Work in Progress Round Up

I thought I'd do a little round up of all the projects I'm working on at the moment.  Mainly so that in a year's time I can look back and gasp at how much I achieved is still a work in progress! ;)

My current project that I'm working on almost exclusively.  It's called "I don't feel lonely" and is an entry for the Beneath the Southern Skies exhibition.  Must be finished by the 25th of January.  No pressure or anything!

My 'night shift' quilt.  This is slowly turning into something that I really like.  And the vast majority of it has been done in the quiet bits of night duty.  All the rows except one (the one with little bits of paper pinned to it) are sewn together.  Now I just need to work on setting triangles.

A couple of bassinet quilts for the maternity unit.  A friend made the tops and gave them to me to baste (check), quilt (check) and bind (yet to finish). 

This sucker is just so big, it takes up my whole kitchen floor.

My big blue and white quilt.  No hurrying on this one.  It sat for a couple of years without even being touched.  Then I did a little flurry on it last year.  A few more flurries and the applique on the sides might get done.  Then it will be a marathon of flurries to quilt it - it's huge.

This is my hand-piecing.  I last showed this to you in a completely different layout.  I decided I didn't like it that way, took out all the squares that were part of the design and turned the diamonds into doves (or turtles as most people think they are).  Recently I've decided that I liked it better with the squares but I refuse to unpick all that hand stitching so one day I might cut a whole heap more diamonds and do another of the original layout.....one day.

I need to add another round on both these medallion quilts for a round robin sort of thingee I'm doing with my sister.  No hurry on this one, it's taken us a few years to get to this point!

I have a project that I'm enthused about that is still in the design stages and will use lots of my native bird and plant applique designs I've drawn previously.  I also want to make a quilt using some beautiful Japanese fabrics that my sister in law brought back from Japan with her.

There are other WIPs I have floating around, but writing this down has made me realise that I'm never going to finish those ones so they may as well get donated/chopped up/re-purposed.  It sounds like it's time for a UFO purge!

What have you got hiding away in your cupboards?

Round Robin.

Have you ever participated in a quilting round robin?  Have you ever organised one?  They sound like fun - the general idea is that you make something, you pass it on to the next person and they add something, they pass it on and the next person adds something and so on, until it gets back to you.  Of course, anything that sounds simple often isn't!


My half of the round robin I am doing with my sister - very casual, no time limits!

 Some things to think about before you embark on organising a round robin. 

• Do you want a row-by-row (where everyone makes the same size row just different themes) or a medallion quilt (where everyone adds a border to a central block - the borders get bigger and bigger quite quickly)?
• Do you want a co-ordinated fabric look?  The owner would have to include fabric that every contributor could use.
• How big do you want the final size?  What will you theme/s be?
• How much time do you give to complete each round?  Medallion styles may need extra time for the large size borders towards the end.
• What are you going to do if contributors pull out halfway through?
• Local, national, international?  Postage can get expensive and time consuming.
• Who will be participating?  How are you going to get them to join?  Beginners will need more explicate instructions, ie. stipulating 100% cotton fabrics, than experienced quilters.

My central block for an international round robin I participated in.

I decided to organise a row-by-row round robin for my local quilting guild.  This is what I put in the newsletter:

ROW-BY-ROW ROUND ROBIN
 Charlotte is happy to co-ordinate a monthly row-by-row round robin if there are enough keen participants.

How it would work:



1. You provide at least a metre and a half of a feature fabric (or a metre and a half total of several fabrics) that you would like used throughout the quilt (more fabric would allow people to use more of it in each row).


2. The first month, you make the first row for yourself, using your feature fabric and other fabrics from your stash, to set the style of your quilt.


3. The completed row is put into a bag with your information sheet and your leftover feature fabric and passed to the coordinator who then passes it to the next person in the group.


4. The next month, you are working on someone else’s quilt, making a row for them, the theme of that month would be given by the coordinator. You use some of their feature fabric that they have included in their bag and any other fabric you need comes from your stash.


