Snowy Saturday Houses

I woke this morning to a dusting of snow. It is quite lovely. Being from the islands I am thrilled by the snow. Boysie, not so much. He is thin coated and I think his toes get cold, but you know, everything is bearable when you have a red ball.

I have been avoiding new projects and plan to actually finish some of the things I started since getting here.

First step to accomplishing this was to find them all, there are rather a lot!

I cleared off the design wall, made a list and noted what needed to be done to each one. Then I sorted and bagged the pieces, the fabric and the pattern with my "to do" note.

Number One was the project which required the least effort. The blue and green batik kit quilt. Finishing it only involved one corner, trimming to square, piecing a backing and making bias binding. "Done" is a virtuous feel good moment. Onward

Next on the piecing list is the Domiciles red houses quilt. When I started it I thought the pattern size of 48" x 60" was pretty wimpy and useless for anything other than a wall hanging or baby quilt. Mine was going to be bigger! Much BIGGER! Then I got tired of it, the butterfly brain went "Oh look" and found another project. The house quilt languished and sulked in a pile of fabric. So sad.

My method for small block scrappy quilts is to start making blocks and stop when I run out of fabric or enthusiasm. I had made 66 blocks plus one four house block. The pattern supplies a paper piecing template for the teeny houses but I do not enjoy paper piecing so I winged it on mine, the houses are a little wonky (but charmingly so) and I prefer wonky to picking bits of paper off the block any day of the week.

My get it done plan is to make a total of 99 blocks, set 9 x 11 and add a 3" border to yield a 60" x 72" top. Not a lot bigger than the pattern but a good size for a snuggle up to read quilt or a bed topper.

Goal for the week:

• make at least 16 house blocks
• start laying them out in rows on the design wall
• paw through my stash and probably Lori's stash too for the backing, binding and border fabric

Y'all come back!

Another One Bites the Dust

The best way to describe today's weather is "raw". It is not that cold, around 34°F but the humidity is 100%. As it is not actually raining we have fog.

This brief tropical interlude mid-winter has caused much of the snow to melt, into slush, mud interspersed with sheet ice. Cold + damp = raw. Very British.

So, what bit the dust? A UFO bit the dust, the first 'finish' of the year... Here it is:
Click photos to enlarge

This was a kit bought on sale for under $50 from Connecting Threads. I can claim no credit whatsoever for the fabric choices.

The fabrics are from their own line of batiks (which are incredibly well priced) and the pattern is called Fabric Dance by Grizzly Gulch Gallery.

It uses just five fabrics pieced into four patches and alternating five inch squares set on point. This would be a wonderful first quilt project and I had fun with it too. The backing, shown below, was off a bolt I bought a few years back.

It was quilted and bound by Lori. The pantograph is "Flowing Feathers" by Australian designer Hermione Agee of Lorien Quilting.

I used to be quite snooty about quilt kits, I mean, who needs a kit? Well I was wrong wrong wrong. What a quilt snob I was!

Quite often kits are a bargain. You get just as much fabric as you need with a generous fudge factor for cutting oopsies (in most cases) and, when you add in the pattern and the convenience it is a no brainer, literally.

A word to the wise. Most kits assume you will use straight grain strips for the binding and calculate fabric quantities accordingly. I prefer bias binding. The binding gets the most wear on a quilt and bias binding is strongest. I always order at least an extra yard of the binding fabric.

Have you ever made a kit?

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Butterflies

I don't know if it is a symptom of aging or lack of focus, or both, but I am increasingly unable to start something and progress through until it is finished. I have always been a 'small bites list' person but these days I don't even get around to making a list, then not much gets done.

The number of 'works in progress' is becoming alarming, and they are not progressing. Butterflies in the brain, that's what it is. Is there a solution? I am working on it but there had better be!

The halfway point seems to be the slipping point. I start out with tremendous enthusiasm and about half way through "Oh look! That's nice, I want to make that!" and I am off in a completely different direction. So far I seem to be running at the rate of about one stalled project a month.

My White Christmas Amaryllis in bloom, snow outside. Click picture to enlarge This is a butterfly moment. Not flea brain as some people say, butterflies, much prettier. Oh look there is a flower! Isn't it pretty?

Step one, make a list. Step two, kill Lori when she helpfully points out the omissions.

Happy New Year to all!

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