Thursday, 15 May 2014

WIP ... Thursday

Ugh, I had fully intended to get this post up yesterday but was totally thwarted by the tiny girl who didn't go to sleep till gone 11pm. It's been that kinda week. The free motion quilting book giveaway is still running here until Friday evening if you would like to go and check that out. And I will update on the very tiny bit of sewing I have managed over the last week.

I want to start with a very warm hello to all my new followers!! I know there are many of you out there and I am so excited to welcome every one of you. I am fully intending to read through and reply to all of the lovely comments on the giveaway post, a slightly bonkers task perhaps with 150+ comments but I am super grateful to see so many new names and want to take that time. If the baby will just give me an hour I will get to it!

Saturday was our Leeds MQG sit and sew day. If you are in the Yorkshire realm and would like to get involved please do, we have a Facebook page and a Flickr group too. I decided to take some hand piecing this time. It isn't my favourite but I was travelling alone and really couldn't face lugging my huge machine. Plus I didn't feel like I got the sewing vs social balance quite right last time and wondered if a hand project would improve that. 

So I took along a block from the never-ending UFO that is my Pile O Fabric 2013 Skill Builder BOM. This has been sat in a semi completed state for sometime and I knew I needed a bit of focussed energy to complete it. 

And so I did.

@lisasew @helenlay82 @laurablackwell I pressed on! It isn't appliqued down yet though ....
Diamond Carat block
Well, sort of. It isn't actually appliqued down yet. Next month, maybe? Anyway it was a thoroughly lovely day with lots of time to chat and look at other people's projects too.

Home sewing time has been at a real premium lately. I am trying to change my eating habits and break my sugar addiction and so am currently 11 days into a Whole 30 which seems to be occupying a lot of my sewing time with food prep!!

What little time I have grabbed has been spent slowly working on my Aviatrix Medallion. Having completed all the cutting I was faced with that rather intimidating centre block, my first time piecing diamonds. I found them a little challenging to my spatial awareness, and very delicate with all those bias edges, but they came together pretty well. Elizabeth is so incredibly talented and has the block come together in a way that avoids any Y seams but that again challenged my brain slightly (that's okay, I like to be challenged!). But I pushed on and ended up with this:

Boooo :-(

Can you see that blunt yellow centre point? Yuk. I was not happy with that AT ALL. I didn't expect perfection but that was just too obviously bad for me to live with. I slept on it, then warily got out the seam ripper and removed that quadrant. 



I really thought I might have to totally re-do it, and even went through my scrap bin for the relevant sized pieces. But then looked a little closer, and with a bit of shifting got this:


Hurrah! :-)

It is still far from perfect, but the eye is drawn to those centre points and they are much, much better, so I am happy now. The next border is just some straightforward HSTs which are all ready to be pressed and trimmed ... when I get a minute!

Off to read some more comments now :-) I do love to hear from you all, thank you!





2 comments:

  1. Well done on the diamond carot! I've done the inner bit but not the outer bit (it's going to take forever I think!) not even considered the applique yet!!!! Glad you had a great time at the Leeds MQG and well done on the Aviatrix - it's looking fab x PS I admire your dedication to the Whole 30!!!!!

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  2. Your Aviatrix is going to be gorgeous! I LOVE the fabrics you're using!

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