Some NewFO finishes in February

Those of you who read my blog regularly, know that we have had a lot of rain this month. Then we had two sunny days and guess what happened yesterday; rain in the morning! Yesterday I started working in our 'jungle' garden early, to avoid the heat later in the day. I managed to do quite a lot, before it started raining.... Oh well, it is the rainy- and cyclone season, so what else to expect?! :)

 

All the rain means indoor activities; sewing. If you read my previous post, you know I have been working on some UFO's and even finished two.

I always get a bit bored working on UFO's... well, not exactly because they are UFO's, but I think the finishing process is a bit boring... I love to cut fabric and sew the small pieces together! The boring job has to be done to get a project done, doesn't it?! :)

 

I'm quite sure these bunnies have been playing hide and seek with me! It's soon Easter, so no doubt! :) I finished it (the binding) beginning of January. Then I was going to take photos of it, but as I can recall the weather wasn't the best for taking photos, so I put it away. Out of sight - out of mind. It reappeared when I had to move the finished quilt tops (UFO's), it was hiding under all the UFO's!

 

 

Aren't those bunnies cute?

 

 

Quilting; the squares are cross-hatched and I've done FMQ on the borders/stripes. The quilt is washed to get the lovely crinkled look.

 

 

The Easter / Spring table runner I started earlier this month, is finished.

 

 

Lots of fun doing the set-in pieces. The stems on the lilies were supposed to be fabric, instead I used ric-rac. Love how that turned out.

 

 

As you may have noticed already, I have done the quilting different this time. I have used patterns from The Electric Quilt Company's Quilting Design (printable stencils). It's the very first time I'm trying it and I love the result. What do you think?

This is the center piece.

 

 

The piece under the basket... a leaf pattern too.

The daffodils triangles are FMQ.

GOSH how wonky it looks! It doesn't look that bad in real! :0 I'm using a wide angle lense on my camera, which creates funny photos sometimes. :) If you take a look at the table runner, it looks like it is wider on the middle, doesn't it?  

 

 

... and a teapot cozy to match the table runner...

 

 

I still have some pieces of the daffodils fabric left, so there's a chance for a couple of mug rugs! :)

 

I worked on the pink baby quilt yesterday afternoon. The quilting is done and now it is ready for the binding. Not sure what I'm going to work on now... I will continue with the UFO's, but in between some NewFO's! :)  

 

 

 

Nothing but UFO's in 2013 - February Update

It's that time again; UFO update for February.

At the beginning of February I linked up to A Passion for Applique and here are the three UFO's I wanted to work on.
Well, I think I should start with the one I did not manage to finish. I didn't have matching thread for the backing, which should soon be here from the US - hopefully this week. Even if I get it today, I won't be able to finish it in two days. It will be transferred to next month. What I did manage is to add all the HST (half square triangles) together and sandwich the three layers together. It's ready to be quilted - as soon as I get the thread.

 

I'm happy to say I have two UFO finishes this month.

The first one I finished is the Colorado Star quilt!

 

 

For the binding I used leftover blue fabric from the quilt.

Here's the backing. Isn't it pretty? MIL bought it for me in Port Louis (the capital). It is Indian cotton, meant for bed sheet. Their cotton is thicker compared to the quilting cotton. That doesn't matter to me, since this is a cover for our couch.

All fabrics used are from my stash.  

 

 

I finally finished the New York Beauty quilt! That was a lot of work, but I'm so happy I decided to make more blocks and make it into a quilt! Hubby suggested I should have added a border to it, but I'm happy with it as it is.... What do you think?  

 

 

One of the center blocks - one of my favorites

 

 

Another favorite...

 

 

The backing.

All the fabric used in this quilt are from my stash, except 3-4 blue Civil War fabrics I had to buy especially for this quilt. Those fabrics from my stash have been sitting on the shelf for at least 2-3 years and I decided now that I will never use them for any specific project, better to use them as backing! :)  

 

 

I have a few other finishes this month too, but they are not UFO's and will be for another post.

