Year End Report.

Here we are on the last day of 2011 - boy that seemed to go by fast!!  I like to keep a tally on projects finished, fabrics used/bought, etc ... so here goes ...

I finished 8 lap quilts, 5 incubator covers (36" square), 5 incubator quilts (16" x 20").
I finished up my oldest UFO from 2008.
I taught the Disappearing Nine Patch to my Quilt Guild at their annual Quiltathon.
I finished my personal stash-busting challenge.
I finally plucked up the courage to quilt feathers!!
On a non-quilty note, I also rediscovered my love of card-making.

I bought 33.5 metres of new fabric.
I used 59 metres of fabric in my finished projects.

I carry two unfinished quilts into 2012 - the Orca Bay Mystery and Pinwheels Parade.

Despite the fact that I had a sewing 'lull' between Sept - Nov, I'm pretty pleased with what I achieved in 2011.  If you've read this far I'll reward you with a quilty picture ... still a work in progress, but I'm getting there!

Here's to a happy, healthy and quilty New Year for all :)

Progress ...

I've finished all the Clue 5 pieces for the Orca Bay Mystery.  I'm holding fire on Clue 6 until I see how it will be set, as I might change the colour of some of the centre pieces.

In the meantime, I've been working on the Pinwheels quilt.  I was basting it this morning and did a little of the quilting this afternoon.  I'm doing some feathers on the paler blocks, so have to pace myself :)

Merry Christmas and Orca Bay ...

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this.  I hope the festive season brings you lots of love and happiness however you choose to celebrate.

Here I am at 3am on Christmas Eve having had a brainwave.  I think I've figured out how the parts of Orca Bay will fit together and I had to come downstairs and play in EQ6 to see what it might look like.  Don't panic ... I'm not going to spoil it for anyone by showing my idea here.  If you are really curious, email me privately and I'll send you a .jpg of my thoughts.  Remember, I could be way off Bonnie's thought process anyway :)

Orca Bay Mystery Step Five ...

Finally, I have some progress to post about!  I had hoped to start cutting for this step on Sunday, but didn't manage to put rotary cutter to fabric until Wednesday.  I'm only making half quantities, but cutting 350 triangles seemed to take forever!!!  The first 20 triangles I sewed on were wrong (thanks Elaine for the tip to check this stage carefully), I'm now back on track.  I've got 70 units completed, 60 still as HSTs and the rest in some stage of progress.  Check out Bonnie's linky to see how others are getting on :)

Pinwheels Progress ...

My pinwheel blocks are stitched, pressed and ready to be arranged on the design wall :)

Orca Bay Mystery Step Four ...

As I'm only stitching half quantities of the mystery blocks, my 32 string blocks are sewn.  I haven't had a chance to trim yet as I need to get some starch first.  I cut a couple of strips from each of my pulled fabrics before I started and had nearly used all my terracota/orange strings by the end.  Fun using up lots of little pieces of scraps in this step :)

Check out other participants' progress on Bonnie's blog.

Pinwheels progress ...

Firstly, my HSTs from the Orca Bay mystery are all finished and ready for action.  I'm delighted to see that this week we get to play with red strings, or in my case terracota/orange ones!

Here is where I'm up to with my Pinwheels on Parade pattern.  The patterened block parts are on my design wall and I have all the alternate block pieces cut.  Should get some time to sew this weekend and I think I'll do a little on each project :)

Orca Bay Mystery Step Three ...

Even though I'm only making half the number of units for the mystery, I still need 175 2" HSTs for this step!!  I've been cutting a little, sewing a little, pressing a little, repeat, and I now have 103 units.  I have a good chance to sew tomorrow, so I'm hoping to be caught up by Friday.  I used the Easy Angle ruler and 2" strips for this step and it's gone really smoothly :)

Check out Bonnie Hunter's Linky to see how other mystery participants are getting along.

Something new ...

Yesterday I had lots of time to sew, but I'm up to date with the clues for the Orca Bay Mystery ... so what's a girl to do?!?  She starts a new quilt!!  I pulled the fabrics for the Pinwheels on Parade pattern from "More Nickel Quilts" by Pat Speth.  The nickels (5" squares) are from a long ago swap of Kaffe Fasset fabrics.  The background is an off-white with little green sprigs, so the whole thing will look quite fresh :)