wip wednesTHURSDAY!

Oh hi, THURSDAY.

I'm not behind. I've been busy.

I have been fairly productive this week, surprisingly. I washed the car on Sunday and hung out the washing on Monday, so of course, it's rained all week! There is no rain dance stronger than a clean car and four loads on the Hills Hoist, is there?

Of course I'm linking up with Lee!

This week, due to the rain, I've been spending some quality time scrivening away. I am really ready for my manuscript to be done, so my betas can read it again and give feedback and then I can look for an agent and maybe...get it...published...someday...ellipses...so many ellipses...

My manuscript's biggest problem is that I have other things to do! But I pick up my laptop, and there it is, full-screen, begging for edits. And an hour goes by and I look up and realize that Piper has taken off all her clothes and Owen has pulled all the toys off the shelf. (Whoops.)

All right, that is as it is, so let's get on with quilty and sewing stuff!

Last week the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild kicked off the first meeting of 2014! We talked over color choices for the group quilt and happily I got some hexagons started for my teaching samples. That starts in, GULP, just a few weeks!! WOW!

Meanwhile, how cute is our BOM quilt? Yeah? You jealous? Join up, it's a free pattern...that I wrote, so I plan on teaching this as well! (But you really should join, it is a super great group.) :)

I loved showing off my quilt, but I needed to get organized for my hexie samples. I raided my scrappy solids for warm and cool colors. I use both glue and thread basting techniques for these little 1" hexagons. I use a dab of glue stick to stick the paper to the fabric, then I go around and thread-baste around (not THROUGH) the paper. It means I can take a whole stack and get them ready to baste in no time, and I only have to process big batches once in a while!

I also decided to use my shot cottons for hexagons. I've only had these 8" square packs for a year and a half, oops! Haha!

Since school starts next week, I've gone off the beaten quilty path and decided to make a new wardrobe for Piper. I have enough fabric for a million dresses but I decided on six. So far three are in the cut out/partly contstructed stage...

I like to do this in little phases so I can go around and finish the inside seams with my serger and then just sew the top to the bottom, hem, and add a zipper!

Here is some fabric for more.

And I did have a single quilty finish this week. Or a few weeks ago. Who can remember! It was gifted this week, which is the important detail. This is Mila's quilt.

I made this with some solids (probably Kona?) and some of Lily Ashbury's lovely Trade Winds fabric. I got a lot out of that fat eighth bundle - it really makes me wonder why I buy half yard bundles!! :)

And here the back, using a gorgeous piece of Rooftop Garden.

I quilted this with Aurifil on my Juki TL98P, using a crosshatch in the centre, stitching in the ditch around the pink border, and free-motion loops in the greeny border.

Today I spent ALL DAY destashing. I didn't sell everything but I made enough to buy my Mama a really nice sewing machine for her birthday. (Girls, if you read this, DO NOT TELL HER!) I was on Instagram for eight solid hours. I am a bit sick of it, to be honest, but so glad I participated. We have over 1,500 pictures under the #greataussiedestash hashtag! I didn't do much (I picked a date, whoop-de-doo) but I still feel really proud.

So yes, a lot of this was sold today! Hopefully I can spend tomorrow morning packing it all up and maybe even walk up to the post office to get it posted out! Wouldn't that be nice!

GOODBYE FABRIC.

Since I destashed so much, a lot of people were asking if I have any stash left! I do. Oh, I definitely do. My poor, untidy "keepers" need to be cleaned up! My chippy came by yesterday morning to measure these beautiful bookcases up for extra shelves, so until he gets back to me, messy they shall remain!

I'm going to love having a properly organized house. Which I will have to do anyway, since...MY QUILTING FRAME IS ON ITS WAY!!!

I'm dancing around with joy. It's all happening! Yay!

So that's almost it for this WIP Wednesday except a very special happy (belated) birthday to my friend Kat. You are amazing Kat and I am so glad we are friends!

Have a good weekend if I don't catch you before then!

Penny xx

WIP Wednesday #4

Oh my. I can't believe it's WIP Wednesday already! But I have been busy sewing, which is AWESOME. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had Sel and Claire over to quilt on Monday, and it gave me the boost I needed to start a new project and finish an ongoing one, but I'll talk about that in a second!

Firstly, in NaNoWriMo news, I haven't written yet today, so I have no word count. Boo. I'll get right on my 2,000 per day goal as soon as I'm done blogging!

New Projects: Bear Tracks quilt, tentatively called "Sophie's Tracks". I am excited to get started on this. I can't decide if this is a quilt for anyone in particular. All I know is, I love this fabric and I'm stoked to combine Sophie with bear tracks!

Ongoing Projects: 241 Tote. I've really been dragging my feet on this, but I did manage to sew the pockets onto the side panels and get the inside complete. I'm annoyed that I haven't been able to finish it.

Completed Projects: Birds' Nests quilt! I half-machine and half-handquilted it and finished up the binding this morning. I was able to wash it, dry it, and give it to Ellen and Joel and baby Olive this afternoon! I love making pretty quilts for babies, especially one as sweet as Olive!

No Progress: Walk in the Woods quilt, and Ultraviolet quilt. Basically, I need to gather my courage and take them to be machine-quilted. So they sit, neglected, in a pile. Also no progress on the Happy Camper quilt, though I did buy some fabric for sashing!

I'm dying to get stuck into the Sophie quilt but I want to make sure my blocks are perfect, so I plan to cut them and sew them slowly! But I have lots more quilts hovering around in my head, just waiting to be drawn, cut out, and pieced! The best kind of inspiration.

I'll be back with a word count! Happy writing & sewing!