5. Eventually your bag comes back to you with the completed rows and any leftover feature fabric. You then get to choose how to put the rows together. Once all the quilt tops are together there will a grand show and tell with a viewer’s choice prize!
 The rows will be completed monthly and the agreed size of each row is 8” x 40” finished (8 ½” x 40 ½” with seam allowances). This can be made up of one panel or five 8” blocks, or a combination of blocks and panel if you wish.


Themes will be things like: stars, birds, traditional, curves, flowers, water, boxes. All of which are open to your own interpretation. For example, stars could be five traditionally pieced Ohio Stars, or it could be a panel of appliquéd stars, or a mix of two star blocks and three appliquéd blocks, or using a star fabric!!

If you can’t always make meetings – no problem! You can pass your completed row/s to a friend to pass on, or organise to meet the coordinator someplace else. You could even post it if worst came to worst!

When you get the rows back, you can add sashings, borders and even more rows – horizontal or vertical - if you want to make your quilt bigger.



This is the starter row I made for the guild round robin.

 We have eight people from our guild joining in and so far it's been great.  As a group we decided that we could make our rows anything from 6" to 10" high for a bit of variation.  I have had hiccups with work and couldn't attend the last two meetings so the group swapped all the quilts for me and chose a theme from the list I had given them.  We also have a couple of people who have gone on holiday for a month and we've been able to work around that because we are small and local and all know each other.


This is what I got back from the international round robin.  My block is sideways - I thought it was obvious, but I guess I should have labelled the top!  These are things you learn once you've participated in a few round robins.

Have you ever participated in or organised a round robin?  What did you learn?  How did you enjoy it?  Have you any hints and tips for first timers?

Chimneys and Cornerstones.

The top row is my contribution to this month's Row by Row Round Robin that I am running (slightly haphazardly!) for our guild.  The bottom row is the initial row done by the owner.  And the theme for this month was "Home is where the heart is".

I thought a Chimneys and Cornerstones block suited the theme perfectly.  I also have just finished reading an Elm Creek Quilter's novel "The Quilter's Homecoming" that featured the block.  I chose to use the light background fabric for the cornerstones instead of the usual dark fabrics just for interest.

I was super careful with my seam accuracy (I can often be a bit rough and ready) and it really paid off - my corners all match perfectly (if I do say so myself).

I love the way my block layout almost matches the colours of the Dresden Plates, that was totally unplanned. 

There are two other rows already done for this quilt owner - I think I'm safe showing what I have because I don't think she reads my blog but I'm not certain so I won't show the rest (and I haven't asked permission!).  I can't wait for the final reveal of all these quilts, I'm getting really curious about my one!

As you can see from the pictures, the sun came out today but it's still very cold.  New Zealand is experiencing some of the coldest weather ever.  Even Auckland experienced snowfalls, which is a bit crazy.  No snow up here in Northland but bitterly cold southerly winds and a couple of doozy frosts - the leaves might finally fall off my apple trees!

Oh - and if I don't write this down I'll forget it.  My daughter and I were talking about hairstyles and I asked if she would like me to put her doll's hair into a bun.  She then proceeded to tell everyone that her doll had a muffin in her hair!  Awwww.

Gone the way of the moa...

I bought a fat quarter pack of Moda Lumiere de Noel fabrics today, 50% off.  Normally I would be jumping with joy at finding such a deal, but the fact that our local quilt shop is closing down, hence the discount, has tempered my mood today.

As soon as the kids and hubby were out the door today I knocked off the housework and animal feeding as fast as I could, just so I could spend a good chunk of time with quilting.  And it made a difference - I really felt like I got 'into the groove'.  (Sorry, this post is full of cliches!)

The photo above has my plan for the 21st quilt.  This is how I work out my layouts - on grid paper that I print out (thanks google). 

