This is my first time linking up with the FAL but I thought that it might be a good idea to have a concrete list of all I want to do. There is no way I will ever finish all of these - just one or two would be grand - however I decided to put everything I want to make on here! We'll see how it all goes...
1. Pink Quilt for my darling niece
I cut out all the squares and sewed on the side sashing in May at a quilting weekend away. However since then I haven't progressed. My niece was born in July but I gave her a baby quilt I had previously made and just needed to bind and label, which I did. Obviously she has no idea about any of this and will not mind if it is late! I made a temporary 'design wall' by pinning batting to the lounge curtains and have now decided on the layout of the squares. Hopefully this will encourage me to now sew them together.
2. Biggie Best first quilt
This is the very first quilt I ever made, or perhaps I should say started! I sat on the couch and loosely cut out the squares using a flimsy cardboard template. The material all comes from the scrap bin at a shop called Biggie Best, which mainly sells upholstery weight fabric. I have never finished quilting it - it is about half done - because the squares are not even, which makes my plan of sewing lines on either side of the seams fairly difficult. It also wasn't basted well so there are lots of puckers. I think I must just grit my teeth and do it though.
3. Shirt
About two years ago my granny helped me to make this shirt. It has languished in my cupboard ever since even though it only needs buttons. It came to light about a month ago when I did a huge sort out and throw out of clothes. I have since bought the buttons, but am very nervous of sewing the bottonholes!
4. Bucket Basket Tote
I adore this William Morris Apprentice fabric - isn't it beautiful? I'd like to make the Bucket basket tote . I have also bought the interfacing, which I forgot to photograph (perhaps because it is hiding in the depths of a cupboard).
5. Tea & books mini quilt
This was originally meant to be for a placemat swap at my local guild, Creative Quilters. However it wasn't completed in time because I was sick & in hospital. I'd like to make it into a mini-quilt, and am thinking of reducing the width since it no longer has to be a placemat. I'll probably make it square.
6. VPP Bag
I had all but finished this bag - I only had to turn it the correct way out, join the handle ends and topstitch - when I realised that I had used a bad polyester thread. It had melted and/or gone brittle while ironing and a seam was coming loose. It has sat in my sewing pile making me irritated for about 18 months. Two days ago I decided that I couldn't chance more of the seams coming apart so I unpicked all the sewing... grrr! I couldn't just sew over the current seams because I wouldn't be able to do that on the darts, which was one of the seams that split. Hopefully now that it is completely ready (except for a press) to be sewn it will soon become a bag. The bag pattern and tutorial is from Very Purple Person and I have made two or three already and like it.
7. Liberty cosy/beanbag
I love Liberty fabric and bought this liberty pincord two years ago from Shaukat specifically to make a cosy comforter (beanbag filled with barley for aches and pains). Since I use a cosy so much I reckoned pretty fabric was the way to go and have enjoyed it very much. It is one of my favourite designs called Sarah's Secret Garden. Unfortunately a few months ago my mum burnt it by putting it in for far too long (something about pressing the 10min button three times instead of the min button three times! Luckily we realised after about 15 minutes. The barley didn't really burn but, as you can see in the picture, the fabric got rather a brown tinge.) I have enough pincord to make another cosy so I think I'll make a new one and add it to the stash of cosy's.
8. Advent Calendar
Last year October my aunt bought me this beautiful advent calendar panel as well as 4 half-metres of Christmas fabric. My aunt is my fabric sister-in-arms and knows my fabric likes well. She lives in London while I live in Cape Town. South Africa. Last year they came down to Cape Town for my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary and this is what she bought me! I'm a little confused about whether the single pockets should get box pleats (so you can fit more stuff in the pockets) but hopefully if I look a bit closer I will figure it out.
9. Zipper pouch
Who knows why I have so very many zippers! I am completely flummoxed... I'd like to make a little zipper pouch to store my wonder clips in. I have to choose between the three florals on the left (decisions, decisions) and will likely use the smallest pink zip that it at the front. I couldn't resist photographing them all though, it is pretty impressive for someone who hasn't really made anything with a zip!
10, 11, 12: Tshirt, long sleeved t-shirt & jersey knit cardigan
I bought these patterns a couple of years ago and would really like to make myself a t-shirt with that stripy fabric. You can't tell but it is actually navy and is a gorgeous weight. However I have never made any clothes with knit before (and not much in other fabric). There is a new acquaintance from whom I might be able to take lessons, in which case a t-shirt will be my first make!
