A life in lists

Busy bee

Yup, finally finished. My 2012 (ahem) Brit Bee quilt.

I sent out a bit of a selection of fabrics, loosely tied in with Heather Ross's Far Far Away II collection, and asked for blocks that had circles involved in them.

As soon as I (finally) began to construct this quilt, I realised that I had two quite distinct sets of blocks - some of my fellow bees had gone for circular blocks, while others had gone for blocks that were more of a 'scene', but that involved circles in them.

I originally laid out the quilt with the scene blocks in the middle, then a border, with the circular blocks floating around the edge, but I realised that I was going to end up with one mother of a quilt, and since it was always intended to be for my boys to have as a playroom quilt, I needed a rethink.

I actually deliberated for a week or so about making a double-sided quilt, as I didn't want either side to feel like the 'back' and therefore the blocks feel less important, but actually once the two sides were constructed I didn't worry at all - both sides hold just as much weight and interest, and are both fronts in their own rights!

I couldn't have imagined, when I first sent out my fabric, what an incredible display of skill and variety would be shown in the blocks I got back, but I feel reasonbly happy that at the end of it all, I've got a quilt I'll love and treasure forever.

Oh, and it's faintly possible I've lost a couple of signature blocks - one is mine, and the other missing siggy block owner will be faced with a new block to scrawl on at FQR in a few weeks and I'll applique it on.

Unexpected result of this quilt: Teddy has asked me to obtain all the stories from the quilt pictures, and has loved hearing The Owl and The Pussycat (one of my all time favourite poems, since devouring my sister's Edward Lear compenium as a child). Next up will be Snow White, and at some stage I'll lay my hands on Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty. This quilt ain't just a pretty face (or two) created by a group of incredible women, it's inspired a bit more story love in my kids. No complaints here.

ps: Scrappy binding is one of my favourite things ever. I may never bind my qilts in a single fabric again.

Oh baby

This is my first ever 24-hour quilt. I started it a few days after my closest friend finally (after the longest labour the world has ever seen, I swear) gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. I figured I had a couple of days to get it done before I'd be visiting, then suddenly both our weeks shifted and it needed to be done tomorrow. Of course.

Having started at lunchtime, I had the top laid out and pieced by about 5pm - it's only about 30"x40", so this isn't exactly an incredible feat. After a quick stop for dinner with my kids (apparently it's not ok to fail to feed them because you have a quilt to make), I got the backing cut (blue organic cotton from my stash) and spray basted it (love spray baste, especially for small quilts), leaving it to dry a bit while I made the binding. Then I quilted it with some straight lines following the outline of some of the crosses and sewed the binding down to the front. Which took until exactly 11:59pm. Phew.

Hand finishing the binding started at 5:50am the next day (there are some perks to being a lark rather than an owl, and a bit of peaceful hand sewing time is one of them) and was completed at 9:50am, about 8 minutes before I walked out of the door to drive to meet the new baby ( did stop to give my children breakfast in that time. Again with the needy kids). I can honestly say I have never constructed a quilt at such breakneck speed.

It is made mostly from Liberty prints - I used one of my blue charm packs, cutting each charm into four squares. The remaining orange/yellow prints are scraps I had kicking around, plus a few kona solids I ordered a while back when this quilt was first in my head (largely inspired by Susan's quilt, but I knew I didn't have the fancy pants binding in me). Simples.

And yes, I did take a blurry iphone snap of the finished quilt on their sofa. I didn't exactly have time to stage a beautiful sunshine-lit shot in the local nature reserve with this one...

WIP Wednesday

That there is a small portion of my Brit Bee quilt in progress. This is an incredibly precious quilt to me (the women who contributed blocks to it are awesome), and I am terrified of doing something 'wrong' with it, so progress is not exactly speedy, but I have a definite plan now and it's slowly coming together.

I am going to finish this quilt top by the weekend. If I say it enough times it'll become true, right?

Linkning up with WIP Wednesday today, in the hope it will scare me into progress...

