End of Month Stitching Update

Here it is at the end of the month and halfway through the year.  Where did that go?

I have just realised that my last update was back on the 12th of June.  I have a little more to show for my time.   I did meet every goal that I set for the month, which I’m pretty happy about.

Firstly, to my One Monthly Goal…..

My goal was to complete the butterfly quilt using the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks that I made last year.  The blocks went together quickly, but then I couldn’t find the white border fabric I had cut and taken to Scrub Stitchin’, in case I got up to that.  Obviously, I didn’t.

I went to get some more white fabric and came across some left over white on white wide back from my doiley quilt and then remembered that the butterfly blocks were all made with that fabric.  The white homespun I had previously prepared would have been all wrong.  Fortunately, there was sufficient left to make the borders.

It didn’t take long to have the top put together.

At that point I decided to go down another rabbit hole….

While in my storage area, I came across a half metre of Paw Patrol fabric that I had found in an op shop on our recent Queensland trip.  I’d been playing around with patterns suitable for donation quilts and this fabric was just shouting out to me to play with it.  I found a suitable hot pink fabric, which was also an op shop find and in my stash I had a blue that matched perfectly.  There was enough of the white on white wide back for that quilt as well.

The design called for twelve blocks, but I worked with nine.  The pattern repeat was perfect for eight inch square block, but my half metre, was only enough to cut eight.  Therefore, a star block was made for the centre and it worked out just fine. 

I had the quilt top made in an afternoon.

The backing is made from a brand new cot quilt cover that I found in an op shop.  One side wasn’t quite long enough, so needed some creativity.  There were a few strips of the Paw Patrol fabric that would be no use for anything and they worked really well on the back.  Now there is none left, which is the perfect outcome.

On Monday, I finally excavated Monique my quilting machine and my sewing machine.  

Firstly, I quilted the Paw Patrol Quilt, just so that I could get back in the rhythm of things.  There were a few hiccoughs, with thread breaking and running out of bobbin and then having tension issues but we got there in the end.  I’m glad I did it first.  I used a pantograph of butterflies.  

On Tuesday, I quilted the butterfly quilt, just using the scroll pantograph.  It went well.  The backing is a pretty floral flannelette.

Then after I finished quilting the butterfly quilt, I completed the binding on both of them.  

Paw Patrol is fully machined.  I’m really happy with how this quilt has turned out. 

There was still enough of the white on white fabric to make the binding for the butterfly quilt, with about 2 inches of fabric left over.  Once again, a perfect result.  This one was finished by hand, as I machined the binding to the front of the quilt instead of the back, but it does give a lovely finish.

I’m so very happy with how this little quilt turned out.  The pattern is a freebie by Connie Kresin.

Both of these quilts will go to Ronald McDonald House.  I have a few accumulated now, so we will take a run up there in the not too distant future.  I hope some little people enjoy them.

My next task was to make the blocks for the Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt.  Week 3 consisted of twenty “daisy” blocks, using a variety of yellows and corals.  I am aiming to keep up to date with the blocks as they are revealed, but have fallen short.   I have not made Week 4’s blocks and I haven’t started this week’s either.  I need to get a bit of a wriggle on.

There was a little hiatus with machine sewing for a few days, during which I went down yet another rabbit hole…….

We went into an op shop in Anna Bay - more on that later - and I found this ball of yarn.  It is a Caron Skinny Cake. 250g of 8 ply.  I had planned on starting a new knitting project while away and just happened to have a 4.00mm crochet hook in my knitting bag………(The knitting project will wait till a later date.)

I decided to start a giant granny square rug.  Something totally mindless that I can pick up quickly.  Perfect for travelling.  This is where I’m up to.  I’ve used nearly half of the ball, so it won’t be all that big, but a nice little baby rug. It will need some serious blocking when finished.

I also managed to stitch the centres on my final Dresden fans for the Blue Quilt.  That means that all my EPP components have now been completed.  It is time to do some more prep so that I can start appliquéing them to the quilt borders.

Surprisingly, considering everything else we have been up to, I managed to complete at least 15 minutes of stitching each day for the entire month.

My stats to date are as follows:

15 minutes a day/week = 7/7

15 minutes a day/June = 30/30

15 minutes a day/2023 = 169/181

Success rate = 93.37%

I’m linking up at Elm Street Quilts, So Scrappy and Life in Pieces.