Beach Huts, May Round-up and an Introduction

After the last mammoth post, another three-parter, but this time a bit shorter, hopefully.

PART 1 - Beach Huts 

I have a "thing" about beach huts.  I just love them.  They remind me of childhood trips to the seaside, lazy, sunny days and holidays.  I've never actually been in a beach hut, but used to imagine a life whereby the family would de-camp to the beach and set up home for the day in one of the long row of brightly decorated little houses along the sea front.   There are many along the south coast of England, but the prices to buy one are astronomical and I'd never be able to justify the expense.  I can still dream, though.

So you can see that when "The Patchsmith" revealed her pattern for this darling, little mug rug, I just had to have it.  We had a day of sunshine last week (was that our summer?) and the sun made me think of the seaside and so I dropped everything and made this (as I couldn't actually go to the seaside - reason in Part 3).

A complete mess-up!  All my fault, not the pattern's.  It's only a small project, just 9" x 4 1/2 ", but I had quite  few problems with it.  I thought , because it was small, that it wouldn't take me long to make, but I was so, so wrong. This is applique and I've only ever done it once before, a little star on the front of a t-shirt for my grandaughter.  I had some Bondaweb tucked away, but the paper backing was separated from the fusible bit and so was very fiddly to trace and cut out the shapes.  I also didn't know which side to iron down first as it wasn't stuck to the paper, so had to keep cleaning the mess off of the soleplate of my iron.  I also put the bonding on the right side of that green stripy hut three times!    

When it came to sewing it around the edges I decided to use the blanket stitch on my machine.  I did practice on a scrap first to see where I needed the edge to be, but failed to practice going round corners.  I haven't quite mastered where to stop sewing, and at which part of the stitch, before I turn to get a neat corner.

I used a piece of cotton batting and backed it with a piece of blue cotton before hand quilting  around the huts, doors, roofs and flags.

And then we come to the binding.  What a disaster!  I wanted a red, stripy binding and I had a 10" square of red stripes from a "Marmalade" layer cake I am saving for my "Farmer's Wife" quilt that I am going to make. Unfortunately, in my haste, I cut the strips the wrong way, so instead of neat little vertical stripes I have horizontal stripes.  I didn't have enough fabric left to cut more binding so had to go with it.  I had a job to match the stripes when I joined the pieces, and also managed to get a join right close to a corner when I sewed it on. I hadn't left myself enough room to do a diagonal join for the finishing join and the straight join at the top of the quilt is horrible.

One good thing has come out of this though.  I shall actually use it!  If it was perfect I would be very hesitant about putting a cup of tea on it as I wouldn't want to get tea stains on it and ruin it, but because it is a   "second" I don't mind.  I will make another one "for best" now I know all the pitfalls, and will definitely not rush it next time.

PART 2 - May Round-Up

Not a lot of sewing has been going on during the month of May, the main reason for which will become clear in Part 3.  I've been spending time trying to sort out my sewing stuff as it seems to be taking over my downstairs living space.  I live on my own now and so don't always tidy away at the end of the day.  I'm also not very good at clearing away one project's mess before starting on a new one.  The accumulation of scraps  and bits and pieces make for a very disorganised workspace, and I've been trying to bring some semblance of order to it all.  I've decided to move my sewing upstairs to one of the bedrooms, which in itself has provided lots of problems, as I have lots of stuff to sort out there as well.  It's a job to know where to start.

Here's what I have finished this month. 

1.  The aforementioned Beach Huts mug rug.

2.  A dress for my granddaughter (blogged here)

3.  Five Star mini quilt (blogged here)

4.  Commissioned baby quilt. (blogged here)

PART 3 - An Introduction

Finally, here is the main reason for my lack of productiveness.

An eight-week old Golden Retriever pup called Molly!

Molly belongs to my daughter who lives five minutes away from me.  She has been wanting a Golden Retriever for a long time (she used to have one, but when she split from her partner she lost custody of the dog).  This puppy became available at the last minute as the prospective owners couldn't take her and so Catherine jumped at the chance and we went to get her that day (2 weeks ago).  The problem being is that my daughter is a full-time teacher, and puppies need looking after all day, so this is where I come in.