 

If you read my previous post, you already know we have had lots of rain this month. Yesterday and today we have SUN! In my previous post you can also see how down the clouds were at the mountain... this is how it looked yesterday morning.. Corps de Garde in sun and blue sky! :)

Guess what such weather means?! Torture in the garden! LOL 

 

 

Update on our dog, see my previous post.

First I thought it was her foot that was hurt, but after having a better check on her, it is the left shoulder. Most probably she landed on the left side/shoulder when she fell down from the roof. She improves slowly; she is able to walk a few steps on the leg this morning. She is still under house arrest, until she is able to walk properly! She makes me laugh too; it's amazing what speed she has jumping on three legs! :) Our other dog is very caring; he lays down facing her, put his leg over hers and lick her hurt shoulder. It's really touching to see how he cares.... Tomorrow is one week since it happened. I've been thinking of taking her to the vet, but since she is improving (slowly) I don't think it is needed. I'll keep an eye on her over the weekend...  

 

 



Devils or bad Gods in the air??

I'm quite sure there's something in the air this week or even this month! Don't know what the weather-God is up too; it has been raining almost every day this month! No doubt we are into the rainy- and cyclone season. Prediction for the next three days; RAIN! Yesterday was fairly OK, just a few showers, so I thought of gardening today... Forget about that!

This is how it looked like this morning... Corps de Garde covered in clouds - a few minutes later it started pouring down!  

 

 

 

Not a very good week this one... Two days ago one of our dogs slipped and fell down from the roof! She hurt her left front leg, mainly the foot/ankle. It is a little bit swollen on the joint. She jumps around on three legs and is very so eager to get out during the nights (which she is used to) to play with other dogs in the area! No way! She's under house arrest!!! We'll keep an eye on her over the weekend. If she's not able to use the front leg, we'll have to take her to the vet. She is in pain, but I believe if it had been worse, she had not been able to jump around as she does, and she had been crying... Fortunate it went as it did! It could have been worse!

 

 Our 'patient' is allowed to stay inside during the nights. I usually take her out just before I go to bed. I did that last night too. At 3 o'clock in the night she managed to come up one floor to our bedroom and 'tell' us she had to go out again. Hubby was snoring - or he pretended too - haha - so I got up and took her out.

No way was I able to sleep again! I spent some time reading blogs, emails etc, had my breakfast and coffee and started quilting. Quilted happily away and thought of taking our other dog for an early morning walk.... Five minutes later it started pouring down! :( Had to forget to venture out! I'm quite sure that weather-God - eh... DEVIL - heard my thoughts!
GOSH! How shy he is! LOL

 

 

I continued quilting and another devil made me do this; part of the backing tangled up in the quilting! :(  

 

 

I'm quilting this crib quilt yesterday and today... Nothing fancy, just straight stitches.  Almost done! :) It's a UFO from last year.

 

 

The binding is thread basted to the NYB quilt! It will be hand stitched one of the first days. For the binding I have used leftovers from the quilt.  

 

 

Since I didn't get more than 4.5 hours sleep last night, I think I will do as this one later in the afternoon...

 

 

Doesn't it look cosy?! :) 

 

  

I got so bored with the UFO's.....

...that I started two NewFO's! :)

I don't feel bad about that at all, because I have done good progress on the UFO's.

Last year I wanted to make an Easter table topper or runner. I managed to do the layout in EQ7 and printed it out. Then I realized I didn't have suitable fabrics to match the daffodil fabrics I had already bought back in December 2011! More fabrics were bought in February last year, but at that time I was busy with other projects and I wasn't really in the mood for any Easter project. When I was looking for some other fabrics recently, I suddenly ended up with these fabrics in my hands.... I think they told me it's time to get them out of the shelf and get them ready for Easter! :)

It was fun doing these small 'set-in' pieces. I have done it earlier too, but this time I felt I did it better. The stems on the lilies were supposed to be fabric, but I came up with the idea of using rick-rack. I think it turned out quite cute.

