Finish Along -First Quarter 2014

Katy over at The Littlest Thistle is hosting the FAL for 2014 and since I have WIP's coming out my wazoo I figured I'd better come up with a plan for finishing stuff. There is nothing like publicly committing to finishing things to get you off your arse and moving. Plus I can procrastinate for ages with this FAL because we only have to 'fess up 3 monthly.

So here, in no particular order, are the projects I'm vowing to finish in either January, February or March. Goals and I tend not to be friends but I'm determined to get rid of some of this stuff - sorry, finish these works of art -so I can start other cool stuff .

Dresden quilt 

If you started following my blog after October 2011 you wont have seen this one. It's been a completed top for so long now it's pretty much an antique. Unfortunately I only have pictures of the blocks so you'll have to imagine this with pink sashing. This one needs to be quilted ( And I've sent this out to the quilter - sue me if you think that's cheating) and when it gets back I have to put the binding put on.

Hexagon Flower Garden Quilt

I started this quilt in October 2011 but didn't finish the top until last October...This one is going off to the quilter too ...so for me the only thing that has to be done is put the binding on...I reckon I can blitz these two projects. 

Triangle Quilt

Started this one in February last year - quickly got sick of it because it had bias edges and when I put the first 5 rows together it resembled a Mexican wave...I unpicked the lot and have so far managed to sew two whole rows back together. This is going to require a bit of patience. Don't expect the points to meet up!

Tshirt Quilt

Poor Mr. P's Tshirt quilt - started with such enthusiasm, and then chucked in a corner when it was less than half quilted. There is probably a few hours quilting left on this and then it'll be close to done. 

Postage Stamp Quilt

Started as a way to use up my scraps which appeared to be breeding in their plastic tubs. I did three trial blocks  and then ignored for about four months until January 1st. This has been getting a lot of attention since new year so I'm quietly confident this may be my first quilt finish for 2014.

Pom Pom De Paris Dog Blanket

Once upon a time (last November) I decided on the spur of the moment to make Indy and Lola a new dog blanket because two of their other ones were so putrid I had to throw them out. I got to the "finished a flimsy" stage on the same day and then and totally piked. Indy and Lola don't care about fancy quilting so in theory this one should be a snap to finish!

Chenille Baby Blanket

I have so much chenille lurking around Maison Pyjamas I'm drowning in the stuff. I've just pulled the fabrics for a baby blanket for one of the girls at work who is having a baby in a couple of months. Lets see if I can get this to the mother to be before the baby starts school.

My list looks pretty full but with three weeks holidays stretching in front of me I feel like I can achieve  at least some of this...and there's still plenty of time to link up if you want to play along.

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.

Nothing Much to See Here

I can't believe it's August already. Before we know it we're going to be knee deep in Christmas. I'm going to tuck that alarming thought right back deep in my brain until at least December 1st ....and then assault Christmas ninja style. 

Not much going on here at Maison Pyjamas. I don't have anything wildly exciting to say and I don't want to be one of those people that you groan at when you see one of my posts pop up in your reader so I'm keeping a rather low profile.  

In actual news: 

Mr. P had his birthday last week. If you ask -he'll tell you it was his 30th. He actually got away with that for three straight years from 30 to 32 by celebrating with different groups of people every year but I have his number now and I gleefully rat him out every time he tries to make that nonsense fly for another year. For the record-he's well past 30!

Little P came to celebrate with us and we got to give him his presents and his birthday cake. Ice-cream cake is the way to get any 4 year old to love you forever.

He eventually had to be pried out of his Leonardo costume with a crowbar three days after putting it on. I'd say that present was a hit Aunty Brooke.  

In July crafty news, the flower hexies are all appliqued, the Irish chain top has gone off to the quilting fairy and Superheroes 2 got gifted. So far in August the triangles are driving me mad merely by existing and the recycled shirt quilt is being ignored...I've been cutting some more 2.5 inch strips, and started playing with shapes for an orange peel quilt. I've started a test piece but I'm not convinced about the results. This was my third unsuccessful attempt at making it come out like the vision I was seeing in my head. 

Hit a T-shirt front with the iron this week without realising it was something synthetic and it shriveled like a shrinky dink coating my iron with black crap in the process. That's one less T-Shirt I have to put into the quilt I'm making for Mr. P. 

I'm making this the only quilt I'm working on this month ...maybe then we'll see some progress.