Feb Finish - hopefully not to late!

I will be emailing Kris a link to this post as soon as I have finished it, so hopefully I will make it into the Feb draw!

I have finished mums English Tea Garden Quilt!

 

I finished sewing the binding on last night, but we were on Straddie and couldn't post about it. I did try sending an email with a photo via my phone, but reception was not the best! 

So, obviously the pic above is the front. I wasn't sure I had enough backing, so I added a pieced strip.

It's the first time I've quilted something with a cross hatch pattern and while it's not flawless, I'm pretty happy with it!

 

The big question now is, do I send it to mum straight away or do I wait until we go to Canberra in April to hand deliver it? Hand delivering would save on postage, but I don't know if I can wait that long!

Why sometimes putting something away for awhile is a good thing.

Remember this quilt back that became a front?
Remember this panicked call for help?
Remember one, two and three excellent quilters who gave me wonderful ideas?

Well, despite those wonderful ideas. I could not get motivated to finish the quilt. So I did what all good quilters did - put it away, stuck my fingers in my ears and sang LA, LA, LA very loudly until it stopped yelling at me and decided to sulk quietly instead.

The other day I was rummaging through my scraps when I discovered a pile of blue 3.5in squares and my mind started ticking. I pulled out the backing fabric that had fallen short, made some measurements, drew up a design and whipped up this.

So now I have a back! I'm thinking of being a bit creative with the quilting and doing dragonflies in yellow. What do you think??

BTW, I finished quilting mum's quilt and am spending nights sewing the binding on. Hope to have it done soon!

Pinning

I'm pinning my mums quilt. I tried last night and it was a total disaster! It's the biggest thing I have ever done and I could not get the backing to stay straight. Because it was hot, I was sweaty, I couldn't put the fan on because it blows the fabric around and the tape would not stick! In the end I gave up in disgust. This morning, I am trying a new tack. Pinning it bit by bit on the dining room table. Will let you know how it goes later!

FebFast 2010

For various reasons, I have decided to participate in FebFast 2010. FebFast is a fundraiser where participants are sponsored to go alcohol free for the month of February!  The festive season was a very good one for me and I am trying to lose some weight and get a bit fitter this year. I thought this would be a good way to kick it off and support some great charities in the process, so go on, click on the link on the side and sponsor me!

From the FebFast website

FebFast is a charity that is now in its third year of operation.
We work to reduce the impact of alcohol and other drugs on young Australians by raising funds to support organisations working in research, prevention and service delivery concerning alcohol and other drugs use by young people.
We conduct a national education, awareness and fundraising campaign that invites people to sacrifice their alcohol consumption during February, and at the same time raise funds to support youth alcohol and other drug services.
Over the past two years we have seen more than 3,500 people take up the FebFast challenge to give up the grog for amonth. Collectively these people have raised more than $700,000 to support our cause.
Funds from our last two campaigns have been distributed to 13 organisations around Australia.
Proceeds from our 2010 registration and fundraising efforts will be shared amongst the Australian Drug Foundation (that operates nationally), YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service) in Victoria, The Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, Mater Hospital’s Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service in Queensland and FebFast’s grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.

Donate
Donations to FebFast are tax deductible in Australia. Please consider contributing to our work.

Beneficiaries
FebFast is a charity that is now in its third year of operation.
We work to reduce the impact of alcohol and other drugs on young Australians by raising funds to support organisations working in research, prevention and service delivery concerning alcohol and other drugs use by young people.
We conduct a national education, awareness and fundraising campaign that invites people to sacrifice their alcohol consumption during February, and at the same time raise funds to support youth alcohol and other drug services.
Over the past two years we have seen more than 3,500 people take up the FebFast challenge to give up the grog for amonth. Collectively these people have raised more than $700,000 to support our cause.
Funds from our last two campaigns have been distributed to 13 organisations around Australia.
Proceeds from our 2010 registration and fundraising efforts will be shared amongst the Australian Drug Foundation (that operates nationally), YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service) in Victoria, The Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, Mater Hospital’s Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service in Queensland and FebFast’s grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.

