March Round-up

March has been a busy old month for me.  Trying to keep warm, an outing to London, endless times waiting in with Dad for people to come and survey and give estimates for work to be carried out on his house, a few WI meetings, U3A, Walking group, Book club, Craft club, Darts practice to get ready for the new season, grandchildren needing cuddling, oh, and I managed a bit of sewing, too.

Here's the list for March.

1. Scrappy Trip Around the World - blocks sewn together, batted and backed, quilted and bound.  Waiting to be gifted to eldest daughter for her birthday at the end of this week.  Ta-Daah! post here.
2. Swoon 12" block drafted and completed. 
3. Starbright 12" block drafted and completed.  
4. Two drawstring bags from two Ikea tea-towels.  Blogged here.
5. Five Star mini quilt drafted and flimsy completed.  Now waiting to be hand-quilted.  Not blogged yet.
6. Quilted Tote bag made yesterday as an extra gift for eldest Daughter's birthday.  Not blogged yet.

I still haven't started my Farmer's Wife blocks, and I don't think they will get done in April either.  I want to do a bit of dressmaking to get ready for the summer.  A few dresses for my granddaughter, and a dress for me from a length of Liberty Tana Lawn that I've had in my stash for years, but  I've just found the perfect pattern for.  I need a couple more 12" blocks in the red,white and blue colourway and then I can complete the top of my Combined 2013 BOM quilt. (I must re-name that project as I've used blocks from all over the place, not just BOM's).

Linking up with Lily's Quilts Small Blog Meet

A Trip to Ikea

Today's finish started with a trip to Ikea.  Whilst viewing quilting blogs I've noticed that several people have used Ikea fabric for the backs of their quilts, so I thought I would check it out.  The fabric in Ikea is cheap, and comes in wider than normal widths, so makes a good, cheap backing.  I had seen the Numbers one used before

                                BRITTEN NUMMER

                                                        Fabric, white/black

£3  / metre

but I fell in love with this one

JULITA

Fabric, white/black

£4  / metre

I bought 3 metres of each because I couldn't decide which one I like best.  I will probably use the Julita for my Scrappy Trip quilt.

Of course, a few other things dropped into my trolley as I went round the store.  I'm not sure how that happened, but when I got home I found this lovely pair of  Tea Towels in the shopping bag.

EVALILL

Tea towel, rose

£4.75  / 2 pack

As soon as I saw them in my kitchen, I knew I would never use them.  They are far too pretty.  I would be mortified if they got stained or burnt by using them as an oven cloth.  but I didn't want them languishing in a drawer never to be seen.  I needed to ponder so went and had a shower.   I washed my hair, and after I spent five minutes untangling the cord of my hair dryer from other cords and bits and bobs I realised what I could do with the tea towels.  A neat, storage bag just for my hair dryer.

I used a super tutorial by Jeni from In Color Order, just adjusting the sizing to make it bigger.  Jeni uses a very easy method of lining the bag, sewing the outer pieces and the lining all in one long strip and then turning it right side out through an opening in the bottom of the lining.  I didn't square off the bottom as I don't think my bag needs it. It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish.  I used a piece cut from a pink tablecloth for the lining, and I'm really pleased with the final result.




My daughter saw it and immediately said "Can you make one for me?"

There were a few little bits of tea towel left over, so rather than them going to waste I quickly made another little bag for my granddaughter to put her hairbrush in.

Aren't they just the sweetest little bags.   I see a few more drawstring bags in my future.

The only other thing I've managed this week is another block for my 2013 Combined BOM quilt.  I drafted out the Swoon block by Thimble Blossoms on squared paper and re-sized it to 12".