Catching up and finding free time

I don't know about others, but whenever I finally start to think I am on top of things, I take on something new and get into a tangle again.  I do find that it helps to allocate a certain amount of time each day to a particular project if you have a deadline in mind.

I started making the "4 card trick" about two weeks ago, wanting to have the whole thing completed by the end of November.  There are 20 blocks in the quilt, and I figured I would use each fabric twice, so that is......hmmmm ......40 different fabrics, plus the background.  Somewhere along the line I miscalculated, and ended up with too many small triangles.

and I thought I was going to run out of the background fabric as well.  And now, I am short 2 blocks, so have to find another couple of fabrics.

I don;t usually cut out a whole quilt all at once, but it was that background fabric that was the problem, and I wanted to make sure I had enough.   I do, but I made so many cutting mistakes.  One lot of triangles is
5 1/4" cut into 4, and one lot is 5" cut into 2.....so you know what I did?  I cut out too many of the smaller ones and not enough of the larger.  Eek! 

Each day I picked out groups of 4 different cut fabrics, and laid them on a little design board, and sewed them up.  Once they are all cut it only takes about 20 minutes to sew and press one block.  So far I have managed to get 14 of them done.  I have enough to make another 4, but will have to cut more fabrics for the colours.

I will have left over triangles, so I am thinking of making a boarder using them.  I will see how many left over "mistakes" I have at the end.

 Something different.  I went to the market and found "blood oranges" at one of the stands.  I usually get Seville oranges for marmalade, but thought these would make a great change.  The colour is spectacular.

I had a vision of scarlet coloured marmalade, but they have to be cut down with water and sugar, so it is not nearly so bright.

I got 2 large and 4 small jars from one kilo of fruit.  It tastes beautiful!  I had it on my toast this morning.  It set really well too.  I was a bit worried that as the fruit were so ripe, they would not set, so squeezed a lemon in.  Don't know if that did the trick or not, but they set beautifully as well.

Back to the "ticks"!

Pom Pom Tree - Block 11

We only have one more block after this one, then I will have to work out how I made the sashing and border for this quilt.

This block is one of the more simple of the 12, so you should be able to have it completed in no time.

The next block, number 12, is a little more complex.  I went looking for the file in my computer today, and it looks like I neglected to save it, or saved it is some obscure place, now I can't find it.  So it looks like I will have to do it all over again.  So much for "getting ahead"!

The block 11 is now available on the Legend and Lace website.  It is a digital download pattern for $4.95.  If you use Pay Pal you will get a strange message saying there has been an error  -   ignore that!  Sorry about this, but I can not seem to fix it, and plan to take Pay Pal off the website once these patterns are complete.  You will get a link for the pattern and you can print it off.  Remember that you have 3 days to download, and you have 3 attempts.  If you have a problem, let me know and I can reset it.  Email me Legendandlace@gmail.com.

Talking about things technical, I had a really bad week last week with techno stuff, and was practically pulling my hair out.  I won't bore you with all the details, but my mobile phone SIM was cancelled (not by me!) and I was told it would be 3-5 business days before I had a replacement.  Not happy with that, so I changed carriers, kept the number and  moved on.  When I wanted to email my Wholesale customers to let them know I had a phone problem, I found I could not send out emails.....same company......they had done "something" to my email account.  It is all sorted now, but not before multiple phone calls to the "customer help" centre, which is now in the Phillipines!  All the people employed in their Melbourne office were sacked in May and a new centre opened off shore.

I have tried to keep calm and do some nice sewing, and started a new project.  I am making a 4 Card Trick.

This is a lovely old block., and I am going to "zoom it up" with some good repro fabrics.  This is just the start, then there is a little "reverse" sewing, as you have to be really careful about what fabrics you put next to each other.  So, I got it wrong, by trying to do it fast, but will be better behaved now.  I am figuring on cutting out 4 blocks at a time, that way I can use the same fabrics twice, but spread them about into the blocks.  Should keep me busy for a while.

Have you ever bought a fabric because you just totally love everything about it, then spend the next 3-5 years trying to fit into just about every quilt you make?  Just to find that it is practically impossible to make the best use of it.

This fabric has been one of those buys for me.  I just loved it and could not find a home for it.  I had almost decided to use it on the back of a quilt!  What a waste

This week I finally found a home for it.   One of my magazine editors asked me to turn a collection of blocks into a quilt, and gave me less than 3 weeks in which to do it.  I work well under pressure, and find a deadline very motivational.......so I did it.  I fished out some sashing, and guess what!  This large print finally found a home. 

It is the only time I have matched it up with other fabrics, when it did not try to take over.

 These are 6" friendship blocks from 2012, swapped with people from all over the world.

I am very happy with the result, and so is the editor (The Boss!)  So glad I finally used this beautiful fabric, and I do have some left over.  Will see if I can use it again.

The quilting is pretty basic to say the least!  In the ditch around the blocks and the sashing, and across the blocks.  Will probably follow the line on the printed fabric on the border.  All on the machine!