New Year's craft resolutions

Lately, I've been seized by an uncharacteristic urge to tidy things up and sort things out, and by an even more uncharacteristic urge to act on the first urge. As a result I've completed and lodged three overdue tax returns and, less important but more relevant to this blog, I've sorted out my wool and fabric stashes. This is useful in one way but does rather hammer home what a ludicrous amount of it all I have. 


Although goal-setting has always been an alien concept to me, it occurred to me today that there might be a way to both whittle down my hoard and revive this moribund blog. 


So, here is my New Year's craft resolution: finish one neglected project a month. 


It's the quilts that are really bugging me at the moment, as they are so large and represent so much money, time and storage space. So first up is one that I started five or six years ago. The fabrics are jaunty 1930s reproductions.

The design is by Ruth van Haeff and is from Handmade Style: Quilt by Murdoch Books.

There are two different blocks, one of which has a retro fabric in the centre showing a slightly harrassed-looking woman washing and ironing, supervised by a small black dog and what appears to be one of the Flowerpot Men.

I've just noticed that I've cut the fabric in such a way as to leave two feet macabrely dangling at the top of the block. Oops.

I last worked on the quilt about three years ago, and had finished piecing all the blocks. Today I cut all the sashing strips and sewed them to the blocks to complete the quilt top, as well as preparing the backing and sandwiching the whole lot together. 


I ended up with an odd number of blocks, as I ran out of fabric and refused, for once, to buy more. I've machine-appliquéd the three spare blocks to the plain white backing, so as not to waste them (or, worse, hoard them in a drawer for the next twenty years in the hope of finding a use for them). 

As a bonus, I found everything I needed among my stash rather than having to go out and buy anything extra or new. The background fabric isn't the perfect colour – a cheery aqua would have been ideal, but I decided to go with what I had, which is a gumleaf green. That means the only extra thing I will need to buy is a small amount of fabric for the binding. 


Now it's all ready to start quilting tonight while I watch Grand Designs on TV. I call that a pretty productive and thrifty crafternoon.