Project Update: 15.04.2021

Hello Friends and Welcome to this week's Project Update!

This past week has been rainy and overcast, which is honestly some of my favourite weather! It might have been more appropriate for the Wetlands BoM theme featured in my last update, but it's here now instead. Either way, I'm happy that I can enjoy it!

This week, I'm back to my usual variety of projects, and I'm excited to share what I've been up to!

Before I get into the update though, I want to remind everyone that my Project Updates are currently on an experimental weekly posting schedule. For the month of April, I will be posting a Project Update once a week to see how this affects the outcome of each post. At the end of the month, I will announce whether this will continue, or if I'll be returning to my previous posting schedule of every second week. I would love to know your thoughts on this experiment too, please leave me a note in the comments letting me know which schedule you prefer!

Now, on with the rest of the update!

Block of the Month

You may recall from last week that I was in the process of finishing the edges of my raw edge, fusible applique on the Wetlands BoM project. I have now completed both of my Swallow blocks, and all the applique blocks made to date are ready for the release of the finishing instructions in May!

I've made a lot of changes to this pattern, and still have a little work left before I'll be ready to put the top together, so look forward to a few more updates before the end of the month!

While the quilt along portion of this BoM project will soon be coming to an end, the instructions will remain available on the MQG website. Feel free to check them out and make your own Wetlands quilt!

As for the other BoM project I'm working on, I'm still in the planning stage. In her pattern, Audrey Esarey designed Angular No. 2 with a two tone colour scheme, but I'm interested in changing the colour placement and possibly using a few more colours.

After cutting out my pattern pieces, I drew up some colour studies to experiment with the design. I am a little concerned about the amount of floral fabric that I have left, there's still 8 more blocks, so I'm trying not to use it in any of the particularly large areas.

I also don't want this block to end up looking too similar to the January block, Segmented Circles. I'm considering using a blue background to contrast the green one from January's block. This would also help to tie in the blue accent colours from the February and March blocks to the rest of the quilt top. But I really like the idea of green being the dominant colour throughout the quilt, and blue being just an accent colour.

Without knowing what any of the future block patterns look like, it's tough for me to confidently make a decision. I'll have to think about it for a few more days before I get started. I would love to know your opinion too, comment below which of my colour studies is your favourite!

If you're interested in making Angular No. 2 or any of the other blocks from the National Quilt Museum's 2021 BoM program, all the patterns are available for free on their website.

Original Designs

Last week, I didn't make any progress on Changing Pace. Of course, the previous week I mentioned a pattern in the progress I had been making, and I immediately broke that pattern.

It seems that every time I speculate about the future progress of any project, I end up being wrong. And I really don't mind that, after all, variety is the spice of life! Besides, I learn so much more this way than I would if I was following one predictable cycle.

As for Changing Pace, I've managed to catch up since the last update! The row I was working on previously is now complete and attached to the quilt top, and I've also started assembling the next row.

This row consists of seven assorted background A blocks, and one background B. Because most of the blocks were white, the marking went really quickly and I was able to get right into assembly! I've sewn together the first three blocks so far.

This row is the last of the inside rows, so after this, only four rows remain! The outermost rows are not borders, but they are a little different from those that make up the quilt centre. I'm looking forward to having them added soon!

Mending

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in myself for not making time to work on mending last week. It may not be the most exciting thing to work on, but it's important to me that I try my hardest to keep clothing in good repair for as long as possible. Not only that Friends, I also learn so much from mending and am able to practice a variety of sewing skills!

This week, I got back to patching up a pair of work pants. You may remember the navy pants, which I last worked on over a month ago and mentioned in my 11 March Project Update. I fixed the button that had fallen off, but noticed a few other things that needed to be repaired.

The first was an L shaped tear in the lower leg. I found some fabric in a similar colour and weight, then cut out a rectangle larger than the tear to use as a patch.

You can see a faint rectangle around the tear where I've sewn the patch to the inside of the pants. The white thread is just used to baste the uneven edges in place. The next step will be to permanently stabilize the rest of the torn area of the fabric by sewing it to the patch. This ensures that the tear won't get any bigger as the pants are worn and washed.

I also found an area near the hem of the other pant leg that looked like it could use some additional support. I could have darned these spots, but I didn't have any thread in the right colour, so I opted to patch them too.

Again, you can see where the outline where the patch has been sewn to the inside of the fabric, and I still need to stabilize the worn areas with a little extra stitching.

The final area I want to address is the tearing along the crotch seam. The thread holding the seam together was ripped in a few spots, and some of the fabric was shredding apart as well.

So far, I've ripped out the seams in the affected area. Next, I'll need to add a patch to stabilize the shredded fabric, then I can sew the seams back together, and serge the edges to finish them.

Wow, my camera really hates these pants. They've turned out a different colour in every photo I've taken! If I had a few other colours somewhere in the photo, it would help to balance the colour detection in the camera, I'll have to keep that in mind for next time.

There's not a lot left to do on these pants now that I've done all the seam ripping and added the large patches. Hopefully they'll be returned to their owner soon!

Friends, thank you all for joining me for this Project Update! After last week's focus on the Wetlands BoM, it was really great to get back to working on a wider variety of projects. It's so exciting to see the progress I've made on all of them!

Let me know in the comments what you've been working on recently! You can also email me through my contact page, leave a post in my Facebook group, or tag me on Instagram @vafibrearts.

Until next time Friends, Keep Creating!

VA