Sewcialites

"Sewcialites" was a sew-along organised by The Fat Quarter Shop and 18 designers, each providing two block patterns. My blocks are made with Moda Bella Solid or Kona Solid fabrics and were all from stash.

I asked Karen to choose a quilting design and she chose "Abstract Butterflies" - love these butterflies - they add a touch of whimsy to the quilt.

The Churn Dash Sew-Along quilt has been quilted with Clamshells - so happy with how this looks and am looking forward to it arriving home later this week.

Towards the end of my holiday, I started sewing Lissa Alexander's "Friendship Blues" together.  The four-patches had been made for a while.

Haven't turned on the sewing machine for over two weeks - I've had some flu bug or other.  Seems to be taking ages to go away.  Maybe I'll feel like sewing tonight.

Adding Borders

In between spending time with Jenni, Kurt and Vinnie, there has been some sewing - mainly adding borders to a couple of quilt tops.

25 Half-Square Triangle blocks all made from offcuts from Swoon and Dwell 2 with a few others added that I had been saving.  

As the blocks end up at 8" finished, I added sashings and posts to make it a more usable-sized quilt.  The outer border is 4-1/2" and I might scallop the edge after it's quilted.

Added a white border to Sewcialites so I wouldn't have to worry about points when adding the binding.

Karen had a busy weekend.  Two quilts are in the post on the way back:  Star Pop in Nantucket Summer

and Swoon in a few different Bonnie and Camille ranges.  I made this during the Summer Swoon SAL.

Sewing up Starlets blocks at the moment, then I'll get to Fireworks and have another parcel of quilt tops to send to Karen.

I had a fun time with Vinnie and I hope he did too - very strange for him to be home with just Nanna.

More Quilt Tops

Still sewing up the stacks of blocks.  "Berry Parfait" is a quilt top I made to test a pattern for Thimbles and Needles - another great, scrappy design that goes together so well.  I love a pattern with pressing instructions.

Last week I sent "Berry Parfait", along with three other quilt tops/backings to Karen (Quilting on the Coast) and the first one is on the way back.  "Happy Stripes" designed by Quilty Love.  This is a baby-sized quilt and I think the texture will be wonderful.

"Dwell 2" blocks have been sewn up and this quilt top is pretty bit (around 91" x 95") - quilting will shrink it a bit.  I'm starting another pile to send to Karen.

"Sewcialites" blocks were finished in June last year but I've been dithering about the layout.  Saw this layout on Sister's Choice blog and liked the look of it.  I think I'll add a white border then it can go onto the pile to go to Karen.

"Fireworks" blocks still to be sewn together then I think I'll be up-to-date but I've been sidetracked by a container of half-square triangle offcuts that I started sewing up and trimming.  These are all sewn and I have one more lot to trim then I'll have the 400 needed to make Thimble Blossoms' 25 HST Blocks - 25 different blocks from half-square triangles (16 per block).

The blue triangles in the photo above ("Happy Stripes" offcuts in "Nantucket Summer") will be made into a "Moda Love" block - might be a cushion cover.

Here it is sewn together. 

Recent photo of our littlest sweetheart that Jenni posted - he is the funniest little fellow.  I'll be spending Thursday and Saturday night with him - can't wait.

Summer Days

"Summer Days" was quilted last week and is now on its way to friend who wanted the quilt and she is going to stitch down the binding.  The narrow Churn Dashes are a lovely border for the blocks.  I used Bonnie and Camille fabrics (mainly "Shine On") for this Cotton Way design.

The backing is from Bonnie and Camille's "Early Bird" range - such a gorgeous red.

Jenny, AngelCake Quilting, quilted this so beautifully with Baptist Fans.

The first 10 "Sampler Spree" blocks are finished.  The theme was "blue".  FigTree's cornflower blue is so lovely - I added in a couple of lighter blues and pale aquas for variety.  There will be an "aqua" month but I'll be using teal shades for that one.

Sewed up the last "Sewcialites" block on the weekend.  Purple Kindness provided by Bunny Hill Designs.  The last six blocks together:

A couple of layouts I'm thinking about:

I'm leaning towards the first star.

Saturday was Gulliver's 6th birthday - he had a great time at his party - lots of school friends and cousins at Flip Out (the local trampoline place).

