Pushing the boat out for Christmas

New Rotary Cutter Blade

I am actually doing some sewing today, it seems like ages since I have had the chance to sit at the machine and make quilt blocks. To celebrate I have put a new sharp blade into my rotary cutter, after all - it is Christmas!

Dear Jane Count

The Dear Jane Quilt  - counting the pieces

I have taken some time today to count my Dear Jane pieces.  As you may know, the original has her name and a count of all the pieces in the original Dear Jane quilt.  It is a job I have been putting off, thinking it would be long a tedious, but no so.  I also managed to find some rogue paper pieces along the way.  In total I have 5163 pieces in my Dear Jane quilt.  Jane Stickle had 5602.  I have clearly introduced modern day efficiencies into mine.  All I need to do now is to embroider the details onto the quilt.  Can you think of any other cryptic messages I should include?

On Ringo Lake - Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2017

'On Ringo Lake' Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

You may have noticed that this week Bonnie Hunter has launched her 2017 Mystery Quilt - On Ringo Lake.  Will you be taking up the challenge this year?  I have done several of her quilts in the past and it has been thoroughly good fun and I have some beautiful quilts as a result. 
However, don't get too excited as I have already decided that I don't really have time to do it this year - I was just curious to see the colour scheme.  What do you think?  As usual I think I would change it around a bit as with just the four colours you could probably come up with something quite delicious.

'On Ringo Lake' Bonnie Hunter 2017 Mystery Quilt

If you are looking for a project to fill in that slow time between Christmas and New Year, I can recommend heading over to her blog to see what is in store.  I expect I will be an onlooker, but will be checking out the progress over the next few months. 

La Passacaglia - October 2017 update

La Passacaglia - October 2017 update

It has been a while since I have had my La Passacaglia out, but a few days away allowed me to resurrect my interest in it.  It doesn't look like there has been much change since you last saw it in July, but  I can assure you that there has.  The colour scheme - well there isn't an overall one, but within each rosette I am enjoying playing with colours.
I could do with a La Passacaglia day, just to sort out how many of the rosettes I intend to do and to bring on each of the circles to the next stage, but I don't see that coming until the Christmas break. 

Wooly Sheep Wall Quilt

'Woolly Sheep' Wall Quilt Kit

I am usually quite good at sticking with projects, but once in a while I want a quick project to stop the monotony.  I have been eyeing up this felt wool project kit for a while and at the last show I went to I picked it from Pelenna Patchwork. The kit is 'Woolly Sheep' wall quilt by Rachel's of Greenfield.  The main reason I bought the kit was because everything I needed was with it ready to go.  No time wasted trying to find all the bits and pieces and preventing me from actually making something.

'Woolly Sheep' Wall Quilt Kit

It has been my go to project for the last two weeks and being only 13" x 15" it came together quite quickly.  I finished off the binding today and it is now ready to hang on my wall.

Dear Jane Progress and Rainbow Scrappy Challenge catch up

Dear Jane quilt - English Paper Piecing, removing the papers.

I have had a few days where I have spent time moving a few projects forward.  Firstly, the Dear Jane quilt has been pulled out and I have made a big effort to remove all the papers. This is slow.  Very slow.  I have done over half, but I have now left it out so that I can go and pick at it in odd moments.  Once this is done I need to count all the pieces so that I can embroider the total on the corner block.

Rainbow Scrappy Challenge - cutting May, June, July, August, September

Then I saw that the September colour for the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge had been released.  I know that my progress on this had lapsed, but when I looked back I realised I was 5 months behind.  Again, I pulled out my remaining Kim Diehl fabrics and cut enough to keep me quiet for a while.  I sewed a few, but some serious machine stitching time is required on this one.

Finally, for a second time, I forgot to enter Suzi into the 2017 Pets on Quilts competition.  So please enjoy this photo of her.