Mid-Summer check-in - Summer Sewing project!

Well ladies (and gentlemen!) how are you doing with your summer sewing? Lets have a little mid-summer update and see how everyone is getting on. I've updated the button for this - if you want to replace the old one, please do; if you prefer to keep the older version, feel free - whatever you want. Also if you want to join in now, please do! I'll be doing a little giveaway at the end of August for people taking part.

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I'm quite proud of my mid-term report card :-) I put items from the original list in green to make it easier to read. So here goes:

1. Finish my Walk in the Woods/It's a Hoot quilt for my goddaughter's First Communion. Yay! This was done, delivered and loved by my lovely goddaughter and her Mammy :-) It also got so much quilt love from my readers, thank you to everyone for all your lovely comments on it!


2. Make a quilt for my daughter, the most demanding customer in the world ever. Oh yes, demanding is the word but it was done. At the time I was a little disappointed by the backing but as it spends most of its time being dragged around the garden I think I was being a little precious ;-)


3. Commissioned "Sophie's Dreams" quilt. This quilt was renamed "Summer Dreams". I fought with this one a little bit at quilting stage but it turned out quite lovely and baby's mum was delighted with it!


4. Quilt for my son D. He's now feeling a little left out of the action and asked me this morning could he have a train quilt. Haven't gotten near this one yet although I have the design drawn and its going to be a simple one. I need to stock up on some solids in charcoal and brown for it.

5. My Central Park Skittles quilt. I've pieced half the blocks for this quilt top but had to put on hold for a few weeks to create some time for the Kaleidoscope QAL! I know a couple of people were curious to see how this quilt is going to be laid out - here's a little preview of how the blocks will work.


6. Finish making my bedroom curtains - they've been sitting half made in my basket for almost a year now and they need to be done! Slowly, slowly I'm getting there. I have one hemmed and the other basted; once that's done I'll be working on the lining. I'll definitely have these done by the end of the month.

7. Baby quilt - I have a pattern idea for a baby quilt that I want to try to make up and if it works, write up the pattern for. Eeek, nothing on this yet and its looking the most likely candidate to get bumped off my list to make way for some other things!

8. Bottled Rainbows QAL placemats. One done, bar the binding, 3 more to go! Haven't moved these on at all but they are definitely still on the to do list.


9. Crazy Scrappy QAL - I'm going to see how many blocks I do with this and then decide how I'll use them. Well, I thought a couple of weeks ago that this wasn't going anywhere for me but I got a flash of inspiration last week and you saw the result on Wednesday. I'm still in love with this!


10. Quilt for my new niece/nephew when he or she arrives in August (please God, all going well). Nothing done yet on this one although I have plans. I also am pretty sure what colours I'm going to be using :-) but won't share that here until baby arrives.

11. Simple Sewing tutorials. I've done a lot of prep work on some tutorials but haven't published them yet. Hoping to get these up and running in the next couple of weeks.


All in all, I'm pretty pleased with my progress so far! I've found my big list really motivating and good to keep the mind focused. I did a few other bits and pieces too which weren't in the original plans, including:

12. I got the Sew Irish Flickr group up and running (thanks to all the lovely ladies who jumped in to join straight away) and its great to see people adding projects every week! I've "met" a few lovely new Irish quilters that I didn't know and we're now planning a meet up at the Knitting & Stitching Show in November. If you're living in Ireland and interested in sewing or quilting, whatever your level of experience, please come and join us!

13. I took part in the Rainbow Charm Swap over at Ellison Lane Quilts and can't wait to get my charms - I'm hoping the postman will bring them next week! And I also joined Fluffy Sheep Quilting's Irish/UK Japanese fabric import charm swap and need to get my charms off this week to Cindy.

Of course, I couldn't help but add a few things to the big project list (being unable to resist some of the fab things going on out there in quilty blogland), so are some new projects to add:

14. Kaleidoscope QAL hosted by the very talented Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy - I'm a little behind on this one as it started when I was away on holidays, but I'm busy catching up! This quilt will be for my friend's new baby boy and I'm really excited to see how it turns out, I think this pattern is so striking and I tried to pick really fun fabrics in varied prints in blue, red and green colourways.


15. Secret project - I have a project that I'm totally excited about but still in planning stages so my lips are sealed!

16. Some other commissioned baby gifts/baby quilts for friends :-)

17. Swaps - I'm hoping to sign up for the next round of the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap and the new For the Love of Solids [a modern swap], both of which look like great fun!

Well, I think that's enough to be getting on with! I can't wait to see what you've been working on. Get linking!

Summer Dreams Quilt

The Summer Dreams quilt is finished! Another summer sewing list item done :-)


This is a commissioned quilt for a Christening gift for a baby girl. It is based on my Sophie's Dreams quilt, using the same simple square pattern but with a slightly different selection of fabrics. I did stick with a similar colour palette though. I think for little girls the red and green combo is a good one. It avoids too much pink but is still girlie and pretty - but I did get some pink in there (of course!), especially some stronger pink values.


The backing is a pretty cream fabric with a small floral print with reds, pinks, and greens which I found in my local fabric shop. (They stock it in a number of colours and I love it, its a great backing/lining fabric). I appliqued the baby's name on the centre of the backing using raw edge applique - you can see the first few letters here. I like to make the letters a little wonky to match the wonky lines of the quilting.


