March 2016 Progress & News

Progress has appeared slower this month - plenty going on but it feels like there's not a lot of sewing to show for it.

On the first of March Benartex released the first issue of their brand new free ezine, Modern By The Yard and this includes the pattern for my Window At Twilight quilt.  I wrote about the magazine here and you can click through and see it for yourself at this link.  You can download the magazine to your computer or phone and then print or enlarge pages if you want to make a project or just have a closer look.

More news this month is that I now have my own Quilt Designer profile on FaveQuilts.com.  FaveQuilts have been featuring my quilt, block and project patterns and tutorials for several years and many of you have discovered my blog coming over from there.  I'm very excited that they've now given me my own profile page :D

The second Saturday of March was our NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild meeting at which I demoed a technique that strikes fear into many quilters - Y-seams!  Afterwards, I put together a step-by-step photo beginner's guide to Y-seams for the members and shared it on the blog too.  If you missed it and you're Y-seam nervous you'll want to take a look here and banish those anxieties for good.

My friend, Karen, invited me to take part in the 7 Day Quilt Challenge on Facebook and I also shared my 7 most meaningful quilts with you here.  Below is my very first quilt that I made for my daughter, Flicky.

Speaking of Flicky she was home from St Andrews for Spring Break.  We had an amazing week together, I loved every minute and she got to see the two pairs of PJ bottoms I made for her back in February.  She loved them and I was finally able to share pics on the blog.

It seems like weeks ago that I went to the NJ Quilt Fest.  It was a great opportunity to meet friends old and new; I was absolutely delighted to finally meet Jess from Quilty Habit too.  So many fabulous quilts and you can see them too in this blog post.

There was an opportunity to pattern test the Seahorse FPP pattern for Juliet @The Tartankiwi and I jumped at it.  I've tested quite a number of her patterns before and the way she writes them is amazing - remember not all FPP patterns are well designed but hers are some of the very best and a pleasure to sew.  This one is 50" x 50" and I was working on it off and on for a week but how much is he worth it?!!!

I put part of feeling like I've not made much sewing progress during March down to writing tutorials.  They take a lot of time to make the item/photograph the stages/edit photos/write the tutorial and blog post but I feel like they're worth it as I love to share my knowledge with you and you always give great feedback.

This month I've shared the Beginner's Guide to Y-Seams that I've already mentioned and the second is How To Repair Broken Quilting Stitches and includes How To Create An 'On The Spot' Machine Knot

 

I'm also working on a great tute full of tips for binding quilts which I'll be demoing also at the NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild in April.

Guest hosting Sew Cute Tuesday for Alyce over at Blossom Heart Quilts was fun and I've had the best time visiting the blogs of everyone who's linked up and commenting on their work.

On the technical side of things, this month I did take on the role of a sheep or lemming, take your pick and set up an Ello account along with many other quilters after Instagram blogged that they're going to start putting on our Instagram feeds what they think we'll enjoy rather than us chronologically seeing everything we're following.  If you're on Ello I'd love you to follow me there too, not surprisingly my account name is @madebyChrissieD :D

If you like to keep track of my teaching schedule I'll be teaching some more Social Sewing sessions at Gotham Quilts, there's a quick list in my sidebar and more details on My Classes page.

Baby Snugglies: I did make another 4 snugglies - I had to so I can use them to demo binding at the Guild meeting and yay for some more project finishes!

Brand New Projects:
I'm going home to England next week and I like to take made by ChrissieD gifts back for my friends.  Last year I made Tea/Dish Towels, if you fancy making your own you'll find my tute here.  Well, I've stepped things up a bit this year but can't share what I've made here yet - it'll have to wait for next month I'm afraid so they remain a surprise.

Here's how my UFO/WIP List looked at the end of February;

and here it is again at the end of March.

As you can see the list has grown but those last 6 columns on the right are all finished work:

Completed January / February / March / Photos Taken / Blog - Scheduled/Published.

The 'to do' element of the list keeps growing (and growing) but I still can't believe how much I'm achieving and it's definitely down to writing these posts and being accountable for my progress.  I'm using the web app Trello, a digital notebook, you can read more about it here in my January Progress Report.

and here's my updated UFO/WIP list at end March 2016 

I'll carry on including the list in this format too so you can click through to the blog posts and read more but I'll also include my Trello boards because these are such a great visual of my progress.

Quilts

Bear's Paw quilt - NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild Bee Quilt - started December 2012
Transparency quilt - started 2012
5 baby quilts - started 2012

Skillbuilder quilt - started January 2013

Giant HST quilt - NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild Bee Quilt - started December 2014

Shirt quilt - started 2014

Cloud 9 circles quilt - started January 2015

Aviatrix quilt - started 2015

Batik animal quilt - started 2012-2015

Improv curves quilt - started 2015

Sliced jelly roll quilt - started 2015
8 Snugglies - started 2015
8 Point Star Quilt - started March 2015

Completed:

Jelly roll quilt -  started December 2015/finished January 2016
Quilting By The Lake quilt - started July 2015/finished January 2016
Sliced improv block quilt - NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild Bee Quilt - started November 2013/finished January 2016
4 Snugglies - started 2015/finished February 2016
4 Snugglies - started 2015/finished March 2016

Quilt Blocks & Pattern Testing
Completed:
Timeless Treasures NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild challenge - started/finished February 2016
Seahorse FPP testing for Tartankiwi - started February 2016/finished March 2016

Hand Sewing

Cross stitch - lilies - started 2003
Coffin hexies - started January 2013
Hexie hexies - started 2014

Completed:
Hand quilted quilt - started September 2013/finished January 2016

Clothing

Flicky's dress - started 2012

Flicky's skirt - started 2014

Boxer shorts - started January 2015

Completed:
Boxer shorts - started January 2015/finished January 2016
Flicky's PJ bottoms - started January 2016
Flicky's PJ bottoms - started February 2016
2 Aprons - started February 2016

Textile Crafts

Pirate dolls - started 1998
Flicky's book cover - started 2010
Jelly Roll block cushion - started 2013

Xmas cushion - started 2013
Flapped tissue case - started 2013
Snail block - started 2013

Fabric game - started 2014
Fabric book - started 2014

Sashiko cushions (several) - started July 2015

Create fabric covers for 2 canisters - started 2015

Tula Pink storage containers - started December 2015
Name Badge - started February 2016
4 Pixie Baskets - started April 2016

Completed:
Mini butterfly cushion - started December 2012/finished January 2016
Pincushion Organiser/Thread Catcher - started February 2016
6 Pixie Baskets - started/finished March 2016

Textile Art

Quilting By The Lake - Series 1 - started July 2015

Quilting By the Lake - Series 2 - started July 2015

Repairs

Replace worn blocks on Simon's quilt - started November 2015

Restuff and mend teddy - started 2015

Repair various clothes for family - started 2015

Completed:

Replace buttons on Button quilt - started November 2015/finished February 2016
Repair handles on felted bag - started April 2012/finished February 2016
Repaired quilting lines on Yuma quilt - started/finished March 2016

To keep track of all related blog posts in one place I've created a page you can click through to and see this post and each of my monthly update reports; you can click through to it here.

Have you sworn to clear your UFOs/WIP this year?  How are you going about it?  Let me know if you start using the Trello app too.
Do share your ideas and progress, you might just inspire someone to do the same :D

Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)

 

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Linky Parties This post may be linked to some great Linky Parties, always a great source of inspiration too.  If you click through to my 'Fave Linky Parties'  page you can see where I like to share my work.