Sunflowers and WIP's

Although I have had the Dresden plate for my next Rainbow cushion pieced for ages, it has been gathering dust in the cupboard whilst other projects muscled their way to the top of the pile. Well, it finally got to the top of the pile, nudged a little by the fact that this month's Craftsy BOM blocks are Dresden plates! I haven't started my Craftsy blocks for July yet, but I have watched the video and I was taken with the way that Amy Gibson finishes the centres of her Dresden plates. She cuts out two circles of fabric and sews them all the way around with a 1/4" seam then makes a cut in the back of the circle and turns the circle fabrics outside in. Seemed a lot less work than needleturn applique, which is what I had intended to do, so I gave it a go :)

And here it is, I found it hard to get the circle shape exactly right, but it is not far off and it was a lot quicker than trying to get an even circle with needleturn applique that is for sure! As I am trying to use new techniques with these cushions, I decided to have a go at using one of the embroidery stitches on the sewing machine to frame the sunflower.

All was going surprisingly well until I got distracted! Then what had been a nice, even spacing of vine tendrils became a rather dense vine. Unpicking dense machine embroidery is no joke, and I definitely learned my lesson to pay attention all the time!

Still another new technique tried and, if not mastered, at least completed, and another project moved from waiting to finished!

So this is how my WIP list looks now

Completed projects

• Shades of Green, Fleur Bleu, Checkered Heart, Orange, Sunflower and Reindeer cushions
• Orphan Block needle roll, Pieced Arc Tea towel, Purse and Padded Hangers Tutorial
• Sunflower and Sew Happy QAL quilt
• Play mini-quilt challenge quilt 
• Patchwork Block, Dragon and Fashionista Bags

Ongoing

• 6 blocks of In Color Order HST BOM 
• (Almost) Irish Chain quilt basted
• 8 Zakka-style SAL projects completed
• Teatime quilt pieced 
• Let's get Acquainted Blog Hop project 
• 5 blocks of NY Beauty QAL completed and fabric cut for remaining 5 blocks
• 12 blocks of Craftsy BOM completed (on schedule)  
• In the Bag Ugly Fabric challenge fabrics arrived still waiting for inspiration!
• 4 Summer Quilt Bee blocks completed and sent
• 1 Star of Africa Bee block completed and sent

Waiting

• Indigo and violet rainbow cushions
• Last block of Sampler quilt
• Amy Butler bag
• Christmas mini quilts
• Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop project 

The waiting list is looking pretty healthy, now I need to get to grips with some of the projects that have been loitering on that ongoing list before they get lost under all that dust!

If, like me, you have several orphan paper-pieced blocks lying around waiting to be made into something wonderful, their wait may soon be over. Kristy at Quiet Play has just announced the Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop, which kicks off on August 1st and runs for the whole month, except Sundays. Naturally there will be giveaways and prizes involved with a linky party at the end for showing off all the wonderful creations. I can't wait, but will have to as my day on the Blog Hop is not until August 27th!  

If you haven't already check out this week's Blogs on the Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop, you are missing out on

July 17

    Katie from Kati's Quilting

    Claire from Sewing over Pins
    Caroline from Quilting in the Cold 

July 19

    Jamie from Sweet Baby Jamie

    Janine from Rainbow Hare Quilts 

Looking forward to seeing all your progress this week.
Linking up to WIP Wednesday , Quilt Story and We Did it Wednesday