Saturday, March 15, 2014

Challenge Results - Week 2

The week has been a very busy one. I did have a chance to spend some quality "me" time but it wasn't necessarily spent quilting or sewing.

On Sunday, I finally got around to sewing my daughter a DIY Kimono from a lovely scarf. It came out ok, if you don't examine it too closely :-) When I finished it, I told myself that I wouldn't make another one, but since then I've been thinking that if I were to sew the front and collar by hand, it might be less trouble and look better. Here's the post.

Batik 5 inch squares
On Monday, I was so tired after work that there was no way I was going to be able to do any type of difficult blocks or FMQ. So, I found some lovely 5 inch Tonga batik mini squares in my stash. Since they were a great price, I had bought 3 packages. That was a great idea. Now I have enough to make at least a throw. The colours are beautiful - from dark blue, to pale blue, yellows and oranges. It's very rich looking.

I've worked on it for a couple of days. Here is the result to date. Once again, it's taken a photo of my project to see that I've made an error - it looks like I've messed up the pattern of the yellow squares in the top left corner. I guess I'll have to fix that up. It's amazing how you "see" so much better when looking at a photo instead of the real thing!

On Tuesday I went to the Common Thread Quilt Guild meeting. The presenter did a trunk show - she had some amazing pieces. When I went to look at her work up close during the break, I realised that I was able to recognize the FMQ that she had done. That's the first time it's happened to me. That's a sign that I'm learning my patterns. I was quite happy.

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
On Thursday, I went to my second class - I'm taking a Canadian art appreciation course. It's held at the National Gallery of Canada. What an amazing adventure. I get to look at great Canadian paintings in an amazing building while listening to our extremely knowledgeable and interesting professor - and the bonus... no homework. What a joy!

In last week's post, I realised that if I wanted to sew every day, I should probably bring a small embroidery project to work so that I could do my half hour during my lunch break. I brought my project to the office and I worked on it for the first time today.
This is a project that I started a couple of years ago. It's from the book Applique Inside the Lines by Carol Armstrong. I've done a couple of projects previously (here they are). This one is a set of three leaves. I've finished the red leaf and started working on the yellow and orange leaf. You start by embroidering the outline and then appliqueing the fabric within the lines. These are great projects for learning to hand applique.

Applique Inside the Lines
Applique Inside the Lines
Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier

Tomorrow I'm going to take a quilting class offered by our Guild. We are making our own Happy Village, based on the book Happy Villages by Karen Eckmeier. This should be a lot of fun. I'm bringing a postcard of the Almafi Coast in Italy. It looks a lot like some of the villages. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to make it look a little like it. It was such a wonderful area and we had a great time. It would be fun to remember our trip through a quilt.

What I learned:
  • Sometimes I feel bad that I have so many projects on the go but then I'm very grateful when I can choose to work on the project I want, based on my energy level. I guess it's not such a bad thing. At least I do get back to most of them....eventually.
  • I didn't think I had accomplished much this week, but as I was writing my post, I realise that I've been productive. I may not have worked on my challenge projects, but I did have a good week!

12 comments:

  1. It looks to me like you did accomplish a lot! Kimono, scarf, quilt top, embroidery and applique. As well as doing research by going to the trunk show and taking the art class! Sounds like a well rounded week! PS. You are a no reply blogger and I was unable to respond to your lovely comments left on my blog. Please take a look at this link. http://www.venustrappedinmars.com/2013/06/google-ultimate-no-reply-blogger.html

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    1. Hi Lorna,
      I'm not sure what the problem is, but I checked the link and it should be fine since I do have the correct stuff on my profile. I'll have to check into it.
      Yes, I guess I did have a productive week. It's just that I seem to equate productive with sewing or quilting when there's so much else that we can do to learn!

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  2. Hello, yes you did produce alot...class, trunk show, which I would love to go to, quilt and the kimono is a great idea....

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    1. Thanks Rosie. I think I need to stop focusing on what I was supposed to quilt and focus on what I did :-)

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  3. Are you kidding, Andree? You've accomplished lots! Just that hand applique alone would've taken me a whole week of 30 minutes, but you did that, got started on a quilt and made a kimono. (I watched the tutorial - cute and easy! I might have to make one...) And I agree about photos - it was the photo I took yesterday of my two quilt tops I'd planned to finish today that made me realize the fabric was all wrong - back to the drawing board!

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    1. Isn't that amazing about the photo? I guess a picture makes you focus on the pattern.
      Good luck with the kimono. I'm seriously considering making another one - but if the fabric is flimsy, I'm going to finish the collar and front by hand.

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  4. Wow, I'm impressed on how much you accomplished during your lunch break! I wish I could do that! Thanks for sharing your week with us!

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    1. Your welcome - I sure wish I could do that more often. I usually sit at the computer and work!

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  5. The art appreciation class sounds really cool and I love the villages book--that should be a fun project to do. It looks like you had a very good week!

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  6. Hi Mary,
    The villages are cool, but incredibly fiddly. I'm really hoping to get it done by the weekend (but I'm not doing anything else....) As you can see, I can get easily distracted. The art appreciation class is awesome. I'm looking forward to going to the art gallery on my own and using my new knowledge to look at paintings.

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  7. Happy villages est un livre que j'ai toujours cherché à avoir. Est-ce-que le cours était bien ?

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  8. Allo Béa, le cours était super - Je viens tout juste d'afficher mes résultats préliminaires.

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