Sister's Choice 4

After making extremely slow progress on my sister's quilt, there was a flurry of activity at the weekend and now I'm almost there!

I finished the top:

 And pieced the back:

And boldly decided, since I was on a roll, to attempt pin basting.

This wasn't as hard as I thought and while it was on the floor, everything seemed to be staying tight and taught.  I'm not going to lie though, it is pretty uncomfortable and takes much longer than spray basting.

However, I have always felt as though spraying was cheating a little bit and really wanted to know how to do this.  Spray basting also creates a LOT of fumes and it is too cold to have the window open, further adding to my motivation to do this.

I also started quilting it and it was here the problems started.  All my basting seems to be moving (how is this even possible? It was sooooo tight on the floor) and my blooming machine wanted to play tension Cluedo (exceptionally boring game involving unpicking a lot of really dreadful sewing, making minute adjustments to the tension searching desperately for the setting which agrees with the thread and finding nothing makes it better).

In the end, I decided to start the quilting again using better quality thread in another colour. This is sewing like a dream!

Linking up with Work in Progress Wednesday and Lee at Freshly Pieced:

Brown Paper Packages - 7

So, once again I accidentally fell into a fabric-buying situation this week...

It keeps me in Brown Paper Packages posts if nothing else...

Okay - now to do some actual sewing with all of this!

Linking up with Sarah from Mila and Cuatro for Sunday Sunday Stash!

Brown Paper Packages - 6

My poor, poor bank account.

New to the Note to Follow Sew Stash this month (all from M is for Make - that sale section just sucks me in everytime....):

  

Centrepiece in Evening
Hand Drawn Garden by Anna Maria Horner

Feathers in Teal
Sun Print Feathers by Alison Glass

  

Floating Axes in Turquoise
Uno by Stof

Of a Feather in Ivory
Tsuru by Rashida Coleman Hale

  

Retro Clover in Breeze
Just My Type by Patty Young

Text in Charcoal
Sun Print Text by Alison Glass

Type Keys in Mustard
Just My Type by Patty Young

 

Bike Path in Smoke and Bike Path in Charcoal
Sun Print Bike Path by Alison Glass

And my very, very favourite fabric of the lot, satisfying both sewing and stationery requirements:

Writers Block In Pastel
Type by Julia Rothman

In other news, the date for the Stitch Gathering 2014 was announced this week!  I am definitely going to try to get a ticket - I had such fun at the last one.  I feel a Glastonbury-ticket-style rammy coming on...

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash:

The Little Blogs Quilt Bee

Last week I was carrying out my usual routine of looking at pictures on Instagram, while walking to work at a slower pace than I should because I'm buried in my phone.

I happened across a proposal (via Claire) to put together a quilting bee for bloggers who had participated in Lily's Quilts Small Blog Meet.  I hadn't even managed to link up with the February post, but I've participated in the past so carried on reading.

Lou of I'm Studio Lou was rounding up bloggers who had never been in a quilting bee and whose blog had less that fifty followers.  That's me, thought I, and quickly signed up (while crossing a road and avoiding on-coming traffic).

I was joined in this exciting endeavour by:

• Lou at I'm Studio Lou (Sheriff of these parts)
• Celine at Espritpatch
• Heidee at Handmade Somethings - her bee post is here.
• Roseanne at Not a Floral Girl
• Joanna at My Quilts and Other Stories - she kicked off her bee blog posts here.
• Alison at Patchwork Alley - her round up of the bee is here.
• Gina at The Occasional Quilter - Gina blogged about the bee here.
• Sheila at The Mindful Quilter
• Natalie at Love Natalie - you can read her introduction to the bee here.
• Claire at Cor Blimey Claire E Poppins
• Nessa at Nessa's Place

Now we're on a roll!  Months have been assigned, rules have been decided, and blocks are already underway!

I'm really looking forward to participating in the bee, and to making lots of lovely quilts with some extremely talented people.

I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot and progress my sewing skills by making blocks I wouldn't have considered making.  I've already learned something new about quilty blogging in fact, because I defeated the internet and made a button:

Here's to a happy year of sewing and new quilting buddies!