Too many WIPs - Progress report

I became a finisher.
Now, I have returned to my earlier self and procrastinate.
I started to piece some drunkards path blocks - I want to make two lap quilts for a couple of friends, but I'm wavering on the layouts. Here are some possibilities. I might make them mirror images, one with the dark quarter circles and the other with the light. Any ideas?

Matchy matchy

Not matchy

The start of a mirror image
I need to commit to a couple of things, one of which is to finish stuff before I start anything else. Other current WIPs are:
Waiting to be basted and quilted

This one is boring - well it was but the photo has disappeared. Bad blogsy.  Put it back now!

Lovely tone it down

Long term project

Still working on this shawl

Owl tea cosy for my sister

APQ Tone it Down quilt - blocks 15 and 16 - hooray!

Only four left to make!  I've started to put up some of the sashing that I originally cut up.

That blue sashing at the top right might have to go.

Even after I make the last four blocks, I've still go heaps of little nine patches to make - there's only one up so far, but it is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I think this will be a very pretty quilt.  Not sure if I should give it away or keep it for myself.

Hexagons so far for my not GMFG really quilt.  These finish with one inch sides.

APQ Tone it Down - blocks eleven and twelve

I had a big sewing session last night and this morning.  Blocks eleven and twelve are now done - It takes about four solid hours of sewing to complete two blocks - that is with most of the pieces already cut.

Blocks so far...

I've also completed a few more flowers for my hexi quilt.  I only make these on the train, down at the dog park and at night time if I watch a bit of telly.  These hexis have one inch sides, excluding the seam allowance, and I've been sewing them together with a running stitch.  This is more my style - lots of loud colour.

I'm still painting our little sitting room - it is bright yellow.  So, lots of things in progress.

Slow peacock progress

Here is an update

The tail is together.  Work has started on the eyes

hand and machine appliqued

Nothing to do with the peacock, but my first hand applique from Sarah Filke's Craftsy course

The cushion back

Cluj-Napoca hexi

We've spent two nights in cluj-napoca and I sewed one hexi and one half hexi, but haven't sewn on the white borders.  We are off to Oredea this morning - only a couple of hours drive.  I should finish off the white borders in Oredea and maybe start on my last full flower  and two half flowers.

Brasov hexis

I started one of these hexagons in Sibiou but finished it in Brasov.

Timisoara hexi

One more flower completed

Belgrade hexagons

Only three new hexis in Belgrade.  Tomorrow we will be driving to Romania, so no travel sewing opportunities.  I think I've made 17 of the 25 hexagons so far.  Laying out the blocks, I'm going to need a lot more than 25 if I use the traditional gmfg layout, but don't have anymore fabric.  Maybe I'll have to do a squared layout with white diamonds between the flowers.

I'd love any suggestions you might have.

Nis, Serbia hexagon

We were only here for one night so only one hexi done.  Finished it off in Belgrade.

Amsterdam flowers

Here are all my flowers so far.

Singapore flower 2

White hexagons still to be sewn on.

Almost packed

I really wanted a project to work on while we are away.  I started with dresden plates, but decided these would be easier to machine applique.  Given that I've sort of committed to making a quilt for my mother and mother-in-law, I decided to make two lap quilts.

The one I'll be taking away is a grandmother's garden quilt.

I first decided on paper piecing, so bought 400 one inch hexagons.  Then I decided that was too time consuming.

I then thought about buying inklingo hexis, but before committing to the fairly steep price, tried drafting them instead.  That all went well, although it took quite a while.   I also bought some freezer paper from the american food store in Melbourne.  There was a minimum order of $20 before postage, so I ended up ordering three rolls, which cost $40 all up.

They finally arrived and I used the freezer paper to iron on to the right side of the fabric so I ould run it through my inkjet printer.

Disaster - one of four fabric sheets printed.  The other three just jammed in the printer and ruined the fabric. 

So, back to the drawing board.  I cut out two different sized hexagons using the thin plastic cover of an old notebook, to create templates - one large one which incorporated the seam allowance and a 1.25 inch hexagon without a seam allowance.

The ruined fabric is in the middle, while on the left is my hexi draft and the red hexi is the template I cut out from the draft.  On the right is the process I'm using - trace around the hexi with a pencil.  I'll then cut these out with an approximate 1/4 inch seam allowance.

I've used all the fabric I bought for the dresden plates and more.  As this will be a lap quilt, I've decided on doing 5 x 5 double flowers.  I don't want any fabric repeats, apart from every flower having the same yellow centre, so needed to find 50 different fabrics.  I've raided all my scraps and fabric I've used in other quilts to find 50 different fabrics.

Here are most of the fabrics I've chosen

All cut up - these are the sets I'll use for the 25 different flowers - for each pair, I'll use the darker fabric on the right for the  six inner petals, with the paler colours for the 12 other petals.  The paths will be white and the centre of the flowers will be yellow

My first (and test) hexagon - not quite done and I stupidly used the paler fabric for the inner petals.  Two left to sew on.

 I wanted to make sure I could handle all of this sewing - it's taken me about three hours to sew this much together.  Should keep me busy while I'm away.

Sorry Catherine - I've started to quilt your quilt but it will have to wait until I get back.  I should finish it by March:)

Hand sewing anyone?

We are about to go overseas for eight weeks, so I thought I'd better order some fabric.  Yes, I am serious.  I know my mother wants a quilt and am sure my mother in law would like one too, so I decided to make lap sizes quilts for them.

Two months is a good chunk of time, so I ordered the fabric with a view to making a Dresden plate lap quilt.  I bought half yards of 33 different small print fabrics and started to cut out the blades.  I only ended using thirty as one was flannel (my mistake) and the other two didn't fit in.

I thought I'd take the Dresdens with me and hand stitch them on while away.

Pretty :)

 

Once I had cut them out, sewn the tops and pressed, they came together much faster than I though they would.

Now that I've completed all six 18 inch plates, I've decided to machine appliqué them, rather than lugging it all to the other side of the world.  I'll do that when I get back.

So, what to do in the quiet times while I'm away?

Make a hexagon lap quilt of course, with some of the same fabrics.  Maybe a grandmother's garden quilt.  I've ordered 400 1 inch hexagon paper.  After I submitted and paid for the order, I changed my mind and ordered freezer paper from a company in Australia that sells American products.  I had to order 4 rolls, so that ended up costing a bit.  The iPad let's you be compulsive at great cost.  I ordered the freezer paper so I could spend more buying the inklingo 1 inch template to print directly on the fabric.  Have you used inklingo?  Any reviews you would like to share before I spend $25 on a digital drawing of hexagons?

The horrid carpet under our house is the background for these photos. I think I'll use a pale lemon or a jacaranda flower coloured sheet for the background blocks.