Candle mat

The hexagon flowers were looking at me, and I thought they could be made into something.  I decided on a candle mat, although, it could be used as for a mug.

It was quite easy to do.  The hexagon was machine stitched to some red fabric which was trimmed.  I've used a thin batting which gives it some stability, and once the whole thing was turned right way out, I did a line of stitching close to the outside edge.

I then stitched in the ditch around the central hexagon, and around the outside of the flower.  A quick and satisfying project. 

After it was done, I sorted some more scraps and had enough for one more flower.

I think this is the last of the red projects for January's Rainbow scrap challenge. 

Hexagon Flower

Despite my best endeavours, the red fabric scraps are not disappearing, in fact, they are multiplying.  I thought a rainbow quilt of hexie flowers might be something to aim for at the end of the year, so here is my red offering.

I shall keep the same centre for all the flowers and then shall probably mount the flowers onto the same colour fabric.  I shall have a look for some lovely background fabric and sashings.  As I have twelve months, I have plenty of time to choose.

A Quilting Finish

It's been a long time, but eventually, I have a quilt finished.  This top was made last year, for the red month in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and although I had fully intended to finish before now, it's finished in this year's red month.

 I did just simple straight line quilting, either side of the seams.  On the sides and across the top and bottom, there are three lines of quilting.

I got some red spotted fabric for the back, with a black strip top and bottom. 

I have another quilt ready to be completed, just have to get it all sandwiched together and to the machine.

Bookmarks

The Internet is a great source of inspiration and tutorials.  Last week, I read a post here-http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2012/01/tool-time-tuesdayfabric-heart-bookmark.html, and thought these were perfect.  They used up some more of my scraps and make ideal gifts.

Karen's tutorial is so easy to follow too, I had these four done in about an hour, in between sorting washing etc.  Hopefully, there will be more of these throughout the year, another project in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Flower Pincushion

 This has been on my list of things to do for some time, a sunflower pincushion.  You can find a great tutorial here - http://genna-crossstitchandcrochet.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunflower-pincushion-tutorial.html.  There are plenty of pictures and clear instructions that make the whole process simple to follow.

This has also used up some more of the red scraps in my stash.  Hopefully, I can add some of different colours as the year progresses.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2012

It was fun joining in with the rainbow scrap challenge last year, so I thought I'd do it again this year with a slightly different game plan.  This year, I thought I'd do blocks of the different colours through the year, to get a rainbow quilt at the end.

The first colour this year is red, so I have six of these blocks

 A string block

 and three crumb blocks.

I do have some red leftover, so have a couple of small projects to do, but they can wait for another day

Tissue Holders

At the beginning of the month, I was looking for ideas for using up my red scraps and found this tissue holder tutorial.  I had this in mind when cutting some of the scrappy blocks I made last week.

Some of the red scraps ended up in the squares, and I've used more for the linings.  I tried both methods, edges meeting in the middle and overlapping, and I think I prefer the overlapped ones.  I need to buy some packets of tissues now to put in them. 

Day of Change

As I was supposed to be taking Daniel to an art workshop, I knew that there wouldn't be much time for sewing, but with an hour to spare before leaving, I thought I'd see how far I got with binding the mats.

 The small cats mat got done first, and I still had time.

 Next came the mug rug/pot stand and it was time to get ready to leave.  Just as I got my shoes, there was a text on my phone to say the workshop had been cancelled.  What was I going to do now?

After about five minutes to collect my thoughts, I was back in the kitchen, put on a saucepan of sweet potato and chili soup to cook and the larger of the cat mats was on the sewing machine to be bound.

By the time I'd done this the soup was cooked, so off went the gas, and the table topper was next to be bound.

This has now gone to be washed.  The pencil lines I'd drawn for quilting(which I didn't use) need to be washed out, and the cats hairs need to be removed.  This one is not for them, no matter what they think.

By the end of the morning I didn't think I was going to have, the cats had two new place mats, all my waiting mats had been bound, and I had a large saucepan of soup!

Poshest Moggies in Town

As I said, these red scraps are going a long way.  This will be the cats new mat, as soon as it's bound.

 I decided, that as it was for the cats, I could try out one of the stitches on the machine.  I'm so glad I did, I liked it.

 It's the serpentine stitch, and has just the right length of curve.

 I do hope the male moggies won't mind the pretty backing fabric.

 Then came this.  I did think mug rug when I made it, but I think Daniel will end up using it as a pot stand, which is OK too.

The serpentine stitch was back in use, and more red scraps for the back.

I have one more the same to make of these, but then I really must get to binding them all so they can be used.  After all the mulling over colours, I think it will be safer to stick with black for the binding, it was the only way I could think of matching the backs and fronts.  That means I will have to order some more black.

More Red

For someone that didn't think they had a lot of red, these scraps seem to be going a very long way.  I got a table topper made yesterday, all it needs is some binding.  I used a piece of red gingham for the backing.

I think this will go in Daniel's room for him to put under all his carnivorous plant paraphernalia.

Even with this done, there are still more scraps.  At the moment, they are laid out ready for piecing.  There will definitely be a mat for the cats dishes, but then I am undecided.  I'll either have two mug rugs or a small table topper.  I'll just have to see what happens when they get to the sewing machine.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge-Red

For the start of this month's challenge, I got out all my red fabric.  Surprisingly, I didn't have as much red as I had expected, and disappointingly, there wasn't much of it I liked.  The only solution was to slice it all up, rearrange it and see what happened.

The inspiration came from a quilt called Simple Strips from allpeoplequilt.com.

 As you can see, everyone wanted to get in on the picture.

Although I didn't like a lot of the fabrics, once the black sashing and borders went on, it took on a different feel.  I can't say I love it, but it is growing on me, and I'm sure I will find someone that will love it once it's finished.

Even after doing this, there are still some of the fabric left.  I am thinking of doing something similar again, but on a smaller scale, but I'll have to wait until I get another sewing day.