Making Progress #2

I feel like I’ve joined all the sew-alongs at the moment. I’m doing three, which is more than enough of a juggle for me! First one, and the one that has really got away from me is the Firefly Quilt. The pattern is by Pen and Paper Patterns and was the Patterndrop offering for July. I was immediately and irresistibly drawn to this pattern because of the glowing effect the firefly bodies have and the way they seem to swarm on the quilt. I’ve never seen a firefly, apparently they live in some forests on the east coast of Australia but not here in the west. I’ve made one test block and the rest are sitting in a pile at cutting stage while I try and keep up with..

The Happy Go Lucky Sew-along. This sampler quilt is designed by Sharon at Yellow Cat Quilt Designs. I’ve been running one or two weeks behind all the way along with this one. I’m going with a spring green background which I bought thinking it was mint (the quilt store was a little dark and it was a rainy day). I stalked the Instagram feed of Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts for inspiration on colour schemes before I started since she seems to be a big fan of this shade of green. Other fabrics are from my stash including some charms from the Blush Metallic collection and Grandale by Australian designer, Keira Job and mini charms from the very lovely FrontPorch.

And last but not least is the far more relaxed pace of Tish’s Fireburst Mystery Quilt-along. I changed my mind about fabric selection several times before finally settling on a scrappy version. This gives me the added bonus of being able to make the larger size and I don’t need to go shopping for it.

Not that I haven’t been shopping! A local chain of fabric/craft supplies/window treatments stores decided to close its bricks and mortar stores and go on-line. This is most upsetting since they sell (a limited selection of) good quality quilting fabric at much reduced prices for Australia and they often discount beyond that. Anyway they announced they would be closing their stores back in March with the last store due to close at the end of July, and gradually their stores have been closing one at a time. Here we are in August and my local branch is still open with no closing date although the ‘for lease’ sign and the fact they’ve sold off a lot of fittings says they will. Anyway, with the idea in mind that I’ll no longer be able to just pop down there I’ve been attending every sale. They rotate stock through the remaining stores and bring in the stock from closed stores so there’s always new stuff coming in. What’s a girl to do? I’ve been buying and I need to use it! Scrappy is probably going to become my style for some time to come!

Anyway, I’m liking the way this is coming together. It’s a bit of a first for me, using a scrappy low volume background on anything bigger than a bee block. There’s still plenty of time to join this one, since the final parade is not till New Years Eve.

What’s your limit on sew-alongs?

Sue

Linking up to Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter