Nap time

Henry Fish is having a cup of tea and a lie down before he gets pressed and has borders added.

When Henry met Denise

It's Friday, so I had grand plans to have a finished quilt top to show off. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans.

So instead I am celebrating some mini finishes:
* my Henry Fish blocks
* sashing two rows of Henry Fish
* buying all the fabric I need to finish Henry Fish

(This all leads to an interesting debate as to what constitutes a finish, but let's leave that for another day!)

The last one is the big achievement. As the dreaded lurgy is still very much present, leaving the house is a Big Deal. But I felt compelled. Spotlight still has $6 discontinued fabrics and then on top of that, 30% off if you buy the bolt (I should market for them). So that is $4.20 a metre!!! But only until next Tuesday. Dramatic pause. What to do? Well I couldn't leave those lovely fabrics to be snatched up by the other crazy quilty people on the North Shore just because I am on my death bed, so I put on my big girl undies (literally, the baby won't tolerate anything else) and drove my diseased self to the shop. I bought a little teensy weensy bit of fabric. Including a lovely DS blue print to border Henry Fish and the matching blue and pink tartan to back it with. Hooray. That means the other backing I bought is now spare. Hmmmmm. And I may have bought some other bits and bobs just because I liked them.

So now I am going to have a chokkie bikkie and a nap to celebrate my intrepid journey. And will emphatically deny ever leaving the house, if anyone asks.

Here's another rubbish photo - of Henry meeting his new Denise Schmidt border and backing. I hope he's happy.

Hey girl

Fluffy Sheep Quilting has some very funny Hey Girl meme pictures up. Which made me think we should have our very own to cheer us up here in New Zild. Derivative? Yes! Entertaining? Hell yes!

Progress

Well I am pleased to announce that all of the long awaited Henry Fish blocks are done. Phew. Now to trim those babies down and sash them up. Although there has been a bit of a hitch in that plan, caused by a grotty grotty cold.

To anyone considering getting sick when 39 weeks pregnant, I would suggest taking a pass. It's not something you need to tick off the bucket list. So I am lying in bed, imaging this done! Soon...

Sorry for the grotty photo - my quilty wall is in the hallway, which is too dark and narrow for decent photos. But you get the idea.

Distraction

Look what arrived! It is taking every ounce of my will power not to rip these babies open and start something new.

Internal monologue: "Finish Henry Fish, finish Henry Fish."

Pah.

Who's this? Henry Fish!

So this is the quilt I am supposed to be working on instead of getting distracted with jelly roll quilts for the lounge and baby quilts for friends.  I suspect the reason it isn't getting done is because of the pressure to get it finished.  I'm contrary like that!!

Lovely Henry Fish, waiting to be a quilt

Henry Fish is the name of that gorgeous fabric you see peeking out in the middle of the block.  I discovered him on a Cabbage Quilts post from yonks ago, talking all about the wonderfulness that is Spoonflower.  That started a Spoonflower affair that I am still trying to keep secret from my husband.  Anyway Henry Fish is designed by Peagreengirl, and can be found by searching Spoonflower, if you are keen.

Henry Fish was not destined for this quilt.  He was destined for something delicious for me.  I don't know what.  But Mum came to visit last Christmas, just after I had started the quilting journey, and spotted him in my stash.  The Circa 1934 charm packs I had bought for a quilt for her didn't have a look in (they're now being turned into a puff quilt, but that is a story for another day).  So Henry Fish is going to Mum's, for her spare bed.  And just to add to the pressure, she has re-decorated the entire spare room around the quilt colours.  I was forced into paralysis by all the expectation (not helped at all by getting pregnant and doing nothing but collapsing into bed every night after work).

This was all made worse by the fact that I had calculated it needed 72 blocks.  Urrrggghhhh.  Anyway, would you believe that I have the blocks out, and those blocks are getting done.  And would you believe, it isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be!! Typical.  I have made life easier for myself by bringing the blocks down to 48, and have decided to put a large borders around the edge to get it up to size.  Which has the added bonus that I'll need to get back on Spoonflower for more fabric.  So there is a remote prospect the top may get done before the baby arrives.  But lets not tempt fate ...

The block is called Garden Fence, and a great tutorial can be found here.

Saturday morning sunshine

Today is a good day! Why you ask? Well because:

* I've finished work (phew)
* the weather in Auckland today is uh-mazing (after last summer's dismal effort, I think we deserve it); and
* the little baby quilt is all done, tied up, and ready to go to its new home.

Of course now I really, really wish I had gotten around to ordering some quilt labels on Etsy - but that's the sort of thing I can do as a lady of leisure in the brief moments before no 2 arrives.

I did a much better effort on my machine binding this time. After sewing the binding on the front (there are masses of tutorials on this - Crazy Mom Quilts has a really good one), I ironed it before I pinned it around the edge of the quilt. This meant I had a cleaner line for my "stitch in the ditch" for sewing the back of the binding down. I also pinned the binding down (which I havent done previously) which meant that I didn't miss the seam on the back. And finally, I slowed right down. I figured the slowest machine speed is still waaaaaay faster than hand sewing. Its not perfect, but I managed to catch all four corners properly, and didn't need to re-sew any of it. Practice makes perfect, huh.

So here's an action shot of me sewing down the back of the binding, and the finished product. Yippee.

Although now I need to get back to Mum's quilt. *sigh*