sewing diva: Finish-a-long Quarter 1 2013

OK so in order to try and shrink the giant pile of UFOs overflowing from under my desk I've decided to enter the Finish-a-long (FAL) quarter 1 2013 here.

So with a little help from Sammy I pulled out all the UFOs and sorted them into piles of urgent and non urgent. Then I added projects that i had the fabric for but hadn't started and added those too. This list seems a little ambitious but heck why not go for it!

1- Strip piecing college coursework.

To do:

a) bargello runner for blanket box at base of bed

b) seminole strips to edge pillowcases

c) applique initials onto pillowcases

d) 3 x log cabin blocks for D's quilt

e) 3 x dresden plate blocks for my quilt.

Here is a basic sketch of my plans. The plain quilt covers i bought are a lovely cerise pink (yes we have 2 separate single quilts. not conventional but we prefer it) and the fabrics i have are a lovely mix of pale pink, greens and browns. (i jusy used bright colours on the sketch so they would stand out)

Here is the start of the bargello blocks laid out:

Here is one of the seminole strips laid out along with a sample chevron block to go in my file:

2- Finish the cushions for the living room sofa

I made this hexagon cushion for part of my college coursework in the 2010-2011 year. I started making some other cushions out of the same fabrics but using different patchwork styles but they have been sat in a ziploc bag ever since. It's about time I got them finished!

Here are 3 that I've started. A log cabin type block, a 9 patch block and a rectangular cushion with 3 grandmother's flower hexagon blocks to be appliqued on. I may stop at 4 or carry on depending on how much fabric I have left but my goal is to complete 3 making a total of 4.

3 & 4 - Sam library bag and innotab bag

Tasks 3 and 4 share a photo as I'm not 100% sure of which fabrics I will use for which yet, Most likely the library bag will be the baby looney tunes fabric lined with the striped fabric and the innotab case will be the striped fabric with the red fleece lining and the Thomas tank border strips as pockets.

5 - Finish my PJ bottoms

This crumpled mess is my first attempt at making myself PJ bottoms. I started to sew them together but went a little wrong sewing 2 fronts together and 2 backs together instead of 1 of each so they need unpicking and restitching together. Once I start they shouldn't take too long but I'm procrastinating as unpicking is bad enough but unpicking jersey fabric is a nightmare!

6. Alter my jumper

I love this jumper but it's a little bit on the tight side and a lot on the the short side. It needs altering most likely with adding some lace to increase the length and maybe a panel in each side to increase the size?? I'm not really sure where I'm heading with this one.

7. Finish my patchwork top.

I started this top a little while ago and I can't wait to see it finished as I love the purple patchwork. Very sorry for very blurry photo don't quite know what happened there.

8 - Mum's scarf

I bought this lovely long quarter of black super soft fleece fabric to make a scarf for my mum. I'm planning on getting it completed ready for mother's day.

9 - Mum and Dad's blanket

I bought 2 fleece blankets, one plain beige one cream with beige spots, to make a fleece patchwork blanket for my parents. I cut the pieces and then forgot all about them so the plan is to get this assembled for their wedding anniversary in April.

10 & 11 - Japanese folded bags

Again we have 2 tasks one picture. My first task is to re-sew the seams that are coming apart on this one of mine ready for holidays at the end of April. I've also promised to make one for best friend for her birthday in February but I haven't ordered the fabric for it yet.

12 - Stack n whack

I've cut all the patterned fabric for this quilt and pinned it up on my design wall so I know which 4 blocks are rotating clockwise and which 4 are rotating anti clockwise. I've assembled 1 block so far so still to do:

a) cut the remaining shapes of the background fabric

b) Assemble the remaining 7 blocks

c) decide what I'm doing for the central block

d) cut sashings andjoin together the 9 blocks

e) Quilt and bind

13 - Mum and Dad's cushions

I started these cushions for mum and dad months ago and greatly underestimated the amount of work in them. I've quilted along every gold line of the design to create a lovely textured effect. Both of the left hand panels have been quilted and 1 has been assembled into a cushion and I've now started quilting the first of the 2 right hand panels. I need to get these finished ASAP.