Scrap busting

OK, so it's the least efficient method ever of reducing a scrap pile, but I'm enjoying it. The squares are 1" finished. I'm in the process of making a few more, but I'm not entirely sure what I'll actually do with them. Jasper could use another quilt (the poor deprived child only has one, and it's baby sized. It's this one, in fact), so maybe I can work something out. I'm not sure I want an entire quilt of uninterrupted 1" squares though. Maybe a bit of sashing? Or something a bit more clever?

The blocks were started when I realised that I have nowhere logical to store my scrap stash in my teeny weeny workroom. I realised this when I attempted to actually tidy said workroom. Of course, an easier option might have been to buy a plastic box, but how boring would that have been?

Also, great minds think alike.

2013. The year in which I tidy up, finish some projects and make a few lists (no, really?)

Now I've got over that un-becoming but totally necessary bit of emotion, I can start to think about 2013 and what I want to do. Unsurprisingly, there's a list.

Anyone who has been with me for more than a year (I'm sure there are at least three of you...) will remember 2011, A Year of Hand Making. OK, so the lists were utterly insane, I had a baby in the middle of it all, and got married three months after that, and it all got a little, ahem, fraught at times, but I really did like having the push of a definite list of aims for each month. And so, while I'm going to keep the lists just a fraction more sensible this year, I'm aiming for another year of monthly lists.

I'm not going to plan my entire year in advance as I did in 2011, but rather one month at a time. I'll add each month's list to the master list at the beginning of each month, and add links as I finish projects off.

And so, without further ado, I give you January's (rather modest, since we're already a third of the way through it) list:

1. Catch up with my lovely Brit Bee ladies' blocks
2. Catch up with my equally lovely EEEP EPP Bee ladies' blocks
3. Finish the HST quilt top that I actually finished once, but I am in the process of growing into a kingsize quilt (why do I do this to myself? Why?)
4. Mend an old jumper of Teddy's that Jasper is actually going to grow out of without ever actually getting to wear it if I don't get into gear
5. Cast on a sweater for Teddy. After some twitter advice I'm thinking about going for an Owlet.

Not too bad, right?

And then I thought, since I'm making a list anyway, maybe it was time to bite the bullet and join in with this year's Finish-along, ably hosted this year by the lovely Leanne.

Since the Finish-along runs in quarters, rather than months, I've had to force myself to think a little bit further ahead than the next three weeks, and have compiled a not-unambitious (given the complete absence of any free time in my life whatsoever) list of things to finish in Q1:

1. The aforementioned Liberty print HST quilt

2. My 2012 Brit Bee quilt. Since it's my turn for round two in May, I think it would be rather marvellous to have the first quilt actually finished a little while before then

Finish the portholes quilt that I started back at the Fat Quarterly Retreat last year (yes, that's two iphone shots in bad light glued together. Sorry)

 

I think two whole big quilts and turning one set of blocks into a quilt, along with all the bee blocks and other little projects floating at the back of my mind at the moment, is more than enough to keep me busy for a couple of months, so I'm not going to make you laugh by adding in anything else.

17 months from inception, I give you...

The Single Boy!

OK, so there are people who manage to produce two children in less time than it took me to produce this quilt, but who cares?

I started this quilt for Jasper back before he was born (and before we knew if he would be a he or a she, as it happens, not that I'm one for gender specific colour schemes at the best of times).

And I'm pleased to say that it is, at least, finished before he's grown out of it. Thank goodness for generously sized baby quilts - the Single Girl baby quilt finishes up at a useful 43" x 50", so Jasper will be able to use it for a while yet.

Also, can I just say, I bloody love this quilt. I am insanely pleased with it. Vain, me? Absolutely. It contained just the right difficulty to speed ratio to make one feel suitably challenged while terribly proficient.

I love the colour scheme, I love the scrappy binding, I love the pattern (not that I can take any credit for that, but what the heck, I love it), I love the pieced back, I love the straight line quilting. There isn't anything, I think, that I don't love about this quilt.

You will be unsurprised to learn that a kingsize one lies in my future. Somewhere. Underneath the WIP list.