The other NewFO I have started is going to be a crib quilt - all pink and white! I'm not really a 'pink person', I just want to use up those leftovers sitting around here and there. Long ago I bought a darling bear panel, which I'm using some of the small pictures. I think I will have enough for a blue crib quilt too.

And as I said; good progress on a couple of UFO's.
The 'Colorado Star' quilt is quilted and the binding is thread basted on, I've just left to hand stitch the binding to the back and remove the basting thread.

I got bored after quilting 1/4 of the New York Beauty quilt! I don't want too much visible quilting on it, so I have started quilting the spikes in the ditch. Phew! What a tedious job! It's a lot of pushing, pulling, twisting and turning to get each spike in the right direction for the needle! I haven't dared to count the spikes! :0 I hope to get it all done by end of February - 14 more days to go!

Yesterday the island was hit by torrential rain... Some places got almost 200 mm (7.8 inches?). Most of the island was shut down; schools, offices, banks and shops closed. Many houses are destroyed by flood water and some have lost everything. We were lucky; we are living in a slope - no rivers nearby - so we are safe. We didn't get much rain either... Fortunate this bad weather was not caused by a cyclone... If it had, it had been really bad! You can see photos here and here. Well, I'm not surprised this happens every year; garbage are thrown everywhere, which blocks rivers as well as drains, so the water has to find other paths to go.... When will Mauritians learn not to throw plastic bottles and other garbage in the nature?! 

 

Progress on UFO's

The wonderful (nasty) weather continues (too hot - too humid!), so there's not much that can be done outside. The garden needs attention, but these days are too wet to venture out there. What is better than get some progress on my UFO's?! :)

 

I finally put together all the HST (half square triangles) that I started back in January last year!  It stopped there, because I ran out of fabric. Fortunate I was able to get more, but did I continue? NO! Over the weekend I worked on this quilt and now it is thread basted and ready to be quilted. Do I have matching thread? Of course not! LOL The thread is on the way from the US, so perhaps I won't be able to finish it this month, since the shipping takes about 3 weeks.  

 

 

This week - so far - I have sandwiched, pinned and thread basted the Colorado Star quilt. It is ready to be quilted too. For this one I do not need to wait for thread! :)

 

 

I have the backing and batting ready for the NY Beauty quilt too, perhaps I start pinning it today... I shall see...

 

Looking back on what I did one year ago, I had almost forgotten about the blue quilt I want to make! I have to check out my blue stash, I doubt I have enough blue...

 

Working on UFO's, I tend to get a bit bored.... I couldn't help it - before I knew I have started a new project - but that will be another post - soon! :)

 

 



Nothing but UFO's in 2013 - February

Can you believe it is February already? Where did January go?
Carrie from A Passion for Applique is hosting the UFO challenge 2013.



Well, it is time to show what I'm going to work on this month. Since I didn't manage to finish any of the intended projects last month, I will continue working on the same ones...  

UFO #1 - Colorado Star quilt.
The plan was to quilt it last month, but when I pulled out the batting I discovered it wasn't enough. Now I have got more batting and hope to finish it this month.

 

UFO #2 - The New York Beauty quilt

All the blocks are done and I have only a few left to be pieced together. The plan is to quilt it this month too.

 

 

UFO #3 - so far no name

I'm pulling this one out again! Did nothing to it last month, except from pulling out more fabric from the shelf. I hope to finish the top this month....

 

 

Hot and humid here these days - we are at the peak of summer - rainy-and cyclone season. The last week we have had wonderful cloudy and rainy weather from cyclone 'Felleng'. Yes, I say wonderful, because it cools it down a bit. It also feels wonderful, because this kind of weather means no gardening! Not that I mind gardening, I love it,  but not when it's wet! :) I can snuggle up in front of the sewing machine, sew and drink hot cocoa or coffee! :)