And another top is finished! I started sewing these Duck Paddle blocks just to use up the pieces I'd cut as a kit years ago, but once I'd decided on the setting fabric and borders there was no stopping me.

I love the way this turned out, quite different from the way I'd intended to finish it but I'm very happy with it now.

The border fabric was leftover from a quilt backing years ago, and was from Spotlight originally, but I listened to what the quilt wanted and I'm glad I used it. The whole thing is very soft and pretty looking, despite the brown in the blocks. I love brown, and I'm itching to make another set of blocks in this colour combination. I haven't got it out of my system yet...

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I despair of ever taking photos with true to life colours, these are all tinged blue from the walls of the workshop, painted in lovely Stonemason pastel blue. I wonder when we'll be able to get rid of that? And the nauseating turquoise carpet.....

 So the green of the border is not quite so green as it appears and is more subdued and antiquey looking.

I think I mentioned these Little Cross blocks in the very early days of  blogging - Jan 26 2006 to be exact. I couldn't get them set together until nearly four years later Jan 17 2010 and they've not seen the light of day until I started pulling out tops and fabric for The Big Border Push of early 2013. You will notice that the setting fabric of this top is the border fabric of the double pinwheels from the last post. I'm a bit dim sometimes, and too often the restrictions that I put on certain fabrics don't get updated straight away. The rest of this fabric was with this top and when I pulled it all out it finally occurred to me that I didn't have to "save"  it for this project any more, that it was fair game to be used on another quilt. Only took me three years to work that out...

I'm disappointed in some of the fabric in these blocks, really boring  90's florals and other bits I was trying to use up. How many of my quilts start this way, 'getting rid of scraps' and then I fall in love with the finished blocks and wish I'd used nicer fabric. Oh well, it's all good quality, and I would like to make the little cross blocks again, in beautiful reproductions, and set them a bit differently.Does every quilt beget another quilt around here? Each one seems to spark another idea for me, and I want to go haring off in persuit.

But the feeling of finishing four tops already this year is a good one, and surely that entitles me to start something soon? I'm going to get a cup of coffee and update my spreadsheet and see what the next UFO in line will be. I really feel like making a dent in that pile this year, and I'm off to a good start...

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I've been on a border kick just lately; one of my New Year resolutions was to actually finish some of the tops that had stalled at this stage. I've been pulling out heaps of fabrics to try against a number of projects and I've finally made decisions that I (and the tops) can live with. It's sooo satisfying to get them out of the drawer and into the pile waiting to be quilted.  (We'll tackle that little hurdle somewhere down the track.)

 This Double Pinwheel is rather old, started in about 2001 I think, once again from an ebay photo. I originally planned to just leave it without a border, but it needed ...something. The colours in this photo aren't very true to life, the border fabric looks a bit dingy but it's much nicer in reality.

  The blocks were tremendous fun to make, I thoroughly enjoyed sewing all those little pinwheels, which made it more annoying when everything came to a halt over whether or not it needed the border, and then what fabric to use.

I've put the borders on another top started around the same time but haven't got photos yet. And I've got the strips cut for the Duck Paddle border- I'm on a roll here!

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 Ironing the last long seam on the Duck Paddle top.....

And it's in one piece. I love this part of patchwork, getting it all into one big piece and seeing the design come together.

 I've already chosen the borders for this, and I hope to be able to cut those later on today. I might not have time to sew them, but at least they'll be waiting.

My pile of 2" pieced strips is growing, they make good leader-enders. I sew them into pairs, then into fours, and finally add one more square on the end. The blue triangles are added as leader-enders too and it all mounts up surprisingly quickly. I'm going to have to put these on the design wall and make some decisions about how long I want the strips to be, so I don't end up with one piece 40 feet long.

While tidying I found some little cross blocks- tiny cross blocks in fact that measure 3 1/2" finished. There was a stack of the white setting triangles already cut and the little arms of each cross are 1 1/2 by 2" unfinished. I had a heap of them left from cutting the pastel squares from the leader- ender project- if I couldn't get another complete square from the end of the strip I cut a 1 1/2" bit. Are you allowed to have two leader-enders going at the same time?  Because that's what I seem to have going here....

I've been looking at other people's projects involving tiny blocks, the ones you need to make hundreds of for a full size top, and dithering about what I'd like to do. Not spools, not bow-ties, not house blocks, not little pieced children, definitley not Dear Jane. I love all those blocks, but being realistic I can't see myself doing them dozens of times over. I'll have to be content to look at other blogger's versions of those.
But this block I like and it's so easy to do just finger pressing each seam; they're finished before I realise it. I'm only doing the pastel colours to use up the white triangles, I think there's enough for about thirty blocks so it will be quite small. Then I can start doing some reproduction ones......and see how far I get!

