Project Update: 01.11.2022

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

It's getting to that time in Autumn when the leaves have mostly fallen and the days are turning grey. While it's sad to see the vibrant colours go, there is still a misty beauty in the grey and rainy days to come.

I may wish those lovely October colours could have stayed longer, but as it is now November, I suppose I have no choice but to let them go and embrace whatever this new month brings!

And with the arrival of a new month, I wanted to share another project update!

Since my last update towards the beginning of October, I've made progress on several of my ongoing projects; some have been coming together beautifully, while others didn't quite meet my expectations, but I'm excited to be sharing them nonetheless!

So Friends, let's take a look at what I've been up to!

Deep Frost Mage's Robe

Beginning where I left off last week, we have the quilted Deep Frost Mage's robe!

After sharing the breakdown of my process for this robe, I was optimistic that I might still be able to complete it as originally planned, so I continued to quilt my pieces and to applique the decorative pixels.

I've now completed the quilting on the two front panels, and have basted the layers of the large back panel. I was hesitant to start the quilting on the back panel since it's the largest piece in the robe - I might have been a little intimidated - so from there, I shifted my focus to the applique.

I continued to work on the two side gore pieces, finishing the decorative swirl on one and coming very close to completing the other.

While I'm really happy with how my applique has been going so far, I'm not totally satisfied with the shape of the swirl on my second gore panel. And since I've already passed my initially proposed deadline for this project, I might take the time to rip off and move some of the pixels to make the shape a little smoother.

Now that I've spent a little more time actually working with the applique pixels, I've also decided to make some changes to the motif for the front panels.

Originally, the swirls were going to be long and thin, but I've found that I really love the effect of thicker groupings of the pixel squares, so I redesigned the swirls to feature areas of various thicknesses. I'm really happy with these redesigns, though they may still need a little tweaking, and I'm so excited to start working them in fabric!

While I may not have met my original deadline for this project, I feel that the care and detail I've been putting into it have overridden any disappointments I may have had in that regard. And with that deadline behind me, I'm excited to continue my progress on this robe and hope that it will be ready to wear before the arrival of the cold winter months!

Historically Inspired Linen Shirt

While the Frost Mage's robe has been occupying my time over the last few weeks, I had previously made progress on several other projects earlier in the month. Included among those was my historically inspired linen shirt!

With new thread in hand, my enthusiasm for this project was renewed and I quickly completed the finishing on the seams and hemlines!

I really love the hand felled finishes, they feel very secure and look really clean from the outside of the garment. This is defiantly a technique I plan to use again on future garments!

With that, the only steps left to get the shirt finished are the buttons and buttonholes on the sleeve cuffs. But this is where the project stalled; as this is my first ever attempt at hand sewn buttonholes, they didn't come out very well.

This is not to say that I expected them to be perfect, but the point of stitching around the perimeter of a buttonhole is to stabilize the fabric so it can stand up to use, but my stitching didn't properly catch the backside of the fabric and I'm concerned that they might not hold up well.

I typically wouldn't let disappointment stop me from trying a few more times, but with my then upcoming but now passed trip and the robe deadline, the shirt got set aside.

Now that the pressure of those are off, I think I might dedicate an afternoon later this week to stitching buttonholes, including a few more tests on scrap fabric to get the technique down!

Generations Quilt Project

Moving away from my garment projects and back to quiltmaking, I've kept up with my goal of completing at least one Generations block each month!

In October, I made three new star blocks using white printed applique on bold, coloured backgrounds.

I've been having a lot of fun with this fabric combination; I love the way the bold background emphasizes the various prints in the white fabric! But I've now used all of the background fabric I bought for this colourway, so I have the opportunity to experiment with a new combination!

With these new blocks, my total is now up to 15 of 20 Six Pointed Star blocks and 13 of 20 Dresden Plates. I wonder what my next blocks will look like?

For more about the background of the Generations Quilt, check out last year's post introducing the project!

The $3.31 Quilt

My next project is the ongoing CQA members mystery quilt; The $3.31 Quilt!

The first block was released a few weeks ago while I was away, but as soon as I got home, I immediately got to work piecing my beaver block!

This block is really cute and was a lot of fun to make! It used a wide range of piece sizes from tiny 1" squares up to large 9" ones.

While the original instructions and fabric requirements had the beaver pieced in brown, I decided to make mine grey. I even had a geometric, dark grey print that worked perfectly for the beaver's tail!

I'm so happy with how this block came together and love the contrast between the beaver and the background!

If my suspicion about the theme of this quilt is correct, then I'm 5¢ down, $3.26 to go! I can't wait to see what block will be released for November!

The $3.31 Quilt was designed by John MacPhail of Art East Quilting Co. and is the current members mystery project for the Canadian Quilters Association.

Summer Garden BoM

The final project I've made recent progress on is my very own block of the month project; Summer Garden!

I had a lot of fun designing this quilt for my guild and it's been thrilling to see the blocks participants have made so far! Hopefully even more will be shared at the upcoming meeting on Thursday!

Normally, Mom and I work on the guild's BoM project together, but unfortunately, October ended up being a busy month and we weren't able to schedule a sewing weekend. But both of us did keep up with making our blocks!

I worked on my quilt along version of the quilt using my Garden of Cards colour scheme;

I made one black and white card themed Bear Paw block and four monochrome green leaf themed blocks. The stark, high contrast card block will really stand out among the vibrant greens of the foliage blocks. I can't wait to begin adding the red and white prints to the mix!

For her quilt, Mom took inspiration from one of the colour schemes shared in the colour planning instructions. She decided to make each block a different colour of the rainbow, contrasted against a dark background!

For the Bear Paw block, she picked green to be the accent colour.

While I couldn't be there to assemble the block with her, I was able to visit long enough to help cut some pieces. We had a lot of fun going through all of her green scraps to find pieces that would be the right size for this project!

And I love how her blocks turned out! The green is so vibrant against the dark background and she was able to use so many fun and different prints!

I'm really excited to be able to make the November block with her this month!

And speaking of the November block, it will be the Wild Goose Chase block! Join me again next week on 08 November for the release of that block or visit the fabric selection post to start from the beginning!

And with that Friends, I have so much to look forward to in November! There are many exciting BoM projects to stay caught up with, garment projects to complete, and new colour schemes to be explored!

While I wasn't able to keep on schedule with every one of my Autumn goals, I've made a lot of progress and am very happy with what I've accomplished! If you'd like to keep up with my projects between updates, you can visit me on Instagram @v.a.fibre.arts! I appreciate all the comments, suggestions, and enthusiasm I encounter both on and off the blog!

I would love to be able to return some of that enthusiasm, so if you'd like, please share your own projects in the comments below or by tagging me on Instagram!

For now, I'm excited to get back to working on my sewing projects!

Until Next Time Friends, Keep Creating!

~VA