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

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

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!