholders was my major achievement for the week. These were made with the flip and turn method because binding is not really my buddy.  I had visions of opening a  pot holder shop and becoming internationally famous while I sewed these.

So while I didn't set the world on fire this week, I did manage to get enough done that I didn't feel like my WIP's are taking over my life.

P.S. I taught myself this week how to make a blog button. It took hours. I didn't use one swear word. I wasn't driven to drink during the process, although I did eat some BBQ chips.   I did most of  it on my own (with finishing touches from Elizabeth because  I failed html at school  -Thanks E! ) and  I feel so techno-geeky! Check it out in my sidebar. Steal it if you want. It's not really stealing because I said you could....

This is Not a Kitchen Post

Wow I've missed you guys. I'm studiously avoiding a kitchen renovation post. I'm bored with it , so I imagine you are too. For those of you that are hanging out wondering if I've totally lost my marbles there will be a post sometime this week because tomorrow is D-Day. If anyone is taking bets on whether I'm going to completely drop my bundle before this is done let me know. I'll take that bet.

There hasn't been a lot of sewing going on round here lately because I haven't been able to move in my sewing room  the last two weeks. It's hard to feel creatively inspired when your space is filled with kitchen boxes and crap on every available surface. However, all work and no sewing makes Mrs. P a cranky pants, so this weekend I was determined to sew something, even if I did have to fit myself into a tiny space to do it-I think the yoga class I went to once in 1989 really helped me to contort myself into the 18 x 18 square inches of  available space in my sewing room.

As much as I wanted to start something new, I have WIP's coming out my  wazoo  so it was time to get cracking on existing projects that are sitting here mocking me. It really upsets my Virgo  to have multiple unfinished things laying round.  At last count I had 8 quilting WIP's on the go, including the HST quilt I started in January !  I appear to have a bad case of start-itis.

I did some more snowball blocks for my quiltalong. I'm hoping to get all those blocks finished  off this week (12 blocks  to go...whooooooooo hoooooo)  I worked out I've cut 672 of those little 2 inch blocks and that this quilt has something like 840 individual pieces. I've enjoyed the process...so much so that I'm contemplating doing  a Christmas quilt in snowball blocks once I've cleared some of the other UFO's  hanging round. 

I basted and quilted my Spread the Cheer Quilt. I discovered the new tile floors rock for basting. Then I made binding and stitched that on. I know I mention this every single time I finish a quilt - but I really hate binding. One quilting WIP done- 7 to go.

I did some string blocks for a quilt I'm making for Indy and Lola.  10 blocks down, 62 to go. I really like projects that you can do a little bit at a time like this one when you have 30 minutes to spare, and these go together relatively quickly and use scraps.

And I auditioned sashing choices for my Christmas coin quilt. One of these or something in red?

I have this week off from work, and I'm going to be stuck at home with contractors, installers and delivery people so I have a plan to make this week Quilt-fest 2010! Stay tuned. Maybe I'll even get a couple more WIP's knocked off.

P.S. I found my camera in my undie drawer. Nothing is where it should be at the moment. And I found a knife and some cake on my computer desk this morning. Yay! I got to have cake for breakfast. I think that's what the cake fairies had in mind.

Snowball Night -Week 8

It's Week 8 of the Snowball Quilt-along and I really wanted to show off what this quilt might look like when it's all put together so I actually cleaned my sewing room over the weekend. And then ran out of time to lay the blocks out. This is not poor time management on my part - but rather a complete lack of free time this week. And probably next week...and the week after. I suspect my sewing time is on hold for the next few weeks, until the room that must not be named is finished.

So I started the week with 59 blocks  left to do. And after a monumental effort for the week I came up with this...

Yep - one block. And that was only because I raced home from my brother in laws birthday 10 minutes ago and banged this up, specifically so I would have something to post.

 

I figure by this time next week, if I can even find the sewing room around all the boxes it'll be a miracle.  

Snowball Quilt Along - Week 5

Just call me Your Royal Slackness......

After my snowball frenzy of last week, this week all I managed was to  square up about 15  of the snowballs I made last week. And eat a bag of snowballs in the process. Marshmallow snowballs....not fabric snowballs.

I feel I should make excuses for under-performing but isn't that the beauty of this quilt along...no guilt? Do what you can- when you can. So I'm not going  blather on about my long work hours, having no ceiling and spending time with my sister. My sewing machine has been totally neglected this week aside from one small project I started.

I'll see you all next week (hopefully with some actual progress!) . I'm off to give my sewing machine some attention.

Snowball Progress -Week 4

I can't believe it's week 4 already! This week even with the arrival of my sister , my way over the top shopping expedition and the ongoing kerfuffle with the renovation, I managed to get some snowball heaven happening.
 

I have to say I really get in the zone when I'm making these...it's almost hypnotic. Karen's tip about not cutting the thread after each snowball is sewn on , is actually awesome. Yes- I admit I was a doubting Thomas at  first but you can call me Miss Converted. It really does save time. It cracks me up that it takes longer to press them all nicely than it does to sew them. Wayyyyyyyyyyy longer.

So 168 blocks total...48 already done. This weeks tally ...

46 Snowballs. Ta Dah! (Yes, I'm  showing  off- but not too much because I haven't squared any of this lot up yet )

94 Snowballs done. Yay! 74 to go. I think once this lot  are squared up I need to have a peek at what they're all going to look like when they get put together...

