Sunday 2 March 2014

Something Old, Something New – March 2014

Never too hot to Stitch!
How did you go with your goals in the shortest month of the year?


I thought I was on track but then WM and I went to visit an “open house” (we weren’t really expecting to buy) and we “fell in love”. The photo shows the western side of the house where all rooms have doors opening onto the “deck”. That first door (on the left) is the main bedroom, then moving towards the right: the door from the secondary living area, the window from same, the window from main living area, the door from same, and (just showing through the trees) another window from the main living area. What you can’t see through the trees is the door from the second bedroom. The view is across crown land into the national park. Those plants are on our property and in the bottom right corner you can get a glimpse of our swimming pool. My sewing table will be near the window of the secondary living area (or at least that’s what I have planned)
 new house
That, of course, meant that we had to put our house on the market. The real estate agents advised us to get rid of all the clutter and to keep the house like a show home – which we did, but it meant that sewing has not been an option because I make two much mess and have too much clutter around me! The photo shows my living room and piano as they’re rarely seen!
loungeroom
My goals were to bring my Country Houses quilt up to the point of binding and to learn how to foundation piece.

The quilt remains untouched.

The foundation piecing nearly didn’t happen either. I knew that we would be doing this technique in class when we resumed at the beginning of February. What I didn’t take into consideration was the procrastination of my class mates. The first week the teacher explained what we would be doing and showed us a bag made from four sample blocks. The second week she gave us pictures of the block layouts. We were to look at them and decide what we wanted to make by the third week. In the third week, we told the teacher which blocks and how many of each we wanted to make, so that she could bring the foundation papers necessary in the fourth week (which was last Monday).

Only two of the five students who were “playing along” came to class prepared to make the first block. The teacher gave a demonstration and then the two of us who were ready began to sew. Well, I would should say, I began to get ready to sew. First I had to select fabrics from my pink scraps (that was the colour of the month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge), then iron and cut them. Then my sewing machine played up and I had to unpick the “loops” created on the back of the fabrics where stitches should be. Then my bobbin thread ran out. Finally I got some sewing done but there’s not much to show for a three-hour class (the demonstration didn’t begin until the end of the first hour).
foundation piecing first attempt
However, I also learned another new technique the week before that. Knowing that we wouldn’t be doing foundation piecing, I asked the teacher to show me how to piece curves (also pink for the same reason).
curved piecing first two attempts
I’m linking this post with the ScrapHappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by Angela at SoScrappy blog.
Soscrppy
For March, my “Something Old” plan is to get the Country Houses quilt moving forward and, because I’ve only had one lesson on each of these new techniques, my “Something New” will be to continue learning about Foundation Piecing.

What about you?
How did you go in February?
What are your plans for “Something Old, Something New” in March?

Link here with the URL of your blog post.
Don’t forget to pop into some of the other blogs and see what others are doing for this challenge.

18 comments:

  1. I know selling/showing a home and the purchase of a home can be consuming and I don't blame you for not getting to sew. Too bad about your class. As a teach, I find that unacceptable and too bad for those of you who were prepared.

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  2. It was so disruptive selling our house. I am glad that is over but we are renting now which is nearly as bad. I can't wait for the new house to be built. We sold our house through Save on Commission. It wasn't hard to do and we saved about $15000 on commission. You work with the lady through emails and she puts your listing on Realestate.com. I wrote a great story and took some great photos then we scheduled open house for each weekend. Our solicitors did all the legal stuff as usual.
    I hope you make some progress with your foundation piecing this month and do a bit on your quilt. After the first flurry of trying to sell the house I just let my sewing room be itself. People understand.

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  3. That gave me a surprise to read. I hope all goes well for you in the process. What a lovely outlook.

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  4. Learning new things can be fun, i can relate to the problems you had ! And hopefully you get back to your sewing in the new home very soon :)

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  5. Hi Lynne
    Wow your moving are you moving far?
    I got 2 things finished this week end. Your squares are pretty :)

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  6. Congratulations on your new home! It looks lovely. Hope you sell your current one quickly and easily.

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  7. Wow, no wonder you fell in love, it's a gorgeous place. Congratulations! I was lucky, the last time we had to sell a home we staged the house and then left as we both had to start new positions in another state, so we weren't home to mess things up. Hope you house sells quickly and you can get back to making fun sewing room messes.

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  8. Congratulations! Your new looks beautiful! Just think of all the sewing and knitting you will be doing their...soon!

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  9. Moving? Selling? Oh, wow, what a month you have had. The new place looks wonderful and lush. Those windows make me envious! Can't wait to see the progress you make here!

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  10. Good job for getting any sewing at all done during such a busy time. So much work in getting everything all cleaned up and then all packed up. Hopefully you will be settled into your new space soon. What a lovely view you will have as you sew. Congratulations!

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  11. I remember how hard it was to have a place on the market and still sew! Congrats on the new place and I hope yours sells quickly! That's a pretty great view - calm and inspiring!

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  12. The new house looks amazing! We've been guilty of the not-looking-to-buy-and-then-buying a house before too. You know it's the house of your dreams when you make that wild and crazy move.

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  13. I won't 'link' this time as I ended up doing something new a few weeks back and wrote about it in the FNSI. I printed images from the Internet on fabric and used the resultant fabric squares in a project. Have had the packs of sheets to do this sort of printing since April 2011. Finally did it and was surprised how easy it was! Lol

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  14. Beautiful new house. Congratulations.

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  15. That house is amazing, no wonder you fell in love!

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  16. Wow! I guess that is why we don't go looking. ;-) Fingers crossed that your current home sells quickly.

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  17. Wow, you've certainly had an eventful month. Your new house looks gorgeous. Hope the old one sells soon. I understand about your lack of sewing time - mine was illness. But I have a book picked out for March whereby I can start something new from something old.

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  18. Great curves!! Congrats on the house, hope the other sells soon!

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