Pretty in Pink

After finishing the scrap sorting last week I was eager to start a new project, so I decided to make a start on using up some scraps..  Do you remember the pile of 5" squares I had cut?

There were 80 squares in that pink pile on the left and were calling me to make something for my granddaughter whose favourite colour just happens to be pink.  I wanted something that would be scrappy, but still have a unified look to it.  I hunted around the internet, and my Pinterest boards and decided on the Disappearing Nine-Patch block.  I already had two charm packs of Kona white so they could be used, and I found some pink and red spot fabric in my stash I'd bought in Ikea earlier this year.  The white and the spot would be in every block.  I made each block using four scrap squares for the corners, one pink spot square for each centre, and four white squares for the outer middle squares.  That sounds complicated but as a picture paints a thousand words here's one to show you what I mean.

I made twenty blocks like this. Chain-piecing them meant they came together so quickly.  I really surprised myself how quick it was.  Then came the fun part.  I cut through the middle of the block, both vertically and horizontally like this.

Then I rotated the top left and the bottom right squares through 180 degrees, leaving the other two squares alone.  They now looked like this.

This was then sewn together to make the completed block.

The block measured 13 1/2" square, which when set in a 4x5 formation and sewn together would be just a bit too big for the fleece throw I want to use for the backing, so I trimmed the blocks down to 12 1/2", making sure I measured 6 1/4" from the centre line on all four sides so that I kept the pattern equal.

 The completed top. I love the way the cut white blocks form that cross pattern.  I'm thinking I'll hand quilt around the inside of those crosses to emphasise them a bit more.

 Although not completely made from scraps, I'm putting this down as another item for the Scrap Challenge.

Wellies & Watering Cans

Last April I made a bag for my eldest daughter's birthday and my youngest daughter really liked it, so as it's her birthday this week I've made her one, too.  Catherine's was made in a lovely bicycle print as she loves cycling, but I've made Sarah's in this gorgeous Wellies & Watering Can print as she is always gardening.

The lining is just plain olive green.   It measures 13" tall x 19" wide.

On the FWQ front I've managed 3 blocks this week.

#1  Attic Windows

#88 Star of Hope

#92 Streak of Lightning

My tally so far is 34 blocks.  I'm only making a lap quilt size so need 16 more.  Should be able to manage that by the end of next month, I think.

And now especially for Molly's Fan Club

Five months old, and feeling oh so very sorry for herself.  She follows my daughter everywhere and tried to sneek into the bathroom with her, but the wind caught the door and slammed it shut, catching Molly's tail in it.  I didn't see the carnage as it was at her house, but she said that her bathroom resembled a murder scene and she half expected police to arrive and cordon off the area with yellow tape!  The vet's is quite close so she whisked Molly down there straight away.  They had to shave off her newly grown feathering before they could clean and glue the wound and gave her a painkilling injection and a course of antibiotics.  Molly is not entirely happy with having to wear her new fashion accessory.

New Year's Goals Revisited.

Way back in January, half a year ago, I made some goals for this year.  I don't know why I make goals as I never stick to them, but it's interesting to see what I do fulfil and what gets left by the wayside.  So this is what I said on 1st January and what I've done towards them.

1.  Finish the Craftsy BOM quilt started in August (4 blocks to go, then sashing, backing, quilting and binding).  I've finished all of the blocks, using some different ones than those published as I didn't like some of them.  I want to machine quilt these using the as-you-go method so I can practice Free Motion quilting.  I'm a bit scared to make a start yet!

2.  Start "The Farmer's Wife Quilt" using "Marmalade".  Hurrah!  I've started this month. Read to the end of the post and you'll see what I've done so far.

3.  Join in Stitchery Dickory Dock's Sugar Block Club each month (using leftover fabric from my "Chambray Rose" quilt).   Some of these have been incorporated into my Starry Sampler Quilt which is now at the hand quilting stage.

4.  Make quilt for daughter using her old clothes (Cluck Cluck Sew's "Scattered" pattern). Finished and gifted, but I used Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trip Around the World.  

5.  Make a string quilt from old shirts using one of  Bonnie Hunter's patterns.  Not started but still in the pipeline. 

6.  Join in with the Blogger Girls BOM on Open Gate Blog (using available scraps).  Same answer as #3.

7.  Make a mini quilt each month from Kathleen Tracey's books (using available scraps).  I've made five mini quilts, not all from the books and one is a mug rug, but I'm counting that one in this group.

