1st SAL.....Peg, Dale and I committed to stitching Anni Downs - A Gardener's Journal in March. I blogged about this on my blog thinking maybe one or 2 others may join us and lots of girls indicated an interest so I decided to start this blog where we can all encourage each other to meet the goals set along the way....March 2010 -March 2011...........
2nd SAL ......well so many of the girls wanted to continue on with another project and some new girls joined us and now approx 91 girls are stitching Natalie Bird's Tis the Season. March to Sept 2011...............
3rd SAL....many girls want to stick with the SAL so now we have moved onto Anni Downs Some Kind of Wonderful - My Favourite Things Quilt.......Oct 2011-Oct 2012.........
Where are we now.....
4th SAL 2013...is numerous smaller projects from the previous 2 books Tis the Season and Some Kind of Wonderful plus some projects from Red Home by Natalie Bird approx 60 ladies stitching together.........
2014 we had the year off..............
5th SAL 2015..........inspired to continue we are doing another quilt project.....Anni Downs newest quilt Natures Journey.....
6th SAL 2017.............A Holly Cottage Christmas by Michelle Ridgway.......once again the pattern is in an affordable book so it is easy for everyone to join in...........and you can raid your stash for the fabrics........or lash out and buy a the whole lot........this SAL will be run by Fiona aka Bubz Rugz and Raewyn........
Chookyblue........

Monday, June 6, 2011

FINALLY! Some GJ Progress!!

Yes ... you read correctly ... I've FINALLY made a bit more progress on my Gardener's Journal quilt. Chookyblue has been cracking the whip of late and since I'm already about three months behind, I decided this last weekend was the time to get stuck in and do a bit more. So ... out came everything I'd done so far ...


OK ... spread it all out ... now ... where was I up to?!?!
Let loose with a rotary cutter, ruler and mat ... cut a few bits, mutter quite a lot about 1 1/2 inch squares (must have a word to Anni about that one day!!) ... scratch the ol' head a bit over which bit goes where and which way to press seams (did I mention I'm not REALLY a patchworker??) ... some whirring of the ol' Husky and ...
Et VOILA!! Block E finished. I just love how the little bits of satin stitching add an extra 'something' to the blocks ... even though stitching those apples nearly sent me round the bend ... a short trip in my case some would say! Tee! Hee! Hee! Do you see there's one GREEN apple in amongst the RED? Just like me ... it had to be a little different to the crowd! :0) Now ... I'd really only planned to finish one block ... you know, show Chooky that I'd made some progress, without stressing myself too much with 1 1/2 inch blocks. But ... well ... I had some more squares already cut and it was warm in my sewing room, so ...
... Block F also got put together ... maybe I was wishing I had a nice comfy spot to sit in the sun with a cool drink and a well-behaved puppy-dog. Hmmm ... winter, so not warm ... Sunday was overcast here, so no sun ... cold weather doesn't really lend itself to a cool drink ... two dogs, neither of whom are well-behaved! SIGH! You can see why I just stayed in my sewing room, can't you! :0) So my sewing achievements for the weekend were ...
Not bad, if I do say so myself. The dark blue border around the Resting In The Garden block was actually supposed to be around The Dovecote ... but I had a bit of a 'Spacewalk, Miss Jane!' moment and picked up the wrong block. OOPS! Ah well ... looks OK and I'm sure in the overall quilt it won't matter. So ... thus far, this is what my quilt is looking like ...
I've laid the blocks out in their order, as best I can with the missing bits, and have also laid out the stitcheries for the remaining blocks. I'm still not finished the Garden Show stitchery in the bottom right corner ... I seem to have a bit of a block with that one, for some reason!! Well ... that and too many other projects, new design ideas and deadlines creeping in to crowd my creative space! :0) I really want to get this quilt finished by the end of the year, though, so I'll just keep plodding along.

Lovely to see the progress everyone's making on their GJ and Tis The Season projects ... love that penguin block! :0) Hope you all had as productive a weekend as I did and that you're enjoying your stitching. Til next time ...


BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS

9 comments:

Kris Meares - Tag Along Teddies said...

Hey Everyone! Thanks for visiting!
Bear Hugs! KRIS (Tag Along Teddies)

Grethe said...

GREAT;GREAT;GREAT!!! Love seeing your GJ pieces together. Looks super ,and more to come.
Happy Quilting to you Kris:-)

Unknown said...

Looking good Kris!

Pia said...

You're almost done :-)
And it's looking great so far

BubzRugz said...

Oh Kris... I didn't know you were doing this... what pretty pretty colours... now you have to bring the real thing for me to see... and stroke....
Hugsz

Anonymous said...

Great job!! Always good to lay it all out and see where you're up to! I think it helps to aid the motivation to get just a little bit more finished!! What matters is (not that you're behind) that you're willing to keep going with it and get it finished! :)

Seams Sew Together said...

Fantastic your almost there. Beautiful work, I'm nearly done too.

Susie said...

Fantastic!

Chookyblue...... said...

uuummmmm only 3 months.........that was the finish deadline ....LOL.........but I am so pleased you got back into it.........looks like you only have to piece B and how are those ladies going.......your nearly there..........give it another push and you will be joining the blocks together and putting a border on it.........