A Finish! and just in time too...

...since the sun has finally decided to come out.  Touch wood, but summer appears to have arrived at long last.  The third quarter of  Rhonda's Finish Along inspired me to finish these sundresses for the girls.  Cute or what?
 

The Oliver & S Seashore Sundress is made with Flea Market Fancy, and the Brooke dress is made with Pear Tree. 

I have to say that both of these patterns were very nice to work with.  As were the fabrics.  And both girls seemed happy enough with them to have made the effort worthwhile.  Mind you, they are pink, and a potato sack would probably have been sufficient if it were pink.

I'm going to have to figure out how to link to flickr photos, but I haven't been successful so far.  I don't know why perfectly clear photos look so awful when they're uploaded directly into blogger.

Quarter 3--Big Plans!

Or, at least, biggish plans.

I'm carrying a couple of these projects forward from the last quarter.  These would be the Mystery Quilt (or my amended version of it).  This is where is was the last time I posted about it...

...and although I've added a couple of blocks during the last quarter...

...I still have a way to go.



And, then there's the Dresden Plate.  

I'm making steady progress on this one.  At a generous estimate, I'm about half done with the quilting.  Okay, maybe a third.  


 I should probably stop there, but in a moment of delusion enthusiasm, I jumped on the small projects bandwagon in May, and started a couple of sundresses for the kidlets.  The fabric for the Brooke pattern is Pear Tree

and although it's not clear from this picture, the fabric for the Oliver & S Seashore Sundress is the pink eyelet pattern from the Flea Market Fancy collection.

To be fair, when I decided to do this we were having a mini-heatwave.  In May.  Then we had June-uary.  Seriously--it's mid-July and I had to take a hot water bottle to bed last night.  And a down duvet. It really hasn't been sundress weather, but if I don't finish them soon, they won't be ready to enjoy summer when and if it arrives.

Finally, for some reason, I also thought it would be a good idea to participate in the My Precious QAL.  It did motivate me to cut into some fabric that I'd been saving.  There is a bit of a story to this, but I'll leave that until I actually finish the thing.  Yes, it's gone from being precious to something less than wonderful.

So that's it.  I wonder how many of these I'll be able to cross off my list at the end of this quarter.  I hope that I do a bit better than I did in the second quarter. 

Quarter 2 Finish Along

I've decided that I'm going to look on the bright side and be extremely pleased that I completed one-third of the projects that I'd planned to finish in the last quarter rather than disappointed that I didn't manage to complete the other two-thirds. The posting where I made the rash promise to complete three quilts is here.

The big finish was my Stained Quilt that I made--and completed!--as part of Sarah's Stained Pink Quilt Along.  And, not only did I finish it, but I finished it in mid May, so it wasn't even a last minute finish.  I'll only post one picture here, since I went a bit overboard in my Finish! posting

Progress on the 40+-year old dresden is steady, but slow.  I should probably have used perle cotton. It would have been faster, but I'm really liking the variegated Aurafil 28.

And my Mystery Quilt has taken a sideways shift.  Sheila encouraged us to substitute blocks to make the quilt our own.  And she also introduced me to foundation piecing and it turns out that I love it.  I've decided to replace the huge pieced block with a huge foundation-pieced one.  And, even though I already finished the 18-inch one, it's possible that I may replace it with another foundation-pieced block.  I don't know where this is going to take me, but I'm enjoying the trip.

So, one down, two to go.  Maybe next quarter.

Small project sew along progress...or lack thereof

This hasn't exactly been my most productive week--wait--make that two weeks! 

I did manage to complete one of the projects that was on my small projects sew along list.  A coaster for my night table so that I don't thunk down my water glass in the middle of the night and wake up my husband.  This is much prettier than what I was using, and it's completely thunkless.

I made it from some of the Stained leftovers.  At least, that was the plan.  There are at least 3 colours in there that had to be cut from fresh fabric to get the colours to move the way I wanted them.  Not exactly eating up the scrap pile.

As for the other supposedly realistic project--a cover for my e-reader made from the green flora and fauna hummingbird fabric--I'm not sure that's ever going to happen.  I just can't bring myself to cut into it.  If I really want that cover--and I do--I think that I'd better pick another fabric that isn't quite so scissor resistant.

Then there were the three unrealistic items on the list:  2 sundresses for the girls, and a Tova tunic for moi.  I haven't done a thing there.  Strictly speaking, that's not true.  I did buy the fabric.  And the patterns.  And since these weren't realistic small project goals in the first place, I'm not going to feel too terrible about not getting them done.  On the other hand, summer isn't that long, and if I want the girls to actually be able to wear their sundresses, I should probably get the lead out.

A finish!

I've finally finished my Stained quilt that I made as part of Sarah's quilt-along.  And I'm absolutely delighted.  Here's a picture of it over the railing. This one has the best colour.  I've found it really difficult to capture the vibrancy of the yellow.  It either fades to cream, or else can't be distinguished from the ochre squares. Mind you, now the jade and turquoise look alike, which is far from the case when you see the real thing.

Now, here's one of it on the lawn.  Show's how small my patch of grass is. The uneven colour is actually dappled shade from an oak tree.

And finally, a hike up the rise to take a quilt over rustic bench shot.  More dappled shade. 

The quilting is invisible, being black on black.  I tried quilting in the coloured sections, but I really preferred  the clean look of the unquilted squares, so I took it out.

And, as if finishing the quilt weren't enough, as a bonus, this will count toward the 2nd quarter finish-a-long.  Yayy!!  One down.

Small Project Sew Along

Amanda Jean has instigated a small project sew along.

Step 1.  make a list of all the small projects that I'd like to complete during the month of May, and post it on my blog.

She has 20 items on her list.  Twenty.  And some of her small items are dresses.

I think that I have two that I'd consider small.

1. a coaster for my night table so that my glass of water doesn't thunk when I put it down in the middle of the night; and
2. a cover for my ereader.  This one also counts toward the My Precious QAL, so if I manage to finish it, I'll be able to cross it off two lists.  Bonus!

That's the realistic list.  If I want to move into the realm of wishful thinking, I'd add

1. a dress for Miss E.;
2. a dress for Miss K.; and
3. a Tova tunic for me.

This would be in addition to the 4 big projects.

Let's see if writing them in an official list helps me to get them done.  Maybe I need to take some vacation time.

Progress? Not so much.

Here it is, the end of April, and what do I have to show for it?  Not a whole heck of a lot.

Well, now that I think about it, that's not entirely true.  My Stained quilt is coming along fairly well, after overcoming the hurdle that is my sewing machine.  After some thought, I decided to use black perle cotton to hand quilt in the sashing.  This went surprisingly quickly once I got started.  And while it wasn't my first choice for quilting, it turns out that I really like it.  Now, I'm thinking about what else I can hand quilt this way.

No progress at all on my Mystery quilt, and even with the external motivation provided by the My Precious QAL, I haven't made even the tiniest snip into that hoarded fabric.

On the other hand, I have managed to turn this raw cashmere ...

into this.

You can only imagine the amount of picking, teasing, and combing it takes to get this far.  But processing cashmere is a  a very pleasant way to pass the time.  The cashmere was a birthday gift from my son, and he's made it even better by sitting with me and helping to dehair it.  He got it from Treesong Farm in Duncan and it really is lovely.   And having it so close to home means that when I get this lot done, I'll know where to turn for more.  The spindle was made by Lisa Chan at Gripping Yarn and it's amazing.  There's no other word for it.