So, what projects are you insanely proud of? Add a link in the comments - checking them out is the least I can do after subjecting you to the most smug post ever.

EPP on the go: the first iteration

Do you know what the definition of iteration is? Google has it as: "Repetition of a mathematical or computational procedure applied to the result of a previous application, typically as a means of obtaining successively closer approximations to the solution of a problem"

I did A-level maths, and iteration always seemed slightly pointless.

However, I'm kind of learning the point of it now.

Even if the first iteration falls a little way short, the second one will be closer to perfect. And that's nice.

I am intending to iterate my way towards the perfect English paper piecing (EPP) travel kit, in case you were wondering.

Incidentally, am I the only one who always struggles to transport EPP around the place? You either take a bulky tin, or you risk squashing everything inside a zipped bag, or you take too much, or not enough. I really hope it's not just me.

I've been meaning to make a travel kit for a while, and this was the first attempt at translating my scrawly drawings into an actual thing.

It is full of flaws - the sewing supplies pocket is too small and baggy, the pocket which has the yellow and black fabric in (which is meant to be the pocket for finished shapes) is too deep and too tight, and the overlapping (unstuffed, as yet) pincushion and scissors situation bothers me more than I'm prepared to admit.

But don't for a minute think that I'm unhappy with this project. The patchwork of tiny scraps of precious fabrics, both new and old, and the dense straight line quilting make this one of my favourite patchwork things to play with, ever. And the fact that it holds my other favourite thing to play with - EPP supplies - makes it even better.

That red and blue fabric there, incidentally, represents my very first cut of any description into the Liberty Art fabrics I bought at the Quilts exhibition at the V&A a couple of years ago. Ridiculous.

(Ths pincushion will be attached to its tab by a key ring, in case you're wondering. I thought it might be useful to be able to detach it).

A second iteration will be coming soon.

And possibly even a pattern. Who knows? I've been toying with the idea of putting together some patterns to go in the etsy shop, and I think when I go 'full time' on both the etsy shop and my new business in a few weeks, I'll consider it a bit more seriously.

ps: Any thoughts, ideas and iterative improvements you can suggest for the EPP kit would be much appreciated.

pps: I am also planning a full on tote version of the EPP kit, so you could, theoreticaly, just grab the bag if you were going away for the weekend and it would have everything you might require for putting together an entire EPP quilt top on the go.

ppps: We found a house! Touch wood, fingers crossed and imaginary rabbits foot stroked (or whatever the hell it is you're meant to do with rabbit's feet. Never struck me as desperately lucky for the rabbit). It's perfect for what we need, and I finally feel that I can move forward with imagining our new, relocated to the South West, life!

A play mat for camping

A couple of months ago during a trip to the Eternal Maker (not normally an outing that would fill either child with joy) I was somewhat surprised to hear a great big gasp of excitement from Teddy and a breathless, "Mummy, can I have that fabric?" Well, it would be rude not to, right? How often does your average three-year-old ask for fabric?

Never mind that it is possibly the ugliest fabric ever made (I have informed Rachel that they are forbidden from ordering anything so alarming again, in case Teddy spots it and I have to make a duvet set to go with this mat or something), he was just so excited that I felt obliged to set to work turning it into something that I could bear to have in my life.

And look, it even comes with its own little garage. Of sorts.

I'll be honest, the entire project was a bit of a bodge job - most of the seams are wonky, and I could have made life a hell of a lot easier for myself by not piecing the 'garage' pockets out of five different green fabrics.

BUT.

It is possibly the most well loved project of any I have ever completed. It was played with pretty much daily while we were camping, and often graces our sitting room floor (once Teddy stopped yelping, "but it's for camping" every time we offered to get it out. He's a bit funny like that). He really loves it. I'm calling that a success.

And besides, I backed it with pretty fabric, at least.

And, since it's a travelling mat, it rolls up and looks all pretty.

I was going to sew on the webbing as a proper strap, but ran out of time before we went camping. I might get round to it one day. Or not.

