Arabic Tiles by Jinny Beyer

I have way too many 'Projects' on the go at the moment - but most of them are Outside in the Garden and with Melbourne's fickle weather it is not always possible to work out there so...

Time to start another Quilt Project.

This one is a KIT that I bought at the AQC last year and have just unpacked it. 
I thought it would be a simple matter of just toddling along with the pattern - no need to worry about Pattern, fabric choices or availability - everything was provided in the Kit.

INCLUDING an Errata page.

Uh- Oh!  Point One.  Fabric 1 should be 1 ¾ yards - I have 1 ⅜ yards, a difference of 13 ½".
If it had been any fabric OTHER than Fabric 1 it would not be an issue, only it is the one you cut the borders from!

And, of course, even though I did read the Errata, somehow I didn't realise that I was short until AFTER I started cutting... Oh well, looks like there will be a couple of extra joins!

Point Two
The Photo on the Pattern cover is of a beautiful 67" x 74" Quilt. 
The Kit is for the not quite so stunning smaller 45" x 52" "Wall Size" version, which isn't really the right size for anything.
(I don't have spare walls that need keeping warm!)

Hmmmm - I wonder if I can make it larger?  I have more of the Purple fabric.
But then I will need more for the Border.

While I contemplate that dilemma I will happily bewilder my DH by cutting holes in perfectly good fabric.

And enjoy making as many Kaleidoscope blocks that I can, from the fabric I have, and see what happens.

But for now the Quilt can wait. The Sun is out, the Garden is calling and I have Seedlings to plant!

UFOs

Over the past two months my Challenge group has been working on their UFO pile and I have taken the opportunity/excuse to get some unfinished projects off the chair.

I have been very pleased to finish the two Quiltworx Foundation Paper Pieced quilts
and so for something ENTIRELY different - I have picked up a longstanding UFO. Jinny Beyer's Crystal Star which is (you guessed it) Foundation Paper Pieced!

This is where I was in 2012 - as you can see - not very far indeed.


I pulled it out again in February 2014 and did a couple of sections....



It is not as big as a Quiltworx quilt but being a colour wheel it has a certain degree of difficulty as every 2nd section is stitched in reverse order!

It wasn't until after I had sewed the fabric in the wrong order, I realised that I should have been using my Colour Pallet (after all I did have one as a reference).

I happily went on sewing folding pressing  and cutting.

I sewed the fabric Back to Front,
on the wrong side of the paper,
in the wrong order,
had the fabric move giving an uneven seam - or no seam at all

folded over itself (did that twice on the same piece of fabric),
managed somehow to sew the flower head of a pin to the block -
then... I cut the seam allowance off when I was trimming to size.

Hmmmmmm.....

Thought for the day - If you are thinking about something else while quilting

 - GO DEAL WITH IT - 

then come back to the project 

- especially if you only have 1 x 2" x 7" rectangle of each colour!

ON the upside - I got to play with my new toy - well it DOES look like it but I can assure you this little Steam Iron is no toy! 

It is the best thing I have bought all year - so light and perfect for those small block pressing jobs.

And the Wall Hanging?  

It's almost finished - a bit more together than this photo shows and waiting for a different border fabric.

And this is the problem with leaving a project for so long. 

Your tastes (and paintwork) can often change so fabric choices sometimes also need to change.

What am I doing at the moment?

Bali Wedding Star - Units A & B are completed and nicely packed back in their bags waiting to be trimmed to size.

I am not 100% sure of the colour selection for the Bali Pops pack I chose.
It all looks good when you are only seeing a very small piece of each fabric - until you open the packs and discover there are some very weird patterns included, and not all of them are Batiks!

At this point I am happy to continue and am intrigued as to how it is going to look with it's stormy Grey/Blues and Mauves and Aquas. - Well, I DID ask for Ocean colours!!

In the meantime - I am wondering do I 'take a break'

OR do I go on with something else?

Take a break - yeah right!!!
Seeing I am in the mood for Foundation Paper Piecing, what better "Something Else" is to get my JINNY BEYER - Crystal Star out of the box and under the machine!

I thought I'd made a start on this last year - but - I have just checked back through my Blog Posts and discovered it was EXACTLY 2 years ago ...

It was nice to open the box and find 90% of the project all cut out and more than adequately labelled.

  

A cup of tea later, and I was reacquainted with where I was - and ready to sew.

I have decided to work on this as a distraction or a 'fill in' between projects or when I just need to do something else.
As the sections are self contained it is possible just to pick it up and put down anytime.

How far do I get this time? - - - Only time will tell!

Clean up one Mess before you start another.....

Good advice, particularly for Quilters - but what fun would that be?
Next week will most probably see the start of posts about not one but TWO Mystery Quilts I have signed up for and in the meantime I decided not to clean up ... but to start something else! ...

Monday I had the entire day to myself with no interruptions (Ahhh Bliss!) so in true style I decided to get out my "Splurge Kit"  .. You know the one you really can't afford but wanted anyway?


As my DH dropped me at the tram stop last April his  parting words were --- "Enjoy yourself".  A dangerous and potentially expensive comment to make seeing  I was headed for the AQC in Melbourne at the Royal Exhibition Buildings.

Jinny Beyer's Quilts have always held a fascination for me and it was all too tempting, after sitting there listening to her talk of colour theory and what makes one quilt work when others just don't!

I just had to have one and what better quilt to start with than the beautiful Colour Pallet Wall-hanging "Crystal Star".

I got up to the bit where it says... "Cut 150 x 1 1/8" x 3 1/8" pieces from Fabric 48" and then they all came home......  It is not the sort of project I am going to attempt when there is anyone else around, so off it goes, back in it's bag with everything duly labelled to await another perfect day.....