A Big Catch Up - Continued

With today's sunshine, I shall continue catching you up.

After hanging the different parts of my Stained Glass String Diamonds quilt up on the design wall - I couldn't wait to see how it all looked together - I decided to make it my daily sewing project.
I made sure that I stitched across one square, each day, to get some steady progress.
In this picture the bottom row was one seam away from being joined...and then I needed to stitch the rows together and then the binding.
It's such a fun way to make a quilt, as the quilting is already done!

I can report today that I'm now on the binding and this quilt will be finished very soon.
I'll share the finished picture when it's ready.

Here's what the back of it looks like.

Psst...When this quilt is completely done, I'll be adding the tutorial for both versions of my Stained Glass Strings in the Schoolhouse of my site.
Stay tuned!!

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Fun Sewing Tidbit...

A while ago I saw a picture of a Gutermann spool of thread with one end pulled out - and that blew me away, as I never knew you could do that.
I was crazy busy, and soon forgot about it.
Then, when I remembered it again, I had trouble finding a spool in my thread collection.
As it turns out I've never purchased a spool of Gutermann cotton thread.
After a bit of digging I found this spool from back in the day, when I sewed some clothes to wear to work.
It made me remember the green outfit this thread was used for.

I checked the Gutermann site for information about this secret compartment, and couldn't find anything!
It holds a needle and is a great way to keep a needle, with the spool, in your hand sewing bag.

Had to share...

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I love my tractor block, from the current If I Drive... quilt series - 'Sew' Fun!
I knew I was looking for that stripe fabric for the background, before I even opened my bright green bucket of fabrics.
I could picture the stripes in my mind, looking like a plowed field!

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My free Block of the Month quilt project for 2020 is called 'Personalize It!'

The initial tutorial and first two initials are online here.
Please Note: Each initial will be available free to all for the first month they are online.
If you miss any and are not a member, you'll be able to purchase them.

Of course, they'll remain free to Members!

Some quilt tips to share...

For the first project I was cutting strips down into squares.
To keep me from cutting way too many squares - which saves me time, I take the total number of squares I need and divide it by the number of different fabrics I'm using.
The answer gives me the minimum number of squares I want to have of each fabric.

Using math for my quilting was never on my mind in math class!

My black with white and white with black patches are all cut!
The leftovers are sorted into 4 piles -
1. The bowl is the tiniest bits, going into a pretty pillowcase and eventually made into another pillow for my kitties - as I mentioned in my last post.
2. The pile on the top left are for strings - very short ones.
3. The center pile will be cut into 1 1/2" squares for my Postage Stamps with a Twist quilt
4. The pile on the right are large enough for 2" squares and I've got a bunch of those to play with sometime.

For this series you choose a favourite colour, which is a great way to personalize a quilt.
The spring green fabric I used for the letter B is my favourite colour!

Careful - you'll want to laugh at me...
One of the things that I love with quilting is the 'using up' - hence my love of scrappy quilts.
I've recently been saving these tiny bits of black fabric, which I normally would only be saved for the pillowcase filling.
Because two of my current quilts use this black fabric for the letters and some details, I figured I'd be using them up, so I saved them.
But other than using a few, the pile got bigger and bigger.

Then, when making up the letter B - I needed to make 22 tiny black leaves, and it thrilled me to know I had all these tiny bits to use!

Simple pleasures!

And here's the Personalize It! Checkerboard lap quilt - in progress.
All the blocks are sewn together.

Next the rows.

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Throughout 2020 you have a chance to win my Let's Have a Cuppa! set, which includes the pretty table topper, tea cozy, trivet & 2 coasters - with every purchase you make from Victoriana Quilt Designs.
As a bonus you'll receive 5 entries for purchasing a Permanent Membership!
Plus look for the x5 button for other special bonus patterns.

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What's Your 2020 Sewing Resolution?

The planning has begun for Victoriana Quilt Designs - 2020 will be 'Sew Fun'.
The details can be found in the Permanent Members Nook I've set up through my Facebook page!

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Free Printable Quilt Poster

Some of our favourite words!
If you'd like a copy for yourself, there's a free quality printable, available on my site.

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My weekend stitching progress = a new cat toy!

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The segments that some pincushions have help keep different pins together.
It doesn't take any extra time to pin them back, and easier to find the one you want.

[This is one from my Playing with Pincushions series.]

There...I believe that catches you up!

Enjoy!