Sunday, April 30, 2017

April Finishes

Can it be that another month is finished? It's blown by so fast that I think I was productive....but it's all rather hazy. I can blame this on the last two busy weekends :-) I don't usually have a social life, and all of a sudden, two major events, two weekends in a row! It was a lot of fun, but the quilting was mostly put aside. Except for this first project what was done this weekend, most were done a long time ago - at the beginning of the month.

Growing Up QAL - Block 4, Embroidery


Block 4 - Embroidery of Growing up QAL
Block 4 - Embroidery of Growing up QAL



I brought the block with me this weekend to Toronto and had a little time to work on it. I finished it on the drive back to Ottawa earlier today. I'm sorry I didn't iron it but since it was on light gray fabric, I ended up using both a Frixion pen and a fabric pen. I'll have to wash the block first before ironing it, otherwise I risk setting in the fabric pen. The deadline for linking up is today, so this is what I'm posting!




Postcard from Sweden Quilt Along

I found a little bit of time to work on this project. I'm glad that Myra of Busy Hands Quilts is hosting this quilt along. It's encouraging me to keep working on this project. I just took the pictures this evening and it's very gray outside - the colours are much more vibrant in person.

This month I trimmed all of the finished blocks. This went much better than the neutral quilt below (see the "What I learned" section below). I already had a few rows sewn together and added a couple more this month.
Progress on Postcard from Sweden quilt

You may have noticed that the fabrics are not the correct colours, nor are they solids. As much as I love the original pattern, there was no way that I was going to manage putting all of those colours in the right place. That's just too much fussiness for me. Instead, I printed the image of the quilt in black and white, and have tried to keep to similar values. We'll see how well I did when it's done.





Neutral Lap Quilt - Take 5 Loves Coffee Milk

I was able to complete the quilt top since I spent the beginning of April working on it. I had hoped to finish the quilt this month for my sister-in-law's 60 birthday but we went partying with her and her family in Toronto instead. I'm sure that the quilt will be finished before her 61st!

Take 5 Loves Coffee Milk Quilt Top
Take 5 Loves Coffee Milk Quilt Top
What I learned

  • I enjoy doing embroidery and often have a project on the go, but it's not an activity that should be attached to deadlines. I hope I don't do this again :-)
  • If my pictures are not very good, it's a symptom of a good social life. They will be better soon!
  • I trimmed all of the blocks for the neutral lap quilt, but the length of the strips were far from even. I wasn't always able to trim the blocks as I should - so some of them were not even from the centre. It's not a huge problem and mostly doesn't show, but it makes me rethink the wisdom of cutting fabric when I have a sinus cold!
Related Links
Linking Parties


Great news! My Postcard from Sweden was featured on Midweek Makers! Thanks Susan :-)

14 comments:

  1. Your block for the QAL turned out great! I also always have an embroidery block on the go, especially in the summer, when we are out and around all the time! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Alida. Embroidery is a lot of fun and I'm thrilled that my daughter is taking it up!

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  2. Very fun embroidery block! I'll have to look up that quiltalong!

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    1. Thanks Kathy. It really is a fun quiltalong and well organised by Alida!

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  3. The Growing Up QAL block looks great - well done! Smart that you didn't iron before getting the ink out. Certainly don't want brown lines showing up later, or eating the fabric! Thanks for sharing on Midweek Makers

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    1. Thanks Susan. The blocks are a lot of fun. It's great that we're doing so many different techniques.

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  4. Your Postcard From Sweden quilt top looks great! Thanks for joining the QAL.

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    1. Thanks Myra, it's been great to have an incentive to finish the quilt. It's such a lovely project. Now I have till May 24th to finish the quilting! I'm hoping to at least to have started quilting it since I want to use it as a project to practice my FMQ.

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  5. Your projects are so very pretty! Your Postcard From Sweden quilt is so colorful! Fabulous! Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Miasmine. They are all so different and fun!

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  6. I love the colors in your Postcard from Sweden quilt - perfect!

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    1. Thanks Barb. I just love working with batiks - it's like playing with candy!

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  7. I like your color choice for the postcard-from-Sweden quilt. I never feel bound by a pattern's color choice. Claire aka knitnkwilt

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    1. Thanks Claire. I don't usually care either, but the Postcard from Sweden is so stunning that I wanted to make sure that I got some of the same effect, even if it wasn't with Kona Cottons. I'm really happy with the results so far.

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