Actually, I've crossed more off the list than I first thought, and I've made other stuff as well, including a baby quilt, a couple of bags, a dress and some charity blocks.

This week I'm really pleased to have made a start on my Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks.  I bought the book for Christmas and had been stashing away fabric from the Marmalade collection by Bonnie and Camille.  I bought some yardage and added some plains but realised that it would cost an absolute fortune to carry on buying yardage to get the  variety of prints I wanted, so I bought a Layer Cake.  As these are only 6" blocks the layer cake should go quite a long way and give me the variety that I want.

I've read up a lot about the making of this quilt, and a lot of the pitfalls.  I want to rotary cut as much as possible, and to use different methods for making the individual units, so I've started by drafting out  the blocks from the book onto squared paper and using my own measurements rather than the templates on the CD.  I'm starting with the simplest blocks to see how it goes, and not necessarily in order.  So here's what I've made this week.

#2 - Autumn Tints

 

#4 - Basket weave

Only two, but it's a start.  I'm only aiming for the lap sized quilt and as I've only got hand quilting on the go at the moment I want to get a few more under my belt before I start on anything else.

Molly and I are enjoying the sunshine whilst it lasts, so plenty of time is being spent outdoors playing, and I'm getting some welcome 'quiet time' when she's worn out and takes a nap.  These little blocks are ideal to work on during those breaks.

Christmas Gifts

I made three people gifts for Christmas.  The first was a lap quilt for my daughter.  I'd bought a pack of Riley Blake's Seaside charm squares and wanted to make something that would use all of them, but being inexperienced I didn't realise that 25 squares don't go very far, so had to order some matching yardage to go with it.  I copied the Sandcastle Quilt from the Fat Quarter Shop which is a version of the Peyton at Play quilt, but I used my own measurements and worked out exactly how much I'd need.  Quite a lot of calculations involved but I had just enough with little to spare.

I took out the 3 squares that had children building sandcastles on them as I didn't think they went so well and replaced them with a bit of the border fabric.  The batting is Hobbs 80/20 cotton and the backing is plain cream cotton sheeting.  I quilted it on my machine using echo quilting around the central patches and straight lines about 3/8" apart around the border..  The double binding was stitched to the back by hand.  I finshed it off with a machined label.  The finished quilt measures 48" square.

The second gift was for a friend who had very kindly given me some cotton scraps to help build my scrap stash.  I made this table mat using a tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop.

I quilted it by machine following the zig-zag pattern.

My final gift was a pair of bags for another friend.  This is the smaller bag but I don't seem to have taken a photo of the larger bag that went with it.  It is the same design only bigger.  The fabric came from Ikea and they are lined with the burnt orange cotton fabric, also from Ikea.  I used a very good tutorial from bijoulovelydesigns.com.

I haven't done any sewing since Christmas, but I just can't wait to get started again once all the Xmas stuff is put away tomorrow.

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.

My very first quilt

Last August  I made some bunting for my granddaughter's fifth birthday party.  She had a fairy princess themed party in the garden.  A pop-up gazebo was her castle, so the bunting decorated it beautifully.  Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of it, but it was made from all my pink and green fabric scraps I had leftover from dressmaking.  When my daughter saw the bunting she thought it was perfect, but said that her old wooden garden table could do with a tablecloth to match. And so my venture into patchwork began.

I didn't have much fabric left, but did have a few odd pieces of green and pink.  I found out an old white cotton sheet, looked on the internet for guidance and this is what I came up with.

I went with half-square triangles so I could get more square blocks, and found a scrap of red to fill it out a bit more, adding a wide white border to make it a bit bigger. Each block is a finished 4" square.The back is just plain white and I bound it in single strips of the pink pattern stuff as I didn't have enough fabric to make it double. The quilting is just stitch in the ditch around each large square of the pattern, with echo stitching around the centre block.  There is no batting and it measures about 44" square.

I had it ready for my daughter's birthday two weeks later and she was delighted with it.  I enjoyed making it so much, my head became filled with so many projects I wanted to try and my time was taken up with scouring the internet and blog land for inspiration.  My new hobby had begun!