Getting caught up

Now that exams are over and I've no more invigilating to do I can have a bit of me time.  My father is so much better now and has resumed going out to his Lunch Club twice a week, so I get two days a week when I don't have to go and get his meal ready.  This gives me so much more time to do do the things that I really want to do, namely getting caught up with my blocks for the Splendid Sampler QAL.

This is #27 Sewing Machine and was designed by Pat Sloan. This was a fairly simple applique block and came together quite quickly.

This one is #31, designed by Jenny Reynolds. I chose to do it all in red backstitch, as I have the other embroidered blocks in this quilt. I used Sulky Fabri-Solvy which is a printable, self-adhesive, water soluble stabilizer.  I just printed the design straight onto it, stuck it onto the fabric and then embroidered straight onto it.  A nice long soak, not the 2-3 minutes the instructions say, and it all dissolves away. I've been stitching this one on and off for about 3 weeks.

#39 Balls in the Air

This is another paper-pieced block for the Splendid Sampler QAL.  This one is designed by Aylin Ozturk and I wasn't going to do it as it had so many teeny-tiny pieces in it to make it into a circle,  some of the pieces had seam allowances larger than the actual piece and would have been really bulky.  On closer inspection I thought that I could do the centre, cut it out into a circle and then simply applique it onto the background, which is what I've done. I cut a circle of Bondaweb, snipped away the centre of it to make a ring and stuck it to the circle.  Then centred it onto the background piece and sewed it on the machine using the blanket stitch.

More Splendid Sampler blocks.

I've completed two more blocks from the Splendid Sampler QAL.

# 32 The Constant Needle

This block, by Laurie Simpson, was a fairly straightforward applique block.  I used Bondaweb to stick the shapes onto the backing fabric and then used the blanket stitch on my sewing machine to finish it off.

#35 The Wishful Garden

The designer of this block, Kristyne Czepuryk, meant for the cross pieces to be strips of hand embroidered flowers but I've just used strips cut from my French General collection. I've been wanting to use this Fleur de Lys fabric for some time but it doesn't seem to fit well being cut up into small pieces and joined back together again.  This block is perfect for it, though.

Catching Up!

It's ages since I last posted, April actually and now we're in June.  My elderly father's been ill and spent a couple of weeks in hospital and since then I've been having to go into Winchester every day, sometimes twice in a day, to take care of him. He is very much weaker, and more frail, than he used to be, and it is taking him a long time to recover, but I think he is, at last, getting stronger. Today is the first day that I haven't gone in to see him but I telephoned and he said my brother went this morning so not to bother going in.  It has given me a bit of a break as I've also been working the last few weeks.  I invigilate exams at the local sixth-form college so between that, seeing to Dad and my usual doggie day-care for my daughter I haven't had a lot of time to myself.  Oh, I nearly forgot; the grandchildren were on half-term last week and I was called upon a few times to look after them.  That isn't a chore, by the way, but it does curtail the time to do things for myself.

Looking back, I'm actually amazed at how much I have actually achieved.  I've managed nine blocks for my Splendid Sampler.  I've been catching ten minutes here and five minutes there.  I know that one block took me a week to do and I must have spent about about two dozen short sessions doing it. The embroidered one took me over a week to sew, mainly during the evenings.  So here they all are.

# 17 Family Stars

 I simplified this one by doing all of the star points in one colour.  This meant that I could make the Flying Geese units using the no-waste 4 at-a-time method.

#18 Lina's Gift

This basket block looks a bit plain compared to some of the others but I think it will be a bit of resting space for the eyes when it is sewn in with all of the others.

#20 Nature's Walk

This one is so cute.  I've kept the embroidery as simple redwork as it will go with the previous embroidered block.  I've a feeling there might be more of these embroidered blocks so I'll keep them all in the same style.

#21 Sweet Candy

A super simple one that didn't tax my brain too much although I did agonise over choosing the fabrics to use.

#22 Goose on the Loose

This one was foundation paper-pieced.  I've only ever used this method of construction since I started this Sampler so I was a bit wary but I'm so pleased with how it's turned out.  Such perfect points in each quadrant.  It did create a fair bit of waste, though.

#23 Hand in Hand

This one had a really intriguing way of creating those long triangular shapes which was really super easy to construct.  It did involve making a template but it came together in a unique way and is rather pleasing.

#24 Inspector Sidekick

The pattern for this one used half square triangles but I decided to use Flying Geese units so that I could fussy cut those Fleur de Lys and make it quite symmetrical.  I also decided to use my new-found skill of paper-piecing and drafted out my own patterns to use for those units.

#30 Simple Surprises

After the last three time consuming blocks it was a relief to make this one.

#33 Selvedge Saver

I've been saving my selvedges for some time now so I was pleased when this block showed up today.  I've only used my French General edges as that is the fabric line I am using for this QAL.  I made this by starting in the bottom corner and using a few dots of basting glue to stick the first strip to a 7" paper square.  I continued sticking strips on top, working back up to the top corner.  When the paper was covered I then stitched close to each edge.  Some of the selvedge edges have a fringed edging so I've left them lying on the top.  I quite like it.

I've missed out quite a few blocks, about 10 I think as well as a few of the bonus blocks.  These are mainly applique blocks or complicated paper-piecing ones and I might come back to them when I have more time on my hands.