I hope you all managed to avoid the flu bug that has been so prevalent here. Our house had the bug early in December so we felt smug and well as we approached Christmas only to have our Christmas Day scuppered when my poor DIL went down with it - all was not lost though. With half a day's notice and good old Aldi I pulled together a Christmas meal and laughed at how often I have spent hours in the past making lists for the big meal. I scored a half price boxed turkey, nestling in greaseproof paper and found an embossed card within with cooking instructions that alerted me to its built in thermometer - its what?? A first for me, it turned out great and I believe it was the award winning bird of the year, lol.
The family managed to re-convene by the end of Christmas week although numbers were still a little depleted.
Moving into January and turning to sewing again was brightened by the delivery of this book.
I haven't started anything from it yet but have my eye on the Highland Cow within. The layout and instructions in this book are excellent and I really look forward to starting.....I just need to finish up some other stuff first before I allow myself. Such discipline!!
Early in the month a friend asked if I could come up with something suitable for her Aunt's impending 100th birthday. There wasn't much time so I reckoned a simple cushion with some machine embroidery might fit the bill. I used some Kaffe shot cotton and purchased an embroidery design which I stitched out in two shades of gold. The finished cushion was well received by my friend and her Aunt Jean.
The weather in January has been pretty wintery so a great excuse to hole up in the sewing room. I was in just the mood for storage and so far have made two (I plan three in total) of these great storage pods. Pattern is by Beth Studley. I am making this for my grand daughter to help contain her growing collection of little plastic figures, you know the kind of thing, Playmobil, Lego, Shopkins etc
For my own storage I made one of these little storage basket, an old favourite by Pink Penguin. They take next to no time to knock up and I use them inside drawers to store haberdashery items like zips, lace, cords etc.
Now the quilt I showed you in my last post, The Bella Skills Builder - well I finished all the blocks and have added borders. I plan to QAYG in three big sections and now have the wadding and backing organised. As you know the front is totally made from solids and I was really pleased to find a very large duvet cover in the Ikea sale in quite a bold geometric design and also in the colours I used on the front, pretty much. For those of you who have not seen this tip before, consider buying a duvet cover to use for backings as you usually end up with twice as much fabric to use. And I have four pillowcases as a bonus. No photos at the moment but once I get going on the quilting I'll remember to take some.
I have also returned to class this month and am working on an Attic Window cushion that is taking shape nicely. Photos in next post, I promise.
Lastly, I made a start on a small Irish Chain quilt using up scraps. I have had it in the back of my mind since I saw this post by RedPepperQuilts. What I particularly love about Rita's tutorial is her plan for pressing seams so that all of them can interlock. Genius.
However, I decided to plan a smaller quilt, so far anyway. The blocks are actually making up quite quickly so I might expand. And although I am using scraps I am keeping them tamed in colour bands.
This is my mock up on EQ7 -
And this is my progress so far -
I hope January has been productive for you too. Roll on February.
