Cracking the whip

I’ve declared 2014 the year that I empty my WIP box. I know I’m not alone in that so I’ll be hoping that you hold me to it in the same way I’m going to be nagging/ encouraging those of you that are on the same path. It’s a big box and I’ve already taken out my second largest WIP to date so it doesn’t look as bad as it did a week or so ago. In the spirit of honesty I also have 3 or 4 WIPs lying around the sewing room 😉

I’ve been plugging away at my biggest challenge to date the Not-so Lonestar Quilt! I started this quilt in 2011 when I was very definitely a novice patch-worker. I soon got fed up of it so dumped it in the WIP box and revisited it again in 2012. Obviously I got fed up of the diamonds again so back into the WIP box it went. This time round I’ve dug it out with the express intention of finishing it. This was firmly reinforced when I discovered that the quarter that I made this time round was considerably smaller than the original. I have since set about unpicking the original quarter and restitching it in line with the one I’ve just completed. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have seen lots of photos of my progress so I’m not going to overload the blog with all of them. This is one of the giant diamonds that I’ve made this time round.

Now that I’ve got the technique for piecing the rows sussed (more-or-less) I’m chain piecing the remaining 36 rows. This photo gives a much better idea of the beautiful colours in the fabrics I’m using 🙂

I’d love to think that I’ll finish this top by the end of January…watch this space!
Today I took another long term WIP out of the box and turned it into a snuggly blanket following Hadley’s lead. One WIP plus an Ikea fleece blanket and I no longer have a WIP 🙂

I’ll be sending this little blanket off in response to Alison’s appeal.

So there you have it. The start to what I hope will be many WIPs leaving the box as finished articles 🙂 Catch you soon x