Project notes - camping mat:

• Fabrics used are the Choo Choo You panel by Richard Neuman for Clothworks (look, there's a whole range available!), and a Kokka (I assume) robot print, both from the Eternal Maker. I can't see them up on the site at the moment, but give them a call if you want to track either fabric down. Pez prints and other scraps are from my stash.
• Cotton webbing was also from the Eternal Maker, find it here.
• I haven't measured the overall thing, but a quick google suggests that the panel is 36"x44", so I'm guessing the whole thing is around that size, plus the extra bit for the pockets, which is maybe 12" long by 8-10" wide.
• I made the pocket portion first - pockets were made by sewing two pieces of fabric right sides together along one edge, then turning and pressing and top stitching - then sewed it onto the main panel (with raw edges where the binding would cover it) and sewed over the top of the seams between fabrics to create the smaller pockets. I left one large pockets for bigger cars and trains. The snap press was used to put poppers on it.
• I basted it like a normal quilt, but added an extra square to the backing to account for the sticky out pocket section
• I quilted and bound it like a normal quilt. The inverted mitred corners where the pocket section meets the main mat are atrocious, I should have looked up a tutorial or something, but I was too lazy. Teddy doesn't seem to care.
• I hand finished the binding. If ever there was a time to learn machine finished quilt binding, it was on a kid's play mat, but I just couldn't face it, so I stuck on a film and finished it over a few evenings.

It's the first of a handful of things I'm hoping to make for our camping holidays. I actually had grand plans for a whole 'Project Camping' series with a bundle of handmade goodies for camping, but since I'm absolutely rushed off my feet with the shop at the moment (5" charm square assortments are proving more popular than I could have imagined!), I think maybe I'll leave that for a springtime series for next year. Because, you know, I like to sleep occasionally.

I can't get over what a hit this mat has been with Teddy. Have you ever made something for your kids that's been a huge hit? Was it as ugly as this mat? Did you rush through all the little details like adding pockets as much as I did? I bet you didn't.

April Brit Bee: Me! And some FFA2 fabric

 

All the blocks are all in, but I'm avoiding showing you them all laid out, as I haven't actually decided how on earth I'm going to turn all this amazingness into a cohesive quilt top. Nor have I made a single block myself, in fact.

I'm in no rush with this one though - I've got almost a whole year before I'm allowed another turn at being queen bee, so I'm going to enjoy the process here for a little while first!

I'm so grateful to all the Brit Bee ladies, especially those who have had a tough time over the past few months, for making all the effort to turn out such fabulous blocks for me, and I'm so glad to be a part of round two of this bee. Stay tuned for my first ever 'proper' attempt at foundation paper piecing for the month one of year two of the Brit Bee...

List of the week: Quilts I want to make

In the interests of avoiding actually counting up and listing (and therefore facing) my WIP crisis, I thought I'd take a little look at all the quilts currently on my 'I'd like to make that one day' list. It's not a short list. It would probably take significantly longer than my life. Who cares?

