The last stitch challenge April/May- finishing your wip

[Arcadia]

Ok crafty women. I need motivation to finish some projects, so I thought we could do a challenge to motivate each other. We can share photos when we're finished too!

I have to finish a quilt for dd, and appliqué on a top.

What are your works in progress?

[ss_storm]

too many to mention...

But I will attempt to finish my door snakes, and a patchwork puppy I was working on before DD was born

[Ryatha]

Ok - I have two nappies, a dress for lumpy and a skirt for me to finish...

WOOHOO go motivation!

[Pandora]

Oh so may to chose from!
Lol but the one I know I need to do is the fitten sheets for the dolls beds at kinder.

[*Beema*]

Ok.....

I need to finish these sleeved bibs for some friends
Quilt for nephew
Put the snaps on and deliver a quilt to the local NICU

I would like to say more but don't know if I will get to it

[MummyTummy]

Oooh, good idea Arcadia - I always need motivation!

A knitted jacket for the new bub, and a bedspread I am crocheting.

The bedspread has been a wip for 3 years now I think....but I am more interested in finishing the jacket and perhaps even starting and finishing a knitted wrap for this bub - EDD 15th May!!

My DH constantly picks on me for all my WIP projects that remain half finished.

So before I get too carried away I'll set my first goals now -

1. Finish knitting jacket

To achieve this I need to knit the front right side and the two sleeves before sewing up and adding buttons.

So mini-goal number one - knit front right side by this time next week.

So I am off on a holiday to Hamilton Island on Wednesday, returning on Monday. So hopefully by then I will have a result. That doesn't mean I don't need motivation in the meantime!!

So what is everyone else doing as their first goal and mini goal?

[Laranna]

Ok seeing as I've literally just cut out the pattern for DS's pyjamas, I'm going to finish those. This will be my first ever clothing item once I've finished!

[kawazuki]

finish my frog long stitch,
thats all.
the others i havent even started yet lol

just got everything for them

[maz]

I need to finsih off these dame libray bags for the boys

[AnyDream]

I have a quilt in progress...had the borders pinned ready to sew when realised I've cut one of the patches HALF AN INCH too big...now I have to unpick, trim, re sew, re-iron (it's been mooshed up in a basket for 2 year LOL), re pin and then sew the border back on...then quilt & finish. That should be do-able, right???

[ss_storm]

For sure MD! Lol. Man, that would be so annoying! i know with the patchwork puppy I'm making (which has been stuffed in my box of unfinished projects for over a year) the squares don't line up..I'm sure they were all the same size to begin with though, so I musn't have sewn them all with the same margin. I'm over it though...as long as it is finished I'll be happy and don't really care how crappy it looks! Lol. I have one side of it done, just need to sew all the squares together for the other side, sew both sides together, stuff it and then do nose/eyes.

My first mini goal though will be: I want at least two of the door snakes done by the end of this weekend. Don't know if I will be able to stuff them, decided on sand to fill them with so I just need to source a bag of beach sand. Waiting on material my mum is posting to me to do the two I need for the double doors in our bedroom and the dining room.

[Laranna]

Aww I never got one of those spotlight vouchers! I'm a VIP too!

Ryatha - the bag looks great!

ss - I haven't got my sewing machine out yet. It would be too tempting to get ahead of myself lol

I have the pj's all ready and cut out, now just need to sew them together! That's the scary part

[Fleur]

I did get one of the vouchers but managed to resist temptation yay me

I was hoping to do some of the quilt top this afternoon but I really should do some work instead... hmmm, decisions, decisions....

[Arcadia]

Argh...haven't done a thing!

[Pandora]

i need to learn how to hand sew and i have no one who can teach me.
I cant use my sewing machine when the bub is sleeping because it wakes him up, and i cant use it a lot of the time when hes awake cos he plays with the cord and dh isn't there to supervise him.
Is it hard? I have tried but everything just falls apart.

[jackrose]

I'm jumping on the bandwagon halfway through as I have just looked at my ticker and realised I am running out of time!!!

Even though I just got some divine patterns from the US for clothes for DD using some fabric I have had stashed for her for months (love the internet), I have to be ruthless and have wittled my list down to must do projects in the next weeks...

1. finish covering the couch before the new baby arrives so I can wash slip covers if they get baby spewed/wee-ed/pooed on!
   - cushions done, couch proper to go!
2. Make pressie for dear friend for the anniversary of her angel baby coming up in May. I'm thinking two patchwork cushions - one for her 3 year old and one for her stillborn daughter... hmmm
   - fabric bought, cushion insert ready, design and embroidery to be finalised
3. Baby wipes for my new cloth stash
   - gotta work out the best fabric and get some...

Now just have to get machine back from repairs!!!!

...oh and get to the cutting out before I am too big to get down on the floor

Maz, what type of advice are you looking for re: patchwork? As in quilting?? I'm only a newbie, but I could suggest some good references to get you started...

PlonkeeMumma: I found quilting in the ditch a chore... really hard to keep it in line! Instead I sewed 1/4" from the seams or on the diagonal... or both! It enhanced the pattern on the quilt! Of course this is going to work if your quilting patches are small enough to have you sewing the minimum distance required by the batting. If you are interested I can pm you the link to the inspiration I found online so you can make sense of my description! (I'm not sure if I can post the link here)

[Laranna]

Pandora, have you tried You Tube for hand sewing video tutorials?

I have a question about fat quarters -what are they used for?

[jackrose]

Fat quarters are just an easy way to buy/sell lots of different types of fabrics, as they are a smaller cut than a full width of fabric. For a quilter, it means you can build up your 'stash' or buy heaps of different pattens to make up a quilt without having a heap left over.

If you are looking for ideas other than quilts for what to do with them, try googling "Fat quarter projects" The 'sew mama sew' blog has a heap of ideas for using the smaller cuts of fabric. I'm not going to look as I don't need any more projects at the moment!!!

Otherwise the "moda bake shop" is another good stop for little projects with quilting cottons.