Donate
Donations to FebFast are tax deductible in Australia. Please consider contributing to our work.

Beneficiaries
Proceeds from our 2010 registration and fundraising efforts will be shared amongst the Australian Drug Foundation (that operates nationally), YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service) in Victoria, The Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, Mater Hospital’s Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service in Queensland and FebFast’s grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.
Proceeds from our 2010 registration and fundraising efforts will be shared amongst the Australian Drug Foundation (that operates nationally), YSAS (the Youth Substance Abuse Service) in Victoria, The Ted Noffs Foundation in NSW and the ACT, Mater Hospital’s Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service in Queensland and FebFast’s grants program for smaller grass-roots organisations.

No January finishes. :(

Life has been a bit hectic. I had an operation on my eye on Tuesday to insert a cache lens. This was after a failed attempt in August to insert an ICL (implanted contact lens.), which left me a cataract (which has now corrected itself, thank goodness!) and an misshapen, enlarged pupil in my right eye. While the pupil cannot be fixed, I am pleased to say the cache lens procedure has worked a treat and I now have almost 20/20 vision out of my right eye!! My left eye is scheduled for Monday! But, before that, I must travel to Newcastle (leaving this afternoon) to sadly attend my maternal grandmother's funeral. She died on Tuesday morning, just before I went into surgery. She was 91 and while it was not unexpected, it's not easy. My other grandmother died in December at the age of 98, so I have lost my last 2 remaining grandparents within 2 months of each other and to put it bluntly - it sux.

All that, plus life in general has stopped me from a January finish. I have however, finished the last two borders and therefore the top!

Border 5 was more of the blue material. 2 inch strips this time.

And the 6th and final border! Yay!

Despite buying the amount of fabric required for the backing, I wasn't overly confident it was enough, so I have added a strip of 6.5x12.5 in strips to make sure. I think it will look good. Now all I need to do is sandwich it and start the quilting - most probably on the weekend. It will definitely be a Feb finish!

Another 2 borders

 I've got another 2 borders on my mums quilt. The third border is the one that has taken the longest as it required 24 square in square blocks. Although my square in squares are not perfect, they are getting better as I go.

Border 4 was another round of 3in squares. What I am most proud of with this quilt is the care I have taken with my seams. Making sure they don't get flipped over while sewing and getting them to line up.

Next I need another border of the blue material, followed by the last border which will be made from 6.5x12.5 in strips with four 5x12.5 in strip in the corners.Still hopeful for this to be my January finish, although it will be close!

I also received the second order of fabric I've been waiting on to finish the strip twist quilt. Although now I have it, I'm thinking of starting all over again!

And I reversed, traced onto vilesofix and started to cut out the frilled neck lizard.
Getting to the point where I will actually have to start doing stuff with the lizard instead of prep work! Eeeeeeeeeeeek!!

Yay! A Fabric Delivery!!

Yesterday I got home to some squishy mail from the Fat Quarter Shop. It held the fabric I needed to keep going with the quilt I am making for my mum. So, today, despite the fact I should be cleaning my house for the house guests who will arrive this evening, I cut and I sewed! But first, what was in my package??

Maid of Honour blue Double Stripe for the backing of mums quilt,

Alliance Blue Boxes Under the Bed for borders within mums quilt,

 Sweets Multi Heart O' Plenty and

 

 Michael Miller Pink Sprinkes on Top.

The last two were to pad the bag out :)

So I cut the last of the fabric I needed for mums and started sewing.

This is the centre panel with the first border. The centre panel is made up of seven 4.5x16.5 in strips. The first border is 1.5 in strips..

The second border is made up of thirty six 3.5in squares.

There will be another 4 borders. The third is made up twenty four square in square blocks that will measure 6.5 in sq. The fourth will be sixty 3.5 in squares similar to the second border. Fifth will be 2 inch strips of the blue fabric used in the first border. Finally, the sixth border will twenty eight 6.5x12.5 in strips with four 5x12.5 in strip in the corners. If you want to get a general idea of what it will look like, check out this post. I am still hopeful I will be able to make this my January finish.