I started sewing some "Another Story" blocks into rows yesterday.  The rows will be moved around a bit before being sewn together.

Last night's video of our littlest family member:

Can't help but smile when I watch this.

Quilt Top

 Added the final two borders last night and sewed up the backing fabric for "Village".

The backing fabric is designed by Cathy Nordstrom for Andover fabrics - a nice garden for the Village houses.  

Dropping the quilt top and backing off to the quilter this afternoon and picking up "Summer Days".

My "Sampler Spree" book arrived on Tuesday - just in time for the start of the SAL yesterday (Wednesday).  Sorted out a load of FigTree jelly roll strips, scraps, etc last night into bundles of colour in the hope of using as many as possible in the Sampler Spree blocks.

Couldn't help myself - had to make two blocks before going to bed.  The plan is to make 10 blocks per week for 10 week with a specific colour designated to each week.  Week 1 is blue (not navy, teal, aqua etc).  FigTree's "Catalina" range has lots of lovely mid-blue fabrics.  Not sure how I'll go keeping up with 10 blocks/week.

Last week's "Sewcialites" block is Compassion designed by Anne Sutton.  One more block to go and that's the end of this SAL.

Gulliver is turning 6 this weekend - unbelievable how time passes even more quickly now that I'm a Nanna.  Looking forward to spending some time with him and the rest of the family.

This and That

Another couple of rows are ready to add to the Nine Patch Waltz quilt and I'm also making some more blocks to make the quilt wider.  This quilt is a special request and she wants the quilt to be at least 100" square - with another two blocks added to the width and the borders, it should end up around 102.5" sq.

"Rainbow Baby" reached halfway late last week and the next row (green) should be ready to add this week.

Last week's Riley Blake Block Challenge block

and last week's "Sewcialites" block - Passion designed by Carrie Nelson.  Two blocks to go.

 This month's "Shine On" Sampler blocks.

Finished up all the blocks for "Summer Days" late last week

and the quilt top was completed on Monday night - the yellow Sawtooth Stars are an addition to the original design and the quilt top is ~85" sq.

Three basketball games last week - two wins and one loss but the Hawks were already in the playoffs before the last game - very exciting.

One of my bosses is running for Lord Mayor in the September Council elections.  Had a fun time at a fund-raising trivia night on Friday with a bunch of friends.  Some of the Hawks were guest quiz masters.

Ended up having a quiet weekend at home (mostly in bed or the sewing room) with a cold, so no fun time with the family etc.

Hourglass a Day

Last October, a quilter I follow in Instagram posted a message about making an hourglass block each day using Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial and then in a few months we would have enough blocks to make a quilt.  I had a few Bonnie and Camille charm packs plus a bundle of already cut 5" squares, so this was a great idea for me to use up those fabrics.  5" coloured square + 5" background square = 2 finished 3-1'2" hourglass blocks.

In November I started making two blocks a day and enough blocks were made by the end of March.

Love this "Hello Darling" fabric backing.

I wanted a curvy quilting design as a contrast to all the angles and points in the blocks and Karen used "Wind and Waves" - it looks great.

I signed up for another quilt-along.  "Another Story" designed by Thimbles and Needles using up the leftover background from "Kaleidoscope" and lots of fabrics from my stash plus some hexagons swapped with two other participants.  Some progress has been made on the blocks.

The design sheet isn't big enough to hold them all.

I need to cut out another six hexagons and then make the side half-hexies to fill in the gaps.

Last week's "Sewcialites" block is "Inspire" designed by Lori Holt - this was a fun block to make.

Last year I had planned to cut out Cotton Way's "Summer Days" quilt but it just didn't happen until a month or so ago.  I changed the Friendship Stars to green fabrics and used yellow to make Sawtooth Stars plus I made 6 of each block instead of 5 so that I'd have a bigger quilt.

The red/aqua blocks are done.

Out for dinner last Thursday night with The Schoolgirls, lunch with work friends on Friday to farewell two of our staff then out for the evening to farewell another.  Had a lovely day on Saturday - Mum and I went to Sydney to visit Jenni, Kurt and Vincent.  They are all going so well.  Vincent is laughing now and is a very happy baby.

Some housework and sewing on Sunday before an afternoon Hawks game - good win.  Games tonight and Thursday night and the season is over (but they might make the play-offs).