November Round -Up

This month has been about making two Disappearing Nine-Patch quilts for my grandchildren for Christmas.  I've completed one and am almost finished hand quilting the other so have high hopes they will be ready for the big day. I've also started Lori Holt's Quilty Fun Sew Along and have completed the first four blocks, and I've managed a couple of blocks for my Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt.

Flower Basket and October Round-up

There are several basket blocks in the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book, but none of them appealed to me.  Two of them have appliqued handles, so that's a 'no' from me (I know my limitations) and the grape basket is made up of 5 x 5 squares which makes it difficult to rotary cut as I'm not using templates.  So I decided to draft out my own basket.  I drew out a 4 x 4 block onto squared paper and took elements from other basket blocks I've seen.  After many attempts I came up with this.

Actuallly, this is how I do all my blocks.  Every block is copied from the book onto my squared paper pad and I work out the measurements and method of working for each one.  My scale is 1 tiny square = 1/2 inch and then I add on the 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Some of the blocks in the book are a bit too complicated to do it with this method, but I'm only making 50 blocks so I'm picking out the easier ones.

And here it is.  It actually took me less time to cut and piece this than it did to draft it out, but it was worth it in the end.

I've finished the big stitch quilting on 'Pretty in Pink' and only need to finish the hand sewing on the binding.
I've also made the blocks for the boy version of this one from old shirts so that will get put together this weekend and then will be ready for some hand quilting.

October was about getting Pretty in Pink pieced together but I've made a FWS block each week as well, so here's the collage for October.

September Round-up.

My round up of finished items for the month of September is really easy.  Absolutely nothing!  I haven't machined a single stitch, but I have been busy.  My sewing room was getting crowded out with bags full of donated scraps.  My sister and several of my friends have given me bags full of unwanted fabric and scraps.  They were taking up a lot of space and I really needed to see what was suitable and usable for patchwork, and what I could pass on for other usage.  I started on the 1st September, and finally finished yesterday!  Yes, it took me a whole month!

First, I emptied each bag and sorted out all the cottons.  I had to do the burn test on some bits to make sure they didn't contain any polyester.  As most of the stuff had been stored for a long time I then washed, dried and ironed all of it to freshen it up, and also to pre-shrink it.  I then had to decide how I wanted to store it.  There were some big pieces left over from dressmaking and smaller scraps and it had mostly been cut with scissors and was all in rather odd shapes.  I've read a lot of blogs about sorting and cutting scraps and everybody seems to have their own method, so I designed this method to suit me.

Everything was squared up so that each piece had a right-angle on each of the four corners.  Anything over 6" was treated as yardage. From the rest I cut strips at 3 1/2" and 2 1/2" wide.  They had to be at least 12 1/2" long.  Other long strips that were narrower were put in a separate pile and labelled 'strings'.  I then cut squares at 5", 3 1/2" and 2 1/2". The final sort was anything larger than 1" was saved for 'crumb' blocks, anything smaller was thrown away.  Here is my haul.

This is my 'yardage' drawer.

All the squares.  At least 100 5" squares, about the same 31/2" squares and about 200 2 1/2" squares.

The pink pile on the left is going to become a scrappy Disappearing Nine-Patch quilt for my granddaughter, hopefully for Christmas.

These are the strips and strings.  Not sure what these will become but I'm sure they'll speak to me one day.

I'm so pleased all the scraps are now sorted and put away in just two drawers.  They take up so much less space now, and I do like to keep things tidy.

As I mentioned at the start, I have done no machine sewing this month, but I have been spending my evenings in front of the TV hand-quilting my Starry Blocks quilt.  I've completed three so far.

It's now October and I've made one Farmer's Wife quilt block today.

# 103 - Whirlwind

I want to get started on the scrappy quilt for my granddaughter this month so I doubt if I'll get any more FWQ blocks done until I've finished that.

Three FWQ blocks and the August Round-Up

I've spent most of this week doing things other than sewing.  My garage has been cleared of so much rubbish and junk that I can now get to the back of it.  A job that has been long overdue.  Not finished completely, but nearly there.  I've managed a little bit of sewing, just three blocks for my FWQ.

#98 - Waterwheel

# 102 - Whirlpool

# 107 Windblown Square

# 112 - Thrift

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that the last block here is #112, but the book only has 111 blocks in it.  I'm getting a bit low on fabric as I'm using a Layer Cake, with a bit of extra yardage, for these FWQ blocks so I was searching through the scraps and noticed I had some HST's that had been trimmed off when I made  some stitch and flip corners, so I've designed my own block to use them up and called it Thrift.   

