Jack #3 in progress

Union Jack No 3 is underway for Hubby's Jack Attack quilt.  For this one we have a lighter colour palette as I'm using the London Tube Map print and some red buses and black taxis on cream.

I gave him the choice of Red or Black solids for the stripes that would normally be white, and he chose black.

Hopefully I'll get some time later to do the middle '+' bit and join the 4 blocks together.

 

Sorry for the poor photo's, it was a bit damp outside so I laid the blocks on the conservatory floor and the light looks really odd for some reason...

 

Stats:

No progress this week on the Super Mario Bros Quilt.  7/14 blocks made so far.

 

Kaleidoscope is now a quilt top, I just need to decide whether to up size it a bit using my leftover scraps and what to back it in...

 

 

No progress this week year so far on the;

Solids HST Diamond Quilt - needs re-basting as I've changed my mind about the backing fabric!
Black and White King Size Bed Quilt - completed quilt top, partial quilt back
Kids T-shirt Memory Quilt - some t shirts cut....

 

Dresden Plate - partial quilt top - I saw a great tutorial posted last night for a dresden cushion, so there might be hope of a resurrection of this one after all!

Finishes this week: 0
New Projects this week: 0
In Progress: 7

 

Apparently there is no WIP Wednesday linky this week so I'm linking to;

Quilt Story - Fabric Tuesday

Bee Blocks - Siblings Together

My first ever Bee Blocks post!

Sarah at Sew Me has started a bee for Churn Dash blocks for a Siblings Together charity quilt.  She asked for bright coloured blocks aimed at a boy aged 10+, so I hope mine will be ok!

I realise they're both blue but I have a very small stash, I usually buy collections of fabric with a particular quilt on mind or one off FQ's that catch my eye which doesn't produce a well rounded 'stash'!

I'll hopefully get to the post office to post these off to Sarah over the next couple of days. 

Linking up to Show & Tell Tuesday

Kaleidoscope Recovery!

I can't believe I have a finished kaleidoscope flimsy quilt top to show!

Have you ever started a project and something went wrong and you couldn't fix it?  That's what happened to me when I joined the Kaleidoscope QAL back in May 2011.

The blocks didn't come together as expected, they weren't square and I had baggy bits in the middle.  I was really disappointed, it was my first experience of an online QAL, I didn't have the knowledge or experience to put it right and I also didn't have an 'in the flesh' quilter to come and look at it and offer advice, so it all got packed up, put in a drawer and pushed to the back of my mind.

Then I decided that after 2 years perhaps I should include it as one of my Finish-along goals for the quarter and at least try to resurrect a block or two.  Having looked back over everything there seems to be a catalogue of issues;

• my templates printed slightly to the wrong size
• my then very novice cutting skills compounded the problem
• my then very novice piecing skills meant that my 1/4 inch seams we're off.

So I reprinted the templates, tried to salvage as much as I could from the already incorrectly cut pieces and made sure I was sewing more accurately this time!  And voila, kaleidoscope blocks started to appear!

Don't look too closely, it's still not perfect and some of the points are off but I'm so relieved to have conquered this one and saved the coveted Denyse Schmidt Picnic Fairgrounds fabrics from the back of the drawer!  I was only able to salvage enough for 20 blocks which doesn't make for a very big quilt so now I'm thinking that maybe I could sash it in white and then add a further border of scrappiness from all the bits I have left...  I went online but couldn't find this line available anywhere so buying more is out of the question.

 

With hubby's Jack Attack quilt to finish I'm not sure I'll be able to afford to buy any wadding and backing for this quilt just yet, so I have time to ponder on it some more.

 

Linking up to Can I Get A Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Crazy Mom Quilts,

Anything Goes at Stitch by Stitch.

 

And for the Lets Get Acquainted Link Up this week we have to answer where our favourite holiday destination is; well 10 years ago I was honeymooning in The Maldives and it is the most beautiful, idyllic, peaceful place I've ever been.  We had an amazing bunglaow on stilts in the water and would open the doors to the sea every morning.  We snorkelled with baby sharks, turtles and lion fish and I ate lobster for the first time!  One day I hope to return there, hopefully the sea level won't rise too much as it promises to claim those beautiful islands forever...

This week...

I was waiting for Him Indoors to decide on a solid colour for his third union jack for the Jack Attack quilt, he has now decided on black (which I must order!)

so in the meantime I have been making a few more Kaleidoscope blocks.

It was raining really hard to day so I had to hang them on the airer in the conservatory for a picture!  There are more than those pictured, I'm up to 10 blocks now plus 2 that I paper pieced (an idea which I gave up on) which are slightly smaller, maybe I could use them on the back...

Don't look too closely, the points aren't great!

No progress yet on any more Super Mario blocks... :-(

And finally, here is the lovely piece of lace I bought in Bruge.  I have hung it in the dining room window which I face when sewing, which faces the side of my neighbours house - such an interesting view! Hopefully you can just about make it out!

 

 

Oh and I joined my first bee! Sarah over at Sew Me is organising a few of us to make churn dash blocks for a Siblings Together quilt.  For those of us that couldn't commit to a whole quilt but who wanted to take part this was such a great idea, and there might still be spaces left if anyone would like to contribute.  I'm quite excited about this, I have been thinking of joining a bee for a while but am anxious about my ability to keep up, make the trickier blocks and the costs involved etc., but I can certainly commit to a couple of churn dash blocks for such a good cause!

 

Right, I'm off to order that black fabric, have a glass of wine and watch Deadliest Catch. :o)

 

 

Linking up to;

Show and Tell Tuesday at I Have to Say

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River

WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Bruge 2013

I have returned from a lovely weekend away in Bruge with Him Indoors for our 10th wedding anniversary.

Don't you just love how understated the border crossing is!

There was lots of sampling the beers, stopping for chips or waffles covered in chocolate sauce along the way - purely to soak up the beer! Great waffle van though!

There were lots of amazing lace shops, I purchased some cute lace butterflies to hang in my dining room window - picture to follow as I haven't unpacked my bag yet.

This map of Bruge is made of a sail type canvas but is made to look like lace, it was quite intricate but very tricky to photograph!

And on the return drive through France we stopped at The Calais Wine Superstore where they had a 'try before you buy' corner - genius! Here's Him Indoors pouring me some wine to try - he was driving! 

I hope you all had a great weekend too, after my 3 country tour today I'm off to bed!