For the quilt I cut lots of 4 1/2" blocks and got people to sign them.  However, everyone was getting tipsy so most people ignored my requests about leaving a space for a seam allowance, plus there are plenty of lewd comments that H might not want on the front of his quilt.  So I'm making a pieced top, with blues, browns and creams and the back will have all the signed squares appliqued to it in a grid format.

I also managed to bust out these two 8" blocks.  They are part of my first row for a row-by-row round robin that I'm organising for our Guild.  There's something about star blocks that I really like. 

Now it's evening, the kids are in bed, I don't have any books to read, so I'm making myself a peppermint tea and getting back to some piecing. 

Tea Dying

This is a little bit of what I'm doing today.  I'm participating in a Round Robin at the moment and we're onto the first border around the central block.  It has to be three or three and a half inches wide, pieced and use only two main colours (and tones of) with a third colour at 10% maximum.  The theme is "What do you love to do in your local area?". 

I've been fiddling round with designs and think I'm finally happy.  My main colours are pink and green, which are the major colours used in my partner's central block.  But one of my pink fabrics is just a smidgen too pink.  I wanted it more a burgandy/brown pink.  So a little modification is in order.

There is nothing in this world that a good cup of tea can't fix!!  Tea dying has to be the most simple of procedures.  Make up a brew, dunk in your fabric, rinse when desired colour is reached.  If you want it more precise, do a little experiment with swatches of calico or your fabric you want to use: one teabag/250 mls water for 10 minutes; two teabags/250 mls water for 10 minutes; two teabags/250 mls water for 20 minutes......and so on.

Warning:  don't drink the tea once you've finished!

Little Projects.

A while back I signed up for a Round Robin with The Patchwork Place.  A good friend of mine takes classes with them and told me about it.  I've never done a proper Round Robin before so I thought I'd give it a go.  I've finished my first block and am ready to post it off - it's flying away to Aussie.  Our instructions were to make a 12 1/2 " block, on-point, representing our favourite feature about where we live. 

Mine represents the bush gully with the creek flowing through it that hides at the bottom of our block of land.  The colours are for the NZ bush and the dawn skies that I love and the koru has four buds on it for the members of my family.  The green border symbolises the greenness that surrounds me everywhere I look. 

Looking forward to receiving the next set of instructions!



I'm also going to admit that crumb quilts and me just don't go.  I made a start, and that's about as far as it got.  So I've found a new way to use my scraps (maybe not teeny crumb scraps) and have a handwork project to do in those moments as well.  I'm paper piecing a square and diamond quilt.  Because I want to organise a colour wash layout, I'm basting everything first and will then stitch them together when I have them laid out how I like.  So it might take me a few years, but all good things take time right?

Round Robin

A dear friend who is a kiwi living in Australia (there are a few too many of them for my liking - move back home you lot!!) has talked me into an international quilting Round Robin.

It's run by The Patchwork Studio in Australia.  My friend does a weekly class with them and loves it.

Welcome to the registration for The Patchwork Studio's

FREE international Round Robin!

 

How it works:

As a participant, you will be sent some guidelines and instructions from The Patchwork Studio as to creating your first piece. You will also be sent the name and postal address of another participant whom you will forward your piece to at the end of the first five (5) week stage

(please note that participants will need to pay for packaging and postage).

 

You will then receive the first piece from another participant in your group, and you will be given further instructions from The Patchwork Studio to add onto that piece. Everyone in the group is given the same instruction, and has a further five (5) weeks to complete the stage.

This process is repeated a further two (2) times. At the end, the quilt with your original starting piece is mailed back to you. You now have a beautiful quilt that has been worked on by at least three other participants in your group!

Registrations for the January 2011 Round Robin close on the 20th of December.

Registrations for the March 2011 Round Robin close on the 20th of February.

I lifted all the info above straight from their registration page, but I'm sure they won't mind a bit of free  advertising.  If you are interested in joining in, click here.  It's the first time I've participated in something like this so I'm excited to see how it pans out - I'll try anything once!