Cracking the whip

I've declared 2014 the year that I empty my WIP box. I know I'm not alone in that so I'll be hoping that you hold me to it in the same way I'm going to be nagging/ encouraging those of you that are on the same path. It's a big box and I've already taken out my second largest WIP to date so it doesn't look as bad as it did a week or so ago. In the spirit of honesty I also have 3 or 4 WIPs lying around the sewing room ;)

I've been plugging away at my biggest challenge to date the Not-so Lonestar Quilt! I started this quilt in 2011 when I was very definitely a novice patch-worker. I soon got fed up of it so dumped it in the WIP box and revisited it again in 2012. Obviously I got fed up of the diamonds again so back into the WIP box it went. This time round I've dug it out with the express intention of finishing it. This was firmly reinforced when I discovered that the quarter that I made this time round was considerably smaller than the original. I have since set about unpicking the original quarter and restitching it in line with the one I've just completed. If you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen lots of photos of my progress so I'm not going to overload the blog with all of them. This is one of the giant diamonds that I've made this time round.

Now that I've got the technique for piecing the rows sussed (more-or-less) I'm chain piecing the remaining 36 rows. This photo gives a much better idea of the beautiful colours in the fabrics I'm using :)

I'd love to think that I'll finish this top by the end of January...watch this space!
Today I took another long term WIP out of the box and turned it into a snuggly blanket following Hadley's lead. One WIP plus an Ikea fleece blanket and I no longer have a WIP :)

I'll be sending this little blanket off in response to Alison's appeal.

So there you have it. The start to what I hope will be many WIPs leaving the box as finished articles :) Catch you soon x

Acceptable vom

The only acceptable vom is obviously the Scrappy kind! I'd been considering making one of these for a while but was put off by the amount of cutting involved, then Katy started off a little Scrap Vomit swap a while ago and I just couldn't resist joining in. I made up five blocks similar to the one below and sent them out to 5 other swappers knowing I'd received 4 in return :)

 Then I packaged up 4 lots of squares and sent those out to 4 different swappers and got 4 lots in return :)

This is the first block I made with the squares I received from one of the swappers. I intended to make a block with each of the packs of squares as they came in but life got in the way so I only made this one.

 I've used some of the other squares I received to make the B blocks. This is my "favourite" vomit square, that is one scary ass child!

 I completed my first row last night...

and today I made up another 2 rows :) I'm not sure whether I'll add more at this stage or just call it quits here. This is so unlike anything I have ever made before. I usually obsess over the placement of fabrics and colours. This quilt has been totally liberating in that I didn't place anything, I just grabbed and sewed and I didn't stress if my squares didn't quite line-up! I think that every once in a while it'll do me good to just let go and sew. I can be absolutely certain that I won't be precious over this quilt. It will probably end up as a very stylish dog blanket, not that we have a dog yet but one day ;) 

I've also got to put my hand up and admit that I need a good slap, I caved in and joined another swap! Mouthy Stitches opened and closed sign-ups today and I'm hoping that I got in :) I just couldn't resist this one after seeing all the fun they had last time round from the sidelines. Catch you soon :) x