It has been sixteen days since my last fabric purchase, and the very last thing I bought is now on its way. It's not the last quilty parcel, but it IS the last fabric parcel. It is a half-yard bundle of Catnap by Lizzy House, so I am happy. It's the perfect bundle to go out on, but an honorable mention goes to this stack of Liberty FQs, courtesy of my husband.
My goal, as you might remember, is to buy NO FABRIC until 1 July. And except for the month of July (my birthday; Cotton + Steel comes out) I hope I can last the year. It means missing out on a lot of great ranges, but let's be honest - would I sew them up straight away? Not at this point in time!
It has been a weird couple of weeks. Since deciding not to buy any more fabric, I've gone through a couple of stages. I destashed a bunch of scraps. I pulled out a lot of yardage and it has just been sitting in piles. I've bought several magazines in preparation of all the scrap quilts I plan to make. And I've been sewing and writing patterns.
I spent the last few months sorting out the entire year of meetings for the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild (a lot of crazy angst goes into finding a venue and luckily we have two great ones) and the above quilt is for our Block of the Month club. The pattern is free if you're a member but never fear - at the end of the year the pattern will be for sale! (All proceeds will go to the Guild.) So stay tuned for that, or, if you're local, consider joining - we'd love to have you.
Guild business aside, I've been busy preparing to make class samples - yes, I am teaching this year! I am so excited because I'll be teaching Tacha Bruecher's pattern Over the Rainbow.
You might remember this pattern from the enormous quilt our guild made! (Photo credit to the amazing Selina of course.)
It runs over four classes, the first Thursday of the month starting in February at Kim Bradley Creations in Castle Hill. I will be teaching the basics of color theory, English paper piecing, and variations on the (king size plus) pattern to make smaller projects! If you're interested in the class, please call up the shop and reserve a space - 02 9659 2912.
I have also been trying to purchase a quilting frame for my Juki. So far, no dice. I know what I want, and I've even opened a dialogue with the company that sells it, only to be referred to the so-called "Australian distributor" (who had no idea what I was asking about, and no stock, and no idea of stock would ever come in). After FINALLY promising to investigate shipping quotes, they fell silent. It's been more than a week since they've responded. I am about to take my money elsewhere, to be honest. Luckily, I am blessed to have a best friend who will let me direct expensive, awkwardly huge things to her home in the States while I sort out freight to Australia. A proper longarm is out of my reach for a little while (maybe five or ten years?) but you can do a lot with a Juki on a frame. I mean, just look at Trudi! She's a wizard.
So! On to my to-do list. My design wall was so crowded this week!
So from my old to-do list:
Tops that need piecing:
- Terrain challenge Finished & gifted to Grandma Jean!
- Kat's quilt
- O quilt
- trade winds II Finished & gifted to Baby Milla!
- triangles Finished & gifted to brother- and sister-in-law!
Tops that need quilting:
- spool quilt (scalp and requilt)
- picnic rug (quilt, simple lines)
- blue Marcelle Medallion (waiting to receive this from longarm basting)
Projects to be started:
- hexagon sample quilt
- hexagon table runner
- third marcelle medallion - all in pinks and greens
- pixel quilt not this year I think
- show quilt - pattern resolved, fabric ordered, ready to be cut out!
- voile quilt - decided on pattern! a giant sawtooth star
- cushion covers - 3 more scrappy dresdens
New projects that crept onto my list:
- SydMQG BOM quilt sample 1 quilting this on Thursday
- SydMQG BOM quilt sample 2
- Magic stars lap quilt
And, as I've determined that I am GETTING A FRAME, I'm going to earmark these quilts as ones I must quilt on my new frame, myself.
- kat's quilt
- picnic quilt
- show quilt
- voile quilt
- spare rail fence quilt top I found
So that's it. This evening I have to write a tutorial - it'll be over at the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild page, and it'll be for our show quilt! (Which means, sneak peak!)
Hope I can make it back here sooner next time!
Cheers xx