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It's the second day of a long weekend, and I'm enjoying pottering from one task to the other. This morning I sorted and trimmed a pile of scraps that Keryn had given me, so they're all put away and tidy. I cut some shapes for the projects that I'm  working on now, and the rest were strips and squares to go in the drawers. Keryn seems to get overwhelmed by the amount of scraps her sewing room produces, and she's happy to clear them all out by giving them to me- who am I to complain?

I've also cleaned out the fridge and I have vegetable soup on the stove and a curry for tea tonight, so the house smells very nice, and I won't  have to stop sewing to cook later on. I have two tops pulled out to put borders on, so there's nothing on my design wall just now. But I found some photos I took before Christmas that I forgot to share.

I've been envious of all the little quilts being posted in blogland, so I decided to have a go myself. Wow! What fun! I could hardly stand it, they were so cute and easy to whip up. Choosing borders from the fat quarter box was lovely, so much more variety.

This is the first one I did, because I had the setting pieces lying on the cutting table, and I found the nine patches in the spare parts drawer. It's vaguely Christmassy and I hoped to get it quilted so I could hang it up, but didn't have time.

Then I found some squ in squ units and made this, which I love even though it's not symetrical.

Then I made some tiny hour glasses (they finish at 2") from scrap triangles and came up with this top, which is the smallest one. I found it hard to keep them little, most of my ideas had them turning into much larger pieces that would still have been nice, but too big to dispaly in one group.

Some leftover hour glasses turned into this square, tipped on point and surrounded by borders. The stripe was fun to do and I was really pleased with the effect.

I got so busy that I had to put these away so nothing is finished, and there are two or three more waiting to be sewn together. It was tremendous fun, and the more I played, the more ideas I had. I don't own a wall big enough to hang dozens of little quilts, but I can have a few grouped together. They don't take up much space in the cupboard either, so I can see many more of these fun projects in the future.

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  I've got the Duck Paddle blocks well on the way to being a top now. I only have to sew a few more long rows and it will be in one piece, and then I can make the final decision about the border. The pink in this photo looks horribly bright, but is actually much softer in real life.

 Once again I used an old quilt from ebay as my inspiration. This was very faded and tattered- I wonder if it was used as a cutter quilt when it was sold.

I have to piece two more pink and navy Lemoyne stars and then I'll be finished repairing that top, and to keep myself amused I'm still playing with my little diamonds. I have quite a few stars made but I haven't come to any decision about what to do with them yet.

They're so cute!!

Look! An empty project box- or it was until I put another set of blocks into it.....

 

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 I've been trying to work out borders for a few old tops and pulled out this project.

I'd set the blocks together last year and put it away when I made a nasty discovery. I'd used some scraps from a friend and I think this blue and white fabric must have had some spray glue or something on it.

  I didn't notice this discolouration at the time but gradually every seam has yellowed and it looked really dirty. I think it's more like a scorch mark from the iron. Wouldn't you know it, I'd used this fabric in at least nine blocks, and to say I was discouraged was an understatement. I put it away while I debated what to do, and then I started to sew replacement blocks in between my other hand piecing at night. I couldn't face ditching the whole project, but I really wish I hadn't had to sew those stars again.

I've got this far unpicking rows and setting them back together and I'm pretty bored by now. I'll be glad when it's done and I can get onto something else with a clear conscience. I think I'll examine gifted scraps a bit more closely in future and I might save myself some hassle.

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 I do feel a bit monochromatic these days posting nothing but my brown blocks. I hope to be cutting more colourful setting fabrics soon, as I have finished the twenty  Flying Cross blocks

  and the Duck Paddle ones. However when I started to lay these out on the design wall I thought the pile was bigger and so it proved to be. There were thirty blocks, not twenty- I really wasn't paying attention somewhere along the line.

So the finished top will be  a bit larger than I thought.

Then I began pulling out fabric to mull over settings and borders and before I knew it I had three other tops out and was off on a completely different tack and there were piles of fabric like this over every surface. It will take me hours to put it all away again, but I think I've decided on two or maybe three borders and a setting for the Duck Paddle blocks. Now I can start ironing and cutting....

And lest you think I'm drowning in a sea of brown, here is my Leader-Ender project these days. Lots of pastel squares and solid blue setting triangles.

 I'll probably make  a strippy quilt set with white or they might be a border for some pastel blocks; haven't decided yet. They're a nice antidote anyway.

(But I still love brown....just saying)

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 Keryn and I have been having big discussions about how we can get more done and also how to keep track of what we achieve. I love to make lists,(don't always stick to them!)  but Keryn doesn't normally. However she's trying a different tack now, and she seems to be sticking with it. In the past we always made grandiose lists that were doomed from the start, and I realised it was because there might be written boldly "Finish applique quilt", or "Clear out shed" but the applique blocks were only half done and the shed required two days of effort and three trailer loads to the dump. Who wanted to work for days or weeks or months and only get to cross out one thing?

It reminds me  of my son Matt, when he'd been teased into losing his temper by an older brother..."Thanks a lot Rob!!!! Just when I'd decided to be good for the Rest Of My Life!!!" It was never going to happen son....

