Windows

I've done a lot of looking out of the window this week at the atrocious weather.  We've had torrential rain, magnificent lightning streaking across the sky, thunder that left you deafened, and a whirlwind not too far away on the coast.  Now the forecasters say we could have a hurricane on the South Coast this weekend.  Today it is obviously the lull before the storm, so I've been busy battening down the hatches and making sure there is nothing loose to fly about in the garden.

The Farmer's Wife Sampler block I've done this week is very apt.

#109 - Windows

This was a lovely easy little block to do and didn't take me long to complete.  The rest of my time this week has been taken up with hand quilting Pretty in Pink.  I am almost 3/4 done so should finish the quilting by next week.

Back to the FWQ

I've felt somewhat bereft of late as I haven't completed any blocks for my Farmer's Wife Quilt, but now that I've finished piecing the 'Pretty in Pink' quilt top, and the hand quilting on it is underway during the evenings, I managed to squeeze in just one block this week.

#105 Wild Goose Chase

  
The rest of this past week has been taken up with de-boning some old shirts and cutting them into squares so I can make a start on my grandson's Disappearing Nine-Patch.  Here it is, all cut out.

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.

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

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.

Scrap Challenge Project #3

Do you remember the crumb block I made last week?

Well, I liked it so much that I made three more, joined them together, added borders and binding, and now have a rather nice runner.

And the super thing about it is that it is all made with scraps.  In the centre piece the scraps ranged from 1" to 2 1/2" wide.  I stitched the scraps onto pieces of paper, cut from the telephone directory, 2 1/2 x 6 1/2".  Three of these strips were then sewn together to make a 6 1/2" block.

The borders and binding were longer scraps but they still needed to be joined to get the length I needed.

I pieced some scraps of batting together, backed it in a piece of the leftover Toile de Joue duvet cover (from Ikea) that I used to back my Starry Sampler quilt and did some simple straight line quilting.

It measures 31 1/2" x 13 1/2".  All of the scraps are from the Chambray Rose collection by Shabby Chic, mixed with some Kona Snow scraps.

It's new home is in the bedroom on the chest of drawers.  

More Scrap-Busting and FWQ blocks

Continuing the challenge to use all of the scraps from my Chambray Rose quilt I've made a couple of coasters this week.  These are for my computer desk in my dining room, so I will use them every day.  I sewed the scraps directly onto a piece of batting, backed them with a scrap of the  Toile de Joue  duvet cover I used on the Starry Sampler quilt, and bound with some really old spotty dressmaking cotton.  They measure 4 1/2 inches square.

I had such a lovely time making these that I thought I would do a bit more crazy piecing and made this block.

I pieced this on paper torn out of the telephone directory.  I cut 3 paper strips 2 1/2" x 6 1/2" and stitched directly onto the paper, using stitch length 1.5.  I made all 3 at once, using the leader/ender method of feeding in and cutting off at the back to save keep on cutting (and wasting) thread.  The paper tore away really easily.   I then sewed the 3 strips together to make a 6 1/2" square block.  I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm going to make a few more as they're such fun to make.

I've made another 9 blocks for my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt using the gorgeous "Marmalade" by Bonnie and Camille.  I am just so loving making these.

# 69  Practical Orchard

#70 Prairie Queen

#71 Puss in the Corner

#72  Railroad

#73 Rainbow Flowers

#74  Ribbons

#81 Snowball

#84 Spool

#87 Star Gardener

Here are the nine all together.

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?