Its quilted using the same wonky straight line method I used for the original Sophie's Dreams quilt, but I spaced the lines a little further apart this time. I do like the texture they give. This quilt fought me all the way when I was quilting it. I originally tried to do alternate straight & wavy lines but 5 lines in, it really wasn't working and I had to unpick all the rows :-( Even on the straight lines, nothing really flowed, I don't know why! Maybe because I took so long to baste it - it was on the floor for 3 nights because of my work schedule and I think that the fabric loosened out - the masking tape I used to hold the backing taut on the floor had come away in a few places but because I was almost done I didn't think much of it at the time, but I could feel it when it came to quilting.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this one and I hope that it is well received by baby's mammy and J who ordered it.

Quilt Stats:

Name: Summer Dreams
Made For: Commissioned quilt for J - a Christening gift for her niece M
Fabric: A mix from my stash including Riley Blake's Rainy Days & Mondays and Bloom & Grow, Michael Miller Ta Dot, Ann Kelle Remix & Urban Zoologie, Alexander Henry Willow Wren. Momo's Freebird, Laurie Wisbrun's Tufted Tweets, Amy Schimler's On A Whim II (Owls & Cats) and lots more
Batting: Warm & White
Size: 59" x 51" approx
Quilting: Wonky straight lines
Pattern: Simple 7.5" squares

I'm officially on my holidays now so I think that posting might be very sporadic for the next couple of weeks as I spend a little quality time with the kids :-) But I will be posting an update on my Summer Sewing project the first week of July so if you linked up in May, get your posts ready for the mid-term review!! I can't wait to see what you've gotten done from your lists :-) You can also join in at that point if you want! I also have a new button for it if you want to grab it.

I'm also linking this up to Lily's Quilts Fresh Sewing Day - it's my fave make of June!

Summer Sewing Plans - add yours!!

So here we are, the 1st of May and the first day of summer. Here in Ireland, where we rarely see anything but a rainy summer, we seem to have been bathed in summer sunshine for the last month. So it seems a little funny to be talking about the start of summer, but that's what it is. Even if the sky is threatening rain for the first time in weeks here in Cork.

I love the summer months, the long, bright evenings and the cheery light of summer mornings, even if it is raining! I always feel more positive and really motivated. I've been thinking for the last week or so about what I want to achieve this summer, sewing wise, taking into account the great light and increased energy I always have. And I thought it would be interesting to see what other people plan to do too. So, I've listed my plans for the summer here and I have set up a linky below for anyone who is interested in doing the same on their blogs and linking up. Please do! I'd love a sneak peek of what I might expect to see on your blogs this summer :-) And its a great way to discover new blogs. If you link up, please go and comment on other people's links. Let's have some fun!

1. Finish my Walk in the Woods/It's a Hoot quilt for my goddaughter's First Communion. That's coming up pretty fast now, I need to get it done in the next 10 days.

 

2. Make a quilt for my daughter, the most demanding customer in the world ever. I'm making this from half a layer cake I won in a giveaway of Sherbet Pips and I'm trying Pinwheels for the first time. It'll be a Pinwheel Pips quilt!! I have all my HST sewn up and waiting to be pressed and pieced. Every morning she wants to know is it done yet so I'll be sewing up a storm on this one. I did a trial block last night (top pic!) and love the movement in it :-)

3. Another version of my "Sophie's Dreams" quilt for a Christening gift for a baby girl which I'll be starting to cut this week.

4. Quilt for my son D. He's now feeling a little left out of the action and asked me this morning could he have a train quilt. I have lots of lovely boy's fabrics and I think I'm going to do a simple strip quilt for him.

 

5. My Central Park Skittles quilt. This is for ME! I love these fabrics, I love this pattern, it won't fit with any decor in any room in my house and I don't care, its just for me!!!

 

6. Finish making my bedroom curtains - they've been sitting half made in my basket for almost a year now and they need to be done!

7. Baby quilt - I have a pattern idea for a baby quilt that I want to try to make up and if it works, write up the pattern for.

8. Bottled Rainbows QAL placemats. One done, bar the binding, 3 more to go!

9. Crazy Scrappy QAL - I'm going to see how many blocks I do with this and then decide how I'll use them. I might do a quilt, I might use them for pillows - I'm not sure yet.

10. Quilt for my new niece/nephew when he or she arrives in August (please God, all going well). 

11. Simple Sewing tutorials - I know that in addition to a lot of super experienced followers I have who I go to for advice, I also have a lot of readers who are not very experienced at sewing or quilting and get email questions about sewing questions, how and where I buy my fabric etc. So I thought that it might be of interest to do some tutorials on how to sew simple items - e.g. pincushions, bunting, simple baby blankets etc. I'm also going to do a tute on how to find and buy fabric on Etsy for those people who are interested - particularly people based in Ireland who can't get access to the lovely fabrics available overseas. If you are interested, please leave a comment saying so, or drop me an email to fairyfacedesigns@gmail.com with ideas you would be interested in me covering in tutorials.

So, I'll be busy this summer. How about you? Please link up your summer sewing plans below. I'll run a little mid-summer catch up at the end of June, and a final "review" of how we got on at the end of August and will do a little giveaway for people who participate over the summer.