 In the past I've written out lists of every step for each quilt, thinking I could cross off   "Finish blocks...set into top..choose border...make backing.... quilt...make binding....sew binding.... label.." blah blah ..zzzzz.Somehow seeing all that work written out like that had the opposite effect and just reminded me of what a long process it was going to be. Crossing off one step only pointed out how much else I had to do.

So breaking things down into what is achievable for the day makes much better sense. Instead of aiming to finish these two tops I'm making twenty of each block, and then I'll start to play with the setting.I may have to make more, but I don't have to decide that just yet.

                         

When these units are sewn together later today I'll have my twenty blocks of each and I can start auditioning fabrics for sashing or setting blocks. These small steps are much more achievable and they add up to the main goal of finishing the quilts.

So it's brown brown all the time around here at the moment. Sue  SA made the comment that my job counted towards Show and Tell, and I realised that I have been a bit slack about posting customer quilts. To appease those of you who think brown is boring here are two  projects from a lovely lady who is over 80 years old. She started to make these gorgeous blocks in amazing bright colour combinations and couldn't seem to stop.

 She turned them topsy turvy and made a quilt and a table runner from them. A loooong table runner! What an incredible array of fabrics here, I was kept amused the whole time I was quilting.

These must have been a lot of fun to do...

 

However, like Jan said, from What a Load of Scrap  -I've never not been in a brown phase......

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Two of the projects that I want to work on are blocks that I started years ago.This was in my brown phase when I couldn't close the fat quarter drawers because they were full to bursting. I cut kits of these blocks, a Duck's Foot, Duck Paddle, or whatever you like to call it..

                           

and this pattern which I've seen called Flying Crosses. 

 I 'd made 14 of these blocks and had the dark pieces cut for at least ten more, so first on the list of things to do was cut more background pieces.

                           

 I cut some pieces for the Duck Paddle at the same time and sewed some half square units. When it's super hot this afternoon I'll start sewing them all together.

I think this is the photo that inspired the Flying Crosses, but that green looks ill matched to the old blocks. I don't know how I'd originally intended to set these, but I had a length of green fabric on the table and laid the blocks on it just to see. It looks better than the green in the photo, but I'm not committing myself to anything just yet....

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I spent some time over the last week thinking about the coming year and what I'd like to change and what I wanted to achieve. I was not at all happy with how much sewing I did in 2012, for some reason it wasn't a very productive year as far as quilting went. I'm making a list of every project I started, and that's probably longer than I think, but I know there were very few finishes.

I suppose when you finish other people's quilts for a living it's easy to overlook your own-  I did so many bindings last year I can just about do them with my eyes shut. However my own quilts are suffering and I want that to change. I need to get the mountain of quilt tops quilted, and the staggering number of blocks and projects made into tops. I'm sick of the stagnant state of the sewing room, and I intend to start things humming again.

Of course it's hard to be enthusiastic when the projected temperature for the next two days is 43C-gak!!!! It's absolutely draining, but I've finished a small top today and I'll plod away tomorrow at another project near to completion.

I found some photos of the back of my FlyingHome quilt that was in Homespun, I adored piecing these beautiful fabrics together.

  I would be glad to use this side on a bed, and we were pleased to finally find a home for that centre fabric. Keryn had bought it on spec, and agreed that this was the perfect place for it.

One of my resolutions was to blog more regularly- isn't it the same every year? I need the record of my days because it's so easy to forget what happened when I look back over the year. All the customer quilts and the sewing and the family and the garden just disappear in a foggy blur of events, and the blog is a little reminder of what life is like, with dates and photos.

I just tried to find a recent photo of Pippi to end this post with and the last one I took was  about eight months ago. How slack is that? Obviously  using the camera more should be another resolution.

  So here's Pippi waiting ( I'm Bored!!!! big sigh...) until it's cool enough to go out for the nightly race around with Dolly,

and a photo Keryn took of some roses from my garden.

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 I got a lovely surprise in the mail;  the latest copy of Homespun magazine.

Inside, my quilt Flying Home that I started last year sometime. I think I first mentioned it on Jan 1st,  but I didn't finish the blocks until months later, and they were intended for the article by then so I couldn't talk about them.

Keryn pieced half the blocks-should I have given her credit? Nah, she didn't care.

Sometimes when I see my work photographed so beautifully I think "Did I do that?" and marvel because it looks so different.

Keryn and I keep trying to choose our favourite block, but it's too hard, they all turned out beautifully. The number of different fabrics in each block semed daunting  at times, but it was worth it in the end. I love it.....except...

I intended to custom quilt this, but a number of customer quilts had to be done at just the wrong time. I had to put a panto on this just to  get it finished,  which disappointed me in lots of ways. Keryn says, "No Worries! We'll just make another one!"  Hmm, we laid the blocks on some blue fabric before we chose this pinky red, perhaps a blue version next time? 

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