From Mary

Two more blocks received for the Barn Door Swap, this time from Mary.  Having kept chickens in the past, I love the top one.  Thank you, Mary.

21/2" Squares

At the moment, I don't have the money to buy the fabric I need to finish off the quilt tops, or to make something new, so I've turned to working with the scraps.

I've had a pile of 21/2" squares that I've gradually been sewing into pairs, so this week, I make some four square patches and then joined them together.  The result  is this:

This will become the centre panel of a lap quilt.  Now I need to have a look and see what I have to do some borders.  Hopefully, I can find something appropriate here, though I may have to wait until the Mystery Monday project is finished to know for definite what I have available.

Mystery Monday-Week 13

 The puzzle is slowly coming together.  All the triangle blocks, and four square blocks have come together.  There are four of the top combination and nine of the bottom.

Next week is the final week, so I'll finally get to see the completed puzzle

Another Table Runner

It took a little while, but I finally got some fabric to use for the backing of the table runner blocks.

Yesterday, I got everything cut to size, quilted and finished.

Another purple finish, and a very tiny dint in the pile at the side of my table,  Now I need to do some more finishing,  There are a couple of more tops that require backing.

In the meantime, I'm working on a needle case for a swap.  The stitching has been done, but I can't show you until my partner has seen it, I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Leftovers

When I had finished quilting and trimming the teddy quilt, I had some of the backing fabric spare.  It was too much to put in the scrap bag, so I thought I'd make some more balls.  I really enjoy making these.

 This one is my favourite.  Jonathan was impressed that it could spin when he threw it.

Now I am happy for the scraps to go into my scrap bag.  They will be incorporated into some of the crumb blocks  that are gradually accumulating.

Crochet Blocks

My crochet magazines had been sitting around for quite a long time this month, they waited so long the dog opened them for me.  Fortunately, he was more interested in eating the invoice to do any damage to the wool. 

I was quite pleased with the purple square, this was one of the patterns I couldn't get the first time round.  This time it worked, and it worked for the whole block!

As I didn't do these straight away, I don't think it will be long before the next months installment drops through the door.

April Heart

The April Heart from Raspberry Rabbits was released on the 12th, and although I printed it off, I forgot all about it for a few days.

Once I sat down to do it, it didn't take long at all.  Now I have a few weeks to wait for the next one.

Mystery Monday-Week 12

 This week, the HST's are sewn together.  There are 32 of the units on the right, and four on the left.
As you can see, Shylock just can't resist getting in on the picture.

I think there are two weeks left of this project, so it will all be beginning to take shape.  

Cold and Wet

I am counting myself fortunate, that the only cold and wet here is in the stitching and not the weather.

All the details have now been stiched, and this now goes to wait patiently for it's partner.

The next one is Fair and Dry, definitely the weather we are enjoying here at the moment.

Both these designs come from an old Cross Stitcher Magazine from April 1997.  At that time I had a five month old baby, I don't think there would have been much stitching going on at that time.

Nightime/Daytime

The new binding arrived last week, and although I waited a few days, the original binding didn't make an appearance, so I went ahead with plan B.

The binding wasn't the same fabric as used in the quilt, but it did match the colour of the teddies.  I used the teddy fabric for the backing.

That's another project off the UFO list completed and the mountain next to my sewing machine has reduced a little.

Blocks Received and a Card Made

 Two more blocks recieved in the Barn Door Swap, these two from Carol.   Love them both but the pink is my favourite.  I can't wait to see all the blocks together.

 I've also finished putting a card together.  This was a freebie from an old cross stitch magazine I had.

Friday Night Sew In

Finally, I'm beginning to get some projects completed, and it feels good.   There's nothing like knowing that lots of people will be joining in on the FNSI to get you motivated.

This is the first of the purple table toppers to get completed.  I used simple quilting on this one.  I went around the ditch of the inner square and then diagonally across from the inner corners.  The binding was machine stitched on, and a quick finish was the result. 

The rest of the evening was spent adding more back stitch detailing to the the cross stitch.  Hopefully,  a couple more evenings will see this done.  In the meantime, the garden is calling out for some attention.

Cold/Wet Update

The back stitching came to a standstill when I ran out of an essential thread, but you can see the difference it is making.  This is one of the few times I've really enjoyed adding the back stitch detail as it makes such a big difference to the way the stitching looks.  Even the rain was fun to stitch. 