1. A single girl quilt more or less exactly like Judith's amazing one. I have never in my life felt the least desire to do an all-solids quilt before, but this one has seriously inspired me (and by 'inspired' I mean 'I want to rip it off totally and utterly with no originality whatsoever'. Just so we're clear). I need to quilt this little bad boy first though. There are also about a thousand other Single Girl quilts that I love. Maybe I need to make lots.
2. A crazy octagon/triangle/wedge quilt based on this awesome block by the endlessly talented Lynne. Hate her. Not jealous of her crazy skills at all.
3. An equilateral triangle quilt. There are so many amazing designs, inspiration includes a gorgeous Brrr quilt, a perfectly toned puramid quilt, a patchwork prism, low volume and text prints, yellow triangles and hand pieced triangles.
4. A neutrals quilt. I absolutely love Amanda's and also Melinda's fab block.
5. A triple Irish chain quilt of some description
6. A shirting quilt
7. A selvege quilt
8. A double wedding ring quilt
9. An improv single colour quilt like this one (notice how my description is completely apalling here. How would you describe it?!)
10. A Heather Ross quilt. Absolutely no idea on the design, but the stash is growing nicely, and it will need to be used one day! I like the idea of some serious fussy cutting for this, but beyond that I'm clueless.
11. A simple patchwork squares Liberty quilt. I've been meaning to make one for ages, but Ashley's has just made me green with envy. I need to get going! It's not like I'm short of Liberty print, after all...
12. While we're on the subject of being jealous of Ashley (seriously, does she ever make a crap quilt?), I'd rather like to use this tutorial.
13. A courthouse steps, or other log cabin design, inspired by a lovely yellow one by Mary.
14. A quilt of pockets! Why? I've had this quilt pinned for ages, with no real idea in mind, then on the weekend a friend was telling me how her husband's grandparents always left chocolate in a pocket in their quilt whenever they visitied. How much of a fabulous idea is that? And imagine the chocolate that could be stashed in a quilt with hundreds of pockets. Or possibly I should just start adding a pocket to every quilt I make...
15. I love the possibilities in this quilt design - almost endless, depending on the fabric choices. I think I may have to buy the book (and ruler).
16. A quilt with book excerpts involved somewhere in the design. I loved the idea behind this baby quilt, but I think (selfishly) I'd love to do one with extracts from all my favourite books.
17. A plus quilt. There are so many amazing ones out there it's almost impossible to choose a single inspiration, but I like the idea of it being mostly one colour, with the odd shot of a different colour here and there.
18. I have a lot of vintage linens with embroidery on, and I love what Jane Brocket did with hers. Ideas abound. I'd like to do perhaps a slightly more advanced version of a quilt I made back in the day.
19. A rainbow quilt. Or fifty. I like rainbows. In fact, I think I just found my next bee theme.
20. A sampler quilt, but with circles instead of, you know, normal sampler stuff. I love Kerry's sun, her doll quilt (feeling the Kerry love yet?)
21. Some embroidery in a quilt. Again, I have about a zillion inspirations, but I really love Nova's redwork project. I also like the idea of either some kids embroidery or some really traditional sampler style embroidery in a quilt.
22. A half square triangle quilt. Actually, this is half done, so belongs in the WIP list, technically.
23. A Nani Iro quilt, mainly inspired by this one. I own precisely no Nani Iro fabric, but I need some. I'd like to use this One Flew Over pattern, I think.
24. A Farmer's Wife Quilt. I appreciate that technically this is a WIP, but it's so little done that I feel I can put it in this list.I'm actually contemplating some other sampler like a Dear Jane. I'm planning on having a major peruse of sampler quilt books at the Festival of Quilts before committing myself. I love this incredible take on the sampler quilt too.
25. A quilt that shows off my Liberty hoard. I absolutely adore this Tokyo Quilt Festival one more than I can say, and hope I can come up with something half as inspired.
26. A sampler quilt of English paper pieced blocks, a bit like this (second picture down), but with more variety of blocks.
27. A quilt that shows off the quilting as much as the design. Like this.
28. A Camelot quilt.
29. A hexagon quilt of amazingness, like Elizabeth's candied hexagons (third photo down). I didn't have time to take part int Lynne's Hexalong, and I've always regretted it.
30. Denyse Schmidt's Point Me quilt.
31. A scrappy quilt basically exactly like this vintage one.

Obviously, this list excludes quilts that are actually in progress (except the Farmer's Wife, but the less said about that the better until I work out where I'm going with it, and HST quilt, but I wrote this list before I started the quilt, and it seemed a shame to remove it). I will face up to the quilts/projects in progress at some point soon, I promise. The above list also excludes all the pouches, bags, pillows and other miscellaneous 'small' projects that I'd like to make. Let's not talk about that either.

I think it's possible I should give up on work, blogging, reading, cooking and washing if I want to get these done before I die. Or maybe I could just about contemplate downgrading one or two of them to baby quilts or pillows. Maybe. Possibly. Probably not.

Does anyone else have a crazy long To Make list (real or in your head) that there's not even the smallest danger you'll manage? Please say yes.