good grief!

I've been kind of sleepwalking through life lately. I can't believe I haven't blogged since the 16 January. I missed my blogiversary and everything!

However, I've decided that's enough time spent feeling sorry for myself, and it's time to get back into the swing of things, doing some sewing again, and generally enjoying myself.

So I started with a to do list.  I didn't manage to link up with any of the FALs and I've missed a lot of trending QALs, and although I can't believe it's March already I'm hoping it's more than 100 days till the end of the year.  So I'm on my own with this, and here goes, my 2013 plan:

Quilts:

1) I still have my Cherry Christmas quilt to finish for my sister and her two kids - I think this will be one to get done early ready for Christmas 2013. Shouldn't actually take long to finish.




2) Another sister has asked for a quilt for the new house she is finally getting to buy with her childhood sweetheart.  Originally she asked for burnt orange and the 'b****' word, but I've mysteriously managed to win her over to Melody Miller love and now we'e excitedly planning something completely different, using a pattern from Modern Patchwork.

3) Macho quilt - I think I'm fairly safe in mentioning this here as although he says he reads it, I'm not convinced!  I want to make a quilt for my other half, as he loves snuggling under the raw circles one at the moment.  I did want to do a t-shirt quilt with vintage football, rugby and band tour shirts, but some research has proved that might be too expensive! So time to think again...

4) Welsh flag quilt - our nephew Dylan, brother of Megan who got the two-sided quilt last year, would like one of his own - a Welsh flag , no less.  So I thought I would collect lots of different red, white and green fabrics and make the background from 5" squares and the dragon from 2.5" squares which I would then applique on.  Ambitious?  Yep probably, but this is one I'm really looking forward to.  If anyone has any of the aforementioned fabrics in pieces that fit those measurements that they'd be willing to swap for FQs or something, please get in touch.

5) My baby sister has adopted the quilt I made for mum as her own now, so with quilts planned for 2 of the other 3, I need to make one for sister number 4.  I think a hopscotch quilt from a jelly roll, or possibly Tula Pinks Love Pattern, can't decide that yet, but that will be one for later in the year.  It also needs to be munching-spaniel proof...hmmm.





6) One of my work colleagues has commissioned me to make a quilt for her 4 year old son in blues and greens.  I've got the fabrics for the top based on the Havana range and supplemented with lots of different Kona solids.

Other things I want to do are some boxy pouches which I could sell, I've got one to make this weekend for a friend's birthday which I'm adapting from an Annela Hoey tutorial, so that could be interesting.  I have a couple of wallets and a make-up bag left over from Christmas gifts when my machine was sick, so they also need doing this weekend and delivering to the patient recipients.

Lastly I have some lovely Melody Miller Vintage flowers fabric that I am desperate to make into a messenger bag, but I haven't yet found the right pattern.  So at some point, I'm going to have a go at developing my own.

There's lots of other things, a weekender for instance, a t-shirt from gorgeous Nani Iro jersey, another hopscotch quilt, a pluses quilt from a layer cake and a couple of charm packs.....

not to mention all the other things that will no doubt crop up over the course of the year.

So looks like it will be a busy one.  I'll try and post a monthly update on progress.

100 days.

Right then, one day to go, but with an event for 150 tomorrow night it's unlikely this list will change before the end of the year!

Having posted back on the 9th November that I had made progress on only 4 of my 17 projects, and that I would have to work hard over the coming 40 days, everything went a little bit awry.  As many of you know, less than a week from that post my life went through a pretty cataclysmic shift.  So, I'm sure you're not expecting great progress with this, and you'd be right!

Here goes:

1) design & make a cd holder using the Melody Miller records fabric - tried and failed.  Have something else in mind during the course of 2013.

2) Make double-sided quilt for niece Megan - finished, loved and delivered to Megan.  I saw this over Christmas hanging in her newly decorated pink bedroom! (1 finish)

3) use the brown batik Charlotte challenged me with - 2 projects in mind for this. I used the tote bag we got goodies in at Retreat and made the batik into a tree trunk.  The leaves are Innocent Crush.  Project two was a 40th birthday present for Charlotte - a pouch which you can see in her post here.  What she has failed to mention is that the pouch was lined with brown batik! (2 finishes)

4) Make an Amy Butler weekender bag using 'Newquay' fabric neeeeever gonna happen!

5) make the Christmas wonky log cabin into a mini quilt - Christmas was pretty much cancelled in my house this year, so no Christmas projects got done.

6) finish the double circle flying geese cushion cover from FQ Retreat scrapped...

7) make mug tree / Christmas cards  see item 5

8) make 3 thank-you popsicle mug rugs replaced with Bottle sacks filled with pink champagne! See this post for more details. (1 finish)

9) finish campers travel sewing kit oh dear, no excuse for this not getting done!

10) make 2 x hopscotch quilts with jelly rolls This may have been a tad optimistic, but will keep me busy in 2013.

