Monday, February 14, 2011

Motoring along nicely!

Happy Valentine's Day! Now on to the good stuff. Clearly, lists work for me. I think I must be bordering on being a Virgo. I've always loved a good list and my February Focus list is coming along nicely. I've finished another block for Teddy's Tea Party.........
and Churn Dash (block 20) for Farmers Wife Sampler......
which is good because I've also started doing Catalicious by Bronwyn Hayes even though I've really got no business doing that, given my list of UFOs and other projects. I love Bronwyn's work and I love cats. What can I say?
Speaking of cats, I have finally sewn the binding on a cat quilt I started 11 years ago! Yes, I know. Now sewing the binding down has been added to my list and that will mean I only have 32 UFOs!! And speaking of gorgeous critters, these beauties popped in yesterday. How beautiful are they??
The gorgeous Jack

and the mischievous Miss Holly.
It was such a joy to see them. They were on their way back with the caravan after spending the weekend at Pottsville. Jack said he'd been walking, riding his bike, playing his computer games and a whole lot of other things. Holly said she'd been shopping.

I've yanked out another UFO - Vintage Valentine - and have added that to my list. I've done five of the smaller blocks and the large central block so seven smaller blocks to do. I'm aiming to have it finished by 8 May in time for my gorgeous daughter's 40th birthday. It's doable. It's on the list. Also on the list for this week is the two smaller blocks for TTP, two more FWS blocks and the SBS block of the moment, Friendship Star. Oh, and the cat quilt binding. I'll get there. I also think I should get a medal or a prize (preferably cash) because I am using stash on nearly everything. I am SUCH a thrifty quilter!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

February Focus

I decided, since I have the attention span of a gnat, to make February my "Focus" month. Focus on what projects I've got going on and focus on getting them finished. The main one is Teddy Tea Party, which was supposed to be for my niece for Christmas. Still, I never did specify which particular Christmas so it could still happen.  Here is Block F.
It will be a pretty little quilt and I was fortunate enough to get some cup and saucer border from Jenny in Bundaberg. For some reason, I am finding all the blanket stitching extremely boring. Not sure why. I usually love to blanket stitch.
This is block 18 of Farmers Wife Sampler and is called A Century of Progress. I unpicked this block and resewed it about 7 times. This is as close as I could get to having the centre points all match up. Not sure what I did wrong. The two halves are terrific.......until I sew them together and then it all goes pear shaped.

This is block 19 Chequerboard. Looks simple but wasn't without issues for me either!

And this is our next Sylvia's Bridal Sampler block, Dutchman's Puzzle. It went together reasonably well. Getting quite the little stack of blocks out in the sewing room now. Will certainly be interesting putting them together. Sizes are variable!