I go and fetch Molly first thing in the morning and bring her down to my house.  She plays in the garden and sleeps on her bed in the dining room.  I keep the patio doors open, and so far, there have been no puddles indoors.  Only problem is that it has been so cold for me, and I sit hunched over the computer with a blanket wrapped round me.  I have managed to slip out of the house when Molly has a nap, but I only like to leave her for an hour at the moment.  At first, I didn't like to make a sound when she fell asleep in case I disturbed her, but I'm getting more used to her now.  She races around my garden like a demon possessed, and then just flops and is asleep in an instance.  She is really very mischievous. See that blanket she is sitting on.  Well,  it was in the house, but Molly decided it needed to be outside.

 It was quite heavy for such a small pup, but she was determined.

Catherine comes by after work, eats her dinner with me and then goes home with Molly.  She has the "night  watch" which I'm really glad about. Molly's just had her second lot of injections so can go out in 2 weeks time.  We're both going to take her to Puppy School so that we both learn how to train her, and are consistent with our commands.  She's already coming when her name is called, and she sits on command.

Here she is now at 10 weeks old.

Next  month I want to get the final blocks done for my star sampler quilt so I can get it put together ready for hand quilting over the summer.  I also want to start on my Farmer's Wife" quilt, but I've been saying that all year.  I wonder if this little Miss will let me?

My First Commission Finished

Well, we can't say we were not warned.

The weather men said that it was going to be blustery.

Oh boy were they right. But blustery is the understatement of the year. It is blowing a hoolie. Jolly windy and jolly cold. 

When I got the gas bill last week, after I picked myself up from the floor, I swore that I wasn't going to put the heating on until next winter.  I caved.  It's been on since 4pm.

Please, Mr Weatherman, can we have some pleasant weather now.  Sooner rather than later.  I've had enough of winter.  Three days of summer just wasn't enough!

At long last I've finished the baby quilt I was asked to make by a member of my reading group whose  granddaughter is having a baby next month.  

I used a half  of a Moda Scrap Bag which was made up of a line called Happy by Me and My Sister designs for Moda.  The scraps were 32" long strips cut down the lengthwise edge of the fabric.  By the time I had cut the selvedges off I had 2" strips.  

I've already made a baby quilt with the other half of this pack here.  I wanted to try a different pattern for this one so I thought a four trip rail fence would look good, but I didn't like it when I laid it out.  Fortunately, I was reading Bonnie Hunter's blog at that moment and saw a quilt that she was teaching at a class.  It started off with a four strip and then was cut on the diagonal to make two large triangles.  I then picked four random triangles and sewed them together to make the block.  It's called Strip Twist and is a free pattern.    

I've backed it with this piece of variegated fabric that I picked up in a charity shop for £1.50, and I used this for the other quilt, too.  Two quilt backs for £1.50!!!!  Amazing.  

I machine quilted it by stitching in the ditch around each block, and some straight lines on the border.

I had a fat quarter of this pink cotton in my small stash and so used that, machining it to the front and hand stitching it to the back.

It's funny, but I don't feel anything for this quilt.  I'm pleased with the way it's turned out, but I don't feel any attachment, or enthusiasm for it.  Everything else I've made has been for me, or a member of my family, or for one of my friends, but this is going to used by someone I don't know.  I'm getting paid for it, too, but that doesn't fill me with joy, either.  In fact, I think that the fact that I am being paid to make it has actually put me off it.  I like making things for others, but I like to gift them, and see the look of pleasure on their faces, and know that I've made someone happy.  I don't like this feeling about something I've made.  This could well be my first and only commission.  I'm going back to making things and keeping or gifting them.  I will get much more satisfaction from that.

April Round-Up

April hasn't been a very productive month for me quilting wise.

The weather here has been changeable, with it being very cold, sunny highlights, but not enough of them, and lots of rain.  Typical English weather you might say, so I should be used to it, but April is expected to be gradually warming up to Spring and it hasn't felt like that at all.  Today, though, the sun is shining and the forecast is for temperatures about 14-15 degrees C.  Anyhow, I have been spending time in the garden tidying it up after the winter season and getting ready for some summer bedding to go in.  I usually put that in about now, but I'm holding off for at least another couple of weeks this year to let the ground warm up a bit.

