Groovy Voting Time!!!

I'm so, so excited! My Groove quilt has made the finals - and the prizes are AH-mazing. So I am shamelessly BEGGING you to click through and vote for my quilt. Please. Pretty pretty please!

I'm number 7 - but just in case you have somehow missed this one - it looks like this ;o)

WIP Wednesday - Still Quilting

Firstly, I apologise for another post full of quilting close ups - just a warning there will probably be lots of these over the next few weeks. Groove is taking FOREVER to quilt (some motifs more than others) but it's pretty rewarding (thankfully!) and I'm pretty happy so far. So far I've quilted about 40" x 25" or so (which is about 1/6 of the quilt) and it's taken about 5 or 6 hours so far. And this has been the easy edge bit - the middle is going to cause some headaches I think ;o)

So, the quilty shots :o) I'm using a combination of motifs I've done before (echo shells, pebbles), one I've kind of winged it (the azure section - although it's my dodgy version of McTavishing), and I've used Angela Walter's book for inspiration for the others (seafoam - mine is nothing like hers!!!, and paisley). 

I'm aiming for a mix of pointy and curved textures - and I think it works? I've never quilted anything this big this densely before, so I'll be interested to see what kind of drape it has once I'm done.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced - looking forward to seeing what everyone has been working on this week :o)

xx Jess

Some catching up and some fun

Most of my sewing this week has been my QAL block and tutorial, and some bee blocks. 

 For Stash Bee (August)

 For Scrappy? Sew Bee It!

Today I had a few hours to myself, while the kids went off with off to do stuff with their dad (who got back last night, so they were pretty excited!). I finished quilting Sweary Tula, and I'm trying to decide what binding to use. I'll hopefully get it sent on Monday though (so not too much over the due date :o) ).

And then I got back to Groove - I have a feeling the quilting is going to take a loooong time, so I'm glad I've started now :o) I made the (very simple) back, basted it and started quilting. Apologies for the night-time photos... hopefully you get a bit of an idea. I'm not quite convinced on the blue bit, but I think overall it will look ok. 

I am extremely happy with my thread matches. I bought an Aurifil colour chart with my last thread order, and I used that to match my solids with threads that I hoped would blend really well - they do beautifully.

I haven't done a whole lot, and my arms are already killing me - but I'm loving the textures. I don't usually starch my fabric this heavily, so it's weird quilting it - it sits quite flat. I think it will look completely different once it's washed. Oh, and I've chosen the colour with the smallest area for the pebbles - best decision ever. It will cause pain anyway ;o)

Hope everyone is having a great weekend

xx Jess

A Totally Groovy Quilt Top

When you have a million projects on the go, should you work on the highest priority first? Well, yes. Did I? Ah, no. I finished making my Groove quilt top instead :o)

I'm making the lap sized version - this measures about 60" x 72". Because I knew I'd be working with some pretty long seams I starched the crap out of these fabrics - more akin to sewing paper than fabric!

I love this quilt already. And for once, I'm ahead of schedule (I nearly fainted when I realised the link up for this QAL isn't until the middle of October. October, people! I have six weeks to get it quilted!)

So once I've finished sweary Tula and caught up on our QAL as well as bee blocks, I'll be all set to quilt this baby. From the very beginning this quilt has always been about the quilting for me, and I'm SO pumped to get started :oD

xx Jess

Half a quilt top and some FMQ

For the first time in ages, I've actually had a really productive week. Apart from finally finishing Finn's quilt, I've made more than half of my Groove quilt top. This piece measures about 37" x 70" (a bit over half of the quilt) - there is another section that joins on the right hand side. I am really, really happy with how this has come together - and how quickly :o)

I spent a couple of hours today beginning the FMQ on Sweary Tula. So. Much. Fun. I'm kind of worried about how it will all pull together, but I like what I've done so far. I started in my comfort zone with some echo shells

and pebbles

And then experimented a bit with some wavy lines and pebbles radiating out from the 'K'. The texture is really cool - I think I'll play with this idea a bit more!

Although it's already late (as of today), I'm hoping to finish off Sweary Tula by early next week and get it posted off to it's new owner. If I can bear to. I have a deep affection for this quilt, and it will be hard to let it go...

Hope everyone is having a brilliant weekend - it's the first day of spring for us, and it was gorgeous!

xx Jess

You can call me crazy...

Given my really fantastic track record with QALs, anyone would think I'd steer clear of them. But I'm a sucker for a QAL. And I had already bought the pattern for this, and worked out what fabric I wanted to use before the QAL was announced. So I'm (probably stupidly) joining in the Groovy QAL organised by Alyssa.

As soon as I saw this pattern I fell in love. I'm a bit of a hippy and major fan of the 60s/70s so it was a no-brainer to make it someday. To top it off, I've had a few yards of this print sitting in my stash (originally bought to make a skirt before I started quilting) and I decided it would make the PERFECT back for Groove.

I loooove the colours in it, so I grabbed my Kona colour card and decided on (from top) Azure, Willow, White, Chartreuse and Black. And my lovely parcel arrived today from the Fat Quarter Shop!

And you know, because I've got nothing else to do, I will be attempting to get it done before the end of the QAL. Yes. I definitely have a few screws loose :o)

Oh, and because I always have to fill my flat rate satchel to the brim, these half yards of Madrona Road text prints somehow jumped in too...

Wish me luck! No, really, I mean it (and Jen, you can stop laughing now!)

xx Jess