These past few weeks at my machine....

What a busy, busy few weeks this has been. Sadly sewing took the backseat. This is the longest we have been at home in the last three years.

With still culling school stuff, and trying to down size what we have - not fabric, of course - and Peter renovating an investment house to sell - now that we are both retired - it has been a very hectic month.

However, I did manage to piece the back of En Provence, including a large hand drawn label, and sandwich and quilt it. The quilting caused a problem. I had to change the needle, the needle plate, the thread, the bobbin, and still it did not quilt as it should have. In saying that, I persevered and finished the quilting. Now all that is left is the the hand finishing of the binding. I'm not sure if I will sell this one or keep it - it is my colours 😊💜.

I also caught up with Simply Colorful 'Row by Row' and I am now waiting for next Friday and the last clue. This will be a cot quilt, maybe 😊.

I am thinking about re-making the dark 'racing car' block and reversing the light and the dark.

I just don't think it fits with the other blocks.

What do you think?

I thought I would tell you what I do with binding. I cut either 2.5 or 2 inches of fabric, sometimes on the bias, and sometimes not. I then sew the strips together and fold and iron. I then carefully roll the strip onto an empty cotton reel. If I have a lot of binding I will put the wound up reel into a tea/coffee cup. For En Provence I didn't need a tea cup, I simply put the reel under my extension tray and it feed it through to the quilt.  

I have always believed in an anchor cloth when sewing projects, and have been making random leaders and enders, mostly from off cuts from projects.

I hate to waste fabric.

Here are some off cuts from 'Row by Row' mystery when squaring the blocks - not going to waste these. Not sure what I will do with them either!

These are some left over triangles from a Halloween project - must finish that quilt too 😖 - they will make a lovely border or mug mat.... or maybe they will be perfect for my jacket!!

 Off on a road trip later this week, so hand sewing will be in order.

 

En Provence Mystery Quilt

Regular readers know I love mystery quilts. This time of year I am doing Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville's mystery, (as well as others - busy time for mysteries) - this year inspired by the beautiful landscapes of France. As in previous years, I am doing half size, and Bonnie's colour choice recommendations are 'my' colours - well, except for yellow. I substituted the yellow for light pinks 😊.
 Bonnie's mystery starts at the end of November every year, and I started doing them back in 2012, with the Orca Bay Mystery. Although I had made mystery quilts previously from magazines, I do believe that Bonnie's mystery quilt really got me hooked.
This time of year there are many mysteries on-line so I find it easier to have a list of fabric requirements and a quick note about each unit made. I store this with the fabric in a box so it is always together for when the next clue comes out.

The first clue was a neutral 4-patch. Now that I have finished the top, except for the border, I have many 4-patches left over, so I may incorporate in in the border.

Part 2 was magenta & neutral units, followed by part 3 -a 4-patch lilac & purples.

Part 4 was a purple and neutrals unit same as part 2.
Part 5 was purple and neutrals half square triangles.
Part 6 was green, lilac and neutrals. I almost changed the greens for teal, and although I like the way the greens look, I still think teal would have been a better way to go.

So all units complete, well half of them, it is time to start to put the units together.
I swapped the yellow for pink, and for me it looks 100% better. I really don't like yellow!

I really like the way the units have come together, still think teal would have looked better.

I thought about having a thin magenta inner border, followed by a 3" outer border, but after auditioning it I didn't like it. I think I will incorporate the left over neutral 4-patches and make a neutral border with a magenta binding. 

As I made the quilt with half the units Bonnie suggested, I decided that a single bed topper would be what I complete. That leaves me with two central blocks. I will use one on a jacket that I am making, and the other as a table topper or caravan stove topper. Sold lots of caravan toppers, helps pay for petrol as we travel Australia.

Happy 2017

I'm not one for New Year resolutions, I like to make plans and set goals to achieve all through the year. One goal is to update my blogs more regularly, well, at least two of them (not sure I will continue the third). As in previous years I have been busy working on mystery quilts. I have been doing Bonnie Hunters Mystery quilt every year since Orca in 2011 and usually complete the last clues while camping beside the Bellinger River. Not this year. Camping got too expensive at $92.50 a night, so we decided the stay home and maybe have a city break at $99 a night at Southbank - much better value!
Anyway, how many mystery quilts can one do at a time? Over Christmas /New Year I was doing 5 different mysteries. The only problem was because I like 3 colours, I always try to use those colours. Doing 5 different mysteries with the same colours, when the clues came out at different times was very difficult. I had each mystery sorted into boxes, and moved fabric from one box to another when needed. I got a little scared that I would run out of some fabrics as the clues came to an end - but so far so good.

The mysteries I was/am doing are:

1. Simply Colorful Brown Bag mystery - this one I started first in September, but had to stop in October as I needed a special panel. I couldn't source it here in Australia, so needed to think of something else to use. I think I know what I am going to use now, but this mystery has been on the back burner, although it does have a lot less purples than it did.😇 

2. Love Shack Quilts Peace Love Mystery was started 15th October. The clues come out every two weeks, and I'm pleased to say I am all up to date with this one.

3. Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville Mystery 2016 - En Provence - started 25th November, and I am determined to finish the top TODAY!!!! Bonnie has wonderful quilt patterns and her mysteries are always large quilts, so I only do half the required number of units and if I have to make more to complete the size I want (like today) I will.

4. Quiltbug's Blooming Rails New Year's Eve mystery was a two day quilt with clues coming out by the hour during NY eve and NY day. I have only done this mystery a few times over the years, usually I don't hear about it until after the event, but my friend Cleary is great keeping us quilting buddies up-to-date with happenings. I have everything cut except the panel (a bit scared) and have completed the first couple of steps. Will get around to it - watch this space!

5. Merry Mayhem Mystery Quilt is run every New Years Day - which is 2 January here in Oz. The first clue comes out about 2am our time, so by the time I get up the first 3-4 clues are already out. This years mystery is #140 Nifty Thrifty, and I started doing it scrappy. By the time it came to put all the units together, it didn't look very good scrappy, so I ended up making four table toppers that will be great for caravan stove toppers as well. This is the only mystery that I have completed so far.

So that is what I've been doing, and am doing for the rest of this month at least - well that and Farmer's Wife blocks.