There are no actual  finishes for April but I have started a baby quilt, and I just need to finish quilting the border and apply the binding for that to be finished.

I've finished hand quilting my Five Star mini-quilt so that just needs binding.

At my W.I. craft group we have started making an exploding sewing box.  This is slow progress as I only work on it on Thursday afternoons.

Yesterday I prepared the pattern so I can make my granddaughter some little dresses for the summer.  I'm going to cut out and sew this one up today, ready for trying on for size tomorrow when she comes over after school.

I've also been busy doing alterations and repairs.  I've taken up two charity shop skirts, two pairs of trousers have been tapered and taken up for me and two pairs likewise for my daughter, one of my daughter's dresses has had a modesty panel inserted in the bodice and one of her tops has had the facings sewn down so they don't keep popping out.  I hate doing alterations, I'd rather make something from scratch, but needs must in the present economic climate.

Next month should see all of these projects completed, along with several other little dresses.  I want to make the last couple of blocks for my combined BOM quilt and get that sashed and bordered ready for hand quilting and I want to make a bag with the pattern I won in a giveaway over at Loft Creations.  It is this Caity Did bag by the very talented Stephanie Dunphy, and I have some gorgeous Amy Butler Soul Blossoms that I want to make it up in.

Looks like being a busy month.

Linking up to Fresh Sewing Day and Small Blog Meet over at Lily's Quilts.

My First Commission

I have been asked to make a quilt by a friend in my Reading Group.  Her granddaughter is expecting a baby (of the pink variety) in July, so this will be her first Great-grandchild.  She saw the baby quilt I made for my Great-great-niece and wanted something similar.  That quilt (see here)  was made from a Moda Scrap Bag and I still had half the strips left, so I thought I would use those.  I thought a simple Rail Fence would be a good way to use the strips effectively, and I worked out that if I combined the strips with an equal amount of Kona Snow I could make 30 blocks, each 6 1/2 inches square.  I laid them out on my living room floor and came up with this configuration.

I didn't like it.  It just didn't seem to flow.  No matter how often I changed the blocks round I couldn't build up any enthusiasm for it.  It lacked movement.  So I thought I'd leave it for a bit and come back to it with a fresh mind.  I got on with some hand quilting on Five Star (see last post) and caught up on a few blogs I read.  One blog I love to read is Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville's Quips & Snips.  She had been teaching a class in Pennsylvania using her Strip Twist free pattern and as soon as I saw her photos I realised that the block started off with a four strip Rail Fence block., which I already had.  It is then paired up with another block, cut in half diagonally and then sewn back together again.  There is a lot of movement in the pattern which is what I was looking for.  It didn't take too long to cut them up and sew them back together, and then came the fun part of deciding which block goes where.   This step took me a couple of days as I kept changing my mind, but it's all sewn together now and looks like this:

I'm going to machine quilt and bind this over the week-end, and then I have to decide how much to charge for it.  I've never made anything for sale before, so I don't really know where to start.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday over at. Crazy Mom Quilts.

Lily's Quilt

I made this quilt for my Great-great niece who was born at the beginning of December.  She was due after Christmas but decided to make an early appearance.

The fabric came from a Moda Scrap bag.  All of the strips were from the "Happy!" range by Me and My Sister Designs.  By the time I had cut the selvedges off I could cut 2" strips so that is what I went with.   The cream fabric came from a cotton bed valance I picked up at a charity shop for £2.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20 cotton. The binding is purple and came from a checked shirt.  I finished the binding with hand stitching on the back. The backing was another charity shop find.  One and a half yards of variegated poly-cotton for £1.50.  I've enough strips and backing to make another quilt this size, so quite a budget quilt.

This quilt measures 30"x39".   I quilted it using my new Husqvarna Viking Opal 670 in diagonal rows of a wavy stitch.  For the border I did straight lines using the edge of my walking foot to keep them straight and even.  This machine has an alphabet so I made a label and stitched it on by hand.

This quilt went together very quickly, completed in 2 days.