New thread is on order, but in the meantime, I have  other things to finish or make a start on.

More Purple

With the next lot of my purple scraps, I used the block from Challenge No 2 from the Small Quilt Talk Yahoo Group.  I am finding working the smaller blocks a challenge, they are less forgiving than larger blocks, but I am sure, with practise it will get easier.

I've got to the stage where it's all sandwiched together and ready for quilting.  I didn't feel like quilting it at the time, so worked on making some purple crumb blocks.  These are still a work in progress.  Hopefully, I can get back to it later in the week.

When you think you're finished

Over the last week or so, my quiet moments have been spent cross stitching, and it always feels like a finish when all the cross stitching is complete.

However, with this design, there is lots of backstich, long stitch and french knots to do before I can say goodbye to this one.

Eventually, there will be a set of two pictures made into a wall hanging, but it will take a little while to do.

Mystery Monday-Week 11

You guessed it, more triangles, but after the weekend I had, it was enough for me.

When Things Don't Go To Plan

It's been a busy week here, so sewing time has been at a premium.  One of the goals this week was to finish the teddy quilt.  With that in mind, I got the fabric out at the beginning of the week to give time for some of the creases to drop out as it had been folded in the bag for some time.  I had everything ready for when I got the chance to sew.

That opportunity came yesterday morning.  The pieces were ironed and sandwiched and we were ready to go.  I quilted in the ditch around the squares inside the brown, then quilted 1/4" either side of the line of the on point teddy squares.

There was still a bit of time before lunch, so I thought I could get the binding on before lunch and sew in all the ends in the afternoon.  Trouble was, between the beginning of the week and Friday, the binding has gone walkabout.  I can't find it anywhere, and I've tried several times.

In the end, I've had to order some more fabric and hope it will mean the binding will jump out at me.  So far, it hasn't worked, so this little quilt will be waiting a little longer to get finished.

Mystery Monday-Week 10

Last week was a practise run for this weeks Mystery Monday.  This week, nine squares turned into triangles.  I am now getting intrigued as to how these will all fit together.

After doing the Mystery Monday, I played with some more purple.  I enjoyed making the ball so much, I've made another one, this time a small one.

It does get more fiddly when they are small, but it was still fun.

In preparation for the next purple day, more pieces, small pieces, have been cut ready for piecing.  I really should put the blue quilt together next, but as I am now out every day, I'm not sure when I will get enough time to get it done.

Silk Flower Cushion

The feather cushion pad I ordered came about a week or so ago, but with being so busy, and not feeling one hundred percent, it spent more time sat on the side than was intended.

Finally, I felt more motivated to get this cushion finished. 

The cushion pad is 16" so I measured 161/2 inches and marked my line for sewing,  I did a double seam, as silk does like to fray.  The double seam gave enough strength to the seams to give no trouble when turning the right way and sewing the final seam shut.

Finally, something is completely finished here, hopefully, we shall have another finish here this week, days out permitting!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge-purple

The colour chosen for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple.  Having gone through all my fabric, there wasn't a lot of purple to play with.  I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad, but it won't mean there will be a lack of things for me to do.

As I didn't have much to play with, I thought it might be a good idea to use some of the ideas from the Small Quilt Talk Yahoo Group.  I went back through the files and went back to Challenge 1 for the blocks.  Even though I knew these were small quilts, the 11/2" squares were still a surprise.

I just made as many blocks as the fabric let me, and as there were only four of each, I've made it into a table topper.

I did have enough of the heat proof batting, but no fabric for the backing.  This will have to go and sit in the unfinished pile for a little while, but I did enjoy making some small blocks.

Small Progress

Yesterday was a day of clearing small jobs from the sewing table, meaning small but necessary progress made on a couple of projects.  

First up was the tiger quilt top.  I found enough of the fabric to put on the final two borders along the top and bottom.

I used some left over half square triangles for the corners.  I wouldn't have had enough fabric otherwise.

 Next on the list was to add the red borders onto the Raggedy Quilt.

The lump at the bottom is Shylock, he didn't move even after having two quilts spread out over him!

Both these tops now need backing, batting and binding.  They will have to go back in the waiting pile until I can do some shopping.