Fresh Sewing Day

As a new month begins, many of us in blogland link to Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day - it's a great chance to take stock of what you are doing, what you have done and also gives us a chance to look around at what others are up to. I am also now finding it is a bit of an incentive to finish stuff as I feel I need to have something to show for my month.

So I finally put the finishing touches to Big Little George, didn't feel there was too much of a hurry as I used Christmas fabrics.

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I finished my Brit Quilt Swap quilt too - it is "in the post" as I type...................

I made myself a funky new bag from a pattern purchased from Anna at Noodlehead.Will make more of this one.

I made a block for the 2012 Partnership Quilt for the Tokyo Quilt Show - details HERE.- still plenty of time for you to join in.

I finally made a matching tablerunner for daughter to match the Roman blind I made a few months back.....it's not quilted, just fabric and lining with some quilting lines to keep it flat.

Then of course, there was the caravan cushion made for Alasdair to celebrate him passing his towing test - wish I had bought more than a fat 1/4 of those cute vintage vans........

This is a wee zippie I made for Hadley as part of the Pay it Forward challenge. I also completed the other two PIFs but sent items made prior to June.
I also managed two weeks off from work, watched lots of tennis which brings me to my next pic - and my reason for ending this post.........

he has just come on court for the Wimbledon semi.....gotta go!

It's a whopper

Now I know some of you will be thinking I am posting the next Mystery block early, but it is already Monday in Oz so just trying to be fair.
The Mystery QAL - join in anytime - is chugging along nicely....all details can be found HERE. There is also a flickr group where participants are posting pics of their progress so far - even if you are not joining in, do go and have a look, there is some super work being done.
Now - not all the blocks are the same size - this is, I hope, a compelling part of the mystery...........this week's block is the biggest so far, and in fact, the biggest in the quilt - it is a whopping 21" square.

This is a stash busting block in its own right.

One Year On................

Tomorrow marks a year since we moved house - it's been quite a year.
Today, we were having some pesky conifers chopped down...........

I reckoned it might be a bit noisy, so escaped with friend for a trip to Ikea...............and I got these -

These boxes are, I hope, the perfect size to organise & store my fabric in, not too big, not too small........oh I am going to have fun...............

Getting Rusty

Into week 2 of our "staycation" - weather has been really unkind to us, too wet even for the garden on some days, but we are making great progress out there (that would be the "Royal" we)
Indoors I am being a bit of a butterfly in my sewing room, flitting from one project to another but I did manage to get my Japan block done.See more HERE

 

at least it's sunny at Wimbledon - GO MUZZA!!

UFOs

Lots of people in blogland have joined in the Farmer's Wife QAL - when I first saw the blocks appearing in posts, it reminded me so much of a project I started about 2yrs ago (!!).It was about this time when I had discovered Eleanor Burn's TV programme on Sky TV - she is quite a character and a quilting legend. I really enjoyed the Victory Quilt series as all the blocks were from the 1940s and Eleanor told their stories each week, dressing in 40s gear as she showed us how to construct the blocks.
I was then lucky enough to receive the book as a gift - available HERE

 For one reason or another my few blocks have been relegated to my UFO drawer..........I am being drawn more and more to the modern fabrics being used everywhere and I especially like the way folks are making very traditional blocks but giving them a new twist with the new fabrics.........see Leanne's and Lynne's.
So in the last couple of weeks, I have been thinking about my Victory blocks, I have sort of fallen out of love with the fabric,  not keen to continue so what to do? Here is what I have made so far...they are all 6" blocks and were destined to be placed on point...............

Leanne suggested I just stop now, make something out of the blocks made to date, and move on and I thought that piece of advice was quite liberating..so, ok, these blocks aren't going to end up as I intended, - so what? The book is still a great one, plenty for beginners, challenges for more advanced, and a variety of techniques and finishes.......so, maybe I'll re-visit sometime with a bundle of new fabric.
What UFOs are lingering in your cupboards? Do they make you feel guilty?

Mother's Day

Favourite son came to stay this weekend and set off with his dad very early this morning for Knockhill and some motorbike event................favourite daughter and I managed a coffee together before she set off to her in-laws in Glasgow.............leaving poor old me home alone with the sewing machine and the cat.Unfortunately...lol...the rain prevented me taking to the garden and unfortunately my amnesia kicked in and I forgot about the huge pile of ironing Instead, I watched a very old Morse and made this -

Second picture is nearer the true colour.

I bought the pattern which is called the 241 Tote, from Anna over at Noodlehead quite a few weeks ago and have been itching to make it. The stripey fabric is furnishing weight and came in a pile of freebies that Carol brought to class before the end of term, loads of furnishing samples which we all got to drool over. My side panels are lighterweight denim which I pre-quilted and the pockets are quilted cotton. I added two internal pockets and it closes with a magnetic clasp.There is also an option on the pattern to insert two zipped pockets on the front panel but the furnishing fabric was pretty heavy and I thought I'd opt out of zip hell this time.

I am pretty chuffed with my efforts and would recommend the pattern - good, clear instructions and a really useful tote.

PS _ For those of you visiting from outside the UK - this is actually Father's Day.

New York Mariner

It would appear I have created a block - my little quilt for the Brit Quilt Swap came into my head as a merger of New York Beauty and Mariner's Compass - I hadn't thought of naming it until Gayle brought the subject up yesterday......so I have named it New York Mariner.

I have had so many lovely, positive comments about this little quilt that I thought I would share the pattern with you - the three large segments are three x 9" blocks and the little compass is four x 4.5" blocks.
My first ideas for this were sketched and then I hit EQ6 - I didn't start there as I knew I wanted to insert the compasses into squares rather than circles, and I couldn't find just what I wanted ready made on EQ6, but after I had made my preliminary sketch on paper I hit my laptop and came up with the necessary design to go ahead. I have made the patterns available HERE & HERE.Remember before you print a PDF file you should resize it to 100%. All the blocks are foundation pieced and if you decide to have a go, I strongly advise marking in all your colours on all the pattern segments - saves a lot of confusion.
While I was preparing the blocks, I played a bit more.................

 

Or how about this..... 

You could have lots of fun with this block design..........