A Late Summer Update: Return of VA Fibre Arts

Hello Friends and, at Long Last, Welcome Back!

After an unexpectedly long hiatus, I am thrilled to be returning to the Fibre Arts blog and to be able to continue sharing my quilting, sewing, and other creative adventures!

While I originally stepped away to deal with some health issues, many other things popped up along the way that kept me from posting; a change in my work life, adopting a puppy, and taking on the role of Block of the Month coordinator for my guild. A lot has been happening and there are a lot of exciting things coming up in the future too!

So Friends, let's take another look back at where we left off and a glance towards the future!

Looking Back

Many months ago, back in March, I had planned to release my end of winter update and to share some goals for the spring season. As summer will soon be coming to an end, the spring goals are now a little irrelevant, and I'm not really sure that I can remember exactly where I left off with my winter goals at that time.

However, I did continue progress on several of those winter projects throughout the months I've been away, so an up-to-date update is what I'll be sharing with you instead!

Simply Woven

I'll start by sharing a very notorious project; Simply Woven. This is the oldest UFO in my possession as it was originally started by my Grandma sometime around 2012, before I had even started making quilts of my own. It is the second full sized quilt I've ever attempted to quilt and the first that I've tackled on this blog.

Looking back at an early March progress update, I had just purchased thread to begin hand quilting. Since then, I've continued the mix of hand and machine quilting, progressing across the quilt top fairly slowly, as seems to be the way with my quilting.

I've made my way through about a quarter of the wavy background quilting and am quite happy with that progress. And while I originally had hoped to have Simply Woven completely finished by now, I've made significant progress on some other, newer projects that I'll be sharing more about later on.

The Simply Woven quilt pattern was designed in 2012 by Jess Kelly for the Moda blog, I believe the pattern is now only available via the Wayback Machine.

NQM 2021 BoM

The National Quilt Museum's 2021 BoM project is another that I had ambitiously hoped to finish last winter, though it was given less priority than Simply Woven.

This quilt was my first attempt at the quilt as you go technique and was a test to see how I felt about that method of construction.

During the later part of last winter, I actually removed this project from my winter goals entirely as I wanted to prioritize Simply Woven instead. Since then, this BoM has been packed away to make space for some of my more pressing projects, though I will be returning to it when I have slightly more time.

Check out the National Quilt Museum's BoM page for pattern instructions for this quilt. You can also find the 2022 BoM on that page as well!

Generations Quilt

A much more personal project from last winter was the Generations Quilt; a project I'm working on with my Mom and Grandma. This project will transform a set of blocks, made by my Great Grandmother before I was even born, into a set of quilts that were worked on by the hands of four generations of my family.

This quilt features two traditional applique blocks; the Dresden Plate and the Six-Pointed Star. Over the winter, I had reached a total of 8 completed Dresden blocks and 4 completed Star blocks.

Since then, my total has increased to 9 Dresdens and 12 Stars, significant progress that I'm very proud of!

As this project doesn't have any specific deadline, my goal was to continue progressing on it, which I have succeeded in doing and hope to continue doing in the future. However, I am interested in making this goal just a little more specific, so moving forward, I'd like to make a minimum of one block every month for the rest of this year!

MQG Mystery BoM

While my guild's mystery quilt along from the last guild year wasn't given its own spot among my winter goals, there was an expectation that I would continue to work on it with my Mom.

And since the end of guild year last June, my Mom and I have both completed the piecing of our mystery quilt projects, so far as the original instructions are concerned.

Mom followed the instructions without deviation, so her quilt top has been completely pieced and assembled. I really love the bright spring colours that she chose to use, this quilt always seems to bring a smile to my face!

My version of this same pattern includes some of my usual pattern alterations; twisting of the colour scheme, changing up the block placement, and an occasional act of block substitution. Here is my 'finished' quilt:

Of course, this isn't actually a finished quilt top. I didn't assemble the blocks into a top since I was hoping to use quilt as you go to actually finish this project, but I have completed as many blocks as the original pattern calls for!

I'm also planning to add a pieced border around the outer edge to give the central motif some breathing room. This border as not yet been finished since I ran into a bit of a snag; I don't have enough Oakwood fabric. This print has been out of production for several years and is no longer available in stores, but I do have a significant amount of excess that will be cut off from my Simply Woven backing.

The only issue now is that I won't be able to continue this mystery quilt until I've finished quilting Simply Woven. But perhaps this just leaves me with more motivation to work on it!

While I was following instructions on my guild's website, I believe the original source of this pattern is from Meadow Mist Designs. If I am correct, this quilt is called Meadow Mystery and was designed by Cheryl Brickey in 2017.

Linen Shirt

Moving away from quilt making is my historically inspired linen shirt project.

In my last update, I had just started construction of the shirt. Throughout the spring, I completed the hand sewing of all the seams and am currently working on finishing seams and edges. Unfortunately, I'm running very low on linen thread and have been having difficulties ordering more.

I attempted to order through a few different Canadian sources and haven't yet been successful. At this point, I think I will have to fall back on an American supplier if I want to finish this project anytime soon.

This project was originally inspired by Bernadette Banner's 18th century linen shirt video and construction was largely informed by Ora Lin's tutorial for making a similar garment.

Organizing and Renovating the Sewing Studio

The last of my winter goals was to clean up the sewing studio in preparation for renovations in the spring. Unfortunately, those renovations had to be pushed back because of the aforementioned puppy adoption; getting a new family member settled in your home takes a lot of time and effort after all!

Speaking of the puppy, meet Meara! She is a boxer mastiff mix and is currently about 9 ½ months old. I expect she will be making more appearances here in the future since she spends most of her days watching me sew.

And now that she has settled in, the sewing room renovations can finally proceed! I'm currently in the process of packing away any non-essential projects and objects, and moving my sewing machine and cutting setup to the dining table so I can still sew while renovations are underway.

I plan to share a more detailed post on the proceedings of this renovation after it has been completed.

Moving Forward

With the long ago winter goals finally brought up to date, there are two new project that need to be introduced.

As mentioned earlier, I have taken on the responsibility of being my guild's BoM coordinator. In this role, I have had the pleasure of designing a project for my fellow guild members to work on throughout the coming guild year based on suggestions they sent to me over the summer.

I will also be running that BoM project here on the blog for all of you to enjoy and to sew along with!

Each instalment will be published on the guild website following meetings on the first Thursday evening of every month. Each pattern, and my commentary, will be released here on the Fibre Arts blog the following week.

This Thursday evening marks the start of the guild year, so the first iteration of the Summer Garden BoM will be released next week!

The second new project I plan to start is another mystery quilt, this time being run through the Canadian Quilters Association.

Earlier this year, I joined CQA as a new member, and as such, I am now able to participate in their members' projects, such as this mystery quilt! And while I won't be able to share pattern instructions, I will be sharing my progress, pattern changes, and commentary on this pattern just as I do with all my other projects!

As a final comment for the future; you may have noticed that this post was released on a Tuesday rather than on my previous Monday schedule. With some of the changes over the past few months, Tuesday has become the more practical posting date for me, so expect all new posts from me to be released on Tuesdays!

Friends, thank you so much for your patience and kind words during my time away. I have appreciated the messages I've been sent and am very much looking forward to being able to share my projects with you all again!

Here's to many more years of sewing, quilting, and creating moving forward!

Until next time Friends,

~VA