August does seem to have flown by.  The lovely weather we have had has been so welcome after what seemed to have been such a long winter.  I've tried to spend as much time as I could out in the fresh air so my round-up for the month might seem a bit sparse, but I have enjoyed using up the scraps and crumbs from the Chambray Rose collection for my Scrap Challenge.  I'm still working on my Leader & Ender project, and I've managed a bit of hand quilting on a few cooler evenings.  So here's the short list:

16 Farmer's Wife Quilt blocks

2 small scrappy coasters for my computer table

1 runner made from crumb blocks for my bedroom chest

1 bag for daughter's birthday

Nine More FWQ Blocks and Monthly Round-Up

End of heatwave = more sewing.  Hurrah!  The cooler temperature, along with a couple of days of rain, has meant that I've been able to spend a couple of days at home just sewing.  As you can see from the title of this post I have completed nine more 6 1/2" blocks this week for my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt.  One of these small blocks has 64 pieces!  Can you see which one?  I'm just loving making these.

#38 - Four Winds

#41 - Friendship Star

#48 - Homeward Bound

#54 - Kitchen Woodbox

#55 - Linoleum

#56 - Maple Leaf

#61 - Northern Lights

#62 - Old Windmill

#64 - Peace and Plenty

All made using the scrumptious 'Marmalade' by Bonnie and Camille.  My heart goes topsy-turvy just working with these fabrics; I love them so much.

My July output has been mainly taken up with making these FMQ blocks.  Here's all 22 of them spread out on my living room carpet.  I'd like to take them outside to photograph as the light is so much better out there, but naughty puppy would only run off with them.

I've also made a teeny-tiny needle case with scraps,

 and started a leader/ender project to use up the Chambray Rose leftovers. (see last blog post for these)

And to finish, Molly is four months old now and has very definite views on how my garden should look.

She has decided that I need a flowerbed around my washing line post and has made a start on the digging.

Hole?  What hole?

June Round-up

I always start my end of month round-up by making a collage of my finished projects.  This month that step hardly seems worth it as the finishes are very few and far between.  This is what I have achieved.

Two churn dash blocks sent of to Sarah for a Siblings Together quilt, and the last three blocks for my starry sampler quilt. I 've managed to sash and border it this week so it's now ready for quilting. I'm going to hand quilt this one so don't expect this to be finished any time soon.  Luckily Wimbledon is on at the moment so I can sit and watch tennis and stitch away to my heart's content.

Luckily, Molly is showing a keen interest in tennis, too.

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?

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.

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

February Round -Up

I can't believe it's the end of the month already.  It feels like only a few days ago I was writing up the January Round-Up, but no, here we are, about to enter March.

It's been a funny old month sewing wise.  I haven't had as much time to sew as I would have liked, due mainly to my aged father being unwell and having to take him to doctor and hospital appointments and generally keeping an eye on him.

Here's what I've done this month:

1. One mini quilt started and completed  (blogged here).
2. One 12" block to complete the blocks for my 2012 BOM quilt (blogged here).
3. Six 12"  blocks for my 2013 Combined BOM quilt (blogged througout the month)
4. Ten 12" blocks to complete the blocks for my Scrappy Trip Around the World.

So, that's one mini quilt and 17 quilt blocks for this month.  I had wanted to make a start on some Farmer's Wife blocks but never got round to it.  Hopefully this month I will.  Hmm, I think I said that last month!

Linking to:

Small Blog Meet at Lily's Quilts

Finish it up Friday at crazy mom quilts

January Round-up

So ends the first complete month of my blog, and I thought I would take a look at what I've achieved this month.  When I think about what I have done it doesn't seem very much.  I have spent a lot of time looking after my aged dad who hasn't been too well this month.  Taking him to hospital and doctor's appointments have eaten into my time, as well as the extra shopping trips for him, and let's not forget shovelling snow, and just keeping him company.  He's 88 and is generally quite active, and likes to get out and about, but his jaunts have been curtailed this month and it makes him grumpy.  Still, he seems to be on the mend now so should be a bit happier.

Let's see what I've done then.

1. Doves in the Window mini quilt (blogged here)
2. Little Red Schoolhouses mini quilt (blogged here)
3. 7 blocks for the 2012 Crafsty BOM (blogged here and here and here)
4. 14 Scrappy Trip Around the World blocks (blogged, here, here, here and below)
5. 5 blocks for the combined 2013 BOMs (blogged here, here, here, here and below)

In the last couple of days I've made a couple of Scrappy Trips, bringing my total up to 14, so only another 10 to go.  Here's what they look like so far.

I saw this block on Dizzy Quilts blog.  It's designed by Bonnie and Camille for the FQS Mystery BOM. and is called Lime Sherbert.  I copied it onto squared paper and made it in my combined BOM colours.

Here are the 5 blocks I've made for this quilt so far.  I'm rather liking how they look.  So glad I added the red to the Chambray Rose fabrics.

So, two completed mini quilts and 26 blocks for three different quilts.  Not so bad after all.

I haven't started any of the blocks for the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt so I hope to make a start on them in February.

Linking up with Lily's Quilts.