Snowball Night -Week 3-I'm on fire (not literally)

Karen over at Sew Many Ways is hosting a Snowball Quilt Along and it's not too late to join in the fun. If you click the icon below it will take you to all the posts about the Quilt Along including a post that has links to all the particpants blogs. (I'm on there too - I feel almost famous!)  So if you're here as the result of that post-  Welcome!  If you're easily shocked perhaps you'd better only read the Snowball  posts.  Sometimes I have a mild potty mouth. And a minor case of insanity and randomness.

The beauty of this quilt along is that Karen is not a Princess about how many blocks you have to finish in a week or when you have to report back about your progress. We all know sometimes life gets in the way of what we would rather be doing,  like when your  kids are throwing up for days at a time to rival Linda Blair in "The Exorcist".

This is my week 3 report for Snowball Night. (Randomly,  I want some of those chocolate marshmallow snowballs now- I'm highly suggestible - and the shops here are shut. For crying out loud nobody mention vodka...)  It's  ironic that our Northern Hemisphere bloggy friends are making a snowball quilt in summer and here where it never snows it's cold enough this winter  that it probably actually could. It's very considerate  that our weather is helping us fit in with the theme. Thank you Winter.

This week, I was determined to do better than the 9 blocks I did last week....

I managed 24 blocks. 48 blocks down. Whooooooooo Hoooooooooo!  I've decided to do this quilt in a 12 x 14 block configuration which will equal too many blocks for me to tally up right this minute because my maths is bad. Let's just say I have a lot more blocks left to do....It's all good.  I'm not working  to a particular time frame here. I'm loosely envisaging this will be finished in time for our summer. I love that I can fit this in around other quilty projects.

I'm really looking forward to getting round to all the participants blogs this week to see what other people have been doing. And from previous posts I'm seeing so much lovely variation in people's fabric choices that I'm starting to get really excited about seeing the finished quilts at the end.


P.S. I went all Virgo on myself and worked out the maths , I couldn't help it - 120 blocks to go...and I have to find another hushabye charm pack.

Snowball Night- Week 2 And a Bit of Randomness...

If I go AWOL  this week, it's not because something nefarious  happened, (like Mr. P went crazy and threw me down a mine shaft) it's just that I may be incredibly busy for no other reason than I'm incredibly busy. Do you guys ever have weeks like that? Where LIFE seems to be throwing all sorts of busy at you? Yep? I can feel this week is going to be like that. Like last week.

Karen over at Sew Many Ways is hosting a quilt-along for participants  to share the process of making a snowball quilt. The idea is to pick a night and make snowball blocks. Monday's are my check in day so I can share my progress with the group, so here is my wrap up of Week 2. If you want to hop on over the Karen's blog just click the picture above.

This week I was confident  I would power along but last week's "busy" totally thwarted my plan.  I sewed once from last Monday to Saturday.  And then I didn't use the time to do snowball blocks.  I made a quilt top for Little P.

So my grand total for this week is 9 blocks which I still havent squared up! Methinks I better make a bigger effort for next week. 

I'm having fun blog hopping and having a squizzy at what other people are doing. It's really hard imagining what all these quilts are going to look like when they're all finished. They're all so different. Marg wrote a hilarious post about her progress and you can check it out here. I think she's having the most fun out of all of us.

 

P.S. It's 16 days until my sister arrives.

Let's Have A Snowball Night!

Karen over at Sew Many Ways is hosting a quilt-along to make a snowball quilt. The idea is to pick a night and make snowball blocks. Monday's are my check in day so I can share my progress with the group, so here is my wrap up of Week 1-Snowball Night.

This week I ruminated on fabric choice (for three days ) Changed my mind three times. Left fabric stacks  laying all over the house where I could see them  in a vain attempt to make a decision. Made the decision. Cut about 130 x 2 inch  contrast squares, in case I made a mistake or two. Patted myself on the back for getting them all done. Realised (duh!) I actually need four for each square, which is 480 squares not 120. I failed maths at school. Unfortunately I did not fail smoking in the toilets and I'm still REALLY good at it.

I'm using 3 x  Moda Hushabye Charm Packs and a latte homespun for contrast.

And here is my little pile of blocks for my first Monday - 15  down, 105 to go. Unless I decide to go for the fourth charm pack...

And I realised my little triangle doodads that I cut off are wayyyyyy too small to do anything with. And that I'm probably going to have to buy a 4th charm pack to have a decent sized quilt.

But so far I'm having fun! I wonder what everyone else has been getting up to?

You can check out Karen's latest snowball post here.

Snowball Fight ...err I mean Night

Karen over at Sew Many Ways is hosting a snowball block quilt along .  The idea is you pick one  night a week to  make  snowball blocks  and then post your progress. Before you know it - you'll have enough snowball blocks  for a whole quilt! I'm loving this idea. I've never done a quilt along before and a snowball quilt is on my bucket list so it seemed like serendipity. 

So...I'm choosing Monday as my night to post about my Snowball Block progress because that will give me time to get some done by next Monday.  And I can work this quilt-along around my other projects so it's perfect. Low pressure. Fun. Get a quilt done.  Cheer along other participants. What's not to love?

If you're interested in joining us click the button at the top of my sidebar and come and play! Now I just have to choose some fabrics....