13. Liberty mini-quilt
These liberty fabrics were bought a couple of years ago from Ali at VeryBerry fabrics, who was very helpful. Sadly she no longer seems to sell Liberty, but her blog veryberryhandmade is lovely. I have 20 charm squares, all different (bottom left in the picture) as well as 7 fat sixteenths. I think I'd like to use a windmill block, simple but showcasing the fabric. I'd love to use yarn-dyed Essex linen, all projects I have seen with that paired with Liberty is beautiful, but haven't found it anywhere local.
14. Chevron tote bag
I made these chevrons quite a while ago and would like to make them into a basic tote bag. I even have the turquoise fabric to go with them. Like many projects, it hasn't been made yet! The fabric is Prince Charming, by Tula Pink, and I got the fat quarters from a fabric shop that has since closed. I wish that more shops had the modern quilting fabric here in Cape Town!
15. Stash quilt
Last year May I went on a quilting weekend away and got too anxious to sew. Instead I cut a 5" strip from every fabric I had and then subcut into 4.5" squares. I still have some squares to cut and then it needs to be sewn together in a simple dark/light square combination. I love that I know the story behind each fabric. My stash wasn't/isn't very big, hence being able to do this!
16. Neighbourhood charm quilt with road15
Many years ago my lovely aunt (see above for our fabric bond) bought me this road15 charm pack. Right from the beginning I wanted to make a Neigbourhood charm quilt with it. I thought it would be fun to play on the little houses theme with housey/roady fabric.
17. Cat in the Hat baby quilts
About two years ago my local fabric shop (NOT quilt shop. The everything and the kitchen sink type of fabric shop. Which is great for many things but doesn't have many quilting cottons.) had Cat in the Hat panels for sale for, I think, R25 a panel. (< 1.50 pounds/$1.80) That is incredible! So I bought a couple (or more panels). I have made one friends boy a baby quilt using two panels and backing it with flannel. I aim to make one or two more flannel backed quilts with these, even if they are just for charity. Fabric World (the fabric shoop talked of above) had a good run two or so years ago when they had a few quilting cottons for about R40/metre (< 2.2 pounds/&2.80). I got two metres of some Lotta Jansdotter fabric. Unfortunately since then it has mostly been cheap , average quality quilting cottons.
18. Sherbet Pips quilt
Sherbet Pips, by Aneela Hooey, was one of the first fabric collections I loved. I googled it and loved it and googled it some more. Then, fortuitously, my friend went to America. I spoke VERY nicely to her and she brought fabric back for me. Chief among these was two Sherbet Pips charm packs, a grey & white Kona solids charm pack and two yards of 'Girl on a tree swing', my favourite print. I'd like to make these into a quilt eventually.
19. Felt brooches
About two years ago I bought from some beautiful felt brooches from Buttercup Boutique. SHe makes gorgeous brooches using felt, beads and Liberty fabric. She custom made the brooches using my favourite Liberty fabric (Sarah's Secret Garden, see above re: pincord). Inspired by these brooches I bought some wool blend felt from paper-and-string which my sister brought back when she went to the UK. I'd like to make myself some more brooches, even though they won't be nearly as pretty as the ones Kathryn from Buttercup Boutique made. Mostly I think it is courage to start I need.
20. Cheater Quilt
I bought this fabric because I love the colours and the 'cheater' fabric. I have two metres of each. I don't know if it will be made into two 1m baby quilts or a long & narrow quilt. But it should be made into a quilt because the fabric is beautiful! The fabric is from Storybook by Kate and Birdie for Moda.
21. Canvas tote bags
I bought this fabric at Ikea when I was in England in 2010. Funny story, on my trip home, 11kg of my 25kg luggage was fabric... I think I'd like to make another VPP bag (see no. 6 above).
22. Back to Basics Sampler
This should actually be no.1 or no.2 and I only just realised I nearly left it off! I am too tired now though to change all the numbering so no.22 it is. Over the last year and a bit I have been doing a sampler quilt with my quilt guild. Going on the typical timeline I should have been finished all the blocks about 5 months ago, but I have taken much longer. On Thursday I finally finished the last of the twelve blocks (the applique block on the top) and was much relieved. Oh, the most important part of why it has taken so long is that it has all been done by hand! Now I have bought sashing fabric and need to create the quilt top, baste it, quilt it and bind it. Thank goodness the sashing will all be done by machine! The idea for quilting is to ditch stitch all the block/sashing seams and then hand quilt each of the blocks.
As you can see this is a ridiculously long FAL list. And as I said before I am likely to only finish one or two things. But it felt good to make a list of everything I want to make (Although I do feel slightly twitchy and wonder if I'll EVER finish it all!) Work, depression, anxiety & fibromyalgia all make for slow sewing, but I try to enjoy what I do without feeling overwhelmed.
Nicola
