Gravity is catching up with me

Or rather, I'm catching up with the Gravity quilt. In all other aspects I think gravity is winning...gulp.

I've powered my way through the two Eclipe blocks, which come in blue and yellow/ochre colour ways. Here's the yellow one.

Although there are two partial seams in each block, the blocks come together fairly quickly and easily provided that you leave a big enough "gap" for finishing off the seam. I think Julie from Jaybird Quilts recommends leaving a 1/2" gap; I confess I left at least 1" if not more.

I've found that the big risk with partial seams is that the two parts of the seam don't match up and lay flat. Maybe this problem is exaccerbated by the larger gap I leave but I'd rather have too much wiggle room rather than too little.

When I come to complete the seam at the end, if I sew from the edge of the pieces back in towards the partial seam (i.e. I'm heading back towards the point where I left off the seam when I first sewed it) I risk not meeting the end of my partial seam exactly and creating a buckle in the fabric. I've found that starting the partial seam from the middle and sewing out to the edge works better for me but you lot probably do that, right?! I'm so slow.

Voyage comes in blue and orange colour ways, of which I've only completed the blue so far. 

No partial seams in this one, just lots of points to match! As usual I'm using a long basting stitch to sew the seam and check that my points match perfectly. If they don't, I pull the basting stitches out, adjust, rebaste and then check again. Once everything matches up perfectly, I sew the seam again using a 2.0 stitch length and then pull out the superfluous basting stitch.

Once I've finished the orange version of Voyage, I still have to cut and piece the monochrome setting triangles which finish off the quilt and piece the top. And then there's the bonus cushion...

So much to do, so little time!

Finally, my usual October plea to any quilters from Vermont who may be able to recommend quilt shops for me to visit in October. No one had been able to recommend any so far so I'm wondering if maybe there aren't any? I'm conscious that Vermont is a relatively small state and maybe everyone crosses state lines to shop? Ah well, more time for the Ben and Jerry's factory tour!

Sunday Stash #24

Just a couple of deliveries this week and no purchases! I'm being good in advance of Vermont. It doesn't come naturally...

First up, the rest of the Make Modern block of the month kit appeared.

I seem to be all about the solids at the moment.

Now I've got the fabric I can make the block from last months magazine. Already behind, eek!

Also arriving was the binding and backing to go with.

Both are from Moda's new low volume collection called Modern Background:Ink by Zen Chic. The small print is going to be the binding, the text is going to be the backing.

Finally, my usual October plea to any quilters from Vermont who may be able to recommend quilt shops for me to visit in October. No one had been able to recommend any so far so I'm wondering if maybe there aren't any? I'm conscious that Vermont is a relatively small state and maybe everyone crosses state lines to shop? Ah well, more time for the Ben and Jerry's factory tour!

Putting on my shoes

Next on my list of "oh good grief, I'm so ridiculously behind" projects were the September and October blocks from the GenX Quilter's Moccasin block of the month project.

Although these blocks are 9.5" square, I seem to wizz through the cutting of them a lot quicker than some of the smaller 6" blocks from the Moda Building Blocks and Farm Girl Vintage projects. Perhaps because there's only 7 or 8 fabrics in total in Moccasin?

Here's the September blocks.

And then the October blocks (a bit cropped).

I love the neat, bright contrast of these blocks and am a little sad that, after next month, we're all done!

Finally, I'm adding a plea to all my October blog posts this month and it's aimed at any quilting Vermonters (Vermontees? People of Vermont?) out there. As you may know, I'm gradually visiting all 50 states and this November I'm visiting Vermont. As well as visiting various tourist attractions I'm also hoping to do a bit of quilt shopping. Can anyone recommend a quilt shop? Or anything else for that matter!?

Just in case anyone is about to say I'm missing the awesome fall colours by not visiting now (and I'm sure they are absolutely gorgeous) - this is the view I see out of my bedroom window every day.

I live in Sherwood Forest (alleged home of Robin Hood) so have beautiful woodland views every day.

Sunday Stash #23 and an appeal to any Vermonters

I'm almost embarrassed about the amount of fabric that I've added to my stash over the past two weeks. Almost.

First up is a bundle of Kona solids to be used in Don't Call Me Betsy's Epic Sampler BOM.

The teal and white dots are hopefully going to be the backing when everything is finished. Anyone else sewing along?

Next a fat quarter bundle of Rhoda Ruth by Elizabeth Hartman for Robert Kaufman. 

I've got a fancy for some scrappy Hazel Hedgehogs.

Next were some purchases from Fat Quarter Shop when they had their flash 20% off sale. Well, it would have been rude not to right?

A fat quarter bundle of Shimmer 2 by Jennifer Sampou for Robert Kaufman, an anonymous bolt end of shimmery silver disco balls on black and a layer cake of Lucky Star by Zoe Pearn for Riley Blake fell into by electronic basket. 

The fat quarter bundle of Flutterberry by Melly and Me for Riley Blake finally appeared. Along with the yardage I posted about last time, this is going to be turned into a Social Butterfly quilt using Lella Boutique's pattern.

And finally the first part of the Make it Modern BOM kit turned out. The rest is still in the post but i find it funny that the one bit of the kit that I probably didn't need turned up first. I must have almost a bolt of Kona Snow in my stash, albeit in several cuts. So I probably need another few yards like a hole in the head but oh well!  

Finally, I'm adding a plea to all my October blog posts this month and it's aimed at any quilting Vermonters (Vermontees? People of Vermont?) out there. As you may know, I'm gradually visiting all 50 states and this November I'm visiting Vermont. As well as visiting various tourist attractions I'm also hoping to do a bit of quilt shopping. Can anyone recommend a quilt shop? Or anything else for that matter!?

Just in case anyone is about to say I'm missing the awesome fall colours by not visiting now - this is the view I see out of my bedroom window every day.

I live in Sherwood forest (where Robin Hood allegedly lived) so have the beauty of Autumn colours from the comfort of my own home. Aren't I lucky?

Moda Building Blocks: done!

After a year of piecing the beautiful Moda building blocks quilt top is done!

It's so big I had to cut the corners off the picture to get it to fit on screen! 

I pieced this quilt as part of the Simply Solids block of the month project and slowly but surely it's been coming together. 

This was one of the better block of the month projects I was doing this year: it had a good variety of blocks (although no curves, foundation or paper piecing, inset seams etc.) and definitely forced me out of my comfort zone for piecing. Having initially cursed Moda's technique for cutting and piecing flying geese and half square triangles (bias anyone?!) it's now my favourite way to piece these units. No more flippy corners for me! 

For the backing I've chosen a very simple monochrome text. As front is so colourful and busy, I didn't want the back to fight with or detract from the front. I love that the names of some of the fabrics used in the top are listed on the back.

The added bonus with this project is the sheer volume of fabric I have left over. At the beginning of the project Simply Solids warned us to retain our scraps as we'd need them later on. So over the course of the year I've been retaining and re-using any scraps over 1". Which means at the end of the year I've ended up with this stash 

That's at least 15 fat quarters or half yards of white and numerous fat quarters of half yards of colours from across the Kona range. I've set aside the colours to make the Elizabeth Hartman Patchwork City quilt, perhaps supplementing from my print scraps. 

The white is going to be used for another project coming up. 

But as soon as one door closes, another opens. Starting this month is Don't Call Me Betsy's Epic Sampler Block of the Month project and I've got my fabric all ready to go!