2017 Finish-a-long - quarter 4 proposed finishes

Today I'm linking up my list of WIPs that I hope to work on during quarter 4 of the 2017 finish-a-long. Many of these I have shared in detail before (they're rolled over from previous lists) so today I thought I would focus more on sharing some ideas for hiding storing your works in progress. Sorry in advance for the cruddy photos - they were taken late in the day and it was a bit dark).

My choice of storage for a WIP is largely determined by the size of the finished block and how much progress I have made. I tend to store piles of blocks ready to be assembled into tops in scrapbook containers stored in a cupboard. These are great because the fit blocks up to 12.5" square and have a decent depth to them. Pastry containers are also good for slightly smaller blocks (but I forgot to take a pic of my stack of those).

I also have a number of WIPs stashed in clear containers within drawers. I like these particular containers because they have clear lids, which make it easy to see at a glance what is inside. I tend to use the smaller ones for storing projects where I have cut all of the pieces but haven't sewn the blocks.

For smaller projects I like to use document wallets - they are cheap, see-through and great for storing printed instructions together with fabric/blocks. Here are a few from my collection.

For projects with a lot of small pieces I like to use serving trays. I have a small stack on them under my sewing bench

Another place where WIPs tend to accumulate is on the cutting mat. At the moment I have three projects on the go. I find little baskets helpful for storing fabric pieces - it's easy to stack them up and pop them off to the side when I need to cut something else.

Finally, I have a lot of WIPs stored in large containers, using a combination of document wallets and baggies. For example, a big tub of Christmas projects I started (but didn't finish) last Christmas.

I've listed the details of the numbered WIPs below. Hopefully I've be able to knock off a few this quarter and free up a bit of storage space for other things (like more fabric) :)

Kat

1. Ripples blocks from this year's bee.

2. Bonnie and Camille log cabin blocks from a block swap

3. Sampler blocks from the quilt block cook book sew along

4. Milky way sampler blocks

5. Bee-sewcial sampler blocks

6. Ombre gems blocks

7. Homeward bound blocks

8. Garden snails blocks

9. Fracis firefly blocks

10. Strips for a improv tumbler block quilt

11. Strips for a simple patchwork bay boy quilt

12. Scrappy trip around the world blocks

13. Swoon blocks

14. Cut pieces for a Hazel hedgehog mini

15. Cut pieces for a spell it with fabric numbers mini

16. Strips for a DS crazy coins cushion

17. 3.5" squares for a DS quilt

18. Basted, but not quilted, charity baby quilt

19. Another basted, but not quilted, baby charity quilt

20. A half-pieced baby charity quilt

21. Baby quattro quilt

22. Moxie mini quilt/playmat

23. Wild goose chase quilt

24. Glisten quilt

25. Strips and squares for a pineapple block quilt

26. Background pieces for a Geode quilt

27. In progress baby bedding

28. Hand-pieced hexi panel for stocking

29. Pieces for a Flurry quilt

30. Christmas economy blocks

31. Selvage strips so a selvage tree mini

32. Pieces for a patchwork forest mini

33. Jacobs ladder quilt.

34. Quilted stockings for my family.

Sunday Stash 1/10/2017 and October One Monthly Goal

It's been a while since I've linked up with Sunday Stash (hosted by Molli Sparkles) but this week I finally have a few spare minutes to share my latest stash enhancement: a fat quarter bundle of the new Spirit Animal collection by Tula Pink. I wasn't fussed by Tula's last few collections but I LOVE this one. I am especially excited by the return of the arrowhead prints - they were my favourite from in the Acacia collection. Harriet was pretty impressed too.

At first I wasn't sure what to make with these (or even to just hoard them forever) but when I saw that Alyce (of Blossom Heart Quilts) was hosting a Geode QAL I knew I had my answer. The Geode quilt uses 25 FQs so I swapped out the lightest arrowhead print and added the three diamond prints from Acacia to make it up to 25. I'm still mulling over background fabric choices - at the moment it is a toss-up between Lizzy House constellations and Cloud 9 stars.

I'm also linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal October Linkup as my goal for this month is to make at least half of the blocks  - I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with the QAL but I can hopefully make half the blocks (babies and 4 year olds permitting).

Kat

Zip Up Tray Pouch

I've got one last finish from my list of proposed Q3 finishes to share - a Zip Up Tray Pouch that I literally finished last night (there's no motivation quite like an impending deadline!).

I bought a copy of Aneela Hoey's Zip Up Tray Pouch a while ago after seeing one in use at a sit and sew day. I thought that it would be useful for containing all the hand-sewing supplies that are covering my bedside table.

It's far from perfect, but finished is better (and more usable) than perfect and I am happy to have it done. I'ts already been put to use holding my bits and pieces for my in-progress EPP Party blocks.

I'm also linking up with Elm Street Quilts 2017 Bag It sew along - I hope that this is the first of many bags I'll sew this quarter.

Kat

A quilt for Stella

My last quilty finish from my list of proposed finishes for this quarter is a quilt that I made for my friend's daughter, Stella.

The quilt was made from a set of precut triangles (called Turnovers) from the Color Me Happy range by V & Co for Moda. I love the lucious colours in this collection and thought they would make a nice quilt for a little girl.

As always, I was short on time so I chose a simple hourglass design. I sewed the Turnover triangles together in pairs (one low volume and one high volume print) to form HSTs and then used the HST to form hourglass blocks. The blocks trimmed down to 9" square unfinished.

I used 40 of the triangles in the pack to make 20 hour glass blocks and arranged them in a 4 x 5 layout, alternating the placement of the low-volume prints. This gave me a top that was 34.5" x 43" unfinished so I was able to back it with a single one yard cut from the same collection.

I was pretty chuffed at how efficiently I was able use the fabric I had (only 2 triangles unused). For the binding I used a quarter yard cut (cut into four 2.25" strips) so there was also very little wastage there. 

Harriet kindly agreed to test out the quilt before we gifted it to Stella. She even wore a coordinating jump suit :)

Kat