Skip to main content

#365QuiltChallenge [catching up]



Ever since Jess was born I have been behind on this project, I knew it would happen: any sensible person would not have chosen a year in which a new baby was expected, to do a block of the day challenge. But I've been determined to catch up... At its worst I was about 84 blocks behind and the catch up has been incremental: I would have a spurt and make 15 blocks in a day, but then not make anymore for ten days, so the reality was I had only caught up five blocks! A block every day is absolutely unrelenting!

It's been a while since I shared the journey here on my blog so I thought it was about time I did: April,  May and June could not have been a worse time for falling behind. We moved on from the 3" blocks: whilst some of the three inch blocks were truly ridiculous in terms of number and size of pieces, this was nothing compared to some of the 6" blocks that were to come!



July and August brought respite: or so I thought... back to the 3" blocks. I have learned that you can actually fit quite a lot of pieces in a 3" block. Especially when the piece of fabric you're cutting is just 7/8" - that means more seam allowance than fabric on the front!


And here is another picture of the quilt top so far: I added the light borders a few days ago and it transformed the whole thing. It's not the most enjoyable part of the project - there are a lot of points that can be easily lost, and a lot of pins to get in and out. But it feels so good when it's done!


I am still thoroughly enjoying nearly everything about this project. I say nearly... its all-consuming nature means I've fallen behind on some other projects which I'm missing. Hopefully, now that I'm caught up, I can keep on top of this monster and I can spend time catching up on some other projects. Although given the fact I am typing this one-handed while holding Jess, she may have other ideas!
Labels:

Comments

Lin said…
I think your top is stunning - great work. xx
18 September 2016 at 07:25
Anthea said…
Hi Jennie
that you took up this project at all, especially at a time of having a new bub in arms, is really quite the testament to how much you lovely your patchwork & sewing ... sporadic as it might be at times! It's looking simply stunning & I'm sure the completed quilt will be a show-stopper!
18 September 2016 at 10:18
Wendy said…
Oh wow Jennie, this is beautiful! I can see that it would have been good motivation to sew the top so far together, it's much more than the sum of its parts. I would have loved to make this quilt, but I only get a chance to sew every couple of weeks so I'd have been doing 14-21 blocks in a day!
21 September 2016 at 08:41
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

365 Quilt Challenge 2016 [A finish]

I can't believe I've just typed that heading! When I made the block for January 1st 2016 I could not have imagined the journey this quilt would have taken me on. So make yourselves comfortable and grab a cup of tea, because this blog post may get lengthy! I'd seen the 365 Quilt Challenge on Facebook. I think every quilter on Facebook must have been aware of it. Loads of my friends had signed up and it kept popping up as a "Page you might like" thing. In the end, in November 2015, I joined the group, had a poke round. Decided it wasn't for me. One of the things that really put me off were the fabric requirements: you needed x amount of dark dark fabric, x amount of medium dark fabric, x amount of dark medium, medium, light medium, light, background.... I just couldn't get my head round those requirements. I'd looked at the mock ups on the wesbite and couldn't bring myself to pick a colour. I put it to the back of my mind. But I had obvious
6 comments
Read more

Hidden Agenda [A Finish]

This is very possibly my favourite ever finish - I know I've said that in the past, but this one is going to be hard to beat. This time last year, I attended a day long lecture/workshop with Tula Pink and it was inspiring. Having not really loved her fabrics in the past (but loved her patterns), I suddenly saw them in a new light, linked with my 2018 new year's resolution to try more fussy cutting). Fast forward 8 months and I confess that my Tula stash has expanded quite a lot. I found some UK shops with older ranges of fabric, splurged on a few destashes and found the odd piece of her fabric already in my stash. The plan was always (and remains) to make a Smitten quilt, but I'm well aware that I have plenty of fabric to make other projects as well! So when I saw the Hidden Agenda quilt pattern by Angela Pingle, this fabric sprung instantly to mind.... and we all know I love a rainbow! And what could be better than rainbowfied Tula? I was ably assisted by my friend Ti
3 comments
Read more

February Embroidery Along [A Finish]

I've really been enjoying my embroidery this year, after not doing very much last year. One of the challenges I set myself at the start of the year was to learn to colour tint my fabric before adding the embroidery - I love buying the pre-printed panels, but I'd like to do this myself as well. And the opportunity to learn this arose in February. Meg Hawkey of Crab Apple Hill Studio hosted a stitchalong to celebrate National Embroidery Month, and the first step was colour your fabric. I bought the pencils she advises,  the blending stumps, something called fabric extender and the pigma pen. And I gave it a go. My first attempt ended badly. Because the one thing I didn't buy was a new, clean paintbrush. So when I came to add the fabric extended, it went all bleary and muddy as, despite cleaning the paintbrush thoroughly, it obviously wasn't clean enough. It was unsalvageable so I started again, and I was so much happier with the results. The practice piece was, in
1 comment
Read more

Labels

Show more

Archive

Show more