Day 11 - Twelve Days of Sewing at Fabadashery

Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt scraps

In the aftermath of completing my Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt top , I have started to tidy up.  Here are the scraps that I have collected over the past six weeks as we prepared each block.  I am thinking of making some small strip blocks and putting them together for another cat mat, similar to the one I did last year after completing the Easy Street Mystery quilt.

30's Playtime (Moda) & Quilters Basics (Stof)

Whilst very little actual sewing has happened, I have been busy preparing some Nearly Insane blocks.  It seems quite a while since I had a day on my Electric Quilt software, planning, designing and cutting out.  Since then, a few more red and white fabrics have slipped into my stash.  I have seen this red flowery fabric from the Chloe's Closet 30's Playtime range by Moda, as part of Jelly Rolls and Charm Packs, and I finally found it at Cowslips Workshops as yardage.  As a latecomer to the Nearly Insane party, the random draws will ensure that this fabric gets mixed up nicely with the previous blocks.  The other fine red stripe is a Stof Quilters Basic.

1/4 inch seam allowances - even on the smallest of pieces

BTW, I have also had a query asking how big my seam allowances are on some of the smaller pieces.  I hope this picture illustrates that they still need a 1/4 inch seam, even though the seams are more than the fabric that will be visible.  Once I have covered the template, I usually trim off any excess dog ears.

I have also spent a bit of time catching up on everyone else's blogs.  Lots of quilters have reviewed their quilting year, and set up plans for 2014.  My plan is to just keep going and fit in as much stitching as I possibly can. BUT Oh dear...  I found some eye candy.  At the Fabric and Flowers blog I saw a lovely medallion quilt, Midnight at the Oasis, a Jen Kingwell pattern published in the July / August 2013 Quiltmania magazine.  I have seen it before, but I decided that I really fancy doing this one. 


Suzi taking a well earned rest after the Celtic Solstice marathon

And here is today's photo of Suzi.  She hasn't done any sewing either, but she is at least sitting on a quilt.

Nearly Insane Quilt - Block 43

A few weeks ago, for a bit of fun, I offered up a few options for this block that I had designed using my Electric Quilt software. Options 1 and 6 were popular, but in the end I opted for Option 4 (which was similar to Option 6), mainly because I was considering what blocks it would be placed next to.  Esther suggested I did all 6 .... thanks Esther...


Block 43, Nearly Insane Quilt

This block is currently winning 'The Most Travelled Block' prize.  It has travelled all the way and back to the 'Dear Jane' Exhibition in France with me, whilst I stitched at my work station in the camper van. 


Sewing Nearly Insane blocks in the camper van

I did a bit more during the ferry crossing,


Sewing Nearly Insane blocks on the Ferry

and I have been finishing it off on my train journey back and forth to work this week. 


Sewing Nearly Insane blocks on the train

It is a wonder that all the pieces made it into the block with the amount of times they went in and out of my bag.

Of the blocks I have done so far, I think this block has had the most pieces in it, standing at 100, exactly.  At first it was not too bad, as the majority of the pieces were the same shape and size, but making sure they were sewn together in the right order and direction has resulted in a few bits having to be unpicked.  
Then when it was together, it had a bit of a 'wave' to it, a wave that even a 'good press' would not eliminate.  Not good.  After several hours thinking 'it will be OK', I realised it would not be OK, and unpicked the corner squares and side triangles.  I also removed all the English paper piecing templates from the centre, to give myself a bit of ease, to get it back into shape.  It has taken the longest to make, partly because you have to check SO many times that everything is correct, and partly from having to unpick it. With all this extra work, there was a moment when I thought that making this quilt was not fun, but in that situation you just have to NOT put it away and deal with it, which is what I did.  Now it is done and I can move onto the next block. 

Actually, as a block I think it is quite pretty.

NUMBER OF PIECES: 100
DIFFICULTY: 9/10
SMALLEST PIECE: Triangle, 11/16" (17mm) x 1/2" (13mm) x 1/2" (13mm)
LARGEST PIECE: Square 1" (25mm) x 1" (25mm)
TECHNIQUE: English Paper Piecing (EPP)
FABRICS: 
French General Favourites - Pearl  for Moda #13526 14
"Polka Party III" by Holly Holderman, Lakehouse Drygoods (#03035)
Designer Beads (Red) Freespirit for Westminster Fibers
Quilters Basics, Stof
White Flower on red (unidentified)
Red Dot on Cream - unidentified

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