11) finish Maison de Garance quilt for Christmas gift DONE!  Hurrah, I did manage to finish something, even if I was hand-finishing the binding on Christmas Eve!  This now graces the bed of my OH's parents, and looks lovely, though I say it myself.  It was finished with a border of the rich goldy-biscuity colour with the rich deep red as the binding.  Backing was a plain beige sheet.  Although I wasn't sure about this to start with, and it was definitely a 'well, they'll like it' I ended up loving the warmth and vintage-y feel of this one. (1 finish)

12) make 4 x Oh Fransson! bags for Christmas gifts 3 made, and then another one was made in black denim, 2 of those were sold for use as Christmas gifts, the other two are still here.  I also have wallets cut out ready for sewing, and I made 2 pretty pleats totes in Melody Miller Ruby Stars Vinyl telephones panels - one with the orange phones, one in the blue phone colourway. One sold along with the pouches and one given as a gift.  I also started another Christmas quilt for my niece and nephew but a sewing machine in need of service put paid to that!  (counting this as 2.5 finishes!)

13) make a notebook cover for Christmas gift well, I've got the fabric and the notebook, just need to get the two together! Nothings' changed there but I did make other Christmas gifts - see above!

14) make a duvet cover for the spare bedroom out of IKEA fabric another project for 2013.

15) make a QAYG version of Weekender bag using Tula Pink fabric.  see item 4.....

16) various bee commitments 

17) edited to add: finish raw circles quilt!!! Yay!! All done, hand quilted and bound and just gorgeous.  Currently over the back of the sofa where the feline in residence is also in love with it and spends most evenings asleep on it! (1 finish)

So, out of the original 17 items, I'm counting 8.5 finishes.  As 3.5 of those were quilts, I think that's not bad under the circumstances.  Had I not had a few weeks of other things to deal with, plus a sewing machine which gave up the ghost in the days before Christmas, I would have got a lot further. However, hopefully I can get the remainder finished in the next few weeks - at least they'll be ready for next Christmas.  

I'm linking up for the final round-up.  I don't expect to be in line for the prizes, but it was fun trying to get everything done!

Halfway there...

There's been quite a bit of upheaval and change in my life in the last few weeks, so I'm not as far along with this as I'd hoped!  Still, here goes for the 50 day link up:

1) design & make a cd holder using the Melody Miller records fabric - ha, great start, no progress

2) Make double-sided quilt for niece Megan - finished, loved and delivered to Megan, only 5 days late!

3) use the brown batik Charlotte challenged me with - 2 projects in mind for this. I used the tote bag we got goodies in at Retreat and made the batik into a tree trunk.  The leaves are Innocent Crush.  Project two still on the back burner.

4) Make an Amy Butler weekender bag using 'Newquay' fabric ermmmmm...... I still want to do this, but probably now a QAYG version if I can pluck up the courage!  Will merge with item 15!

5) make the Christmas wonky log cabin into a mini quilt ermmmm....

6) finish the double circle flying geese cushion cover from FQ Retreat will NOT be doing this - have had several attempts, getting it all out, reading the instructions, and I can't get my head round it, so this one will be scrapped...

7) make mug tree / Christmas cards  planned for next weekend

8) make 3 thank-you popsicle mug rugs another ermmmm....

9) finish campers travel sewing kit good grief, this is getting repetitive!!

10) make 2 x hopscotch quilts with jelly rolls guess what....

11) finish Maison de Garance quilt for Christmas gift next priority - the top's done, the backing's ready, just need to save enough pennies to buy the wadding and then get it quilted and bound.

12) make 4 x Oh Fransson! bags for Christmas gifts 3 made, but now had other ideas for these recipients, so will change this to 'make 4 Christmas gifts' - youngest is getting one of these pouches, the others are having other things.

13) make a notebook cover for Christmas gift well, I've got the fabric and the notebook, just need to get the two together!

14) make a duvet cover for the spare bedroom out of IKEA fabric yes, well this was just daft thinking I'd get this done before Christmas!

15) make a QAYG version of Weekender bag using Tula Pink fabric.  see item 4.....

16) various bee commitments sadly, because of the aforementioned upheavals and changes, I've had to drop out of the bee.  I've has no real sewing time since the middle of last month, so I just couldn't guarantee I could honour these commitments.

17) edited to add: finish raw circles quilt!!! Yay!! All done, hand quilted and bound and just gorgeous.  Currently over the back of the sofa where the feline in residence is also in love with it and spends most evenings asleep on it!

So, four out of 17, with two scrapped and two becoming one - not the best first 50 days eh?  Better get stuck in over the next 40 or so.....

Covet of the Week

I'm really taken with the colours and shapes in this fabric by Tula Pink.  It's Meteor Shower in Sunset from her Birds and the Bees range, and I can't wait to get some to play with.

Short and sweet today.....