Lots of projects!

After the hectic pace of the end of August and the new Learning QAL Goal Setting post, I needed a break. I've been slowly working on many projects - mostly those with deadlines as well as the required procrastination project.

Art with Fabric Blog Hop - Fall 2017

This year's theme is Mother Earth, also known as Gaïa.

I just happen to have a lovely reproduction statue of a beautiful Pre-Columbian female figure from Colombia, South America. I'll be writing more about this beauty in a post just before my blog hop date of Wednesday, October 11, 2017. In the Related Links below you will find a link to the blog hop and its participants.

My muse for the Art with Fabric Blog Hop

I'm going to wait a little to post my progress, although I will say that this weekend I finished the background with hand-dyed fabrics, some of which I made this summer. Because of the fabrics and the theme, this is going to be a very special piece for me :-)

September Learning Quilt-A-Long

Craftsy FMQ course

My September goal for the Learning QAL is to learn and practice more free motion quilting (FMQ). I started by re-watching an old favourite Craftsy course that I hadn't really worked on yet. It's Wild Quilting with Christina Cameli. Christina is very engaging and the course looks at how to put various motifs together.

Practicing Wild Quilting

I did one practice piece so far. I've also started drawing Muv's Rudbeckia design. I have a few more sheets of paper to fill before I'm comfortable with that one.

One Monthly Goal (OMG)

My OMG for September is to make a black and white wall hanging for my niece. I used improvisational piecing. It's now ready to quilt. I know that I want to practice Wild Quilting for this piece. I've got a few ideas but haven't worked it all out yet. I'm hoping to get it done this weekend.

Procrastination Project

Making hexies is my procrastination project of choice these days. There's nothing like listening to a audio book, music or talking with my daughter in the evening as I sew hexies together. I usually design a few and then start sewing them together when I feel like it.

Four completed Hexie Flowers

Dark hexie flower ready to be sewn together

So far I have 4 hexie flowers completed, one partially sewn, 4 designed and ready to sew and 2 being designed. The ones being designed need to have a few more hexies covered in fabric - that's usually because I've chosen colours but need to go into my stash for more fabric. I've also noticed that my flowers are getting wilder as I go. This could get interesting 😊

The box at the top of the Dark hexie flower picture is where I put completed hexies ready to use for designing a flower. I've been having fun trying out different combinations for the inner and outer circles. Since I'm making a black and white wall hanging I thought that I would make a black and white hexie flower from left over fabric. Looking forward to playing with that! 

What I learned

• I'm finding it difficult to have to complete posts on time for the Learning QAL. I'm trying to keep organised with a list of the posts that I have to complete, their dates and the projects that need to be done by then. That's a lot more organisation than I like but it is helping me keep on track.
• The Learning QAL has doubled in participation in September - from 1 to 2! I hope we can keep those stats going :-)
• Since starting to English Paper Piece (EPP), I'm now seeing hexagons and potential projects everywhere! I keep thinking that I should EPP other shapes but I want to push the hexies and see what I can come up with. I have a couple of art quilt ideas with them in mind. I'm looking forward to playing with these in the next few months.

Related Links

• Art with Fabric Blog Hop - Fall 2017, hosted by Alida
• Wild Quilting with Christina Cameli from Craftsy
• September's Learning QAL Goal and One Monthly Goal

Linking Parties: I will be linking to a few linking parties. Check out what's happening!  Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, MOP Monday, Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, Finished or Not Friday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Free Motion Mavericks, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?,